Sunday, 24 May 2020

The Week In Classic Corrie

MONDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 23rd and 25th August 1995

It was the end of an era as Ivy had a stroke in her religious retreat and died.  It was a sad send-off for a Corrie legend, but let's be honest, we all knew it was coming.  Don spread the news round the Street, upsetting Vera and causing Nicky to do one of his unconvincing spouts of anger.  He soon perked up when he received a letter from Ivy telling Nicky that the house was his.  Reg tried to kiss up to his new boss with a barbecue, but it didn't do much to impress him.  He admitted he was thinking of getting rid of both Reg and Curly.  The younger men of the Street decided to get fit and joined up for a five-a-side championship.  They still knocked back the bitter, mind.  And Percy got a letter from his neice telling him she only left Bill because he neglected her.  Bill was unimpressed.

TUESDAY - Episodes originally 28th and 30th August 1995

It was the day of Ivy's funeral and all the family gathered to say goodbye.  Most importantly there was a guest appearance from the icon that is IDA CLOUGH!  Sadly it was only for one episode but I look forward to her return in a couple of years working at Underworld.  She still found time for a gratuitous slanging match with Baldwin in the street though because she's a legend.  Josie did the sandwiches, but didn't attend the actual service.  Martin persuaded Nicky not to mention the letter from Ivy, a promise that lasted about fourteen minutes as he threw a strop at the funeral tea and told everyone that number 5 was now his.  Fiona and Maxine went on to cheer the five-a-side boys and were surprised to see how terrible they were.  Having finally finished Sally's kitchen, Bill had a look at a damp patch on Percy's ceiling.  It turned out to be a much larger job than he could handle and Emily's roof was going to need extensive repairs.


WEDNESDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 1st and 4th September 1995

The Duckworths continued to revel in their new found wealth.  Jack bought a car, though he told Vera she wasn't insured to drive it; she told him in that case he'd have to ferry her about.  They also decided to view number 6, because weirdly Des still hasn't sold it.  Mavis was horrified by her potential new neighbours.  Percy was looking for somewhere to stay while the roof was under repair, and Emily managed to persuade Curly to put him up.  Emily was pleased until she started feeling a bit lonely.  Martin took Nicky to the solicitor, and it was confirmed that he'd inherited the lot - on the condition that he'd change his name back to Tilsley.  Ivy really was a spiteful witch, wasn't she?  Don claimed he had the right to stay in the house, but Josie suggested they move into her house and leave them to it.  Don refused to let Ivy win from beyond the grave.  Nicky meanwhile confessed to his girlfriend (at the Rosamund Street bus stop, which I don't remember seeing before) that he didn't want there to be a problem with his granddad.  Incidentally, Warren Jackson remains an absolutely terrible actor in his fourteenth year on the show.  Couldn't they send him to a Youth Theatre for lessons or something?

THURSDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 6th and 8th September 1995

Derek went into his performance review (shown in by secretary Bernice from Emmerdale, who banged away on her keyboard really unconvincingly) and was shocked to discover Norris was giving the assessment.  Norris made a load of snidey remarks that made Derek realise he was the man responsible for the Gnomenapping.  He told Norris what he thought of him, only to discover that he was being made an executive at Hawthorne's.  Don was pushing Josie away with his bitterness over Ivy and she warned him that she'd leave him forever if he didn't start being nicer.  Percy was enjoying his time at Curly's at took it upon himself to find him a girlfriend.  He went to Firman's and found a nice looking assistant he pointed in Curly's direction.  Little did he know that the girl was secret psychopath Anne Malone.  The Duckworth's brought Tommy back from Blackpool, spoiling him now they had the cash, and throwing him a party in Des's back garden.  The noise irritated the Wiltons and they took it as a bad sign for when they finally bought number 6.  Des also took Tommy out for a burger, and got a surprise when he saw who worked there: it was his ex-wife Steph, now pregnant.  She left him her number and the next day Des couldn't help himself and gave her a ring on his weird see-through perspex phone.


FRIDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 11th and 13th September 1995

The theme of today's episodes was "men are awful and will take advantage of women".  Des got himself all gussied up for Steph's visit, but she didn't show.  Depressed, he went to the pub with an over-keen Maxine, then slept with her to make himself feel better.  Poor Maxine thought it was the start of something special but then Steph turned up and confused him by telling him she wasn't with the father of her baby any more.  Still, it was great to see Dame Amelia Bullmore back in the show.  Betty took her cat to the vet's, and when she came back, she discovered she'd been burgled.  Billy nipped round to comfort her and help her out and then proposed marriage again.  Betty rightfully told him that she wasn't in the right frame of mind to discuss it.  Incidentally there were multiple scenes of Betty crying and that shouldn't be allowed.  The five a side team tried to rope in Leo Firman as a sponsor, with a tactics meeting at Curly's enlivened by Percy's military strategies.  He liked being one of the lads.  Leo was more interested in Raquel and he asked her out for a drink; she declined because he was Curly's boss, but finally relented.  Don went to a solicitor and found out he had the legal right to fight for number 5.  Gail was unhappy, because it was Ivy's house at the end of the day and she left it to her only grandson, and convinced herself that Josie must be the one making him bitter and unpleasant.  This couldn't be further from the truth as Josie wanted him to stop.  When Don chucked Gail out after a row Josie again tried to persuade him to move into her home.  He told her to keep her nose out because he's a deeply unpleasant humanoid.


I have very bad news for you: Newton and Ridley are going to put the Rovers up for sale next week.  This sadly means the beginning of the end for Ms Elizabeth Gilroy as a member of the cast.  Commiserate with me over on Twitter @merseytart.

Classic Corrie is on ITV3 every day from 14:50 and is also available on the ITV Hub.





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