Remember all that business with Jim and Liz and his mum's inheritance? We thought it was resolved when he gave her a cheque for £1000, but we underestimated his pettiness. Bill and Jim's work van broke down and they needed a new one. When Jim saw Liz talking to Sean in the pub, he got an idea of where to get the cash, and stopped the cheque. She was understandably livid as it meant she couldn't pay her solicitors. He told her to ask her rich boyfriend for the money because he's deeply unpleasant. He finally confessed the reason, and she relented, and he agreed to pay her in instalments. Tracy Barlow returned from That London with some news: she was engaged to be married to a carpet fitter called Robert Preston. Yes, in the old days, Robert was a carpet fitter: that's a hell of a change of career he made in his mid 30s. She was planning on getting married Darn Sarf but Deirdre and Ken were so upset she changed her mind and brought the wedding to Weatherfield. There was a cancellation at the Registry Office for the following week so they'd have to do it on the cheap, but they were thrilled. Raquel and Lorraine went for their interview, but the next day, only Raquel went through to a second interview. Lorraine was furious and accused her of stealing her job, while Curly was mildly pleased for her. Only mildly. Fiona persisted with her singing career, despite us actually hearing her perform, and she attracted a fan in the club in the form of a bloke called Alan McKenna. Remember that name: it'll be important later.
TUESDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 11th and 13th November 1996
There was good news and bad news in today's episodes so let's start with the good stuff. Ken and Deirdre met "Robbie" Preston, and his parents, ahead of the wedding. Tracy revealed that she'd got a charity shop dress and a pair of DMs for the ceremony, which is exactly what all my female mates were wearing in 1996 so it made me all misty-eyed and nostalgic, then Robert went off on his stag do with his mate Paul and a tiny Simon Farnaby from Ghosts. As a prank they locked him in a container at the docks, so Ken and Deirdre panicked and called the police before he was shipped off to Saudi Arabia - only to discover he'd already escaped and headed home. The wedding finally went ahead, with Tracy wearing Samir's ring, and Percy supplying a cake. Vera laid on the reception, and Betty decided the spread was "nice... nice to know I've no competition anyway." But most wonderfully, Blanche turned up for the ceremony. Sean asked Samantha out to the dogs and she was going to go until Liz warned her off, saying that Sean was a sexual harasser. Gary worried that Judy still wasn't pregnant, and wondered if there was something wrong with their plumbing. But the real sadness was at number 7. Raquel went for her second interview, and when they asked if she had any ties in Manchester, she said no. She was offered a job in Kuala Lumpur and Curly assumed she'd turned it down. It slowly dawned on him that she hadn't, and that she must've lied about her marital status. She admitted she'd taken off her wedding ring and they began a lengthy heart to heart over the breakfast table. Curly realised that she wanted him to tell her to take the job, but refused and left. Fiona popped round and found a distracted Raquel. She said if it were her she'd go like a shot, which left Raquel even more confused. Curly returned from drowning his sorrows and admitted he'd always known she'd never loved him. Raquel tried to deny it but they both knew it was true. He told her to go to Malaysia and went to a conference in Wigan without saying goodbye. He told her to leave her keys because he couldn't go through seeing her again. Raquel sobbed on the stairs - and so did all of the audience.
WEDNESDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 15th and 18th November 1996
Sean was angry with Liz for telling Sam about his lecherous past and told her to stop spreading rumours. They argued furiously, but ended up admitting they fancied each other and hooked up. Jack's various business ventures were falling through. He tried to persuade Alec to join up with him to supply cabaret acts to Harvey Nuttall at the brewery, but Alec went round behind his back and cut him out of the deal. Meanwhile, Fred was invited to a racehorse owner's event at the stables, but Jack wasn't. Raquel packed up her things, ironed Curly's shirts for him, and left for Kuala Lumpur. She gave Judy her old clothes and asked the Malletts to keep an eye on Curly. He cried on Gary's shoulder, which made him uncomfortable, then went to Anne and Andy's and got roaring drunk and collapsed on his sofa, full of self-pity. I don't blame him. We'll all miss Raquel Watts nee Wolstenhulme.
THURSDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 20th and 22nd November 1996
Steve's back! He's still in prison of course but it seems to be doing him some good, actually, because he's put on a bit of weight and grown out his hair. He got a visit from Liz, and she attracted the attention of another inmate, Fraser, a posh gang boss. Steve meanwhile was horrified to learn that she was now seeing his nemesis Sean. Fred was the major shareholder for Betty's Hot Shot, so he took Rita to the stables for the open day. He was furious when all the other shareholders gatecrashed. Jack posed on top of the horse, only for it to bolt after Jamie startled it, throwing him to the ground and knocking him unconscious. Ken and Deirdre were getting closer, first bonding over Tracy's wedding pictures, then having a meal at Deirdre's flat. One thing lead to another and they ended up in bed together. Unfortunately, this was just as Denise returned to number 1 to take Daniel away with them...
FRIDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 24th and 25th November 1996
This was the first ever Sunday episode for Corrie, as it went four days a week. They started it off by resolving Friday's dramatic cliffhanger. Kelly the childminder finally got through to Ken at Deirdre's flat and he sped round. Denise presented him with a solicitor's letter that said she could take Daniel back to Scotland with her so Ken reluctantly let them go. He visited a solicitor to see about getting custody, but was told it would be a difficult battle. It's interesting to see Denise and Ken fighting over Daniel when a few years later they'll both lose interest in him and will abandon him completely. Deirdre felt guilty for being at it with Ken while his baby was snatched, but worse was to come for Kelly. who was told that her services were no longer required so could she move her stuff out? Jack was in hospital, and his doctor - Diggory Compton - advised Vera that he had a slipped disc and so would have to remain immobile for months. It ruined Fred's romantic schemes, as he'd planned on proposing to Rita. He finally slipped it out late that night - the proposal, you dirty article - and asked her to consider it. She told Mavis, who was repulsed, so Rita took great pleasure in winding her up while she mulled it over. Liz, meanwhile, received a load of cash in an envelope from "a friend of her son's". She had no idea who that was. And there was a load of old nonsense about Fiona's burgeoning singing career which remains utterly improbable. The people at Granada don't seem to realise we can hear her.
Much as it pains me to say it, the departure of Raquel is another nail in the coffin of the golden era of the Street, and the fourth episode underlines that. Reminisce about the good times with me over on Twitter @merseytart.
Classic Corrie is on ITV3 every weekday afternoon and is also on the ITV Hub.
2 comments:
Technically this wasn't the first Corrie outing on a Sunday evening, the first occurred was on 25/12/88 at 7.30pm in its original broadcast and I did forget the first Thursday outing was 17/02/83 at 7.30pm (however Wednesday's postponed episode was delayed due to the EECTU strike with the IBA, Granada, and ITV).
The first Sunday outing that was on 21/02/83 as a repeat showing of the 16/02/83 and 17/02/83 episodes over on Channel 4 and it still remained Corrie's only outing on C4 at the time, but 25/12/88 still remains the first official Corrie Sunday outing (although would remain its only outing til eight years later) and so it had to conclude with Friday's cliff-hanger about Denise wanting her son back.
As with ITV3's sequence order, in March 2018, we had the sequence order of episodes given out after the Christmas Day 1987 episode, then this soon followed when a ITV Telethon '88 couldn't air the normal 'Corrie episode on Bank Holiday week which was that Monday, so ITV3's sequence went back to Wed-Mon later in 2018, then when the Christmas Day 1988 episode occurred, the Mon-Wed sequence of episodes were finally back until July 2018, apart from the end of November 2018, we had a extra Christmas episode which was soon to be the first Tuesday outing in the official Corrie archive.
So on the third anniversary of the re-runs starting, we have four episodes in the correct order, appearing to be Sun & Mon and Wed & Fri as we do have a consecutive run until Christmas Day 1997, where as in the New Year, we screw it up again with Fri-Sun & Mon-Wed as we go into 1998.
As we go into December 1st from tomorrow's re-runs, we approach 1997 in over two weeks from now as with the Brian Park era nearing so soon from next month as we approach the "modern era".
Fiona really can't sing, it makes the whole thing seem very forced and it makes Alec look like a complete fool, rather than the shrewd operator he was in the past.
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