Coronation Street Blog: The Week In Classic Corrie

MONDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 1st and 2nd June 1997

Kevin continued to be a massive disappointment to me as he told Bill he was concerned about Sally and wanted to visit her in Scarborough. He agreed to watch Rosie overnight while Kev went away. Of course he was really having a filthy night in a hotel with Natalie. However, as they flirted, she mentioned she'd previously had an affair for twelve years, and Kevin got in a hump because he was just another of her conquests. Alma and Mike returned from their holiday with her ready to start her new job at Freshco. Mike confessed that he'd told Curly not to employ her so she tracked him down in the Rovers and begged for him to take her on. Also returning from their ~~video spin-off~~ holiday were Jack and Vera. Alec collared him and told him that he'd had to give all the profits from the raffle to Emily so Jack owed him. Steve was released from Strangeways and the whole McDonald clan were there to meet him. At his welcome home dinner, Jim proudly told him there was a place for him at the building firm, but Steve turned it down, thinking he could do better. Andy urged his disappointed parents to give Steve time, because he was probably still institutionalised, but it turned out Steve had something else on his mind: winning back Fiona.

TUESDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 4th and 6th June 1997

The Duckworths got an unpleasant visitor: the VAT man. They buttered him up with hotpots and orange juice but he still had bad news - they'd been paying the wrong amounts and owed seventeen grand in back taxes. Jack tried to get a loan from the bank, but he still owed money from the original purchase so they turned him down. Rosie let Bill into number 13 and he caught Natalie and Kevin holding hands. Rita told him that they'd had a fling but Kevin had said it was all over. Bill didn't believe it, and, after confronting Kevin, he called Sally and told her to come home. Deirdre was on cloud nine: she took on the flat above the bookies, and had a new handsome airline pilot boyfriend. She rubbed it in Ken's face. Steve's job hunt saw him talking to old contacts, including a certain Jez Quigley, but he had no luck. Meanwhile he turned up at Fiona's with a bottle of wine for a chat. She let him in, but she didn't tell Alan about it when he returned from his course.

WEDNESDAY - Episode originally broadcast 8th June 1997

Deirdre moved into her flat, which looked a lot like Billy & Paul's flat except the bedrooms were in the wrong place. Jon helped her move in and when Ken popped round to visit he told him he was Deirdre's ex-husband. Hearing about her past made Jon uncomfortable and he left without sharing a pizza. Natalie and Kevin became even more shameless and went to bed together in number 13. Sally left a message on the answering machine to say she'd decided to surprise Kevin by coming back early; Chris ran across the road and warned him, so Natalie legged it out the back. Chris told Angie about it all and she was rightly disgusted with Kevin. And Vera went away on holiday with Tricia, leaving Jack to phone around for dodgy loans to try and pay the VAT bill.

THURSDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 9th and 11th June 1997

All week Judy and Gary have been banging on about their fertility treatment and I'm sorry it's been dull as tar. They finally got a scan and discovered that Judy had a blockage in her fallopian tubes. She fretted that Gary would leave her now he knew she was infertile. Jack went to Rita in search of a loan for the debt. She refused, but when he decided to put half the pub up for sale instead, she became interested. Oh I see, Reet, when it's Jack and Vera you'll happily splash the cash, but when it's Bet you throw it in her face. Pals? Pals? Clearly she doesn't know the meaning of the word. Bill offered to take care of the girls so that Kevin and Sally could have a weekend together but much to her surprise he turned him down. When Sally ran into Natalie in the shop, she invited her round for dinner, and Natalie accepted because she's awful and found the situation amusing. Ida Clough caught Janice robbing knickers; she admitted she pinched the odd one or two and tried them out on her fella to see what turned him on. Excuse me, I need a moment to process that, because my stomach is churning. Maud found out about Maureen and Fred's relationship. She was convinced that he was only after the shop. Maureen mentioned it to Fred and he denied it, saying he was only interested in making her the new Mrs Elliott. She laughed and told him she was happy as they were.