Do you know what I never need to see again? Janice Battersby wailing in close up with her make up streaming down her face. She was at the police station, reporting that Toyah was missing, and the coppers brought in Neil for interrogation. There was no sign of Toyah though. He finally admitted to taking her to the woods, and after a search they found her. Les felt protective towards his errant stepdaughter, apologised to Ken, and asked him to resume his lessons. Sally sobbed at not being able to see her girls, but Kevin was adamant about keeping her away, and Greg was less than keen to let her bring Rosie and Sophie into his bachelor pad. He dumped Maxine, and she realised it was because he was seeing Sally; she burst into the factory to confront her. The factory was stunned and Kevin chucked a pint over Greg. Sally, however, thought she was in love, and handed over a load of cash for his new business. Alec gave a cheque to the Duckworths, buying them out of the Rovers, but at Rita's urging he let them stay on to run the pub. He talked to his fiance and they agreed that getting married at their age was daft; instead, Alec proposed knocking a door through connecting their two flats. Curly opened the mail at Freshco and got a blackmail letter demanding £50,000 or the stock would be tampered with. He assumed it was Spider and Toyah, after their antics with the frozen prawns, but Spider denied all knowledge. Curly talked to Anne and they agreed to get the police involved.
TUESDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 7th and 9th September
Fiona confessed to Steve that she suspected Alan would come back some day to see Morgan. She admitted that she'd let him be a part of his son's life, which angered Steve, who thought they were a family. They argued and Fiona walked out. Steve drowned his sorrows with Maxine and they ended up sleeping together. When Fiona returned though, she admitted she'd thought about their future together, and suggested they marry and Steve adopted Morgan. Whoops. Jim had begun feeling twinges in his leg, and then pain, and he was thrilled that his legs were recovering. His physiotherapist Michael warned him not to get his hopes up. Curly was persuaded by the police to make the drop of the money for the blackmailer, wearing a bulletproof vest, in a plan dubbed Operation Crustacean. He was a nervous wreck. Anne dropped hints to the police that Curly was bitter about the Freshco takeover, then put broken glass in some beetroot and crafted another blackmail letter.
WEDNESDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 11th and 13th September 1998
Alec was suffering frustrations all round. The Duckworths were only doing the work they needed to, not breaking their necks, because now they were only employees. They clocked on and off and refused to do any work outside their hours. Meanwhile, his builder smashed a hole in the wall then vanished, leaving Rita furious. Curly received another blackmail note and found the glass in the beetroot on the shelves. Anne went to the police and told them that she suspected Curly. She claimed he was obsessed with her. They searched his house and found the book with the letters cut out that she'd returned to his shelves. He was arrested, but when he went on bail, he went on the run, leaving a note for Alma saying he didn't want to go to prison. (In reality, Kevin Kennedy was admitted for treatment for his alcoholism, meaning the storyline had to be rewritten at the last minute). Fiona told Maxine how great Steve was compared with Greg, and in frustration, Maxine told her about their night together. Steve claimed she was just jealous of their relationship, and told Maxine to make things right. She lied to Fiona that she'd made the whole thing up - and Fiona ended their relationship and fired her.
THURSDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 14th and 16th September 1998
Alma, Emily and Spider palled up to try and clear Curly's name - though they had no idea how to do it. They tried to cover his disappearance with the police but Alma cracked and confessed he'd legged it, making him look guilty as sin. Maxine was distraught that Fiona hated her and told Steve she was going to confess everything. He told her to shut up, not realising that Fiona could hear the whole thing. She kicked him out on his ear and he ended up back living with Jim at number 11. Alec took the construction of the new door into his own hands, only for the wall to collapse and trap him. The subsequent rescue revealed to the Street that they'd knocked through, and Rita found herself the subject of amused gossip. (Rita: "We're having a door fixed between our two flats, for convenience." Fred: "Convenience? I've never heard it called that before.")
FRIDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 18th and 20th September 1998
Steve went off to That London to escape. Jim went to see Fiona to try and plead Steve's case, telling her not to throw away a good relationship for one mistake. She responded by telling him that Steve was responsible for the accident that put Jim in a wheelchair. He didn't believe her at first, but she convinced him, though Liz was convinced she was saying it just to get back at them both. Kevin was struggling to juggle running his business and looking after the girls, and had to enlist Natalie's help. Sally was incensed to see the Horrocks trollop with Sophie and tried to take her away. Both Martin and Natalie advised Kevin to allow her access, but Greg was less pleased, as he really, really didn't want the kids cluttering up his life.
Anne's ongoing blackmail plot means we're close to one of the greatest, most macabre moments in the show's history. Join @merseytart on Twitter with some WD-40 and a bag of frozen prawns.
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I don't like Alan but Steve can't be mad if Fiona decides to include him in his own son's life.
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