Bernie has appointed herself manager of the cafe whilst Roy is indisposed (surely Shona has more experience, but y'know what with that pesky brain injury that everyone's forgotten about....) Everybody expects Roy to get bail but what with his best friend being a 12 year old and him hitting Gary with a cricket bat by mistake, it seems that the world is safer with Roy in the big house. At least he'll be spared the phone calls and the online abuse?
Given how backed up the courts are, I think we should expect to see his trial in late 2026, although I'm still not sure how there can be a murder trial without a body. For all we know Lauren might be in Ayia Napa. Hope, Sam and Eliza (who's still here?) form the Monday Murder Club and hope to exonerate Roy. What do we think, gang? We know that Joel spent some money in a jewellers at the same time that Lauren received some expensive bling from her older man-friend. Or could this be the work of Nathan, Bethany's ex-groomer? He would be out of prison by now. I had thought Harvey was the perp but his storyline seems to be over now. Trying to help Roy, Bobby recants his statement and says he saw another man in a balaclava in Lauren's flat and was warned not to tell anyone. He drags Carla into this and she realises she'll have to lie to the police to back him up. I mean, she has form.
I'm also not quite sure what this storyline is for, except to win Best Storyline, Best Actor and Best Continuing Drama awards at the Inside Soap Awards. Also to give Roy something to do as, apart from the mobile phone story, he's not had that much to do since Hayley died and it is a waste of a good actor to just have him hand out pie and chips or a frothy coffee each ep. It's just a bit....samey. We know he'll (eventually) get off, we know Roy will be the latest in a long line of wrongly imprisoned people and yet D.S. Swain will keep her job. Perhaps the writers room was reminiscing about the good old days of Free The Weatherfield One and Tony Blair asking questions in parliament and they wanted to Make Corrie Great Again.
Whilst Deedee sobs at her failure to keep Roy out of chokey, Adam is having a better day. Flipping off a meeting with boring old Fabian's, he meets an attractive new client, Rebecca, at the Bistro and soon is back at the solicitor's to mix a little business with pleasure. Alya meanwhile has taken the meeting with Rich Fabian and impressed him with her spreadsheets, so much so that he offers her a job. For nine months perhaps? Anyway, the two things collide and Adam is left frustrated and without an admin assistant as Alya storms off. You know how some actors come in for one ep and steal the scene so effectively (Beth, Gemma, Glenda) that you want to see more of them? Well, the opposite of that re: Rebecca.
Talking of scene-stealing, I love the way Debbie makes the most of every scene she's in whether it's wearing a natty little hat and talking about her lucky wraparound skirt ('80s kids will understand) or uncorking a bottle of red with a pop and an innuendo, she is great. More of Debbie please!
Mason has done Toyah a big favour really. She loves going around counselling the cobbles folk, so Maria asking for some (free) informal counselling will keep Toyah in helpful suggestions for some time. I suppose Maria has had mental health problems before (when she was stalking Tyrone), so it makes sense that her anxiety over her son is getting the better of her. Leanne doesn't want her sister's help though, she's quite happy spilling her guts to creepy Rowan, who doesn't want her to invest in Simon's business (spite because Simon didn't sign up for any more modules, or because Rowan wants Leanne to invest in his scheme in order to increase her thetan levels?) To be honest, I thought Streetcars had done a deal with the Bistro to deliveroo their meals and Dev had Aadi cycling around with groceries?
And finally, there's some shenanigans with Stu and a tattoo and Eliza leaving. When is the tattooist going to get a set, a character and a storyline!?
