Episode Review Friday 20 March 2026

Apologies for not being here for a couple of weeks - one week Coronation Street was not here and then last week I was in Warwickshire and not at home.  Normality returns.  To get a less than favourite story out of the way Theo drugged Todd ahead of his fund raising marathon run tomorrow and turned off his alarms and put his phone on flight mode leaving him to sleep off the drugging on the sofa.  If you know anyone like Theo get them away from your nearest and dearest or if it is your partner then run a few thousand miles.

Megan is utterly convincing (well Daniel fell for it as he points out to Kit under interview he was wrongly accused not so long ago) in pretending that she was simply responding to Will's excessive crush and Will also holds his end up well (which is probably what she first saw in him) with Maggie.  Leanne, on top of her game, has spotted that Megan in her enforced departure from the flat left behind some vitamin supplements you normally take when pregnant and it is concluded that she lied about the abortion.  Tracy is convinced that Megan is guilty even without evidence.  Alya lets slip that Megan has also been bullying Sam according to Leanne which starts to change the balance of opinion but Daniel knows there is no evidence.  Despite Daniel's insistence that he KNOWS, Ken wants to know the facts (well you would if you were about to become a grandfather again wouldn't you?).  Maggie gives Sam a piece of her mind for not speaking up sooner about Megan abusing Will but then Maggie knew that something drove Will to assault Daniel in the ginnel.  Maggie accuses Sam of keeping quiet to improve his grades (in PE - who cares?).  

Megan tells Kit that after the problem Daniel experienced when Daisy was pregnant with Kit's baby (but told it was Daniel's) meant that she was not yet in a position to tell Daniel that she was pregnant and that she sees no need for a DNA test to prove who is the father of the unborn baby as the only person she has slept with in the last year is Daniel.  

Adam is aware of the allegation of paternity but cannot tell Daniel about the baby.  Eva feels no such compunction and tells Daniel that he may or may not be the father in front of the entire cafe (with Alex re-appearing from the cupboard of unused characters an American wrestling tour as a spectator for a very brief  cameo.  Talking of go to cameos Susie came into the cafe with Eva announcing in a fairly loud voice she was gasping and needed an extra shot in her drink and then remembering she was bursting and had to visit the facilities rapidly.  So just before the mid-episode break the scales are about to fall from Daniel's eyes!

However Megan is on top of things, she briefs Will about the baby being Daniel's and provides him with a burner phone so they can stay in touch.  Apparently Megan does not want to go to prison and Will is certain it will not come to that.  Daniel confronts Megan at the Chariot Square Hotel (how is Debbie by the way?),  Megan lies but Daniel says he is not believing her until she does a DNA test.  Indeed on the list of people he is at the top until she does the test!

The Battersby sisters are on top form this evening coming into Speed Dahl and telling Alya what they think of Adam being Megan's brief.  Alya claims they need the work.  Leanne announces that they are now silent partners in the Speed Dahl business.  Alya herself does not actually seem to entirely believe Megan to be fair but is tarred with Adam's choice.  (Given that I assume Megan is on legal aid Adam's earnings cannot be that great).

For reasons which are not hard to guess Adam gets fairly cool (zero degrees Kelvin) welcome at the Rovers Return.  Adam claims he simply wants a quiet drink.  He does not get it.  Daniel comes storming

through the door, pokes Adam in the chest and tells him to drop Megan as a client now.  After a toilet break for Adam Daniel continues his attack announcing to the entire Rovers in classic Corrie mode that Megan is refusing the DNA test and he tells Maggie he believes the baby to be Will's.  Shocked looks between James and Michael (all emerging from that cupboard) Bailey as they note she is pregnant by a schoolkid!  Lauren is upset by finally finding out what Ollie was keeping from her and stomps into the back room.  Adam continues to assert that everyone deserves a fair trial.  Adam and Daniel argue with Adam reminding Daniel he slept with the slapper.  Tracy asks if Daniel is going to put up with that.  Maggie tells them that as she does not want blood on her soft furnishings could they please take their dispute outside.  Daniel tells the Driscolls that he does not blame Will for attacking him as he was being groomed by a paedophile.  Maggie has had enough of her family's dirty washing being aired in public and orders them out of the Rovers.  Adam goes.  Tracy takes Daniel home.  Maggie announces the show is over.  

When I came to put fingers to keyboard I obviously need to check the writer and was not surprised that Jonathan Harvey was responsible.  He has been a writer since 2004 I believe and with the Megan storyline tonight he was able to give the performers in front of us those wonderful touches - Susie needing a shot, Alex returning from a wrestling tour, Battersbys at their best and of course a denouement in the Rovers plus the 180 degree volte face from Daniel, not forgetting a key cameo from Ken.  With the right material the entire team can deliver and tonight was class from everyone.  Thank you to the entire team for that episode.

Written by Jonathan Harvey and directed by Paul Riordan (not sure I have seen his name before so welcome aboard).

Kosmo

@Kosmo100

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Episode Review: Friday 19 December 2025

Welcome.  Christmas fast approaches but tonight Will celebrates his sixteenth birthday in style.  As far as he is concerned it means that he and Megan are legally able to exchange bodily fluids and he books a hotel room (164 at the Chariot Square of course - in the whole of Weatherfield there is only one hotel AND they book rooms just for the morning!) and he passes a key card to Megan for her to join him later.  At the Rovers Ben, Eva and Maggie play down his birthday to his face and then are busy putting up decorations whilst he is making the beast of two backs elsewhere (although they did not displace many of the rose petals).  He does not answer the phone to any of them but Ronnie Bailey had seen him earlier hanging around the hotel so Ben and Ollie hotfoot it over to the hotel and magically find his bedroom door which allows Megan to head into the bathroom before they enter and find how he has marked his special day.  Will leads them to think it is Chloe and Ben sorts a taxi for her back to the station as they take the lad off to his party at the Rovers where they imply he was simply seeking alcohol and not revealing his actual activities to Eva and Maggie.  Megan shaken by the mention of a Chloe wants explanations in the ginnel where she is found, invited to the party and then also to join the Driscoll's Christmas and stay over rather than having a turkey dinner for one in 'ull.  She accepts and so does Daniel who gets invited along as well.  The Driscoll's are looking forward to a wonderful family Christmas in their new home.  Can anyone spot any possible flaws in this dream?

Over a spot of notional cartomancy readings Maggie and Bernie bury the hatchet - it costs Maggie a dirty vodka martini on the house (not even a double - Bernie is slipping) and they agree not to mention their troubled grand off sprungs (Will and Brody) again.  Glenda explains the conversation between them noting that they speak a completely different language to the rest of us - weirdo-ese!

We were talking of Daniel who managed to find Bertie long enough to palm him off on Ken for the day doing some Christmassy arts and crafts and Bertie (unlike Glory who also popped in out of nowhere - are the schools on holiday?) actually managed a few words almost promising to be good for Ken who will no doubt want to teach him the art of the bells..

Dee Dee departed for Singapore.  There was a taxi, a family group plus Glory and Laila made appearances.  The Bailey family is down two more members.  Only four more to go (please).

Carl has lost his phone and we know that James sent him some sort of text message when hammered (when do sportsmen get hammered - oh yes when playing the Ashes).  Carl asks James if he has seen his phone and the latter tells him he needs to find it before Abi sees it.  Carl eventually finds down the back of a sofa and the message is along the lines of meet me at the Hotel and I will make it worth your while - which Abi reads over his shoulder have silently appeared in the background as he dug the phone out.  Carl explains that he is being excluded from Ronnie's stag night as Kev will be going and that James was offering a few drinks to offset his upset (James was offering the full Will booked room package but we will let that slide).  Abi swallows the story hook line and sinker and goes into battle for her man - after all Carl is also Debbie's brother and so is entitled to a night of handcuffing Ronnie to a lamp-post in his under grollies following the axe throwing and stripper as Glenda so delicately explains the stag evening .  Heaven help us.

Christmas preparations are also going well chez Metcalfe where Joanie Michaelis is finding life difficult.  The two girls add decorations to the tree and then go skating with Tim.  However later Fiz comes around with Hope and Ruby but Joanie feels she has a better offer for the evening as she considers Hope Dobbs is a nutter.  The offer is a party at Taylor Benton's who is in the year above Joanie.  Apparently Taylor is so cool she pierced her own nose with a staple gun!  Sally is not prepared to let Joanie go to an unknown person's house for a party and making friends with a staple gun user is not quite what Sally had in mind.  Sally voice slightly raised tells Joanie to like it lump it.  Cue teenage stomping upstairs.  Later Tim just about stops her leaving for the party and she and Sally argue with Joanie calling her a silly cow and that telling Sally she is not her mother before pulling the Christmas tree over.  Sally responds angrily refusing to keep pussyfooting around and tells Joanie to grow up.  Cue running up them stairs.  Tim takes Hope and Ruby for a can with Ty and Fiz stays to get Sally back on the straight and narrow as Fiz helps discuss parenting.  Later Sally sits Joanie down and tells her far more calmly that she is at a crossroads - they can show her the right road or she can take the wrong road - and they would all prefer she takes the right road.  Joanie at least seems to be listening but she has never known stability and boundaries and is bound to struggle.  When Tim returns Sally and Joanie are under a blanket, watching a Christmas film and drinking hot chocolate and for now all appears well. 

Sorry cannot waste tears on Dee Dee.  A theoretically smart lawyer working the back streets of Weatherfield can get a job in Singapore, taken in by an abuser, and trashing her promises to her brother.  Somewhere it all went wrong.  Will used a card to pay for the hotel room - in what name.  Megan knows the trail will cause her all sorts of problems at some point.  I hope Joanie can control herself - but I reckon she needs to learn coping mechanisms - or at least learning to count to ten.  Not sure when or what I will be reviewing next week.  However - it is time to wish my readers a Happy Christmas.

Written by Julie Jones and Chris Fewtrell.  Directed by Kodjo Tsakpo.

Kosmo

@Kosmo100

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Coronation Street Episode Review Friday 15 August 2025

After months of not being mentioned Dorin turned up tonight so that Steve could lose him playing hide and seek.  The whole world thought he had gone off in the broken fridge but luckily he was hiding in the back yard outhouse from which he emerged to swear Carl to secrecy.  Hope does not know her phone contains a picture compromising Carl and Abi as well as Ty's backside so when it falls out of a biscuit tin into a sink of water from which it might emerge working she is not amused.  Dorin was then allowed out of the shed and everyone, except Abi, was thankful he had been found - she worked out that Carl knew where he was and cannot trust him again.  However given his failure to look after Dorin Steve is homeless.  Hope is pretty tech savvy and it will all be backed up in the cloud, although she says not.  Hope however does not trust Carl - she thinks he did it on purpose - so at least she has something right.

Now that Ryan is living with Aunty Carla he can be told her secrets such as her intention to propose to Lisa.  She sets up the ring in the glass of champagne with Glenda for later.  Along the way we are reminded of Ty's proposal to Molly using the same trick where another couple in the same restaurant had a mariachi band to support the proposal!  Lisa eventually arrives at the Rovers and recounts how Becky proposed with a ring in a glass of champagne at which point Carla just about stops Glenda repeating the same trick.  Lisa wants to visit California so perhaps Carla could propose there?  It will be Carla's sixth wedding - she married Peter twice.  

Alya is finally looking for a job.  However the application goes nowhere.  Dee Dee misses Laila rolling over for the first time as reported by James.  So Dee Dee comes over all motherly and decides she has to go part time.  She tells Adam the solution is to employ Alya as a legal assistant as she needs a job and they need another pair of hands, even if Adam is sleeping with her.  

The fallout from the attack on Noah continues.  Danielle is convinced that Theo is responsible for the attack and bans Theo from seeing the children; plus Lisa Swain invites Theo down to the station to answer a few questions about the attack under full caution.  Noah did not see his attacker.  Theo claims he was at home all evening with Todd who confirms the alibi.  Gary does not admit he did it - but the way he is talking it looks like that he was in fact responsible, but later both Todd and Theo wonder what sort of monster they have released in Gary.  

Ronnie thinks Debbie joining a dementia choir might be a good idea.  And is it likely that Debbie will consider it a good idea?  An inevitable row follows which gets worse when Ronnie shows little interest in wedding rings - which he was not planning to wear after the wedding.  Eventually there is compromise on both sides.

And in news which I did not want to hear Carl tells Abi he does not want "this" to end.  Worse - nor does Abi as she wants it to go on forever.  These two are just so wrong.  Please end this story next week.

Just to note that the last gig Roy attended was the Spinners in 1978 (possibly 14 October - Manchester Free Trade Hall £1).  Farewell concert in 2021.  

Written by Chris Fewtrell and Simon Crowther.  Directed by Richard Lynn.

Kosmo

@Kosmo100

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