Welcome to Friday night on t'Street. Shona has not been home since "yesterday" but has sent Roy a message to day she will not be in as she is not feeling well (a headache) as he tells David who is looking for her. When she does re-appear she rows with David but eventually two wise old men sit down with the couple separately - Roy with Shona and Max with David - to effectively remind both of them that they love each other and that Clayton might be important to Shona and objectionable to David the latter has to learn to live with that. Which is all well and good until David discovers that Shona took the "morning after" pill this morning and that Daniel happens to have Shona's purse in his bag as he found it down the back of the sofa after Adam brought her home last night. Given Adam's reputation of chasing women David reckons that Adam and Shona spent the night together - which Adam denies as he slept on the sofa (on the purse) and Shona had his bed. David accepts the story.
We do not get to see Les's funeral but before leaving the Street Leanne is making a real song and dance to get Nick's attention, which simply acts to wind up Toyah. At the wake in the Bistro Leanne tells Nick that she has spoken to Mrs Crawshaw and gained approval for Sam to go on holiday with Nick so that they can have some family time. Les's committal was with "All the Reasons" by Status Quo which fitted his memory well, after all Rick Parfitt did hit him. Leanne spots Nick and Toyah being friendly and immediately breaks down in tears so Nick can comfort her. Chesney remains unsure about the abattoir and the offer of £50k between them to sign an NDA. His concerns grow when he is approached by Jim a fellow abattoir employee who says the place is an accident waiting to happen - the floors are not properly cleaned, there have been injuries - but Les would not drink on duty and so it was not his fault. Les head butting Curly and running over Theresa (the turkey) also get mentioned.
Debbie Webster has a new car - which for those interested is a TVR 280S S1 which apparently needs some attention from Kevin as the tyres seem a bit wonky. Apparently convertibles are always cheaper at this time of year. Bethany and Sarah consult Adam - but despite another botched op no legal action can be taken in this country - but it might be possible to pursue a director or shareholder if there was one based in the UK and what a surprise Debbie is a shareholder! Sarah and Bethany take matters into their own hands and confronts Debbie at the Chariot Square hotel. Later Sarah openly keys the new car in front of Kevin. Kit wanders past and invites Sarah to go somewhere quiet to explain herself - which she does back at the flat.
Glenda, George, Mary and Brian appear together a couple of times - firstly discussing Christmas films and then Noddy Holder but seemingly unaware of Stan Potter - before their time I suppose. Later they foregather in the Rovers to provide an audience for a further exchange between Sarah and Debbie and to discuss France where Mary on a flight of fancy recalls spending six months with a farmhand! Debbie uses the opportunity of the row to tell Sarah that Bethany lied at the support group about it being cancer - which Daniel over hears and instantly cannot believe that Bethany lied about the cause of her stoma. Bethany admits that they assumed it was cancer and she did not correct them.
Ramping up the Christmas spirit David is trying to decorate the house and Dev is serving bratwurst - as if anyone could turn down Dev's sausage (even if it does smell).
Gail and Jesse appear in the Rovers - Gail is insistent on selling the house and going to look at the new builds near the Red Rec. Jesse fancies a villa in the South of France and seeks to convince Gail they will enjoy it. Once home they switch on the lights on the now decorated tree - they come on and then go off. Then Jesse points out their shipping name #Jail and they both laugh and hug.
Finally at the Rovers David and Shona are about to have a celebratory reconciliation beer. Adam enters and David offers him a drink as reparation for the earlier accusation. Adam then admits that Shona told him almost everything last night - but not the "who". This upsets Shona who tells David she is not feeling well but as she attempts to leave Kit enters and says "We gonna talk about last night?". So at the moment the implication is that Shona got herself rat-arsed, had some form of congression with an individual who may or may not have been Kit, was in some way found distraught by Adam who ensured she encountered no further harm but who knows much of the story. And of course it may all be a red-herring. Roll credits.
Last weekend the Sun on Sunday interviewed Sean Wilson who confirmed that following a voluntary interview with Greater Manchester Police they will be taking no further action over the report they had received about him which was materially at variance with the information initially provided by an unknown source to ITV Studios which prevented his anticipated return to Coronation Street. I record this here because I feel one or two individuals seem to have conspired, with little available evidence, to destroy a whole body of work which the professional team at ITV Studios developed to explain Gail's departure and which in terms of the overall programme potentially reflected, for the long term viewers, a more welcome leaving story. We cannot now know how that story was going to run and speaking purely personally I feel "I wuz robbed". Sean Wilson has obviously spoken for himself and in the light of other recent allegations it is inevitable that management had to take the steps it did.
Written by David Proud and Joe Parkinson. Mr Parkinson has penned one previous episode but has been involved in storylines for many years. Directed by Katie Fenton-Green.
Kosmo
