Coronation Street Episode Review Friday 24 July 2026

I think we are still on Thursday episodes but next week we might well have caught up!  Much of tonight's activity centres around Maria who decides to visit her murderous mate, Sarah-Lou, in prison and to reveal that Gary has blabbed.  Sarah feels she needs to explain her wish to keep Kit's nose out of it and instead it will cost Gary his wife, his kids and his freedom.  Sarah Lou (as Maria calls her) squirms and accepts that Maria would like to rip her head off.  Maria gets her claws out and digs them into Sarah Lou pointing out that Harry might be used to a new step-father every month - but her kids are not.  Sarah promises that she will never use Gary's name.  She tells Maria to go home and sort it out with Gary.  That seems unlikely.

Shona gets some good news - Harper is coming home tomorrow - that will be Sunday then.  

Carla and Lisa manage to organise a date night until DS Swain-Connor's phone goes off and there is a new development in the Silverton case and she is going to be extra busy for the rest of the day!  In similar good news we also find that Sam is coming home tomorrow to the reveal that Sarah has been locked up.  Nick is worried it will set Sam back.

DS Connor-Swains busy day is driven by Sarah's availability to be interviewed.  The DS has Sarah's phone records and knows that she phoned Gary but before the questioning gets underway Sarah decides it is time to 'fess up and she admits she killed Theo in self defence.  She exchanged a few pleasantries with Gary but he was not involved in any way and she cannot remember what she did with the murder weapon or where it is now.  So it looks like Sarah will be leaving the Street for a while.  However she has not really thought through this whole confession lark so sounds completely unbelievable when the inevitable questions are served up by the DS.  The cracks are showing and the DS is not swallowing the crumbs she has been thrown.  Kit breaks the bad news to the Platt family.  

In case you had forgotten Eva and Maria are not the best of friends - it is all to do with Aidan who had a fling with Maria when courting Eva ending with a fight in the fountain on the wedding day.  At Audrey's they are daggers drawn with Eva refusing to let Maria anywhere near her tresses whilst a little later (and having consumed her body weight in alcohol Maria has more than a few digs at Maria.  Sadly no fisticuffs. 

Anyway we know Kit does not like Gary and also that he loves Sarah - is he plotting to save his beloved at the expense of Windass?  He certainly seems to be implying that Sarah is not going anywhere if he can avoid it.  Sarah says she is letting him go - but Kit is going nowhere and he promises to look after Harry and Bethany.  Sarah also issues Kit with a warning about Jodie.

Returning home very much the worse for wear Maria tells Gary she has been barred from the Rovers.  Gary makes it clear that he loves Maria and not Sarah.  Eventually Maria relents and it looks like Gary will not be sleeping on the sofa tonight.  

We close with Kit and Harry hugging, both wanting Sarah back with them.

Unless there is one of those twists we should have seen coming I have to say Sarah's future looks pretty bleak.  Harper and Sam will be back soon so hopefully the flags will be flying on Sunday.

Written by Ella Greenhill and directed by David Kester.

---

Coronation Street Episode Review Friday 11 July 2025

Good evening.  Gary comes round.  He is surprised to find he is called Chesney Winter-Brown and has a wife called Gemma and comes to the conclusion that the bang on his head has done real damage.  He uses a phone to call the landline at Audrey's to speak to Maria and the nursing staff think he has two wives when she arrives at the hospital.  He gives Maria his wife's phone number and it turns out to be Lou's mobile.  Maria then phones the landline at the salon as well and entreats David to keep Lou there until she can get back.  Lou denies any involvement but then admits (accidentally) to knowing that Gary's credit card was used to buy food at which point Maria somehow manages to summon the police who whisk Lou off to the cop shop for an interrogation.

In a fascinating diversion Lou earlier planted Gary's bank card on Summer who accidentally tips her bag out in front of Nina before both are interviewed by the police after the police received an anonymous tip off (from Lou) that they had assaulted Gary/Chesney.  Frankly m'dear they were not capable of such violence and even DC Green comes to the same conclusion but Nina turns on Summer because she cannot explain having the card.  Nina and Summer are not on speakers any longer.

Randomly Ollie chats up Dee Dee in the Rovers whilst she is looking at a picture of James and Laila.  Olllie is a ducker and diver and gets to buy her a drink.  James is not really talking to Dee Dee after the events of yesterday but he tracks her down in the Rovers to tell her that he is pushing ahead with the adoption full steam.  Otherwise James and Dee Dee are not on speakers.  Dee Dee visits the Bailey house later and asks Laila if she remembers her.  Dee admits to Ed that she might be having doubts.  She is heading to Glasgow for a few days to get things straight in her head.

Aadi is trying to help Lauren and buys her an air fryer as a flat warming present (and obviously he still feels immensely guilty but she does not know that).  Earlier Shona had assured Lauren that boys of that age only have one thing on their mind and so Lauren tells Aadi to stuff the fryer where the sun does not shine and storms off.  Later she espies Aadi being the good samaritan and changing Fiz's flat tyre out of the goodness of his heart and suspects she might have misjudged the lad and Shona then advises her that she might need to apologise for her earlier intemperance.  But at the moment there is no speakers between Aadi and Lauren.

Kev is finding it impossible to maintain the deception that he has cancer.  He eats a meal deal in the precinct and Ty gets a pictorial record challenging him later.  He promises Ty he will tell Abi later even if she leaves him - but Abi comes home with a booking for a couple of nights in a nice hotel in the Lake District so he cannot tell her and just about everyone knows now apart from Abi and Debbie - so all will soon become clear - both will want to kill him.  

Social services agree to Brody, Joanie and Shanice staying with Sal, although Brody prefers his own bed but the girls get a sleepover.  Brody is able to speak to Mick who is kitted up with a mobile phone and tells Brody to keep the phone turned on as something is going down tomorrow.

I am a little caustic at times in these reviews and I have to admit that trying to navigate the excruciating plot (black) holes in this episode has left me struggling.  I am not going to enumerate them; but a reminder that this is a Manchester back street where people tell us about their lives and relationships living in the 'hood.  Can we please get back to stories about the people, interacting on the Street, not in a hospital, or a police station?  Entertainment in the Rovers, family dinners and scenes in the knicker stitching room please.  Getting Gary to try and act his socks off whilst lying in a bed with that stupid tube up his nose (does that ever happen in a hospital?) is an ask too far.  

Written by Alasdair Morrison and David Isaac.  Directed by Chantelle Kayll.

Kosmo

@Kosmo100

---

Coronation Street Episode Review Friday 13 June 2025

Good evening.  I have returned and will therefore provide a brief update of events on Friday night.  Much centred around the Platt household who were having a house re-warming episode to exorcise Gail and to show off all the new furniture and decorations in the house.  This is mainly a barbecue in the garden but David is keen to show off the new furniture including the table for which an oak tree died and on which Shona is not permitted to place any nibbles when the family start arriving.  Audrey has decided that instead of a family party she is going to a farewell drinks do with her former neighbours in Grasmere Drive, whilst there are ructions when Shona admits to asking Leanne (who cannot make it) as Nick is keen to remind her of the sins which Leanne committed.  They all express views on how they might redecorate their pads - all sound a little outrageous!  

A running sore throughout the episodes is Lou (and her children) who has a run in with Maria in the first two minutes after advising Liam not to get stressed over his chemistry GCSE if he is not going to be a scientist.  Later she observes Audrey put the salon cash takings (really?) in a brown envelope and give them to Shona for banking as David had forgotten to do it.  Shona leaves her phone on the salon counter.  Lou tells Brody that the family need to do more to fit in if living around the Street but he is not bothered, nor will he pick up the girls later so Lou leans on Tim who collapses without much resistance and agrees to look after them.  Joanie and Shanice are watching television quite politely when Sal returns from work.  Tim sells it to Sally as getting some practice in before the social workers appear again.  Sal defers her planned beauty session and comes downstairs moaning about Tim's untidy habits and voices get raised.  The two girls get quite upset.  Eventually peace is restored and we learn about the arguments in the girl's house. Later Tim and Sally start wondering if Lou is a fit mother and that perhaps Lou should not be permitted to collect the girls.  They believe that something must be done.

Along at Carla's flat Lisa is house hunting and staring at remote country cottages whilst Carla has her heart set on a city centre, open floor plan with a roof terrace and a coffee shop less than 2 minutes away.  So this is going to be hard to achieve.  Lisa is quite dismissive of the floor to ceiling windows in these loft places!  Carla suggests Ancoats and apparently you need £0.5m!  Betsy appears from the bedroom and the house hunting computer is rapidly closed.  Betsy makes an excuse that she is seeing Dylan today so cannot go to lunch with her mother.  She is of course lying and with new bestie Lauren the two of them are at the local prison waiting to see Logan Ratcliffe, although he is not so keen to see them it seems.  However Steve is able to tell Lisa at lunchtime in the Rovers that Betsy and Lauren are in prison visiting someone - Highfield.  Logan eventually emerges and effectively plays with her wish to know the truth - asking for money and implying he might know more than he probably does.  Eventually admits he is winding Betsy up.  Betsy returns home and is challenged by Lisa.  After some discussion the great soap lie emerges "no more secrets" and they tell Betsy about buying a house together and that the allegation against Becky were falsified.  They settle down on the sofa and start looking at properties on the interwebby thingy.

Whilst David and Nick argue over the barbecue Lou pops into return Shona's phone and gets invited to stay for a drink, Maria's body language at Lou's arrival is worth a thousand words. Gary arrives a little later with Vin Diesel which David thought had been put in the skip but it was rescued and as Gary has not sold it he donates it back to David.  Gary gets himself a drink and exchanges a few words with Lou which leads to Maria storming across the garden to pick a fight with the woman chatting to her man.  Gary tells her to back off.  Later food is being consumed even if the courgette is completely cremated and Maria spots Lou slipping indoors.  Nick proposes a toast to the Platts - love, peace and harmony.  When Lou comes down from the toilet she is tempted by the salon cash and goes to Shona's bag looks at it and puts it back - Maria comes in and after exchanging words there is a scuffle.  Glass smashes and Lou is lying on the remains of that nice new table.

In the interest of trying to put things right Gary, as the only sober person, takes Lou, who claims she was pushed, to hospital.  He argues with Maria and Shona proves the money is still in her bag.  At the hospital Lou is patched up in no time at all with a couple of stitches and Gary convinces her not to report it to the police after admitting that things are not good between him and Maria at present.  He returns home where he catches David and Maria talking and he gets the hump saying that having heard both sides he reckons that Lou's story is more credible.  Later Maria challenges Gary saying that he fancies her - he tells her she is being ridiculous and later he goes off in a huff.  Lou phones Tim who is talked into letting them have a sleepover - so there is no-one to be able to give an alibi for either Lou or Gary so I think we can all guess what might happen next.  What does happen is that the police come into the Rovers and Maria is arrested on suspicion of actual bodily harm against Louise Michaelis.  .

There were some scenes involving George and Todd both pining for Eileen and Theo respectively.  I think they were supposed to be comedic but sad people do not always make for strong comedy.  As ever the Platt family en famille were highly entertaining and long may that continue.

Written by Julie Jones and Mark Wadlow.  Directed by Marcus Lee.

Kosmo

@Kosmo100

---