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 28 March 2025

Good evening.  I never seem to know if I am going to be here or not.  And then when I am I was somewhere else.  Daisy is fuming that Jenny has apparently come into money and has not told her so is not being that nice this morning as Daniel tries to get Bertie ready.  Tracy and Amy have stayed at the flat overnight as they could not stay at Number One (we see the boarded up front door later on).  Bertie has a mother's day card for Daisy.  We are then reminded that Daisy had a baby brother Tom who called daffodils "dilly daffs".  Tom never appeared and died in a tragic accident a little while before Jenny returned to the Street.  Bertie has to go to the dentist and Jenny Daisy has to go to the hospital.  Daisy says she will ask if Jenny can take Bertie.  Jenny pops in on Carla to offer her the £60k as part payment on however much she owes.  Carla is not accommodating and tells her to sell the pub and pay in full - use the cash as part deposit for a business loan and give me my money now.  Jenny goes, Carla picks up her phone by Lisa has not responded to any of her messages.  Jenny collects Bertie in the cafe and tells Daisy that Carla knows Daisy can no longer pay the money back (because it went to David to pay Harvey in case you were asleep).  Bertie takes a football to the dentist and when Jenny gets distracted by a phone call he starts kicking it against the wall.  The next thing Jenny knows is that Bertie is no longer visible and we can guess that he has slipped up the ginnel between Street Cars and the Metcalfes' house - but of course Jenny does not have the advantage of the map I have in front of me. The great Bertie hunt commences with Amy and Tracy getting involved.

Lisa has to admit to Betsy that she is concentrating on her and not Carla at the moment - Betsy is not stupid and points out that Rob would be enjoying this and she knows Lisa's phone is pinging and not being answered.  Betsy tells Lisa to talk to Carla, do not let Rob win.  Lisa returns to the flat and apologises - she spent the night in a hotel but barely slept.  Lisa admits that she does not need space - she needs Carla.  So that reconciliation worked.  Carla loves both mother and daughter and knows it is a package deal and she does not want to replace Becky.  Lisa is of course struggling with Betsy being in hospital because of her actions.  And Betsy has yet to be told.  Carla says that Betsy will come round - and if they can get through this they can get through anything.  

Steve is on the cab office switch when Tim arrives to say that Sally has left a book of inspirational quotes in the toilet and he has read it ten times.  Cassie comes in and having missed the bus wants a cab into town.  Steve says her custom is not welcome but Tim offers to take her.  Tim asks Steve if he can sit in their house as he is expecting a Mothers' Day present to be delivered from Rosie and Eileen will be on the switch shortly.  Steve is offered a pint which makes up his mind.  As a parting shot before slamming the door Cassie tells Steve that she cannot keep apologising.  She is stuck and will be around - could he just get used to it?  At Tim's Steve gets to read the book and we are shown "Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself" and "No matter how much you focus on the past, there is nothing new to see".  Steve invites Cassie round to the Metcalfes and he says he was out of order before.  He accepts she is trying and after a few cracks he gets one of Cassie's warm smiles as she knows he is missing her.  The next we see they are coming downstairs in the Metcalfes' dressing gowns.  Something escalated.  And the hot tub looks very inviting.  In the back Bertie's ball has made it into the tub and Bertie cannot reach it.  {Historically comments have been made about the tub water being cold but there is definitely steam coming off it tonight}.  Cassie and Steve emerge into the garden before any harm is done.  Steve then comes onto the Street in the dressing gown, waves at Jenny and she goes into the Metcalfes' house.  The spectacle is witnessed by Amy, Glenda and Summer.  Cassie has Bertie wrapped in a towel.  He was not in the tub for long and indeed his hair does not look wet.  But of course it brings back some traumatic memories for Jenny.  Daisy takes Bertie off to be checked.  Tim comes back and finds a "your parcel is at the sorting office" notice through the door and that Steve and Cassie are wearing dressing gowns whilst Jenny and Daisy tear strips off each other.  At the hospital Bertie wants a wheelchair!  There is nothing wrong with Bertie.  They go home. 

Michael is back from holiday so the family are around Dee Dee as she gets some Braxton Hicks and has a hospital visit and comes to the realisation that James and partner raising the child of the devil in the United States might be a better solution so all the applications are going to be made as he and Danny will make brilliant parents (and of course can have regular head transplants).  The family celebrate in the Rovers.  Can someone remind me are Glenda and Michael still a thing?

With Tim kicking off, Steve has second thoughts and kicks Cassie into touch.  She agrees it was a mistake and goes.  Tim pulls on rubber gloves and says he is going to fumigate the entire house.  

Back at Number One Tracy receives a phone call - no charges will be brought as Rob has admitted that he threatened her and has admitted everything.  Tracy is a little surprised Rob has told the truth.  Tracy soon hears that Cassie and Steve were together in Tim's house so she is going to kill him.  Amy cannot stop her mother.  Steve has gone into hiding but when he returns to Number One instead of being the hero of the hour Tracy calls him a snidey little git.  He would need a wash after being with that skank again.  Steve says it was a one-off and it won't happen again.  Tracy says it had better not or his life is not going to be worth living - she will see to it.  

Lisa comes into Betsy's room and confirms that all is well with Carla.  Betsy can still feel nothing but Lisa is sure feeling will return.  However Lisa has something to explain and tells her how events took place inside Number One and so she did not wait for backup because Carla was in there and recounts events.  She had her finger on the trigger as they struggled.  Betsy just listens and says she does not blame Lisa for the gun discharging - but Betsy asks if she had thought about being shot herself and leaving an orphan.  Betsy accuses her of wanting to be hero and has a right go at her mother.  As anticipated if Lisa does not care about her then Betsy does not want anything from her mother and gets up unaided.  Back at Carla's flat Lisa confirms she has told Betsy and from the tears Carla guesses that it did not go well.  Carla assures Lisa that Betsy will come round over time although Lisa says she can see Betsy's concerns. 

Jenny comes back to the Rovers with a determined look on her face as she takes a bottle of wine through to the back.  Daisy joins Jenny in the backroom and reports Bertie is fine.  She tells Jenny that she cannot be trusted around children.  She warns Daisy not to mention Tom, but Daisy cannot help herself.  Jenny tries to get Daisy to calm down.  It does not work.  So Jenny says that her memory of what happened to Tom was that she did not leave him on his own - he was with Daisy and she has spent 12 years pretending that she does not blame Daisy.  But she does. It was Daisy's fault.  Daisy is finding it hard to believe.  Daisy said she was 16 which is old enough to look after a younger brother.  for two minutes whilst Jenny went into the house for her purse.  Jenny says she asked Daisy to mind Tom - but Daisy does not remember that.  She does remember talking to the lad next door.   Flirting throws back Jenny.  Jenny will never get married, have children because Daisy deprived her of those moments.  Jenny took the blame because she did not want Daisy to feel bad.  So as Daisy could not look after her brother for two minutes, 12 years ago, she is not cut out to be a mother at all and it is just as well that she lost her baby.  Daisy retreats, the door is slammed.  Back at the flat Daisy makes a phone call asking for help with something.

Too many hospital visits, too much shouting, too much falling out, not enough making up.  And frankly it has been a pretty awful week all round.  I apologise if my views are out of sync but I am currently struggling with the gap between reality and what is happening in Weatherfield.  I am not sure I can care about James and Danny wanting to be parents out of nowhere or the passing of Tom suddenly being brought into focus.  Quite who owns the Rovers and how a business loan will solve someone's financial problems all get lost in the morass.  Will management please take a step back and take out 50% of the stories and tell the remaining 50% with care and time and deep involvement of cast members so that we can believe in them?  At the very least there is simply no possibility that Betsy would have been in the ginnel as the police would have cleared it long before they went in and before the armed officers arrived, neighbouring properties would have been cleared.  It did not happen that quickly and Kit was there well before the armed response.  

Written by Stacey-Lee Brennan and Steven Fay.  Directed by Gary Williams.

Kosmo

@Kosmo100

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Coronation Street episode review Friday 24 January 2020

Corrie opened with this overhead shot of Jade lying prone on the floor following a battering with a chopping board; oddly these are usually considered less dangerous than knives - but in the wrong hands you can be laid low as Jade found.  I suspect most viewers thought Jade deserved the little tap which Fiz administered.  Ty confirms she is alive and then when Evelyn returns with Ruby and Hope the door into the room is closed and Jade obviously recovers and does a runner out the back.  Never to return?  Ty cannot find her - but she is lying in a heap in that odd little ginnel that goes nowhere off Victoria Street.  Eventually Fiz tells Evelyn she hit Jade - which is why she is scrubbing the blood out of the carpet.

The time dilation effect which sometimes strikes Corrie is strange tonight as the first episode is a continuation of the same day as Wednesday.  Tim returns from trying to borrow from Kev to tell Charlie that he had failed to borrow the money.  She is refusing to sign the divorce papers until she can clear her debts - after all he can afford a cleaner (Abi - who didn't do any cleaning).  Faye comes home and is introduced to her step-mummy!  Tim explains all to Faye who extorts £50 to keep her silence (above is her observation on events).  Later in the Rovers Emma offers to lend Tim the money which shames Steve and Kev to offer to help Tim as Steve will not let Emma use her father's money like that.  Tim is much relieved.  However Eileen and Emma are now in on the "secret". 

In the Rovers Sarah and Maria cross paths.  Sarah makes it clear she is not jealous and she is not trying to wind up Maria and she does wish them all the best.  She believes that at some point Gary will let Maria down - either sleep with another woman or lie in some way.  Sarah does not want to be in the position that she then finds that she could have warned Maria who has suffered through her silence.  Maria is left to ponder her words.  A little later Gary's phone goes and he takes the call in the Rovers' yard, Maria eavesdrops and it sounds entirely like he is plotting a trip to spend time with another woman.  He shows Maria his phone - he was talking to Jake.  She eventually believes him.   Once they are back in the flat Maria apologises for earlier events and when Nicola texts suggesting a meeting Maria goes further (above) and suggests that it could be a family outing with Liam and Jake.  They are a spread out higgledy piggledy family and they should spend time together.

Bethany is not happy and Alya tells her to take the shift off from the Bistro and get her head straight.  She runs into Daniel in the Kabin (where Rita is once again behind the counter) and she sounds off about Ray.  Daniel suggests they have a cup of tea in his flat to discuss her resignation.  Bethany enumerates her worries and Daniel says she needs to ignore most of them and perhaps she should consider leaving Weatherfield.  Bethany does not grasp it as a good idea.  Daniel continues to expand on the possibilities if she leaves and reminds her of the creative writing course; he opens the laptop and gets her to complete the application online now, during which Daniel and Bertie pop out to the shop, meeting Maria who spots that Bertie is running a temperature.  Daniel gets worked up about Bertie and Bethany departs (above) as she realises that she will never register on any scale of importance to Daniel when Bertie has a problem - but inevitably the scene has now been set for Bethany to leave the Street.

Tim gives Charlie the cheque in Roy's Rolls and Jenny pops in to place an advert for a new barmaid at the Rovers as she is short staffed.  We are not shown Charlie reading the advert or being interviewed - but the next we know she is on an initial trial shift and has not signed the divorce papers as she had been distracted by getting a job.  We do see Charlie (above) being introduced as the new barmaid as a little miracle! 

Billy and Paul are playing darts (or according to the subtitles "arras" which is something completely different) when Bernie joins them at which point Paul loses his relaxed happy air because she suggests Paul consider the dartboard to be Kel's head.  Bernie gets an earful from Rita who tells the grand-quad-mother that she should be pulling her weight.  Bernie grasps the point and next we see her cleaning up after the fire.  Paul and Billy bring back fish and chips which gives Billy a chance of giving some vicarly advice that her presence is stopping Paul getting better.  Later Bernie comes to Billy's flat and tells Paul that she is leaving town and asks him to tell Gemma when she returns.  Billy and Paul later cross the Street to see Bernie depart (above) in a StreetCars car.

We see nothing of Geoff - but Yasmeen takes a chilling phone call from him implying that she has taken too long shopping (above) - immediately before she finds the crumpled Jade in the ginnel.  By the time she has summoned help for Jade she would have been even later.

Ty and Fiz discuss the latter handing herself into the police as they all think Jade has gone to report the assault.  Evelyn counsels against honesty and they agree a story just before the police knock on the door to ask about a potential assault on Jade who was found near Victoria Street which Evelyn observes is a long way from Coronation Street - with a straight face!  The police get nothing and depart allowing Hope to explain why she ran away - to visit her father.  Hope asks them to tell her about John Stape; Fiz does not explain much more than that he was a good teacher.  Hope insists she wants her sister Jade.  Fiz decides she cannot lie to the children and is going to the police when Jade knocks and is ushered into the house.  Jade has told the police that she was mugged and did not see who was responsible.  Fiz tells her about John Stape and Jade insists that John loved her, never forgot her birthdays or Christmas and always knew about her.  Fiz says that John never mentioned Jade and that she needs to talk to her mother.  Jade explains she just wanted a relationship with her sister and although she does not know how would like to make it up to the family.  Evelyn has her own theory (above).  As Jade leaves Hope rushes downstairs and asks to go with her.  Jade tells Hope that she has to be with Fiz and Ty.  Fiz makes it clear that she would rather rot in prison than let Jade and Hope meet - Ty proposes an armed guard.  We all know that Fiz will eventually relent so perhaps Jade may return.

Comings and Goings tonight - thank you Mr Pooter.  Jade has gone and may not return - I cannot work it out.  Bernie has gone; unlike some I was not keen - was she really so disconnected not to know what was happening to Paul?  Charlie has arrived; I really would like to see her stay but suspect that a meeting with Sally will terminate her existence.  Despite all of Sarah's warnings Maria has decided for the sake of the baby to buckle down and carry on.  Sarah's "I told you so" will hang over them for a long time.

Written by David Isaac & Joe Turner, directed by Sean Healy.

Kosmo
@Kosmo100

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