MONDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 8th and 10th February 1993
Good news at number six: there was a buyer for Des's house! To celebrate, Lisa nipped out for a bottle of wine from the Rovers. She dropped her purse on the way back across the Street and, as she bent down, Ashley the vicar from Emmerdale drove round the corner and smacked into her. She fell into a coma. Her parents visited the hospital and argued with Jack and Vera, blaming the Duckworth family for ruining her life, which is pretty accurate to be fair. (Incidentally, the writers deserve massive kudos for really building up this traffic plot - for weeks we've been told about Coronation Street being used as a cut through, and so Lisa's accident feels inevitable). Curly perved all over Angie, staring at her legs and buying her red wine to try and get her going, even though (a) she'd told him she wasn't interested and (b) she was with Neil The Hot Builder. She decided she was going to have to move out. Boo! Tracy apologised to Maggie and got her job at the florists back. It didn't mean the end of her minx ways, as she kept Doug dangling for the money in his bank account, and she reacted with horror when she realised he was spending the night with Deirdre.
TUESDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 12th and 15th February 1993
Terry got compassionate leave to see Lisa in hospital, but there wasn't much compassion to go around as he launched himself at Des. He was dragged away by the prison guards and Vera blamed Des, of course. Sadly, Lisa then relapsed and died. While Des was grief stricken, Vera grabbed baby Tommy from Sally, deciding she was going to give up her job to look after him. The Hortons tried to take him but Jack threw them out. Meanwhile Des turned up at the home of his surrogate mum, the wonderful Phyllis, and she told him he needed to stay strong and that people cared for him. Tracy didn't meet Doug at the building society to give him his cash, pretending that the cheque hadn't cleared. She kept him dangling, leaving Kevin curious about why Doug kept chatting to a teenage girl.
WEDNESDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 17th and 19th February 1993
Tracy continued her pursuit of Doug, offering to give him his cash at a wine bar. He had to break off a date with Deirdre to meet her, She arrived all gussied up, but when he realised she didn't have his money, he turned on her and called her a silly little girl. Jack warned Des off attending the funeral, but he went anyway, watching from a distance. Both sets of parents spotted him though and told him it was all his fault. Meanwhile Terry told Vera he didn't want Tommy in his life, because he is an absolute scumbag. The one way system was dropped so Coronation Street was a lot quieter. Deirdre wondered if Lisa's death had changed the council's mind, but Alf reckoned it was due to Sally's campaign.
THURSDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 22nd and 24th February 1993
Ted's awful family continued their pursuit of Rita over his will. Derek was called as a witness for the prosecution and he was predictably useless, admitting he'd said Ted was out of his mind. The Judge decided to put the will aside and give everything to Rita, meaning the grasping relatives got nothing, but she had to pay the costs. Deirdre saw Doug talking to Tracy and jumped to the wrong conclusion. He told her about the money, so she paid him back from Tracy's account - in the form of a cheque, putting him right back where he started. Mike agreed to cash it for him but took £500 as payment. Raquel went to console Des and they ended up in bed together. She tried to comfort him a little more and he told her to stay away; he felt guilty for using her.
FRIDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 26th and 1st March 1993
Audrey brought a box of provisions round to the Duckworths' for baby Tommy. Vera tried to turn them away as charity, but Jack took them, and he reminded Vera that they had only one wage coming in now. Social Services also paid a call, offering help with taking care of the baby, but Vera worried that if they claimed benefits the rich Hortons would be able to take him away from her. Vicky lied to her headmistress that Alec was ill so she could go on a jaunt with Steve to sell t-shirts in Birmingham. Steve drained the battery of his car so they had to stay in a hotel overnight. Angie took over the tenancy of Alma's cafe flat, while Mike spoiled Mark and left Nicky wanting to be spoiled too. Gail refused and also turned down Audrey's attempts to treat him so he didn't end up an obnoxious brat. Too late.
MONDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 3rd and 5th March 1993
Angie moved into the cafe flat and shared a tender moment with Neil the Hot Builder. Unfortunately he wasn't as committed, and went to Denise to ask if they could suspend the divorce because he still loved her. Denise told him it was unfair on Angie. Vera and Jack were exhausted and hard up from looking after Tommy. They were reduced to eating mashed potatoes for their tea - not as an accompaniment, just a plate of mash. None the less, Vera declined any offer of help. Dr Carr phoned Bet to enquire about Alec's health, so Liz was forced to admit Vicky was in a hotel with Steve. Bet went on the warpath, lecturing both the teenagers about the dangers of pregnancy and putting the fear of God into them. Ivy was babysitting the Platt children when Carmel turned up. Not knowing she was a nutter, she invited her to wait. Gail and Martin returned to find the loon in their lounge, whereupon Carmel announced she was carrying Martin's baby...
TUESDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 8th and 10th March 1993
At first, Gail refused to believe Martin was the father of Carmel's baby. Unfortunately Don let slip about them sleeping in the same bed at New Year to Ivy, and of course the Human Weeping Sore took no time telling Gail. He admitted he should've told her but insisted nothing happened; Gail didn't believe him. Phyllis won a competition in a magazine by writing about the love of her life. Unfortunately, part of the prize was a slap up dinner and an interview with her and her man, and she had to confess to Percy that she'd written about him. Emily told him to help Phyllis out by pretending he was with her so she could get her £100 prize money.
WEDNESDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 12th and 15th March 1993
Curly took on a replacement for Vera at Bettabuy: Sherrie Hewson as a certain Maureen Naylor. Reg was shocked to discover she was the former Maureen Grimes, a long lost love of his, while I Will Always Love You played in the background. They'd been engaged thirty years ago but her fearsome mother had put an end to it. He was delighted to hear she was divorced. Percy and Phyllis went out on their special date, accompanied by a reporter, going to a beauty salon and a posh dinner. Against his better judgement, Percy had a good time. Angie held a flat warming party where everyone danced to Take That and drank Special Brew. Neil got drunk and hung around Denise the whole time. Curly tried to warn Angie, but she thought he was just being jealous, until Denise started dancing with Jim and Neil lost his temper. He tried to belt Jim but missed and gave Reg a fat lip instead. Denise told Angie about him trying to cancel the divorce. Angie immediately took his wallet and his CDs and dumped them in his cement mixer because she is magnificent. Gail went to see Martin's principal because she was worried he was going to drop the nursing course to avoid Carmel; she revealed that Carmel had already been in and told her all about her "affair" with Martin. Carmel told Gail that she should just give it up because Martin would be hers in the end.
THURSDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 17th and 19th March 1993
Neil told Denise he was over her and tried to get back together with Angie, even if they were just friends. She told him she didn't want to know but when he cooked her a meal she relented and invited him to stay the night. Oh Ange. I know Neil is hotter than the sun but you deserve better. Carmel turned up at Sally's saying that she was going to take David to a birthday party. When Sally refused to let her take him, she lost her temper, and Sally threw her out. Gail went to her digs to confront her and tell her to leave them alone. They had a tussle at the top of the stairs and Carmel plunged down them. She broke a leg, but when the Platts asked about the baby, the doctor told them there wasn't a baby and never had been. Martin rightly went nuts at her and had to be dragged out the hospital. It got worse: Carmel told the police that Gail had pushed her down the stairs deliberately. This wasn't the most horrific part of the episode though: that was Andy returning from uni for the holidays with an absolutely terrible haircut.
FRIDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 22nd and 24th March 1993
Mr Willmore arrived at the pub and told Bet that her trial period was over; he was satisfied with the profits at the Rovers and she'd be kept on as manager for another year. The police took a statement from Gail, but it looked like the charges would all be dropped as Carmel's grandfather turned up and explained to the Platts that she was a lunatic of long standing. It seemed she'd been obsessed with a bloke back in Ireland once before, so he was taking her back there to take care of her. (From a 2019 perspective it was all a bit of an anticlimax. In today's show she'd have blown up the Platt house, kidnapped Martin and driven them off Beachy Head together.) Martin was still upset that Gail hadn't believed him, but after he had a drunken night out, they reconciled. There was love in the air at Bettabuys, as Reg and Maureen picked up their romance where they had a left off with night at the theatre (Reg: "We've got a box." Bet: "What for? To stand on at t'back so you can see?"), and holiday temp Andy flirted with a checkout girl called Amy. Ken planned a holiday in Brittany with Maggie and Mark, not knowing that Mike had promised to take him to EuroDisney. Unsurprisingly Mark picked a week with Mickey and Donald rather than brass rubbing in northern France with boring old Ken.
That was all pretty exhausting, wasn't it? I think I'm going to have to have a nice sit down with a pint and a packet of pork scratchings to recover. Join me in the afternoon drinking on Twitter @merseytart.
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