Deirdre attended court for her bail hearing. She was forced to hand over her passport, because the prosecution thought she might try to flee the country, and Mike put up the bail, but she was still traumatised by the whole experience. Her boss at Sunliners suggested she stop working until her trial went through and she realised she was a liability. The protest continued at the Red Rec with Les increasingly frustrated that he was expected to stay all night. He took matters into his own hands and tried to chop down one of the trees himself but the protesters took to the branches - with even Emily nipping up there. She ended up as the poster girl for the protests, even appearing on Granada Reports. The staircase at the Rovers was rotten so Gary and Jim took it out to replace it. They put in a ladder to get upstairs but Vera was scared of heights and had to sleep on the couch - much to Jack's delight. Zoe realised that as Ashley was Fred's tenant, they had rights, and he couldn't kick them out. He reluctantly agreed to continue renting number 4 to them. Des went to That London without telling Samantha. He asked Ritchie to give her a divorce so they could get married. Ritchie agreed, but told Des that he'd be better off getting away from Samantha - she was self-centred and cold.
TUESDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 25th and 26th January 1998
Alec returned from visiting Vicky in Switzerland to discover the wreck of a staircase in the Rovers. He was horrified that they were doing building work without his permission, and refused to contribute towards the costs, pointing out that the stairs went upstairs to the pub flat which the Duckworths lived in and which had nothing to do with the business. It meant that Jack and Vera didn't have the cash to pay Jim in full. In romance news, Nicky and Leanne got a letter confirming their wedding in Scotland, while Des presented Sam with an engagement ring in the pub. She was underwhelmed and asked Des to slow things down. Gary went and saw Judy's boss at the arcade and got her job back. She was scared because of course she'd slept with him for money, but when he agreed to never mention it again, Judy returned to work. Frankie the solicitor interrogated Deirdre about her story and her relationship with Jon and, when it was all laid out in front of her, Deirdre saw how preposterous it sounded. She realised a jury would think she was either incredibly thick or in on the deception from the start. Ken, meanwhile, confessed to Alma that he didn't think she was as innocent as she made out. Alma had other things on her mind though as she made her mind up to befriend Curly's wet and unpopular secretary - Miss Hayley Patterson.
With no payment forthcoming for the Rovers job, Gary and Jim took action: they repossessed the staircase. Unfortunately Jack and Vera were upstairs at the time and were left stranded. Jack managed to get down, but Vera was scared of heights and stayed up there. He was soon enjoying himself downstairs without her and made no rush to rescue her. Vera ended up calling the Fire Brigade to get them to rescue her. She gave Jim a cheque and the stairs were restored. Nicky and Leanne told Gail they were off to Leeds for a basketball tournament (Gail was horrified at him crossing the Pennines, incidentally, and fussed over him travelling so far - this is a boy who lived in Canada for a year) but they were actually headed for Scotland to get married. Leanne wore a stolen wedding dress and they dragged in some strangers as witnesses and that was the first time she became Mrs Tilsley. "May you have a long and happy life together," said the Registrar, not knowing the half of it. (Nicky Tilsley Shirtless Count: 4). They agreed not to say anything to anyone when they got back to Weatherfield. Alma was finding Hayley's attentions a bit tiresome, as she bought her a tacky ornament and turned up in the Rovers, but she realised Hayley had no other friends. When she turned up in the cafe at lunchtime Audrey bluntly told her they wanted a private chat and she scurried away. Alma felt so guilty she invited Hayley over to her flat for drinks. Ken admitted to Deirdre that he couldn't believe she'd not known anything about Jon's antics. She told him she couldn't stay under his roof if he didn't believe her and went to stay with Blanche. Pretty sure that violated her bail conditions but there you go.
THURSDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 1st and 2nd February 1998
Much like her one true love Roy, early Hayley is, well, creepy. She went round for a drink with the Baldwins and presented her with a drawing she'd done of Alma. It caused Alma to rethink getting close to her, but then Curly asked her to help break the news that Hayley's dad had died, so she stayed caught up in it. Gloriously, Mike made no secret of how much he hated her throughout, because he's a brilliant bastard. Nicky and Leanne kept their marriage under wraps though Leanne was chomping at the bit to tell everyone. Nicky chickened out when he realised how much Gail hated her and suggested that they get a place together - so she'd have to find a job. Leanne went for Mavis's old job at the Kabin but Rita flat out refused to employ a Battersby, but their story of star cross'd lovers melted her heart a bit and she agreed to take her on. Jim and Gary went for a job at a building site but the foreman was Steve and he wanted nothing to do with them. Gary urged Jim to make things up with his son. And there was a load of interminable nonsense about Samantha getting cold feet and trying to leave Des only for him to persuade her to stay. She's a very odd character who's almost wilfully inconsistent so I kind of wish she had gone.
There wasn't any Classic Corrie on Friday, because it was Good Friday. However, there were two new more episodes on Easter Monday, only they were on at 6am and not repeated in the afternoon. And weirdly, the next two episodes will be Tuesday from 6am and then two more in the afternoon - meaning there are four episodes on Tuesday! You might want to go to the ITV Hub unless you're dedicated enough to get up first thing in the morning. The author is writing to Ofcom to complain about this terrible scheduling; join his petition on Twitter @merseytart.
