It was Mother's Day on the street, with Steve getting into trouble with Liz after Jamie nicked his flowers. Gail and Martin's marriage continued to buckle under the strain of his infidelity. Gail was furious that he'd blamed Nicky for his one night stand, which would be a fair point if Nicky wasn't so annoying; frankly I'm close to blaming him for coronavirus. Alf and Audrey took the kids to give them some space - and promptly regretted it because three rowdy children is a pain. Reg began to fret over the American takeover, worried that his daft wig wouldn't be enough to convince them he was young and sexy. Raquel told Curly that Tricia was also seeing Sean the bookie, so he broke off their relationship, because he wanted to be exclusive. The big story though was Tracy Barlow, who ended up in hospital after taking a bad ecstasy tablet, because DRUGS ARE BAD, MMMKAY? Deirdre rushed back from Morocco to be at her bedside, with Ken at her side - which was handy for Denise, as she continued to get close to Jon the barber.
TUESDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 29th and 31st March 1995
Brad, the potential new owner of Firman's, arrived to look the place over. Reg convinced Curly to go without his glasses to look thrusting and dynamic, so obviously he was blind as a bat and made an idiot of himself. Meanwhile, Brad himself was wearing a wig, so Reg decided they were hair brothers and complimented him; Brad took this badly and denied it was a syrup. The Americans promptly pulled out of the deal, much to Reg and Curly's delight. Gail tracked down Cathy, Martin's one night stand, and was shocked to discover she hadn't given it a second thought. Cathy didn't want it to come out any more than Martin did because she had a boyfriend. Tracy remained in a coma, and her flatmate arrived and told Deirdre that she'd never taken a pill before. YOU SEE KIDS, JUST ONE PILL CAN KILL YOU, SO THINK ON. Ken let Deirdre stay in his flat, convincing himself he'd stay with Denise, but then he discovered she'd been on dates with Jon and he lost his rag. He told her he'd be applying for visitation rights for Daniel. Have you noticed Ken only gives a monkey's about his kids when it'll annoy someone else? Vicky talked to Steve and mentioned she was looking for somewhere to invest her money. He convinced her to invest £2000 in his promotions business and she agreed on the basis that she'd be hands on. I bet she will be as well.
WEDNESDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 3rd and 5th April 1995
There was a very interesting scene where Denise told Jon she couldn't see Ken being involved in Daniel's life in the future. She must be psychic. Ken went to see a solicitor, who advised him to sort things out with Denise informally. Tracy woke up and assured her mum that she wasn't a drug addict, because everyone seems to think people who take ecstasy are all smackheads. Deirdre was shocked, meanwhile, to find that Mike hadn't sold number 1 but had leased it to Tricia. He assured he would sell it eventually, once the market picked up, but under her hectoring he put up a For Sale sign. Tricia was livid. Gail was prescribed antidepressants to help her get over Martin's infidelity, because nobody else was being much help and was advising her to just get over it. I wonder if she ever stopped taking them? Given her life over the next thirty years they probably trebled the dose.
THURSDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 7th and 10th April 1995
Tracy was told that her kidneys were damaged and she would need dialysis or a transplant. She was upset and said she'd rather die. Deirdre was upset, but was comforted by Samir, who'd arrived from Morocco. He offered to help any way he could. Cue ominous music. Vicky considered doing a business studies course to help her with her investment, but she was already in trouble with that, as Steve didn't like her shoving her oar in. Andy was worried she'd get ripped off. Tricia told Mike that she was a sitting tenant and wasn't going anywhere, and tore down the For Sale sign. Rodney continued to sniff around Bet, and thought about buying Mike Baldwin's Merc to impress her. The most important part of the show though was that Bet was doing chest expanding exercises in the lounge of the Rovers... using a leopardskin exercise device. It was astonishing.
FRIDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 12th and 14th April 1995
Josie, Don, Vera and Jack went to the theatre together and had a right lark. When they got back, Don kissed her, and she stayed the night. Obviously Vera was unamused. Rodney took the Merc out for a test drive with Tricia - and then ran it past the police for a full check up. He discovered it was nicked. Mike tried to get him to buy it at a knock down price, but the police arrived and confiscated it. Deirdre and Samir argued because she was shutting him out of her concerns over Tracy. And Derek brought home a pair of gnomes, offending Mavis's sense of good taste, until he explained that they reminded him of them. Internally I sighed, because the arrival of Derek's Gnome means the interminable plotline of it going missing can't be far behind.
Just think how different the world would have been if Tracy had died from that ecstasy tablet. Samir and Charlie would be alive, Amy would never have been born, and Steve would probably be happily married to Karen. Let me know your own alternate Corrie universes on Twitter @merseytart.
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