Coronation Street episode review Friday 27 December 2019

David is pleading with Shona to wake up (above) but she remains in a coma throughout the episode.  David is sent to either the waiting room or the chapel on the first floor as they want to run tests on the inert body.  The suggestion of visiting the chapel is surely evidence of where this is going.  So extended hospital scenes as David is joined by Sarah, Audrey and Nick (can someone please erase the beards - Ali, Nick, David, Adam, Peter, Ty, Gary - has the whole of Manchester been taken over by these strange growths, enough!).  Gail must be child minding.  The CT scan rules out a stroke, the other tests show no discernible brain activity - and we all know what that really means.

In the cafe Ali is told by Maria to stay away from her, Liam and Gary as she has had enough - but Ali wants Gary to face justice, whilst most of the Street consider Gary to be a hero.  Ali and Ryan then start arguing as Ali wants Ryan to back him up - but Ryan reminds us all that Gary knows about Ali's drug addiction and it will backfire - and Ryan does not want another beating.  Michelle comes downstairs with Carla as they are going to identify Robert and the argument stops.  Michelle sends them to the Bistro to pack up a couple of boxes of the items not passing to the new owner.  A little later Michelle, Carla, Ryan and Ali have left the Bistro with the boxes and meet the new owner - Ray Crosby (above) who simply could not pass up on a bargain basement priced Bistro (one without a chef or manager - but hey who cares?).  Michelle strides back into the Bistro and breaks bottles, glasses and throws a vase of flowers on the floor (which made the wrong noise on impact).

When she returns to the flat Maria updates Gary on Shona's coma and he starts to look worried.  Gary knows he is in a corner and is worried how he will get out of it.

Ty, Fiz, Hope, Ruby and Jade are playing Cluedo (a game based on a murder) which gives Hope the opportunity to ask Fiz if the gun depicted is like the one she took into Gary's shop!  Later Fiz has to explain to Ty that she bought the gun believing it to be decommissioned and it was subsequently stolen.  Fiz explains that she did not want to tell the police as she could not face another jail sentence (originally a 15 year sentence for murder - but later found not guilty).  Ty expresses (above) the usual soap outburst that he wishes she had told him.

At the hospital Adam finally gets to talk to Sarah-Lou.  He is thinking she did not want to get engaged but she makes it clear that she does and so does he.  I argued about two years ago that the Platt and Barlow families should be joined in holy matrimony citing these two (rather than Bethany and Daniel) as well suited and my crystal ball has finally got a prediction right.  I am amazed!  Sarah wants no more crazy theories about Gary the superhero as a condition!  They seal the deal above!

The Connors plus Peter and Roy gather in the Rovers for a farewell drink for Michelle who attempts to get her "sons" to stop squabbling.  She also calls Ray a creep and "handsy" but refuses to explain further.  Peter is praised for his care of Carla and he says he will continue to look after her.

There is a closing montage over the "Day is Done" by Nick Drake as Michelle used to sing to Ryan and they cuddle in the pub, Ty cuddles Fiz, Maria seeks to calm Gary with kisses, David crying as he holds Shona's hand and finally as Michelle departs, in tears, in the back of a StreetCars cab (below).

Confused at me being here again?  Well so was I when I found that my normal double episode Friday slot had been split into two and half of it appeared on Boxing Day whilst today was Friday, earlier on Emmerdale I got confused when they said something was happening tomorrow when they really mean Monday.  I do wish TPTB would sort these inconsistencies out!

Written by Sam Holdsworth and directed by Judith Dine.

Kosmo
@Kosmo100

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Coronation Street Episode Review; Weds 25th Dec 8.00 pm

'At Christmas time there's no need to be afraid'

Ah yes, Christmas Day, a day of the year that's as cliched as imaginably possible. Mince pies, daft hats, drunk uncles, charades, awful music... and a drunk disgruntled madman with a stolen shotgun! Hardly, but in this Netflix/ on-demand era of television, we cant surely expect Hilda Ogden singing around the piano to reach a 27 million viewing audience in 2019. Can we?

Robert and Michelle are courteous to each other (for the sake of Christmas I assume) and the ice queen seems to have cooled, now that she's selling the bistro, right from under his nose. Even hosting a Christmas lunch and not inviting him - isn't she lovely! Although Michelle appears to have thawed, Vicky is less than forgiving but accepts that Robert needs to see his child before she heads back home to Ireland.

Further down the street, it's David Platt's birthday so Shona has the key to the winter wonderland to surprise her hubby, hiding in an oversized Christmas present box.  Recovering sufficiently from her near-death by Christmas tree debacle, Rita arrives back to the Rovers, and Jenny is organising a welcome home party.

Talking of gingers, Gary goes to see Fizz after he opens the shop and realises that the gun is gone. Fizz thinks Hope has pinched the keys, but Gary seems to think its Dr Ali. It's neither as we know. Drunken Derek the disgruntled businessman is ready to shoot Gary and aims the gun at the Rovers Return. With all residents assembled, Derek enters the theatre of conflict and confronts Gary. Feigning that the gun is decommissioned, Derek decides to test Gary's theory; pointing the gun in the other direction, shooting Robert Preston who was stood outside the Rovers Return front door!! Hardly surprising as we've known for a while that the character is leaving the show. Is it a rating's winner though?

Gary's goading manages to get Derek out of the pub, but the whiskey swigging shooter sees Robert on the floor and carries on chasing his target. Aggie swings into action. I hope her nursing is better than her cooking!

With the residents realising what's happening, the Platt's (and Gary) begin hiding in the winter wonderland, to the strains of classic Christmas pop ( of course) and Derek's shotgun stalks the festive scenery. Getting shot in the arm, former soldier Gary doesn't take that lying down, and Adam decides to propose to Sarah. It's random and hardly romantic,  but still, it is Christmas. Also in the theme of romance, Daniel is relieved that Bethany has survived unscathed, and Emma and Seb are reconciled.

Deciding to scale the helter-skelter, Derek is drunk and in turmoil, with the armed police marksman having guns trained on him. The dodgy drunkard leaves his wife a voicemail but not before firing off a second time. Unluckily for Shona, Derek is a good accidental marksman and he shoots the box she's hidden in. Has he killed victim number 2? In a scuffle with Gary, Derek falls from the Helter-skelter ride. Is he dead?

Meanwhile, at the hospital, Michelle' at Robert's bedside -he's injured but conscious. He manages to tell Michelle he loves her, and then (predictably) dies. Shona appears to have survived yet faces an operation. Gary seems to have survived being shot and has resurfaced as the resident's hero but of course, it was his gun that caused the killings. Who did steal that gun? I HOPE we find out soon enough!

A few weeks ago, I mentioned in this blog that the winter wonderland could be a good setting for Christmas day action. I wasn't wrong but was this what I imagined? No, but then like I say, it isn't 1987 anymore and with fierce on-demand / Netflix/ Amazon Prime competition, the days of Hilda Ogden singing at the piano and Blanche's drunken Christmas dinner acerbic put-downs are long gone... 

Merry Christmas!


If you enjoyed this review give us a follow @rybazoxo over on twitter, your self-styled 'Cobbles. I shall be back next Wednesday.

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Coronation Street Episode Review Friday 20 December

Evening Corrie fans it’s Kelly here with your Friday night review.

In tonight’s big story Michelle and Vicky’s brilliant plan to frame Robert for murder is ruined as Vicky rather inconveniently goes into labour in the crummy hotel she’s holed up in. She refuses to go to a hospital, so it’s left to Michelle to deliver the baby. Before tonight’s show I could have sworn that Michelle had no discernible talents other than folding her arms and being stroppy, but clearly she is the country’s top midwife as she manged to deliver a washed, cord-free, three-month-old baby in about five minutes flat. I take back everything I said about her, the sheer skill of that woman.

Talking of stroppy, Roy’s goes to make peace with new goth niece Nina. Deep in a System of a Down hole, Nina refuses to open the door despite Roy paying her overdue rent, bringing falafel and telling her he promised her dad he would take care of her. Desperate to get through to her he brings reinforcements in the shape of Carla. It’s a good choice, they’re both women with a shared love of a strong eyebrow and wearing black all year round. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we find out that Carla had a secret goth past and that she spent the 80’s listening to Bauhaus records and calling herself Carlvira Wolfsbane-D’Oom. After Roy opens up to Nina about his lonely childhood she seems to soften and speaks to him through the letterbox. I’m enjoying the Nina, Carla and Roy trio. I hope they don’t give her a ‘normal’ makeover in six months’ time and turn her into Rosie Webster mark 2.

Back on the Street Dopey Derek is still trying to sell the factory he doesn’t own to Sarah and Nick. He tells them it’s theirs if they can get him a fast £10k, so he can take his estranged wife and kids to Florida. Nick and Sarah ask the Underworld comrades if they can collectively raise the money and despite explicitly being told to not tell anyone, leaky vessel Izzy goes straight to Gary for a loan. Unsurprisingly Gary doesn’t take the news terribly well. Telling Derek threateningly that he knows where his family live, he forces him to sign over the factory to him for a pound. Is this the last we’ll see of Derek? Oh no it isn’t…etc, etc. 

In other news Jenny tries to do a Christmas good deed and take Rita out for the day, but Reet gets the hump saying she feels like a tick on Jenny’s to-do-list. Also, Tyrone and Fizz try to punish demon child Hope for ruining the school nativity, but totally fail to notice the MASSIVE BRGHT PINK burner phone which she has sticking out of her back pocket. As soon as they leave the room, she immediately calls Jade who tells her to continue with the plan.

And so back to the other plan. Vicky has given birth to a baby boy and Michelle persuades her to stop being dead and go to hospital. It’s not long before the police come calling and the news of her return to the living reaches Robert. Released from his prison cell, he immediately goes looking for his child but he’s too late as Vicky has checked herself out of hospital. Turning up at the Street he confronts Michelle who initially denies everything and then folds like pack of cards telling him that she, Vicky and Tyler were all in on the plot to frame him for murder. Looking punch-ably smug Robert reveals that he’s recorded everything on his phone. Michelle immediately bursts into tears telling him she’s sorry and just wanted to punish him because he broke her heart (who knew she had one?).  He agrees not to go to the police with the tape recording, but only if Michelle will tell him where Vicky and his son are. She refuses saying she made a promise to Vicky, but will the threat of the police change her mind?

I mean I gotta say based on Michelle’s last 13 years of being utterly self-serving and narcissistic I’d say yup she’d save her own skin faster than you can say Queen of the Universe, but I’m sure the writers would prefer Michelle to leave the show as a good and noble person so she’ll probably do the right thing.  But maybe I'm being a bit harsh. What do you think Corrie fans - let me know in the comments?

And that’s it for this week. See you in a fortnight or catch me on twitter @mskelstar.

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Coronation Street Episode Review; Weds 11th Dec 7.30 pm

I'm starting to wonder whether the Geoff/Yasmeen Vegas marriage plot is a feeder for Tim's Vegas marriage plot, or vice versa? I'm not even sure I like either plot but either way, the pace of things certainly has me wondering where this is all leading too. It's a strange one, to say the least. Sighting the shotgun Wedding as a cause for celebration, Sally's idea of a party is predictably taken over by control freak Geoff. I wish Yasmeen would 'wake-up' already! Geoff's coerciveness was also extended to his new 'grandaughter' Alya, whom he convinces not to attend the party. Predictably, he then tells Yasmeen that Alya isn't interested in attending anyway. Are we even interested? I know it happens in real-life (I've seen it with my own eyes) but surely Yasmeen wouldn't be so easily fooled?

Meanwhile, Tim visits Imran who confirms that his most recent marriage to Sally is actually null and void. 'What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas' isn't the mantra he needs to hear from Steve and Tim, but they decide to help him to track down 'Charlie' the air hostess, anyway. Although you'd imagine she's travelling all around the world, they track her down on social media, to a backstreet bar in Manchester's Northern Quarter.  A convenience purely for drama purposes - I can only guess, yet not really believable. Hoping to annul the marriage on (lack of) consummation grounds. Tim is annoyed to find out that they actually 'did it' yet Charlie is happy to dissolve the union, so Tim can remarry Sally (in secret). Is this humour or drama, do we think?

Daniel's descent into grief-stricken torment continues tonight, as he teeters dangerously close to borderline alcoholism. Ken, Adam, and Peter rally round to support him but his guilt for betrayal with Bethany appears to be eating him up. Adam and Peter decide that Daniel needs a trip to the Bistro!, Bethany's place of work. Yeah, because that's a good idea. Booze and the 'other woman'. It's like a car crash waiting to happen...

Also at the Bistro, Michelle's clandestine approach to seizing control of The Bistro looks to be complete, and Robert's anger makes him go all 'Gordon Ramsay'. Michelle storms the kitchen with Ryan and Ali in tow, demanding that Robert leaves the business immediately, which he does, but not before punching Ali, of course. Must be testosterone on tonight's menu as Daniel drunkenly swaggers out of the Bistro with a stolen wine bottle, hastily followed by Bethany. Drunk and disorientated, Daniel stupidly walks straight out into the busy road, where he is run over by Cathy.

In a slightly surreal piece of production, Daniel awakes from unconsciousness and seems to think Bethany is Sinead. It's very psychedelic, but a tad too 'Hollyoaks' for my liking.
Possibly concussed, Daniel's head is obviously spinning so he steadies himself in the community garden, confiding his woes to Bethany. Admitting his undying love for Sinead, he also confesses to Bethany about what Sinead said on her death bed confession. Its a passionate scene, no doubt, and it makes me wonder whether Daniel and Bethany will become a couple, after all?

Later on, Daniel has a little 'chat' with Baby Bertie, and it looks like some changes are to be made...

At a slower pace, 'Big Garth' is back! and Victoria Market looks to be bang on trend opening a 'winter wonderland'; Lapland for Weatherfield? I'm with Evelyn on this, they largely sell overpriced booze and tat but hey ho ( or ho! ho! ho!) it's certainly a good setting for a festive plot or two...

Big Garth also points out that Maria's 'knock-off' handbag is the real deal. Ali's little truth nugget about him being a loan shark must be ringing in her ears, unlike Gary's furniture shop till, so she seeks an explanation from her fella. Dismissing Fiz's gossip as just that, Gary manages to fool Maria into thinking his profit margins are good, and not that he's a loan shark. He does tell her the truth about Ryan though, which is slippery but it works. I'm a big fan of Gary (I've met Mikey in real life, he's an utter gent) but what are your thoughts on his new bad boy persona?

As ever, Maria is blinded by a manipulating man and disbelieves Ali when he persistantly tries to tell her the truth. Gary meanwhile, plays Ali his ace card and blackmails him with the 'big pharma' secret.

Michelle also plays Robert at his own game and throws him out of their flat. Why IS she so suddenly concerned by Vicky's disappearance? Is she 'in' on this, is this some kind of Michelle/Vicky coordinated revenge on the cheating chef? I think so but then surely the police wouldn't be involved, would they?

That's my round-up of thoughts on tonight's plotlines -what are yours?

Let us know in the comments section.

If you enjoyed this review give us a follow @rybazoxo over on twitter, your self-styled 'Cobbles Connoisseur'

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