Coronation Street Episode Review; Weds 22 May 8.30pm

Here we go with part two of this Wednesday's Coronation Street episode review.

Out on the street, the lad that Steve ran over is (luckily) unharmed. Laying heavy apologies, Steve quickly recognises the lad and realises he's actually a Weatherfield County football player for their youth team. Not wanting the accident to be found out, Steve promises to not call the police, unfortunately, Brian has already called them.

David is shocked by Natalie's kiss and denies ever flirting with her. It seems Nick's plan is working. Spotting the police on the cobbles, Nick quickly accosts Sally and asks her to look after the factory whilst he's on the family break. Sally sees the bonus cash as an excuse to buy more equestrian gear and readily accepts.

Suggesting that Billy needs a haircut, Shona is suspicious of Natalie's intentions and sends the vicar over to the barbers to spy on them. David rattles Billy's plan but also tells Natalie to forget about their stolen kiss. Later, Shona and David kiss and make-up. Looking forward to their holiday, David isn't about to admit his latest misdemeanour.

Meanwhile, Abi struggles with her coursework in the rovers, whilst Sally gets Jenny and Yasmeen to join her for a horse riding lesson.

Steve and footballer James lie to the police to cover up their accident, but the officer tells the cabby that his license is now in jeopardy. Admitting his bad luck to Tracy, Steve admits that he might be losing his license and Streetcars, in the process. Tim is also distraught at the news. Is this the end of the Corrie cab firm?

Roy is also still upset at Wayne for prying about Carla, yet the health and safety inspector is adamant there is more to Roy's rattled disposition, than just Carla's illness

Meeting at Nick's flat, Sarah, Toyah, and Leanne share theories as to where Nick's £30K actually came from. Sarah, having received advice from Rita, tells the girls that she thinks Rick Neelan has loaned Nick the cash. This prompts Leanne to finally admit her doubts about Nick, and the girls form a plan to meet up with Rick!

Oh eck! this does not sound promising.

What did you think to Wednesday's double episode?

Let me know your thoughts! I shall be back same time next week.

You can follow me @rybazoxo over on Twitter, your self-styled 'Cobbles Connoisseur'.

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Abi Franklin - a new type of female for the cobbles

When Abi Franklin, played by Sally Carman, first appeared on our screens, I was certain that she would be on for just a few episodes, in order to explain Seb's backstory, then vanish. Clearly I was wrong. Perhaps the writers saw the potential in Abi and for that reason, she stuck around.

Initially, I was rather indifferent to Abi, though I do admit to some feelings of annoyance, showing little understanding and tolerance on my part, for the woman who claimed to love her twins, Charlie and Lexi, but couldn't, at least initially, kick the habit. Viewers will remember how Seb was rushing around working and also trying to look after his siblings. He was understandably annoyed with his mother and seemed to have little respect for her.

Over time, Abi has cleaned up, has become a regular and is very watchable indeed. One of the very best aspects of Abi's Coronation Street's life is her friendship with Sally. I think we might all agree that had they not been in prison at the same time, the friendship would never have got off the ground,
 never mind the fact that the two unlikely friends, are friends and good friends at that. In ordinary life, Sally would not have given Abi the time of day. She would have been disapproving and judgemental. In return, Abi would have accused Sally of snobbery, of being self-obsessed and concerned with nothing much other than her status. But prison changes people. It's a great leveller and there's no tolerance there of any airs and graces or anyone with any sense of their own superiority.

When both women were released, Sally hugged Abi and told her that she wouldn't have been able to have got trough prison without her. It would be difficult to see this comment as anything but sincere.  It's also worth noting that Sally is only too pleased to carry on their friendship - unlikely though it seems.

Apart from her friendship with Sally, Abi has much to recommend her: she is the first female mechanic, for starters and seems very capable at fixing cars. She doesn't care about wearing an overall and getting oil everywhere as I suspect several of the Corrie females might. I certainly couldn't see Liz, Michelle or Claudia getting down and dirty with a car engine. She is so down to earth the she's lost under it, she's irreverent and she says what she thinks. Even when she lies in a job interview, about having spent time in Botswana, when she was actually in prison, we feel sorry for her; after all, what bad luck to name the one country that the interviewer's sister had lived in. It's worth noting though that Abi scrubbed up very well wearing Sally's jacket. And at least she's trying to get a job and maybe too, in her heart of hearts, she has not given up on her twins, despite what she says about them being far happier with the wealthy family they now live with and appear happy with.

A favourite scene with Abi is the one in The Rovers where she takes Sally to celebrate her release from prison. At the table are Gail, Yasmeen, Sally, and maybe others, but Abi is as ever her own woman. She tells Yasmeen that she's sick of her and her fizzy water and forcibly suggests she has a drink, calling her a 'po-faced mare.' On discovering that Gail had been in prison, Abi is amazed. 'You a jail-bird?'Abi then learns the Gail's ex called his boat Gail Force and Abi cannot contain her glee.

Spoiler alert! Ive read somewhere or seen a trailer, that Peter and Abi have a bit of a snog. Whether or not Carla finds out, we'll have to wait and see...

In real life, I've read that Sally Carman - Abi, and Joe Duttine, Tim are in a relationships. i wonder what Sally Webster thinks about that!

By Ruth Owen

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George Michael on Coronation Street

George Michael - God rest his soul - lived a colourful life. Apparently though, he was never happier than when drinking tea and watching Corrie in his PJs. A man after my own heart!

I remember reading this interview with him in the Guardian when he said that his guiltiest pleasure was Sunday morning when he saved up “loads of episodes of Corrie to watch”. I was already a fan but he went up further in my estimation when I discovered he was into Coronation Street.

George was renowned for his sense of humour and he loved Corrie because it was “a laugh”. He once said that “even when life is tragic on Coronation Street, it's still funny”. 

I wonder if George ever knew that his face was plastered across the wall of the factory in the late 1980s. I bet he would have got a real kick out of it if he did.

"Well I guess it would be nice... if I could touch your body"

One of my favourite pastimes when watching Classic Corrie on ITV3 is following the winds of change in popular culture in 1980s Weatherfield. Well, that and keeping track of Sally's changing hairstyles.

Although I was disappointed to learn last week that sometime around November/December 1988, the Smiths poster (see previous blog) had been removed, I was cheered by the fact it had been replaced by an image of George Michael from the famous ‘Faith’ video released a year previously. I bet Morrissey was livid!

George Michael was such a big Corrie fan that he once went on a private tour of the set and enjoyed meeting the actors and crew as much as - or possibly more than - they enjoyed meeting him. There are some wonderful accounts of this online and apparently he was there on the day Kate Ford was rehearsing the scene in which Tracy murdered Charlie Stubbs. See this article in the Manchester Evening News.

I guess that means George visited the set in late 2006 or early 2007. Sally Dynevor shared this brilliant photo on Twitter soon after his tragic death. Obviously, I'm dating the set visit from my encyclopedic knowledge of Sally Webster's hairstyles! 

I’m not sure if George would still regard Corrie to be a laugh or if, like the rest of us, he might be questioning whether his beloved soap had featured a bit too much of the tragedy recently at the expense of the comedy.

Still, I'm pretty sure he’d have had faith, faith, faith - and that’s exactly what we've all gotta have. 

By Martin Leay, on Twitter @mpleay

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Sally Webster makes bid to be Weatherfield Mayor

There's some good news with comedy potential being reported by Metro online this week.  They say that Sally Metcalfe is going to make a bid to become Mayor of Weatherfield.

However, she's going to have to fight for the role as Metro says "another surprising candidate steps forward."  I wonder who this might be - Gina, perhaps or Tim? Or could it be her rival Yasmeen?

Alf Roberts was the last mayor of Weatherfield who was also a resident of Coronation Street.

Was Audrey ever the mayor, does anyone know? Or did she just stand against Spider Nugent for a seat on the council - which she won?

See also: Coronation Street A-Z: P is for Politics

Read more Corrie news, interviews, gossip and spoilers  

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Easter storyline ramblings

(cross posted from State of the Street)

A few random thoughts, theories and little amusements have been rattling around in my head lately and I've just got to write about them so that they won't keep nagging me! Yes, I'm that much of a Corrie-obsessed nutter. That, or I've had too much Easter chocolate.

This past week, Maria told David about her fling with Aidan and he said something to the effect that she doesn't go around nicking other women's blokes. Um. yes, yes, she does and David should remember it very well. He nearly got drowned in the bath by one of them after Maria was shagging Charlie Stubbs who was living with Tracy Barlow at the time. We've had a recent reminder that she had an affair with Toyah's boyfriend once, a university professor. She got pregnant and had a termination that time. In a way, she took Liam off Carla. She was with Liam before she knew he fancied Carla but she then did everything she could to keep them apart and get him for herself. It kind of counts. She was also obsessed with a Fiz-committed Tyrone after she had a breakdown when Marcus left her, she certainly encouraged Marcus away from Sean and now she's all over Aidan.So yes, she has made a habit of going for men already in relationships with other women (and men!)

It also made me chuckle when Anna decided to sell her clothes to help the financial woes in the Webster house. I thought "How is a tenner going to help in any way? It's only going to buy a couple of loaves, a bottle of milk and a packet of coffee". It's not as if Anna has been swanning around in designer gear, is it? She probably buys most of her clothes off the market or the charity shops. Even her few nice dresses are likely only from a high street shop.

So now that Kevin has been given 19 grand from David, is that it? Crisis over? We'll say no more about it? Probably, in true Corrie form, it will now all be forgotten and swept under the rub. I did wonder. Kevin's debt was partly personal due to Sophie's bills and partly professional because the insurance wouldn't pay out on the fire for the other garage. If he went bankrupt, I wonder how that would affect Tyrone. Tyrone owns half of the garage and if Kevin had to sell his half, Tyrone would still be ok though probably couldn't afford to buy Kevin's half. Maybe Luke could have obtained a loan, even if with his father's backing.

I don't think Sarah has told Gail or Audrey how old Nathan really is, has she? Rana has seen him and I think has noted that he was older but hasn't really said anything to anyone besides Sarah. I keep waiting for Shona to find out because we're all pretty sure he was the abusive boyfriend she got away from and I'm dead curious to find out more about her story. It's a good storyline mainly because Chris Harper is so very good at playing Nathan. He's very believable and making Nathan really creepy. Bethany has had so much self esteem knocked out of her  after all that bullying that it's made her a perfect target for him.

It does irritate me that there are so many near misses. Nathan has been curb crawling around Bethany in his car for months, and popping in and out but Shona hasn't seen him, nor has Gail got a glimpse. It's always like that on Corrie when there are secrets. In such a small neighbourhood that normally has people out and about and looking out windows, nobody ever sees anything they shouldn't until it's time for a secret to come out. That's just the way soaps are, I know.

As for Ken's attacker, ITV are now pushing Amy out as another suspect but I really can't see it. They could go that way but I think that, while Amy is quite a little madam, I don't think she's cold enough to whack her grandfather over the head and not show more signs of being upset after. Even if it was accidental struggle and fall, and his head injury is only from the fall, Amy would still be upset especially with other members of the family being accused.

Regarding this week's episodes, the spoilers say "Amy phones the police, telling them to check the fingerprints on the new kitchen worktop that Phelan fitted on the night of Ken's accident. " which then gets Adam arrested on the fingerprint evidence.  That is very easily disproven. Adam has been working on the kitchen and all the rest of the Barlows can testify to it. I think it was all set up so that Tracy is suspecting Amy but Amy probably did it to deflect suspcions from her mother and neither is revealing it to the other.
 
Who dunnit? I am still going with a secondary character, probably Chloe.

The story about Sally's troll is also very good and is keeping me interested. This past week, the troll upped the game with the obituary and the gruesome gift and you have to assume this person really is suffering from a mental health issue. Being nasty online, hurling insults is one thing but this is going the next step into stalker and there are definitely laws against that. Again, spoilers are pointing to Sally's sister, Gina as evidenced by her step daughter, the one Rosie and Sophie track down but I wonder if it doesn't turn out to be the step daughter after all. It will be interesting to see how it comes out. I love seeing Rosie and Sophie involved in trying to help. Rosie even seems to be the more aggressive of the two and I love that. She might be daft, but she's determined. Sally Dynevor really is putting in another powerhouse performance, in any case.

Don't get me started on Michelle's rebound with Robert. I sympathise with her on one level, after losing a child and finding out her husband had another child with someone else, and it wasn't even a grand love affair which, at least, might have been more understandable. I can understand her bitterness and rage and wanting revenge but since I've never really liked Michelle, it's difficult to be on her side and the less reasonable she is over the divorce, the less sympathy I have for her.

Producer Kate Oates says there will be a new name over the Rovers' door. I think that leaves Michelle out of the picture because her name is still over the door as co-licensee. That would be nothing new, just leaving Steve's name off it. I would like to see Dev buy Steve's share and put Erica in as co-manager with Liz. Aside from the Connors, nobody else really has the money along with any inclination. Dev might have lost out on the gym, but he still owns the flat Nick and Leanne live in, doesn't he? And the shop and number 7 so he's got the collaterol. Or perhaps Erica's mother dies and leaves her enough to buy it. I'd enjoy seeing Erica and Liz run the bar together.

That's enough for one session, I think. Coronation Street has been very good lately and I'm really enjoying it. So far, the new producer is getting good marks from me. Keep it up!


Tvor (Twitter @tvordlj)

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