Episode Review Friday 17 April 2026

Good day.  Weatherfield is a strange place at present as we head towards the flash forward which we will soon reach, too many villains and too much double dealing rather than a simple tale of the back streets of Manchester..  Carl overcomes the opposition of Ronnie and Ryan to be allowed to spend time with his newly acquired mother who knows he is skiving good for nothing cartoon character but he is after all her skiving good for nothing cartoon character.  He claims that he was scared of Theo this whole time (despite standing up to Theo when no-one was looking) which Debbie swallows hook, line and sinker and he claims he has told Summer all he knows.  Added to which he tells Debbie about Ronnie's threats which leads to Ronnie being in the doghouse and looking for a sofa for the night.  

Along at the land of the Platts Jodie tries to give the tablet she "stole" from a teenager to Lily who has been told by David and Shona that she could not have one because they cannot afford it.  Jodie said she got it cheap (which in a strange way is true) but David and Shona take the tablet away from Lily and then argue about it in front of Jodie.  There is obviously something seriously wrong with Jodie and if someone would like to explain what it is I might understand what is going on, in the meantime she seems to be a cartoon character (oh dear have I said that before tonight?).  David thinks Shona is only happy when everyone else is miserable.  He is also completely worn out as is Shona.  

George brings Todd back to Eileen's (if it hers still - Number 11 anyway).  Todd decides that he cannot keep wearing the Kit's hoodie and has to go to the flat to get his possessions.  George cancels a customer appointment to help him and whilst they are there the doorbell goes - it is not Theo but Todd has a panic attack because he cannot face his husband.  Everyone for miles around is sorry that they did not see any of it and were unable to help Todd - but inevitably that is how coercive control works.  Later Mary gets all tooled up - with a glittery baseball bat and says she will deal with Theo if he shows he face.  Todd is going away to the Lake District.  Todd is pleased to be back amongst the daft goings on at Number 11.

Maggie instructs Lauren to clean the fruit machine.  Ben comes into the bar and tells her to stop doing that and pour him a drink - and his new brother as well.  Ben announces to the Rovers that Jim McDonald is his da so he is.  The only person visible who knows what Ben is talking about is Ken (apart from Steve).  Maggie loses her rag with Ben and takes him in the back room and pours him a coffee.  Maggie wants Ben to stop sulking like a teenager - Alan was his dad and that is an end to it.  Ben feels that 46 years was a long time to keep a secret.  

Carl and Summer meet in the ginnel and she agrees to pay him £10k once the police have enough to lock Theo up permanently in a cell.  He agrees it is a deal and departs.  

Lauren tonight also greatly enjoyed Maggie being put on the spot about her affair after her earlier run in with Maggie.  Her face showed she getting a lot of fun out of the boot being on another foot.

Next week I may or may not be here - I am away for a few days and so am not sure when I will be up to date with viewing events in Weatherfield.

Written by David Judge and directed by Gary Williams.

Kosmo

@Kosmo100

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Episode Review Friday 14 November 2025

Good day.  The Driscolls continue lead the programme tonight.  Ollie is working on a new menu which might even see the end of Betty's HotPot until Eva realises that the heavens would fall in and the entire local population would boycott the Rovers.  Ollie wants quinoa (see I can spell it, can't pronounce it though) on the menu - more suited to the Bistro to my mind).  Anyway Will gets dumped by girlfriend Megan who brings him back from Leeds where they had spent the night together.  Megan the best trainer going apparently is then invited to share bread at the Driscoll tasting menu test in the back room.  Later Eva and Maggie have convinced her to travel from Hull two days a week (104 miles and 2 hrs 13 minutes each way as we heard repeatedly) to continue training Will.  All that driving will leave her very tired!  Susie's view of the five spice chicken is that has five too many spices.  

In contrast timid Tim is checking Trish's socials and it is hardly surprising that Sal is not amused.  Tim still insists he was not groomed which is in sharp contrast to the controlling language Megan uses on Will who has been groomed.  More seriously Tim and Sal did not tell Brody about Lou having a day in court - which is revealed when Kit asks Brody why he is not in court.  Brody kicks off - just as the social worker brings the errant Joanie back to the Street.  There is an entire missing story here - what made Joanie so nasty to Shanice and what has changed to consider her safe to return?  Has she been re-programmed or are they so fed up with her that returning her to the same environment and triggers is the right thing to do?  Poorly done.  Brody gets summoned to see Kit at Speed Dahl who asks Brody if he can work out why Tim and Sal did not tell him about Lou (who got an extra 4 months for beating the living daylights out of her former cell mate {and I thought Mick was the violent one}) - which Brody does realising that Tim and Sal were seeking to protect him.  When Brody gets back to Tim and Sally he shows he is growing up and apologises.  Sally reminds him they are just keeping her promise to Lou.  Brody answers that they are not used to someone caring and then thanks them.  Tim does not need telling off by Sal for looking at Trish's pictures.  

Theo is fed up with sitting in the flat all day as all the little jobs he has been doing for Carla and others are all done and he is bored.  So when Todd and George come into the Rovers for a quick one before a super busy day tomorrow he is happy to join them.  Gary has picked up some work from Pete (with whom Theo had a one-night stand) but Todd is just not willing to contemplate Theo and Pete working together again; Theo is not amused at not having any work.  George departs and Theo talks Todd into another one, or twenty and Todd is only able to snuggle down on the sofa at home.  George has texted to say he will phone Todd in the morning to ensure he is on his way into work very early.  Theo sees it and simply turns the charger off at the mains.  No phone calls will disturb Sleeping Beauty Toddicles.

Shona is entirely happy to tell the world that they are having a daughter.  David seems far less keen.  Lauren offers them some of Frankie's old clothes.  Shona reminds us that she is a good friend of Eva's.  Shona is having the baby and David needs to adjust to that conclusion.  Later in the salon there is a reminder by Leanne of Oliver and that men can never really understand but that they need to support their partners.  Shona accepts that David needs to talk - he is feeling useless and that he can do nothing.  Shona has decided to take all the supplements she can so she is as healthy as possible.  

Kev is not keen on, well anything, including getting up and opening the garage.  Ty pops around to get him up and to tell him he is coming back to work to do the office stuff (the office is up some steps as I recall).  Ty puts the guilt trip on Kev and they have laid Brody off as he was useless.  They talk but Kev initially goes back to bed.  Kev finds Ty at the garage and the latter reminds him that they have a good partnership looking out for each other but at the moment he does not know where Kev is.  Much later in the Rovers Kev apologises.  Ty tells him he wants to help.  Kev tells him that his family is more important and anyway he has to go.  

Megan and Will are really looking forward to their training session next week it seems as the outcome suits everyone.

Both writers had some cracking double entendres.  Megan was asked how Will was performing and she said she had no complaints.  Later Ben agreed that Will had come on leaps and bounds since he came under Megan.  Clever writing and neatly delivered.  Alongside this Maggie and Eva constantly trade jibes and yet when the chips are down they are on the same side.  Again very clever.  

Written by Simon Crowther and Chris Fewtrell.  Directed by Gill Wilkinson.

Kosmo

@Kosmo100

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Episode Review: Friday 7 November 2025

If I had not recently been in a lot of doo doo for allegedly forgetting my wedding anniversary I might have been able to laugh at David's travails this evening.  In reality I had to suffer an hour of pained looks from the good lady wife.  As an anniversary present David has bought Shona a six pack of beer, only one of which is non-alcoholic (she is now noticeably pregnant and has still not had a scan).  However he has booked a table in the Bistro for later which just about gets him off the norty step.  He ends up back there pretty quickly as he has booked the table for the next night.  He tells Nick he got the days confused which is less serious than getting sisters confused nodding at R'Toyota - a joke which is not well received.  One of the tables has been booked by Sarah and Kit so David decides that the four of them can sit together, solving his norty step problem.  We are reminded that they have been married six years.  I had forgotten that there is a Platt family sweepstake running on how long Sarah and Kit will last given her track record.  Seven months and counting so far.  Kit gets upset at being the subject of a bet and Sarah demands the bill.

It seems unlikely that Carla and Lisa will even get married - wedding dresses are under consideration but Becky/Kim wants her family back together and in Spain, DI Costello wants Becky either really dead (he threatens her with a Tia Wardley exit for which Costello takes responsibility by ordering the Radcliffe boys to do the hit) or dead (but alive) in Spain.  Lisa makes it crystal clear to Becky that her future is with Carla but Carla thinks that it is all just a delaying tactic whilst Lisa hedges her Betsy, sorry bets.  This entire story has been shot through with holes since before it started and it now leaks like a colander (who has one of those these days?).  Filling in some of the plotical gaps we are told that Becky had ripped off Curtis (the now dead gang leader) for a lot of money and that Costello was the main beneficiary although he cannot sleep any longer due to the guilt he feels.  Becky makes it clear that she is running the show.  However allegedly the Curtis gang are now on Becky's tail but I suspect they are two of Costello's friends.  It leads to Becky spending the night on the sofa chez Lisa and Carla who warns her that the bed springs can be very noisy.  

Newly arrived Will has probably been undergoing grooming by Megan as we understand it, more worryingly she has something to tell him when she sees him.  This is very different to the Tim / Trisha situation.  Trisha may have been older but she was not Tim's teacher or in a position of authority - so I stand by Tim's view of his youthful experience.  Will is another matter and is befriended by Liam at school.  They end up in the back room of the Rovers necking lager - which is just too obvious and the secret is soon exposed first by Maggie who gives them a good natured explanation of why it is wrong and then later the entire family dynamic explodes - Maggie tries to cover up, Eva explodes and Kirk collects the shamefaced Liam; Kirk is loco in parentis which he think makes him sound like an unhinged parent as Maria and Gary are away in Bristol.  Will gets a right telling off and it is clear that Maggie much prefers the ex to Eva.

Abi is taking on Lauren's old flat in the precinct - which is lucky because Alfie in his innocence managed to get a load of books to fall on Roy's beloved model trains which he struggles to repair. However he can replace it by visiting the model railway convention in Bridlington next year.  Tyrone however is able to almost repair one of them as he has little to do at present, he shows it off to Hope and a part falls off!  Abi sold her rings to get the money for the deposit on the flat she later advises Roy.  

The Dobbs family saga returns to our screen.  Ruby wants a new phone as the old one is cringey and clapped but Ty has accidentally blown £200 downloading "trial" games (the good lady wife commented that her online game is free and it has kept her busy for six years).  Later Hope receives another nasty message telling her she is cringey and clapped which when she tells Tyrone even his brain is sharp enough to realise that Ruby is sending the messages.  He discusses it with Ruby who agrees to desist and not tell anyone else providing her phone is replaced and that they stop treating Hope as a special case.  Fiz on haring about the latest message decides she will summon the police and in trying to convince Fiz that it is not worth actually gives the game (see what I did there) away as to who is responsible.

The star member of the Driscoll family is little Susie (Aurora Bradshaw sister to Bobby who plays Jake Windass) who puts Liam through the third degree over dinner - with a lamp shining in his eyes she would fit in with any spy interrogator.  She wants to be a cheerleader and would like her name to be Vision Price.  I can see the next Carla Connor in the making.  If anyone can confirm Liam Connor's relationship to Susie then please let me know.  

The episode closes with Becky looking at online pictures of Costello, his wife and daughter Lainie - so what is she planning?

Leaving aside the reason Becky/Kim is there (and indeed the story itself) tonight we largely had stories about people living in a back street in Salford and forgetting anniversaries, underage drinking, Rovers front and centre, sisterly rivalry, making jokes at one another's expense and keeping secrets for 10 seconds - so a huge thumbs up for most of these two episodes the heart of the Street was right where it should be.  I have been a little critical once or twice recently - tonight hit is out of the park and a final tip - never buy a mermaid a pair of tights.

Written by Cameron McAllister and Jan McVerry.  Directed by Durno Johnston.


Kosmo

@Kosmo100

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