Month: November 2019

Soap Blog: Monday 18th – 24th November 2019

Coronation Street

So, while Sinead’s loved ones gather for her funeral, some little cretin breaks into hers and Daniel’s flat and robs the place.  I mean, that really is quite hideous.  Daniel loses his mind when he discovers Sinead’s laptop missing, containing all the video messages she left for Bertie.  Well, who wouldn’t be upset?  But he does go a little far when it comes to smashing up a pawn shop.  Luckily, Peter is on hand to persuade the owner not to press charges.

With all the support that Billy has been giving Paul in recent months, it’s been inevitable that the pair of them would get back together, which they do this week.  And it’s all looking lovely until the truth about the robberies comes out.  While at first, Gemma and Paul suspect their mother has been up to no good, the finger of suspicion soon lands on Kel, who was with Bernie on her one and only day working for Billy (all the local robberies seem to have occurred when people are busy with funerals or church events).

Bernie and Gemma locate the laptop at Kel’s house but they also find a box of pictures of Paul as a child.  They confront Paul who breaks down and finally reveals the abuse he suffered as a child in some genuinely heartbreaking scenes.  Having been accused of not protecting her son when he needed her, Bernie takes the laptop and the pictures to the police station and reports Kel for theft and for historical sexual abuse.

The inane story of Robert’s double life continues.  I feel like I’ve lost track of who knows what.  I think Robert might have done as well.  James fears being outed after a random hook up.  Michael attempts to make contact with his never before mentioned baby daughter, who has appeared from nowhere, as has his ex girlfriend, Grace.  David and Shona plan to adopt Max and Lily.  And in the best news of the week, Adam has finally washed his hair.

Doctors

Daniel and Zara hold interviews for the new Practice Manager – a timid woman who reads off cards, an adventurer and a cocky guy who wants to change the role into Business Manager and has no real relevant experience.  They go for the adventurer, only for him to have had a better offer, leaving them with the cocky guy, named Bear Sylvester.  Maybe he was named by Cheryl Tweedy-Cole-Fernandez-Versini-Now-Just-Cheryl and Liam Payne.  He starts fairly abysmally, although he is charming enough when it comes to staff.  Just don’t expect him to be able to take minutes for meetings!

As expected, Emma and her new lodger, Gareth (the identical twin brother of Zara’s boyfriend, Adam – and played somewhat better by the same actor) get it on.  Predictable.  Although I really am intrigued as to where this whole storyline is going.  I feel like it’s not going to be anywhere good.  But between the twins’ love lives, Gareth also starts work as the Manager of The Icon.  They are definitely getting their feet under the table.  Daniel’s nose continues to be out of joint about it all, which is only a good thing as far as I am concerned!

There are a few interesting side stories this week, including an investigation into a man murdering his wife for a lottery ticket and attempting to cover it up.  There is also a story of forgiveness from a mother to a girl who killed her son when they were children, which would have been very emotional had it not been for some hammy acting.  But the sentiment was there.

But my favourite moment of the week was Jimmi Clay’s Bad Day.  Everything went wrong for him, building and building his frustration to the point that he actually turned into Basil Fawlty, beating up his car with a branch.  I mean… Doctors, you get a round of applause from me.

Eastenders

Albert Square remains in shock in the wake of Mel Owen’s untimely death.  Lisa remains adamant that Sharon is responsible for her demise and is determined to prove it although uncharacteristically dense Phil is having none of it.  Has the baby really turned him that soft?  Once upon a time, if some woman had burst into his kitchen claiming that his wife had been having an affair and the baby wasn’t his, he’d have had a DNA test before the end of the credits!  But suddenly he thinks Sharon is some kind of angel?

Chantelle desperately tries to keep her family together, torn between her love for her husband and her fear of him.  They attend his counselling session together and Chantelle is disappointed when Gray admits to violence – but not towards her.  But once again, it all blows over.  As if more violence won’t be around the corner, especially now that Karen has revealed that Chantelle is no longer pregnant.

Jack arrests Leo for aggressive protesting at court but he avoids charges, being that he is a paralegal.  Jack is surprised then to find that Leo is dating Whitney.  Well, not more surprised than viewers.  And I don’t mean because he is Tony King’s son.  I mean because his personality is about as sparkling as a storm cloud.  What on earth is Whitney seeing in this man?  Every time they have a conversation, he looks like he is chewing a wasp!

After a slap from Kathy, Ben decides to clean up his act and ‘go legit’ so that he can be a loving boyfriend to Callum and support him in his quest to become a cop.  He even gives Martin the green light to bring Stacey home.  But alas, it’s too late as his lie to Stacey worked too well (meaning her maternity leave isn’t up yet) and she has moved onto a random new guy called Jerome who comes to the Square to collect her things, even making a particularly insensitive comment about how lovely the kids are.  Ouch.  Martin responds by getting drunk and attempting to lay into Ben.  But he falls over instead.

After Max is mistaken for Ruby’s Dad, he decides to propose.  Obviously.  She says no.  Obviously.

Emmerdale

Mandy arranges a long awaited meeting between Lydia and her mother, Agatha, who is indeed still alive.  It is not the happiest of outcomes, however, when Lydia is informed that she has a 50/50 chance of inheriting Huntington’s Disease from her late father.

When Maya is released from prison, Jacob immediately rushes off to track her down but thankfully, David is able to stop him.  While David had believed that his son had begun to put his life back together, Jacob explains that it was all fake and he has just been waiting until the day he could see Maya again.  He bombards her with messages, which she ignores, deleting his number and revealing only to the audience that she is pregnant!

Angry at the rejection, Jacob mistakes Leanna’s kindness as an assumption of sex so he sleeps with her, not realising that it’s her first time and that that should be a special thing.  When he does realise, he panics and rejects her, so confused from Maya and everything she has done to him that he still hasn’t processed and understood.  The most he offers her is to check that she’s on the pill.

Upset over what has happened, Leanna turns to Bernice for support, begging confidentiality.  Bernice gets her the morning after pill, which makes Leanna sick and along with the vomit, the truth comes tumbling out.  Not only is Bernice in trouble for keeping secrets, Liam charges over to the shop to confront David and Jacob, the latter of whom says some utterly disgusting things about Leanna, sex and women in general.  Knowing that his attitude is borne out of his experiences just makes it even worse.  Liam punches him.

Jacob’s friends and family despair of him, upset that the boy they love has vanished.  Opting for some tough love, David, Leyla and Eric tell him that he has to move out and they cannot cope with him anymore.  They don’t like the person he has become; someone who doesn’t even know the difference between right and wrong.  Distraught, Jacob begs for another chance and through their conversation he seems to begin to realise that everything he’s going through began with Maya.  They admit that they were never going to kick him out, they just wanted him to understand.

Charity is furious when Noah and Sarah throw a party behind her back, especially when she comes home to find Sarah vomiting.  Noah is very aware that his mother would be even angrier if she knew that it wasn’t just vodka she was throwing up – Danny gave her a pill.  It takes a little bit of persistence but as Vanessa supports Charity with Sarah, Charity is able to convince her to give her another chance.  Vanity are back together!  Hooray!

Lee’s Mum, Wendy helps Chas with breast feeding (she’s a nurse, not a random woman in the pub) and finds that Eve is slightly tongue tied.  Al gets knocked out by an unknown assailant.  Hands up if anyone cares?

Hollyoaks

Ste and his family support Sid in the wake of his father’s death.  Proving that they are actual heroes, the Maalik family also support Sid (and Ste) despite everything they and their gang did to them and Sami even acts as Sid’s lawyer when he is faced with questions over how Stuart died.  Everyone present explains it was an accident except Jonny who calls him a murderer and poor Sid, who feels terribly guilty for what he has done.  Sami persuades him not to claim responsibility and gets him off all charges.  However, he is too caught up with grief and his own conditioning to be grateful for any help.

Sami is horrified to discover that there is a hint of romance between Ste and Azim and attempts to put a stop to it.  To be fair, forgiveness is one thing but romance is a little far-fetched, even for Hollyoaks.  They hit a hurdle anyway when Azim sees Ste’s racist tattoo.  Well, I guess that sort of thing can be a bit of a passion killer.

Ste meanwhile, is the town pariah.  Nobody wants to speak to him or serve him in the shop.  He gets an earful from everyone he sees and he is shaken when he is confronted by the damage he has done to Yazz and how frightened she is of him.  Deciding that he needs to get away from the Village, work with Prevent and sort his life out, Ste sends a goodbye text to Leela and Peri.  He departs in a taxi so he can spend a few months doing a ‘Band of Gold’ with several other soap stars, including Jane Beale from Eastenders.  In all seriousness though, that was one hell of a storyline and everyone involved should be really proud.  I’ve watched so much of it in tears.  It’s been heartbreaking, disturbing and deeply uncomfortable to watch from start to finish.  And so it should have been.  That’s the point.  Well done, Hollyoaks. 

Overhearing Luke joking about changing DJ’s name to LJ, Darren knocks him out!  Of course, this leads to a brain scan revealing some life threatening health condition that Luke will decide to ignore for an irritating amount of time until it becomes really serious.  And in the meantime, he decides to propose to Cindy and buy her old house from the racists.

Ollie breaks Sienna and Brody’s hearts by admitting that he wants to be a Dad to his baby.  The adoption is off.  However, he then tells Brooke that he chooses her over the baby so they agree to let strangers adopt him.  When Brody is confused, Ollie reveals that he is convinced that when Brooke meets the baby, she will fall in love with him and change her mind and the three of them can be a happy family.  Well, this plan doesn’t have disaster written all over it, does it?  Also, this storyline hasn’t already been done with Tom and Peri having Steph, has it?  Oh, wait…

An overinflated conversation about the importance of Christmas between Sienna and Brody leads to an amusing joke about how creepy the Ghost of Christmas Past is in The Muppets Christmas Carol (voiced by Jessica Fox AKA Nancy Osbourne!)  Just thought I’d mention it for a little fact of the day.

Home and Away

Ben reluctantly seeks medical advice from Hot Doc, Alex about his mental health.  I see the Australian Soap Doctor Theme is still going strong – every Doctor specialises in everything!  Last week Alex was running the Emergency Department.  This week, within the Emergency Department, she’s doing a mental health assessment, complete with a treatment plan.  It’s like in Neighbours when Karl Kennedy started as a GP and now he performs life saving surgery…  Still, Alex is fast becoming one of my favourite characters so I won’t complain about extra scenes.

Alex diagnoses Ben with severe depression.  He agrees to counselling but refuses antidepressants until he has a heart to heart with Dean.  I have found this storyline a bit slow and long winded but having said that, a mental health storyline, particularly focussing on ‘a bloke’ is an important one, I think.

While Willow is thrilled that Mason finally has his internship at the hospital and is one step closer to becoming a Doctor, the prospect of running the gym by herself is extremely daunting.  He also cannot resist teasing her about Alex.  He and Willow are shocked to learn that his internship begins the very next day.  Subsequently, Alex finds herself in Willow’s exercise class instead of Mason’s – she’s obviously been avoiding Willow since their kiss.

Meanwhile, Mason begins his first day as an intern and is desperate to impress Alex.

Colby has to cancel on Mac yet again when Robbo shows up at home, battered and bruised after his encounter with Dylan Carter.  Colby and Robbo get into an argument over Robbo’s secretiveness and that he hasn’t even bothered to ask after Jasmine.  Unable to cope with the danger Colby constantly puts himself in for work and for his friends, Mac breaks up with him.  Bella is livid, bordering on a little bit psychotic over the breakup.  I’m going to say it.  I don’t like Bella and I don’t like Robbo.  They’re both intensely annoying.  Anyway, with Colby asleep, drunk on the couch, Bella breaks into Salt in an attempt to set fire to it but Dean and Willow catch her.

With Dylan Carter as his prisoner, Robbo arranges to meet his enemies, ready to trade him in for Victor, the man who really killed his family.  Face to face with Victor, Robbo demands a confession.  Just as Victor believes he has the upper hand, the whole of the Federal Police Force appear.  And yet, when Victor runs, none of them move or shoot or respond in any way.  It’s as if they’re all just extras or something.  Only Robbo gives chase, following him to the top of the building.  Victor is cruel about murdering Robbo’s family, pushing him to shoot him.  However, Robbo is a better man than that and arrests him instead.  And one can only hope that this boring story is finally dead and buried.

At the safe house, Tori is alarmed when her waters break.  Jasmine helps her through her labour.  The Doctor arrives and Robbo is contacted just in time.

Blake engages Ryder in a cheating scam involving swapping their papers around for the HSC but he is not comfortable with the idea at all, not least when two of the guys involved are caught out.  Blake then comes up with a new plan – putting a sleeping pill in the examiner’s drink.  Even more horrified, Ryder absolutely backs out of the plan.  Maggie is the moderator and when she opens her bottle of water, Ryder panics and swats the bottle out of her hand, getting himself into trouble both with Maggie and Blake.

Neighbours

Prue is struggling to pay her debt to The Order and gets caught attempting to steal from Gary.  When he catches her, she has no choice but to tell him all about The Order but rather than laying into her, kind hearted Gary gives her the money she needs to clear her debt.

Things are not going well between Amy and Kyle, post sex-tape.  Amy continues to feel uncomfortable with intimacy, as if the cameras are still watching them and Kyle is burdened with his secret class action against the hotel.  When Amy finally plucks up the courage to make a move on her boyfriend, Kyle bursts out with the truth, somewhat ruining things.  And while the class action gathers momentum and Paul attempts to pay as many people off as possible, Terese is secretly turning to alcohol to numb her pain.

Concerned by how quickly Pierce and Chloe are planning to marry, Susan (their celebrant) sets them a marriage quiz.  Cue Hendrix messing with the answers to prove that they are not compatible, also proving to Roxy that Hendrix has a crush on his future step-mother.  Aware that she is likely to lose her job now that the legal action against the hotel is causing financial trouble, Roxy is quite happy to help Hendrix cause trouble.  However, realising their ‘mistake’ on the quiz, Susan gives the happy couple a second chance.  Well, personally, I still have hope for Elly and Chloe.  They wrote themselves off too quickly!

Finn is uncomfortable when he happens upon an old photo album of his past relationship with Elly, a relationship he doesn’t remember, while he is helping her sort out her bedroom in preparation for the baby.  To be fair, it is kind of a complicated relationship.  He dated Elly.  He was a psycho.  He then dated her sister, Bea in an equally psychotic bid to get revenge but she didn’t know about his past with Elly.  He nearly killed them both and several others.  He lost his memory.  He’s now back dating Bea.  And Elly is pregnant with his dead brother’s baby.  And that’s just your average relationship in Ramsay Street.

Ned returns to the fight club.  I can’t decide whether this Stalker Scarlett storyline was a bid to return Ned to the dark or to as many topless scenes as possible.  With his friends concerned about his behaviour, Aaron follows him to the fight club and ends up having to pull him off his opponent when he goes too far.  (And I gather the Aussie scenes were a lot more violent than the UK ones).

Soap Blog: Monday 11th – Sunday 17th November 2019

Coronation Street

Michelle warns Alya not to work with Ray but Ray claims that the inappropriate move he made on her was a mutual attraction.  Geoff continues to treat Yasmeen as if she is controlling.  He manipulates her into begging him to go on holiday with him and eventually they leave together.

Michelle finally begins to suspect that Robert is telling her lies.  And things come to a head when, while on the phone to Michelle, Robert has a car accident – and he is not in the place he claimed he was.  When she finally locates him, Michelle’s suspicions are further rouse when one of the nurses recognises him from the maternity ward, she finds a necklace that says ‘big daddy’ on it and high on morphine, he asks after the baby.  Later, Robert narrowly avoids his two fiancées from meeting each other but it seems that the game is up.  At home, suspicious Michelle steals Robert’s phone.  She confirms that the young offender’s program he is always running off to has never even heard of him and then tracks him down to Vicky’s house, where he is in the process of breaking up with her.  Confronting Robert at home, he explains that Vicky got pregnant after a one night stand when they were separated but lies that nothing has happened since then.  Michelle confronts Vicky herself and she tells her the truth, horrified that Robert has been stringing them both along.  Michelle comes home and tells Robert that Vicky is a liar and that she believes him.  But secretly, she contacts Adam in a bid to put her affairs in order, so to speak.

Gemma and Chesney accept a huge promo deal, securing the future for them and their children.   With the help of Carla, Roy tracks down his brother, the product of his mother’s secret affair.  His brother is dying and being looked after by his daughter, Roy’s niece.  Gary continues to try and impress Maria and keep her away from Ali.  He secretly seethes when she puts in a good word for Ali at his meeting with the hospital.  Amy fakes an injury in order to keep Emma at home with her, but confesses in order to go to a Little Mix concert with her.  Saint Emma doesn’t mind and is touched that Amy wants to spend so much time with her.

Doctors

Daniel turns to Jimmi for support over the situation with Zara, who he is struggle to remain civil with after her refusal to reunite with him – especially now that she has decided she wants to introduce Adam to Joe.  Daniel objects for the sake of it, although he doesn’t have a leg to stand on after how quickly he introduced him to Becky and moved her into his house!  Daniel has his first counselling session and pours his heart out about his and Zara’s turbulent relationship.  He agrees to continue the sessions, finding the first one useful and also agrees to his homework – to complete a video diary through the week.  He meets up with Adam in order to bond before he gives Zara the green light to introduce him to Joe.  He then vents to his video diary his frustration that Zara has picked someone genuinely nice and not someone he can hate.  He says he hates him anyway but promises to be the perfect man.  He is desperate for Zara to fall back in love with him.

Adam, meanwhile, tells Zara that his twin brother, also a surgeon has been suspended from work and thrown out by his wife.  He and his brother then rent a room from Emma.  Well, it’s obvious where this is going…  And Zara seems to agree with me!  When she brings Joe to the house to meet Adam and his brother, she took picks up on the level of flirtation between them.  Adam, meanwhile, is quick to bond with his girlfriend’s son.  Zara is delighted when Adam invites her and Joe to Rome for the weekend.  Playing the ‘perfect man’, Daniel is nothing but supportive.

Rob and Karen take on a new foster child called Martha who has been kept indoors by her mother who has serious mental health problems.  The little girl has serious allergies and so has been restricted from doing a lot of things due to her mother’s anxiety over what will happen to her.  The first thing Rob and Karen do is take her trampolining, as she puts together a list of all the things she has never done but would love to!  Predictably, when Karen takes Martha for lunch at The Icon, despite Karen making specific arrangements with Al and the kitchen, she has an allergic reaction and goes into anaphylaxis.  Thankfully, Zara is having lunch with Adam at the time and the GP saves the day before sending Karen and Martha off to hospital.  Before they leave, Zara quietly tells Karen that she found a bag of peanuts in Martha’s bag.  It wasn’t the food she ate – Martha has poisoned herself.  However, it turns out that she had genuinely believed that her mother was wrong about the allergy and feeling like Rapunzel, locked away in a tower, desperate to break free, she had been trying to prove that there was nothing to be afraid of.  Al and Jimmi struggle with bad reviews in the wake of the incident.

Emma supports a woman struggling with post-natal depression while her wife returns to the army.  Ayesha is furious with her cousin for impersonating a nurse in order to bag herself a date with Finn (the original) from Hollyoaks.  Sid is horrified at a company’s initiation programme which results in a young woman taking ketamine and throwing herself down the stairs, all condoned by the boss.

Eastenders

Mick and Linda approach Ollie’s autism diagnosis from different angles.  Mick has lots of questions for the doctor, wanting to be informed but Linda is still deep in denial and clearly becoming dependent on alcohol.

Chantelle learns the Gray attacked a man in a bar and confronts him about his violence.  However, big mouth Karen puts her foot in it and assumes that they are talking about the miscarriage.  She completely drops her foot in it but even she doesn’t know the depth of what she is done by revealing the truth to her son-in-law.

E20 is all decked out with creepy pictures of Sharon and Louise.  In a normal situation, it might be nice but we all know what Mel has in store for Sharon at the party.  I mean, really, it’s no more than Sharon deserves but Mel is behaving rather erratically lately!  And nobody knows it more than poor Lisa, who begs her to go and see a counsellor, only for Mel to turn on her friend again, telling her that she and Louise have only ever put up with her all the time, waiting for her to finally give in and put them all out of their misery one day.  I mean, it’s just awful.

However, things come to an explosive head in Thursday’s episode when Sharon desperately tries to stop Phil, who is on his way back from the airport, Louise and the rest of the gathered party-goers from finding out the truth.  So while Sharon races to the airport, Mel is hot on her tail.  Mel phones Billy and persuades him to put her on speakerphone at the microphone in a throwback to the Sharongate storyline where Grant revealed Sharon’s affair with Grant.  Unfortunately for Mel, she gets distracted as she is also racing Sharon in her car.  She loses control and ends up in a huge smash, her seemingly lifeless hand hanging out of the car.  It’s very Steve Owen.

However, the biggest twist ever comes in Friday’s episode when while the party desperate hanker for news of Mel, it turns out she is actually still alive.  And despite everything she has done and could still do, without a second’s though, Sharon pulls her from the wreckage of the car and saves her life, just before it bursts into flames.  They sit and wait for the emergency services except Mel is convinced that while she was in the car, she could hear Hunter calling to her.  Before Sharon can stop her, Mel walks towards the burning car and then – BAM! – she’s run over by a lorry!  Well, I didn’t see that coming!  And sadly, nor did Mel.

Emmerdale

Sadly, it looks like it’s the end of the road for Charity and Vanessa as Vanessa can’t get over the lies and betrayal, not to mention lack of remorse from Charity.  It’s a genuine shame as these two have been a lovely couple for ages and the way Vanessa supported Charity through the abuse storyline was fantastic but I suppose it was only going to be a matter of time before Charity misbehaved and Vanessa isn’t going to put up with it.  I do hope they get back together though.  I like them!  While Charity mopes over her lost relationship, Noah and Sarah beg Vanessa to give her another chance.  She feels guilty when she has to turn the children away, breaking down on Tracey afterwards.

Cain warns Nate that he is not welcome in Emmerdale Village.  He and Aaron are under pressure with their stolen cars.  In the car, they receive a phone call demanding the cars back.  When they refuse, Moses is kidnapped.  Charity is heartbroken and livid when for a moment, it looked like her son has actually been murdered (as if) but Nate manages to bring him home.  It brings Nate some acceptance within the Dingle clan but of course, not with Cain.  Charity breaks down on Vanessa over nearly losing her son.  She refuses to speak to Cain and rewrites the bar rota so that she and Chas do not have work together anymore.

Arthur’s jealousy and aggression towards Archie spirals out of control when he perceives that the rival for Laurel and Jai’s affection makes a memorial day for Ashley all about him.  Things go too far when Arthur hits Archie and then blames him for making him do it.  Archie lies to Laurel and Jai about how he got his injuries but when they are treating them, they find old bruises.  Panicked, Arthur tells them that he saw Jimmy hitting Archie, prompting a huge row between the friends.  Arthur’s bullying continues when he breaks Laurel’s phone and blames Archie.  The poor little kid takes the blame but thinking he is still traumatised by what Jimmy has done, Laurel and Jai are not too hard on him.

Mandy forces Lydia’s sister to come and speak to her and give her some answers about their mother.  She clearly has a lot of resentment towards the woman her parents have not stopped searching for all this time.  Suspicious, Mandy follows her home and hey presto – Lydia’s Mum is alive and well!

Amy takes pity on Kerry during her time of despair.  Bernice is distraught when a surprise visit from Dee Dee, planned by Liam, backfires and makes her think that her daughter is ignoring her.  Sarah spends more time with her new boyfriend.

Hollyoaks

Yasmine’s deafness makes her feel excludes from her family’s festivities as they prepare from Sami and Sinead’s wedding.  She opens up to Imran about her growing closeness to Finn.  He agrees that what Finn did was awful but points out that even people who do awful things deserve forgiveness if they are truly sorry.  Unfortunately, Edward works it out and deliberately tells Sami, who swiftly puts an end to their friendship.  However, when he overhears just how lonely his sister and how much her friendship with Finn means to her, he relents and allows her to invite him to the wedding.

Ste persuades Sid, who is babysitting him, to go out on his date with Juliet.  He then manages to break out of the house and meet Leela and Peri who whisk him off to see a former right wing group member, who works with the police who are prepared to rescue him from Stuart and Jonny.  Ste gives a false name (as permitted) and he opens up about everything that has been happening.  They make a plan to help him exit the group, although he has to be prepared to give up his life in Hollyoaks Village and move away to start again.

However, when Stuart finds out that Sid left Ste alone, the frightened teenager spills the beans that Ste went off in a taxi with Leela and Peri.  Ste makes an excuse, claiming that they had merely shown him a kindness and allowed him to see his kids but secretly, they don’t buy the story.  They stage a fight in which Jonny gets stabbed but poor Ste doesn’t realise that it’s all fake.  Stuart is actually the person who has stabbed Jonny in order that Ste will open up to him and believe him when he claims to want out of the group too.

Despite warnings from Azim, who Ste has become extremely close to (they even kiss!), not to tell Jonny his plan, Ste cannot help but pity Jonny who begs for his help.  He gives away his plan, allowed Stuart and Jonny to trap him and plot to give him exactly what they believe a traitor deserves.

On the day of what is supposed to be Sami and Sinead’s wedding (except Sinead doesn’t show up), Ste is dragged into a taxi by Stuart and Jonny (and poor Sid who is dragged along for the ride.  Ste does manage to escape and bless Sid, he rushes to the non-wedding to raise the alarm, sending Sami (with whom Ste has made his peace), Azim, Leela and Peri off to find him.  Unfortunately, Stuart and Jonny find him first – and capture Sami in the process.  They drag him off to where ‘the traitors’ are taken to make it ‘look like an accident’, which at least means Sid knows where to find them.  Apparently his father used to take him there to fly kites!  Cue a dramatic clifftop showdown where Sami is knocked out and Sid saves Ste from being pushed off the cliff by knocking his father over it instead.  A fitting end to a pretty amazing, important story actually.

Still hurt over Mercedes’ lies, Sylver gets closer to Grace.  Feeling pushed out over Luke and DJ, Darren becomes confused over what happened between him and Nancy.  However, upon Kyle’s return, Nancy pledges her commitment to him instead.  But as is the way with soaps, Darren and Nancy’s conversation regarding their ‘tunnel sex’ has been captured on Charlie’s webcam.

Home and Away

Confused by her kiss with Alex, Willow attempts to talk to Colby but his teasing makes her clam up.  She then successfully confides in Jasmine and admits that she is now very confused.  Jasmine queries whether Willow wants to pursue something with Alex and Willow admits that perhaps she does.  However, when she speaks to Alex, the Doctor is so full of apologies that Willow doesn’t get a word in.  They go back to being friends.  However, Mason has clocked the chemistry between them and doesn’t buy it when Willow insists that things are platonic.  He cannot resist questioning Alex about it when she very kindly arranges for him to begin his internship at the hospital but she insists that she and Willow are just friends.

Jasmine discharges herself from hospital, desperately worried about Robbo.  Jasmine is sent back into protective custody with Tori until Robbo is found.  Scott is also at the house, recovering from his injuries.  Meanwhile, Robbo has been locked up in a cage.  He finally comes face to face with his captor – it’s Dylan Carter himself.  Robbo manages to get the better of Carter who denies killing his family.  However, he does identify the person who did.

Mac becomes anxious over the danger Colby is willing to put himself in for his job and his friends.  This infuriates Bella but Dean reassures his sister that Colby is in less danger as a police officer than back where they grew up as River Boys in Mangrove River.  Dean makes it clear to Bella that Mac has done nothing wrong but Bella is furious with the whole world in her brother’s defence and she confronts Mac herself.

Ben tells John that the arrest in Indonesia doesn’t mean he is off the hook.  However, he does very well teaching his first surf lesson.  When John puts his foot in it and Ben realises that Dean and Ziggy handed him the lesson to make him feel better, Ben takes it out on everyone else, prompting Maggie to give him some tough love.  Ziggy panics that her mother may have pushed her Dad too far.  Deep in despair, Ben hands back the keys to his caravan and a note for Alf before disappearing.  His family and friends panic that he is suicidal, which he quite possibly is but he does eventually return home, hopefully ready to ask for help with his mental health.

There is tension at Summer Bay house between Alf, Martha and Roo as Ryder tries to study for his HSC.  Martha challenges Alf over how bad tempered he is being, realising that he has decided he wants her to move in with him without her actually consulting her.  Irene is told that Tommy’s family are not pursuing the civil case and all charges are dropped.  She then discovers that Leah’s vlog has been shut down.  Ava’s mother is having problems settling the divorce with her husband, requiring Justin to keep custody of his daughter for the foreseeable.

Neighbours

Finn confesses that he came to the school and approached a student who became scared of him.  In light of the reason why he came to the school, Elly is fired.

With the situation at Lassiters, the business is beginning the fail and Terese is feeling completely lost at home with nothing to do with Paul, Pierce and Chloe are all hands on deck.  To make things worse, Terese is faced with criminal charges for ‘destruction of evidence’ for covering up the cameras.  Kyle and Amy cannot agree over the cameras.  Chloe and Pierce give a public statement regarding the future of the hotel, reassuring everyone that there are no more cameras in the hotel and offering people the chance to check for themselves.  People in the crowd who have been filmed, call for Terese to be jailed and Pierce publically separates the hotel from Terese.  At home, Terese turns to alcohol, although she does tip the rest of the bottle away.

While Paul pays several people off, Kyle is determined to get justice and turns to Toadie for legal support.  However, things remains awkward between Kyle and Amy, who can’t seem to talk to each other and certainly can’t touch each other.  All I can say is this stupid storyline had better not break them up!  David and Aaron aside, they are my favourite couple!

Chloe and Pierce set a pretty quick wedding date but when Hendrix learns of Chloe’s previous relationship with Elly, he is eager to wind his father up about it and make his paranoid.  When Pierce and Hendrix spot Chloe talking and sharing a hug of condolence over Elly losing her job, it results in Pierce and Chloe falling out.  Karl reveals that Elly was fired and suggests to Pierce that Chloe might have just been supporting her.  Meanwhile, Hendrix works on Chloe, attempting to drive a wedge between them.  Despite his best efforts, Pierce and Chloe make up.

David feels conflicted when he is offered a pay rise, aware that he is in receipt of the knowledge that Clive and Sheila are having an affair behind Beverly’s back.  Clive is quick to reassure him enough but the affair is still going on.  He finally grows up and ends things with Beverly but opts not to confess to the affair.  Believing he has told her the actual truth, Sheila apologises to Beverly and gets a bucket off manure dumped over her head for her troubles.  But she still loves Clive anyway, despite him getting off scot free!

David offers to refer Ned for counselling after the stabbing.  Instead, Ned goes to see Aaron at the gym and takes up boxing which he takes a little too seriously.  When Aaron sends him off to calm down, another guy takes him aside, inviting him to a fight club to take out his aggression over what happened to him.  He participates and knocks his opponent out.

Harlow feels pushed out when Prue has a night of fun with Roxy ‘Row Row’ so Prue pledges her full commitment to her daughter.  However, a secret phone call reveals that her true commitment is still to The Order and she isn’t really in Erinsborough for Harlow at all.  Out at the tram with Prue and Roxy, Harlow warns Gary away from her mother, worried that he is going to get hurt.

Neighbours: Erinsborough High

While the school students have been asked to put together video diaries, this Neighbours spin off focuses mainly on the students of Erinsborough High and also on some of the teachers with some cameos from the main cast.

We see Yashvi as she prepares to finish high school and celebrates coming towards the end of her exams.  A central storyline in the series sees student, Olivia going missing, having bumped into Finn Kelly in last Friday’s episode of Neighbours, who the kids believe is a frightening villain and banned from school grounds.  She missed her final exam and nobody has seen her since, worrying her parents, friends and teachers.  Olivia’s mother berates Finn.  Yashvi finds her hiding in a cupboard.  She persuades her to alert her family and the school of her safety but then discovers that she is in a secret relationship.  When she sees Olivia getting into their teacher, Mr Muggleton’s car, Yashvi rightly reports it to another teacher, Cherie.  However, a text message from Olivia’s ‘secret boyfriend’ soon shoots round the school about Mr Muggleton, only for ‘him’ to be a her.  Olivia has been seeing Cherie, who has sacrificed her colleague to deflect attention.  Unable to keep up the lie anymore, Olivia tells Yashvi the truth and provides her with evidence.  Cherie is arrested.

We meet a new character called Jeremiah, referred to as The Ghost, never noticed by students and teachers alike, constantly dismissed and whenever he is noticed, he is often bullied, usually by Ollie, the main bully of the school.  He gets caught up in Hendrix’s plan for a mass exam failure in order to cause problems for Mr Muggleton, his most hated teacher.  However, at the last minute, Ritchie backs out, ruining the plan.  He, Hendrix and the Ghost work hard in the exam but Jeremiah doesn’t pass on the message to school bully, Ollie and his friends.  Impressed, Hendrix invites Jeremiah to his party.

Jeremiah spends ages getting ready for the party but when he finally arrives, Ollie is waiting for him and beats him up.  The next day, he goes back to hiding in the shadows, upset that his one attempt to stand up for himself backfired so badly.  When Hendrix asked Jeremiah to be his tutor, he is shocked to discover his injuries.  Hendrix is torn up with sorrow for Jeremiah and wants to help him.  He calls the police on Ollie but Jeremiah isn’t grateful – he is furious.  However, he is grateful for a friend.

Mackenzie is also a central character, having begun to embark on a potential relationship with Ritchie, a reformed school bully.  But while they get along famously via text, things are much more awkward in person.  He is also under a lot of pressure to do well at school from his father.  At Hendrix’s the party, the fledgling couple finally talk properly and share a kiss but the next day, Mackenzie is upset when he blanks her.  Confiding in his video diary, Ritchie tries to explain to his future self that he really likes Mackenzie but he knows that a relationship has no choice but to be different because she is transgender.  People will have questions including whether he is still straight.  He wants to pursue things but he wants to talk to her and worries that his own questions might offend her if he doesn’t ask them correctly.  Overhearing Mackenzie break her heart over him to Harlow, Ritchie decides that he doesn’t want to let Mackenzie being trans be an issue because he likes her so much and genuinely wants to be with her.  He clumsily tells her exactly how he feels, including his nerves over her being transgender.  They get together at last!  When Mackenzie discovers that Ritchie is not a virgin, she panics about what he is expecting of her and also what her physical body looks like.  They talk and Ritchie reveals he has already researched that she is pre-op and is happy to take things at her pace.

If nothing else, this mini-series has been a great way to explore some themes at a deeper level than they might not be able to in the main show.  Erinsborough High was a bit random but I’d say it was a success and well worth a watch!

Soap Blog: Monday 4th – Sunday 10th November 2019

Coronation Street

While Steve seeks an opinion from Doctor Gaddas, armed with her previous suspicions, the GP has no option but to report Ali for his mistake.  Maria makes herself unpopular with Gary for standing up for her ex-boyfriend and Adam cannot resist winding him up further when he witnesses her comforting him.  Gary then spots Ali kissing Maria who immediately admits what happened but confirms that it’s Gary she wants to be with.  Fuelled with anger, Ali employs one of his cronies to dig up some dirt on Ali, determined to remove him from Maria’s life for good.  He then pledges his commitment to Maria.  For his part, Ali sincerely apologises to Emma and Steve, although the latter is less forgiving than the former, who is quite possibly the kindest person on the Street.

Gary discovers Ali’s drug addiction and tracks down the pharmacist, holding him hostage and interrogating him about Ali.  He then threatens Ali but when Ali dismisses the threaten, Ryan feels obliged to warn him over how dangerous Gary truly is.  Ignoring him, Ali confronts Gary himself but Gary clearly has the upper hand.  Ali has now also put Ryan back in danger for rolling over on him.  Gary threatens Ryan and reinstates his debt.

Shona finally accepts that her wedding to Shona will not be going ahead.  Nick intervenes and attempts to speak to Josh in hospital but is caught out by Billy.  He persuades him to talk to Josh on David’s behalf but it doesn’t work.  When Paul works out exactly what the situation is, he decides to intervene, threatening to use his power in the prison (I’d forgotten that he was once David’s cellmate) to make Josh’s life hell unless he retracts his statement against David.  Josh agrees and David is released and he and Shona finally walk down the aisle.

Yasmeen finds Geoff on a dating site but when she asks him about it, Geoff makes her feel paranoid and jealous, claiming he was only on there for research for a radio show.  He goes even further than that, accusing her of controlling him.  He then reveals that he had booked them a holiday but refuses to go with her – what is the point if she thinks so little of him?

Brian and Sally are not impressed when Kevin and Abi go out drinking the night before one of her exams.  Typically, Abi is extremely hungover for her exam but Sally saves the day.  Unfortunately, when Sally suggests that Abi is interested in Kevin’s money, the friends fall out spectacularly, with Abi pouring a bowl of spaghetti bolognaise over Sally’s head.  And yet still, the pair of them are able to make friends again.  This is true love!

Robert is alarmed when Tyler comes to The Street to see Amy, as the pair of them have been back in touch.  When he cannot persuade him to back off, Robert calls Steve, who confiscates Amy’s phone, blocking all contact with Tyler.  Amy rants to Carla about Robert.

While Beth charges ahead with the funeral plans, Ken desperately tries to persuade stubborn Daniel to return home but his son refuses to attend the funeral at all.

Doctors

Zara arrives back from her trip with Adam full of joy.  She even has presents for her colleagues and joyfully introduces him to them.  Daniel seems to have some kind of breakdown upon meeting him, hit with the revelation that he is still desperately in love with Zara and should never have let her go.  He is unable to cope with anything all day and things come to a head that evening when he is forced to end things with poor Becky, who quite frankly should never have got involved with him in the first place.  But she ignored Karen’s advice and believed everything he told her.  He tells her that he still loves Zara and even admits that they slept together a couple of weeks ago!  Becky is devastated and furious and walks out on him.

For a moment, it looks like he is about to run after her but instead, he runs all the way to Zara’s house and in a Notting Hill ‘I’m just a girl, standing in front of a boy’ moment, begs her to take him back.  She doesn’t.  Ha!  She tells him that it’s not love, it’s jealousy because she has moved on and met someone else.  All she wants from him is friendship and to be good parents.  Excellent!  I mean, they will so obviously get back together at some point but I am very pleased that she isn’t making it easy.  Although, I think this Adam guy is a bit weird.  Either that or he’s a bad actor.

The next day, Becky hands in her notice at The Mill.  The staff are sad to see her go and throw her an impromptu goodbye party in the staff room where she says a personal goodbye to everyone – before giving Daniel and Zara a dressing down!

Jimmi is attacked in a car park.  At first it looks like a mugging but on deeper inspection, it seems like it’s personal.  The first thing Jimmi does is offer up his possessions but the guy deliberately beats him up and his wallet shows up later with everything still intact.  Jimmi gets the upper hand and attacks the guy right back and later confides in Al that he is worried about the dark place he went to during the attack.  Eventually, he and Al manage a successful relaunch of The Icon.

Ruhma acts as a midwife to a woman in labour while taking part in a radio quiz – and she wins!  Al reports two thieves when they try to sell him a comic.  Valerie prevents an elderly woman from being scammed.

Heston’s Memorial Bench in stolen and Ruhma turns Detective to hunt it down and bring it back herself when the police (not even Rob) are particularly interested in helping her – and Sid fails to notice it in the thief’s house twice, not even when he sits on it!  Utterly useless!

Eastenders

Mel shows off on Louise’s birthday by buying her a car (I mean, why bother if they’re going to Portugal soon?) but Louise’s favourite present is a piece of jewellery from Lisa.  They go for some drinks at The Vic and Mel’s nose is put right out of joint when Louise thanks her boyfriend, her mother and her second mother – Sharon – and not Mel.  Meanwhile, Mel spells it out to Keanu that she knows the truth about him and Sharon and she is only including him in the move to Portugal because she has to.  However, when Lisa finds a scan picture of Louise’s baby in Mel’s box of memories of Hunter, she confronts her friend, feeling sure that she is taking things too far and wants to replace Hunter with Louise – cue Mel turning on her oldest friend, publicly questioning her sanity and throwing in a slap for a good measure.  And for once, it’s not Lisa who is in the wrong.  It’s Mel who is on a crazy mission of grief and revenge and awfulness.

Things get heated between Ian and Keegan over the sandwich business and when Ian insults his family, Keegan punches him.  While everyone fully supports Keegan, Ian calls the police and the poor lad faces charges of ABH.  I mean, it’s worth it for the scene where Max and Habiba put tampons up Ian’s nose but I do feel sorry for Keegan.  He has been seriously victimised by Ian who is just behaving like a bully – and at the same time wants to stand for the Council!  Concerned that Keegan will be jailed, he and Tiffany decide to get married right away.  While she and Keegan run off to Scotland to get hitched (supported by Keanu and Bernie), grumpy Louise gives the game away and sends their family after them.  Meanwhile Iqra gets to the bottom of the cockroach sandwich saga and forces Ian to withdraw his complaint to the police.  Keegan is off the hook.  However, the families charge up after the kids and beg them to change their minds but Keegan and Tiffany are determined and eventually, after a bit of faffing about, the couple get married.  Hurrah.  I mean, they’ll have probably split up by this time next year but for now, hurrah.

Billy, Lola and Ben stage an intervention regarding Terry’s funeral and manage to persuade him to get his feelings out of his system before it goes ahead and the storyline pretty much fizzles out into nothing.

Pam returns to Albert Square, pleased with how Jay handled such a big funeral and eager to catch up with Ben.  However, Ben panics over Pam finding out that he is in a new, serious relationship and rejects Callum, pretending that they are just friends.  When Pam does click, she kindly confronts Ben, making it clear that she wants him to be happy and so does Les and so, of course, would Paul.  She reunites him and Callum before she leaves and the pair make yet another go of things.  However, a spanner is immediately thrown into the works when Callum decides he wants to join the police force!  Brilliant!

Shirley is horrified to find Linda knowingly having drinks with a group of women from school, one of whom is the woman that Shirley punched because she was rude about Ollie’s autism.

Emmerdale

Jai cannot forgive Laurel for her accusations about the weed.  Overhearing their conversation, Nicola realises that Doug’s brownies are responsible for what happened to Jimmy and ruined her interview.  Confronting him and Rodney in The Woolpack, everyone is upset, including Harriet on behalf of Will who was accused of being the culprit.  Doug attempts to get Jai and Laurel back together but Arthur has already not passed on a message and deleted a text, preventing them from speaking.  However, they do manage to start reconnecting in the end.

Aaron and Liv discover that Robert has been moved to the Isle of Wight and he has blocked all contact with all of his loved ones.  Aaron takes his aggression out on Luke, who Victoria has been tentatively spending time with, assaulting him in the pub.  He tells Liv that his marriage is over.  Robert petitions for a divorce.  Victoria ends up offering support to Lee’s mother as she prepares to face burying her son and forces Aaron to be kind to her too.  At this point, Victoria is pretty much a saint.

Moira and Cain have a heart to heart where she tries and fails to explain why she had an affair with Nate.  The truth is, she just wanted to.  She begs him for another chance but he cannot forgive her.  She refuses to move out and he promises to make life hell for her.   So, that heart to heart was over pretty quickly.  Nate, meanwhile, tries to explain to Belle why he had plotted his revenge on Cain for abandoning him.  When Cain sees them together, he punches him.  Moira is hurt when she discovers that Cain and Kerry have got drunk and slept together.  It’s not long before the word spreads of their one night stand.  When Amy is rude to Moira about her behaviour, Moira informs her about Cain and Kerry’s night together.  Cain and Aaron bury their pain by stealing cars.

Mandy gets caught out signing the wrong name with the solicitor to get Lydia’s money to its rightful owner.  When Lydia and Sam beg Mandy to get to the bottom of where the money came from, Vinnie cracks and admits that the solicitor knows his mother is a fraud and wants nothing more to do with them.  Sam forces Mandy and Vinnie to get to the bottom of who gave Lydia the money.  Mandy engages Vinnie, Lydia and Sam in a scam to get into the solicitor’s office to find out the identity of Lydia’s benefactor.  They discover that it’s Lydia’s mother who has given her the money but Lydia decides that her mother, who gave her up as a baby, isn’t someone she wants to get in touch with.  Mandy then discovers that Lydia’s mother also wanted her address passed on, changing Lydia’s mind.  Unfortunately, it’s too late.  Lydia’s mother has died.  But she meets her sister instead.

Charity persuades Jai to sell her Megan’s old house.  She uses her money from the heist for the deposit and almost manages to complete the transaction without telling Vanessa, wanting it to be a surprise, putting down roots and buying the house connected to Frank.  Vanessa is concerned at first, especially as she is unsure over where Charity got the money but her girlfriend is quick to reassure her.  However, later, she walks in on Vinnie in the house, mistaking him for a burglar where he spills the beans immediately, pointing out that Charity has essentially stolen Lydia’s inheritance from the mother who abandoned her.

Hollyoaks

The whole wake are stunned to learn of Mercedes confession regarding the hit and run, her threat to Harry and that he had been framed for what happened to Grace.  Concluding that she murdered Harry, Mercedes is confronted by all the villages and desperately tries to defend herself.

Upstairs, she begs forgiveness of Sylver, insisting that the hit and run had been a drug fuelled accident and lying that there was no affair with Liam.  He hides Mercedes from the police, preparing to go on the run with her and Bobby.  Horrified, Goldie and Breda try to convince him to change his mind, although Goldie is in turmoil over her own believe that it was actually Breda that killed Harry and not Mercedes.  Breda however, feels justified now that Mercedes should be in the frame after all.

Diane calls the police but James is furious that they have lost Mercedes.  The banter between him and the Detective is quite amusing as they are actually married in real life.  Everyone is busy gossiping and there is a good ‘body under the patio’ joke from Marnie on what is the anniversary of Brookside’s final episode.

Jesse finds Liam, challenging him over Grace’s accident and his affair with Mercedes.  Liam tries to explain his love for Mercedes and Jesse forces him to realise that Mercedes was only ever using him.

Mercedes is talking to Brooke by the caravan when Sylver comes to meet her in order to leave.  It’s all going fine until Brooke lets slip about Mercedes’ abortion.  Everything suddenly becomes clear about Mercedes’ affair with Liam.  Sylver loses the plot and cannot be reasoned with.  Mercedes runs to Nana but even she cannot help her.  Wow.  She really is in trouble!

When the mourners decide to get on with the wake, Mercedes decides she is not having any of it.  She bursts into the pub and gives everyone an incredible dressing down, telling them that she would rather be dead and buried than spend any more time with them.  Upon leaving, she bumps into Liam and tries to hook up with them.  When he turns them down, they argue.  He tells her that all her husbands die because she kills their souls!  She retorts by informing him that she aborted his child, although backtracks by insisting that it was more likely to be Sylver’s child, as he is more of a man than Liam is.

Goldie is upset to learn that Joel shared a moment with Cleo before she left and that he knew about the confession on the phone for a few weeks.  To be fair, he was beaten up and threatened in order to keep him quiet!

Grace comforts distraught Sylver and they end up kissing.  Obviously.  But it only makes Sylver feel guilty, winding him up even more.  He throws Grace out.  She goes home to find Liam distraught over the baby he might have lost.  They are both intent on revenge.

Marnie drugs James in order to calm him down over Harry and his revenge plan against Mercedes, alarming Juliet.

Mercedes goes to The Loft, steals cash and drugs from the safe.  She also picks up a gun, does her makeup and dances alone, unaware that her enemies – Liam, Sylver, Joel, Breda, James, Grace and Diane are literally gunning for her.  In the middle of the dance floor, Mercedes is shot.

The next morning, there are lots of people seeming to have a guilty conscience.  James makes it clear to Marnie that he knows she drugged him (and I suspect that means she wasn’t successful!)  While Goldie tries to galvanise her family, Nana tries to take the blame for sending Mercedes away but Sylver comments that he has ensured that his wife will never return and feels terribly guilty about it.  Bobby cannot understand why his mother has left without saying goodbye.  Desperately concerned, Nana insists that they need to look for Mercedes.  Letting herself into the club, Goldie is horrified to find Mercedes barely alive on the dancefloor.  Sylver and the rest of the family are distraught and rush to the hospital with her where she put into an induced coma, at risk of sepsis.  Sylver is horrified when Goldie suggests he may be the shooter.  What he is really torn up with guilt over is that in his despair over Mercedes betrayal, he slept with Grace.  Well, I for one really hope that Sylver isn’t the shooter.  I really like him!  The police question Liam when they find that the CCTV has been wiped.  At home, Liam and Grace debate whether either of them shot Mercedes but while Grace does have an alibi in Sylver, we see a flashback to Liam burning some clothes.

Sylver and Grace end up in bed together again.  Afterwards, Grace is alarmed to discover a gun under the bed, just as the police arrive.  Sylver is convinced he is being framed.  Grace slips the gun out and Sylver turns the attention onto Liam, who Grace hands the gun to, demanding that he hide it.  He is caught with the gun but when James acts as his lawyer, the police soon have no option but to let him go.

In the hospital, it looks like Mercedes might be about to wake up but it might just be that in her coma, her eyes are flickering when they aren’t supposed to be!

Meanwhile, the Maalik family return to the Village and their home.  Yazz accidentally makes friends with Finn and he gives her some advice on being brave in the face of what has happened to her – he understands from the perspective of actually being a bully how to stand up to them.  She returns home to her family with new courage and together they venture into the garden, where the explosion happened, only to be greeted by Stuart, Jonny and Ste, who have also returned home.  Stuart and Jonny are politely threatening while Ste is clearly anxious and repentant, trapped in this life he doesn’t want to live anymore.  The next day, Leela barges into Stuart’s house and gives the whole group a piece of her mind.  Ste, meanwhile, manages to get a message over to the Maalik family, asking for help and while Sami ignores him, Azim takes pity and they talk through the fence, Azim promising to help him.  He seeks out Leela who reluctantly agrees to help her brother.  Leela and Peri send a fake HIV check up to Ste’s phone and meet him at the hospital when Jonny takes him there.  The family are thrilled to see each other.

Yazz’s hearing loss is a barrier when she helps plan Sami and Sinead’s wedding, first with the florist is rude and impatient with her and secondly when she cannot use the phone.  Finn is on hand to support her and a genuine friendship seems to be growing, although when he touches her, she runs off in panic.  Sami admits to Azim that he and Sinead argued on holiday and the wedding may not be happening at all.

Home and Away

Ziggy cannot understand why Dean is being so cold towards her but eventually he explains that his mother’s mental health condition can be passed down.  Therefore, he does not want children so if children are part of a future that Ziggy wants, their relationship needs to end now.

Irene prepares to battle Tommy’s civil case but Leah refuses to sell Irene’s part of the Diner.  Irene then prepares to sell her house.  However, things take a dark turn when one of her support group members, Theresa turns up covered in blood, claiming that she has sorted out the Tommy problem.  Colby and Mackenze rush over as Irene hurries Bella away and tries to work out what Theresa has done.  Theresa explains to Colby and Irene that she has killed Tommy for Irene who is horrified.  Theresa is unrepentant and suggests that Colby might wish he had done it himself.  While Irene is in shock and worried about Bella, Mackenzie looks after the teenager who is pleased that Tommy is dead.  Alarmed by her response, Colby tries to talk to his sister but she challenges him about what he did to their father.  Mackenzie is a little unnerved when Bella claims that she doesn’t really know Colby.

Leah and Irene both feel guilty, like they should have been able to stop Theresa from killing Tommy somehow.  They go and see her at the police station, offering kindness but refusing to condone what she has done.  Theresa is utterly broken by the things that happened to her as a child.  Leah keeps receiving messages on her vlog in support of Theresa.  Fretting that she pushed her into snapping, she decides to take her site down.

Robbo feels completely lost in his search for Jasmine and is frustrated that Colby has been pulled onto Theresa’s case.  They finally find a lead and Colby ends up choosing work over Mac and Bella.  Meanwhile, Robbo locks Alex out of the room and demands answers from the kidnapper who has turned up at the hospital.  Colby arrives to a hurried explanation from Alex that she was calling the surgery team when Robbo barged past him and locked himself in the room.  Colby explains who the patient is and Alex explains that if he doesn’t get into surgery soon, he’ll die.  Colby desperately tries to persuade Robbo to let him go – if he dies, they will lose their last lead back to Jasmine.  Robbo finally relents when the guy crashes and Alex fights to save his life.  Colby is furious with Robbo.  Promising him protective custody, Colby gets Jasmine’s location and leads the way to find her.  Colby restrains Robbo for the night so he cannot head off on his own, unprepared.

Willow is concerned when Alex doesn’t show up for their PT session and further alarmed when Mason reports back about the incident at the hospital.  She cries on his shoulder, desperately worried that Jasmine is dead.

The next day, Alex reports positively to Mason about the incident at the hospital and is clearly disappointed that he is running boot camp instead of Willow.  When he mentions that Willow was upset over Jasmine, Alex tracks her down and looks after her for the day.

Meanwhile, Colby, Robbo and the team track Jasmine down to the power station.  She manages to alert them and escape her kidnappers.  Robbo and Colby chase after them but they flee in a car.  At the police station, Jasmine tells Colby and Robbo the limited information she has.  Alex treats her in hospital and very thoughtfully asks Colby arrange for Willow to come to the hospital to see her, knowing how worried she is.  Colby collects her himself, much to Willow’s delight.  Jasmine wants to move away for the safety of herself and Robbo.  He agrees, handing the Dylan Carter case over to Lance.  He visits his wife and kids to say goodbye, only to be knocked unconscious.

Willow thanks Alex for all her support and sappily admits the strong connection she feels with her.  Feeling the same, Alex kisses Willow who kisses her back for a moment and then looks a little startled.  Mortified, Alex apologies and runs off.  So, we have the first kiss!

Ryder is desperate to buy his dream car but he doesn’t have enough money.  Instead, Alf buys the car with the promise that Justin will do it up for him – on the promise that Ryder will study hard for his HSC.  If not, the car will be sold.

Ben receives the good news that the police have found evidence of drug smuggling in Indonesia, hopefully proving that he had no idea of what was going on with the surfboards.

John and Marilyn tease Alf when they find him getting ready for Martha’s return.  Roo is especially delighted to see her mother again but Alf feels possessive of spending time with his partner.  Alf and Martha decide to share a bedroom instead of her staying in a caravan for this trip.

Neighbours

Terese hires Chloe in her place as General Manager at Lassiters, although she struggles to let go of the hotel.  Chloe, meanwhile, feels like everything is falling into place in her life.  She, Pierce and Hendrix are moving into the Brennan House together, she has had a huge promotion at work and she is even friends with Elly again.  Seizing the day, she decides to propose to Pierce at The Melbourne Cup, despite Elly’s protestations.  She is all set to propose when Pierce gets there first!

At The Melbourne Cup, Roxy and Hendrix compete for Best Dressed.  Hendrix wins.  However, his joy turns to upset when he discovers that Chloe and Pierce have got engaged without his father even bothering to tell him about it.  Once they have all moved in together, Chloe goes against Pierce’s advice and tells Hendrix the truth about her Huntington’s disease.  He takes the news calmly but is obviously shaken and concerned.

Toadie is surprisingly insensitive regarding Shaun’s death, considering his wife only died a few months ago.  No.  I am still not over it.  Sonya, I mean.  I don’t care about Shaun.  He was weird.

Harlow is shocked when her mother, Prue (none other than Denise Van Outen!) turns up, having rejected the cult she was involved in and wanting to be a mother at last.  She is snobby about the place that Harlow lives in and wants her to return home.  She disapproves of the people in Harlow’s life, not helped by Paul turning up drunk after a fun day out with Terese and then learning that Ned has recently been stabbed by his stalker girlfriend, not to mention the sex tape scandal involving the hotel, Kyle and Amy.

Amy continues to struggle in the wake of the sex tape scandal and she and Kyle struggle to communicate.  When Prue is rude to Amy (and not Kyle) about the sex tape, Amy decides to confront things and she and Kyle watch the tape.  It settles things in her mind that although it was a private moment not intended for other people to see, it’s not something she is ashamed for – it was a moment of love between her and Kyle.  Or so she says.

Meanwhile, Gary gets chatting to Prue and challenges her about her treatment of Amy and she apologises for her behaviour, wanting to make things right.  She explains that she came to Australia because she was worried about Harlow being around bad influences.  Unfortunately, Amy walks in on them talking and is unforgiving of Gary’s betrayal.

Ned is traumatised by his experience with Scarlett and desperate to apologise to Yashvi but she isn’t interested.  Shane also refuses to let him near his daughter.  Upon Toadie’s advice, Yashvi goes to see Ned, who is having a nightmare.  She wakes him up and he accidentally hits her in fright.  He is devastated to have hurt her but really, it’s everything else that has hurt her more.  Shane is furious when he finds out what has happened, especially when he learns that it was Toadie’s idea for Yashvi to visit Ned – he is already annoyed with him for his interference with Kirsha’s scholarship.  Shane and Dipi warn Ned to stay away from Yashvi.  Yashvi reluctantly meets up with Ned.  Shane and Toadie do finally talk things through and make up, only for Shane and Dipi to be floored by the news that Kirsha has been accepted by the school she applied to.

Finn attends a hospital appointment with Elly but when the pain she is in gets worse, Finn takes the risk of going to the school, which he is not allowed near, in order to take her some medication.  His plan is to stay in the cab but when he sees a student fall over, he rushes to help but only succeeds in scaring her away.

Soap Blog: Monday 28th October – Sunday 3rd November 2019

Coronation Street

It’s a big week for Chesney and Gemma when on a trip to Wales, Chesney prepares to propose in a cable car.  First they knock the ring overboard and then, in typical timing for this hapless couple, she goes into labour – and the cable car gets stuck in mid-air.  One baby is successfully delivered with them both panicking down the phone to 999 and they are eventually returned to a waiting ambulance back on the ground.  While Chesney is sent to neo-natal with the first baby, Gemma is quickly whisked into surgery to deliver the other three safely.  Their family and friends visit and between Bernie and Cathy, the couple are able to stay in a hotel while their babies are looked after in hospital.

Gail calls a family meeting in order to bring her family back together and thankfully, Audrey doesn’t end up in hospital this time!  Shona remains in denial over David’s release for prison in time for the wedding and her hopes refused to be dimmed even when the judge decides to remand him in custody due to the violent nature of the crime he has been charged with.  David continues to bank on Josh bailing him out but when he wakes up from the attack, Josh labels David as the person who stabbed him and with the real culprits off the hook, David’s so called mates are suddenly not as prepared to help him out as they were when it came to harming Josh in the first place.

Arriving home from a date, Gary and Maria is alarmed to find Emma passed out, having not been feeling well earlier but he had dismissed her concerns as possible food poisoning.  She is rushed into hospital with a ruptured appendix and infection and in urgent need of surgery.  Steve is soon on the warpath, demanding to know how Ali missed something so serious.

Unable to cope with Sinead’s death or how people feel about him after his kiss with Bethany, Daniel leaves the Street with Bertie.  Fiz struggles with Hope’s behaviour, oblivious to the role devious Jade is playing in all their lives.  However, it looks like Evelyn might be catching on.  Geoff begins to stomp all over the business.

Doctors

Tellingly, the first person Daniel confides in about the baby is Zara.  She is thrown but supportive.  Becky confides in midwife Ruhma who is also very supportive but sadly, the baby is not to be as within days, Becky has a miscarriage.  But while Becky is devastated and wants to try for another child, Daniel seems to be secretly relieved.

Zara meanwhile, has someone else to focus on now that she is dating Doctor Adam.  Over lunch, he tells her that he has a somewhat wayward identical twin brother.  The couple go off on a weekend break and for the first time since her split with Daniel, Zara seems genuinely happy.

Al and Jimmi make plans for The Icon but while trying to learn about brewing beer, Al only succeeds in insulting their hipster teacher.  As the boys prepare to clean up the bar, their friends gather together to help them.

Emma and Rob go on a tazer training course.  Zara gets caught up in a woman’s plot to steal her friend’s baby.  Valerie and Ayesha expose a fraudster medium.

Eastenders

Lisa struggles with the way Mel is taking over her relationship with Louise.  Mel’s hold over Sharon, who is demanding that she sells her half of E20 to Ruby begin to slip when Ben informs Sharon that she was hiding Hunter before the siege.  Sharon turns to Jack for advice, putting him in an awkward position.  Jack warns Mel that if Sharon was to have proof then she would be looking at a custodial sentence.  Keanu protests against the move to Portugal.

When Mariam finds out about Adam’s serial cheating, he manipulates her, blaming her for his behaviour and how unloved and rejected he has always felt in his life.  I mean, that’s just unforgiveable really.  Painfully aware of Adam’s betrayal, Honey continues to make an effort with her partner.  Also aware of Honey’s low self-esteem, Mick is an absolute sweetheart at the Vic’s Halloween party, giving her words of encouragement about how amazing she is.  He then lies about who has won the best costume (it was Chantelle and Gray) and gives it to Honey and Adam in order to make Honey feel special.

The Panesar Brothers arrive on the Square but this time they don’t want Ben, they are looking for their sister – Ash.  They finally track her down, confronting her about her rejection of the family and informing her that their mother is dying.  There is obviously a lot of past hurt there and a lot of complicated relationships.  However, the most painful part of their conversation is the accusation from one of the brothers that Ash ‘murdered’ her baby (she had a termination).  Ash is left to deal with the fallout of their encounter while not being able to open up to her girlfriend, who cannot understand why she isn’t rushing to her mother’s side.

Dotty teams up with Ian to shut down Keegan’s sandwich business and Whitney decides to pursue things with Leo.

Emmerdale

Lydia finally catches Mandy out in this hideously boring plot to steal her money.  She is brought to face the Dingle Court and face up to her behaviour, where she tells almost the whole truth about the equally boring story about the casino scam, leaving out the only part of the story that makes it a little bit interesting, which is that Charity was in onto the plan from the beginning.  However, with Mandy and Vinnie under threat from the people they owe money to, Mandy forces Charity to give her some cash or she will reveal all to Vanessa.  Lydia and Sam walk in on the guy all buy dragging Vinnie away.  Taking pity on them, Lydia hands over her returned money in order to pay him off and send him on his way.  Sam makes it clear that Mandy will have to pay the money back.

While Jimmy and Nicola talk in the café about who could have spiked his drink, the mention of the brownies he ate earlier in the day, make Doug realise that Rodney and Eric must have stolen from him and Jimmy must have unwittingly eaten something he shouldn’t have.  Later, Laurel finds a stash of cannabis in the house.  A row ensues when she accuses Jai, which goes further when Jai then sees her being more understanding to her father after he confesses that the drugs actually belong to him.  Doug and Laurel get rid of all the weed.

Andrea tries to use Kim’s jealousy as a reason why Graham and his secret girlfriend should leave Emmerdale Village together.  Really, she just wants him away from Millie and to stop threatening her marriage.  Jamie is conflicted when he sees Graham and Rhona together, knowing how upset his mother it.  Before he can tells her the news, Kim gets the wrong end of the stick and thinks Graham is actually having an affair with Andrea.  She challenges Graham in the pub and the truth about Rhona stuns her.  During a confrontation, Graham chooses the moment to inform Kim that Jamie was actually responsible for her going to jail.  Graham then decides to prove his commitment to Rhona by moving out of Home Farm and away from Kim.

After some spiteful comments from Noah about Maya, Leanna tries to kiss Jacob who is shaken and turns her down.  Arthur is beginning to bully Archie, feeling shut out of his family.  Cain demands that Moira moves out so he and the boys can move back into the farm.  She refuses.

While Aaron prepares to visit Robert, who receives the news that he is being transferred to a prison in the Isle of Wight.  During their visit, Robert breaks down and gives Aaron his wedding ring but cannot bring himself to tell him about the transfer.  Cue an emotional Robron montage.  The end.

Hollyoaks

As Breda brings Tony back to the village, hidden in the back of the car, everything is going wrong.  Charlie and Leah have got lost in the tunnels, the crane has collapsed, Luke is drunk and everyone is in a panic.  Breda loses control of the car and crashes into the crane, only making things a hell of a lot worse!

Darren and Nancy have rushed into the tunnels, having realised that Charlie and Ella are under there.  While the kids get out unscathed, the former couple get into trouble and of course, argue a lot.  But believing they are going to die, end up having sex.  They have to quickly get dressed before they are rescued.

Mitchell and Anita also find themselves trapped and at the hospital, when Cleo witnesses Mitchell’s distress over his ‘friend’, Mitchell is forced to confess the depth of his feelings, breaking his girlfriend’s heart.  She decides to leave the Village (so that Nadine Rose Mulkerrin can go on maternity leave) and it’s quite sweet as she has a couple of final scenes with Joel (Rory Douglas) who is her partner in real life.  The only thing I would say about ‘stunt week’ is that it was really heavily advertised as being the biggest thing they’ve ever done and it didn’t really measure up.  They’ve done bigger.  And nobody even died!  Also, the ‘if you’ve been affected by any of the issues raised’ made me giggle a bit.  I mean, I get it when they’re tackling certain issues but I’m not sure that many viewers while have been squashed by a crane and fallen into a Roman Tunnel…!

Anyway, the villagers gather for Harry’s funeral.  Mercedes is overwhelmed with guilt and Ste is distraught, apparently not having even been aware that he had died.  I mean, where on earth has he been?  Diane rejects him based on his far right gang, not knowing that he is now trapped by the gang and has changed his ways.

Having been warned by Joel, Grace confronts Liam about the hit and run.  He confesses but lays the blame at Mercedes door, giving her Harry’s phone with her threat to Harry on it.  Apparently, this is all she needs to be able to walk unaided again, as she dressed up and does her hair, marching to the wake at The Dog and getting onto the microphone.  She plays the recording to everyone in the pub, destroying Mercedes life in one fell swoop.

Home and Away

At the hospital, Alex and her team desperately fight to save Scott’s life but are pestered by desperate Robbo, needing information about what happened to Jasmine.  Distraught over his friend’s injuries and frightened over what has happened to his wife, Robbo hits rock bottom.  Jasmine meanwhile, tries to leave messages for her husband, as she looks after one of her injured kidnappers.  Unfortunately, Robbo, Colby and the team arrive at the warehouse they have been staying at too late.

Roo interferes, trying to bring Ben and Maggie back together but it backfires spectacularly.

Irene gathers together her close friends ahead of the verdict, afraid that she will be jailed.  She organises a special meal, wanting to let them know how much she loves them.  She is forced to tell Willow that with the civil case Tommy is putting against her, she may have to sell the house, which may leave Willow homeless.  Worried for her future, Willow turns to Alex for support.  Irene is indeed found guilty in court but the wise judge is as lenient as possible, giving her a non-custodial sentence.  Hooray!

Karen starts her first shift at Salt but struggles with the work.  When she serves Irene’s celebration party, she gets confused and accidentally spills something on John.  When he reacts badly, she loses her temper and throws a drink over him.  Then she faints.  Having seen her behave in this way throughout his life, Dean believes that she is faking but Alex is able to explain that she is likely to be suffering side effects from her medication and mother and son make friends.  However, Karen decides that she is too much of a burden living in Summer Bay and decides to leave town, claiming a friend of hers has given her a job in Reefton Lakes.  Her parting words are to tell Ziggy is that she has got her seal of approval and she is welcome to provide grandchildren.  This completely freaks Dean out.

Raffy is accepted on the CBD trial and moves away to live with Brody and Simone (despite previously hating Simone).  Marilyn is distraught to lose her but happy that she is able to make progress with her life and her health.

Neighbours

When Ned and Scarlett become an official couple and plan a romantic getaway, their friends are becoming extremely suspicious of the new girl.  Yashvi begins to research her online, sure that she is trouble and meets up with her ex-boyfriend, who is not called Rex as she claims and is not stalking her.  When Yashvi confronts her with this information, Scarlett dismisses it and accuses Yashvi of putting her in further danger with ‘Rex’ having told her a pack of lies and what he wanted her to know.

Scarlett rushes off on her trip with Ned but when she dresses up as an actual bride for Halloween, even he begins to worry.  She lays her feeling on very strongly and when he tries to cool things down, she launches at him with a knife, chasing him through a maze!  Their friends, including Paul and Terese are desperately worried and even more so when they realise that Bea and Yashvi have rushed off to rescue Ned.  They save the day and Scarlett is arrested but Yashvi gets stabbed in the process.  She and Ned are both taken to hospital, him with more serious injuries than her.

Paul goes to see Scarlett at the police station where his misunderstands her warning.  Shortly afterwards, a link appears online.  The videos from the hotel are live, including the one of Kyle and Amy.  They are now the victims of a sex tape scandal and the hotel is in shame.  And in terrible timing, the people that interview Amy for a job receive the link for tape during the interview!  Horrified by what has happened, including that the tapes were hushed up three years ago, Pierce insists that Terese resign from the hotel.

Sheila is upset when Clive returns from his conference having not yet broken up with Beverly and after learning about their affair, David finds himself in a very difficult position.  Elly and Finn are both distraught when Shaun is officially declared dead.  Shane is furious with Toadie for helping Kirsha apply for the school scholarship that he and Dipi explicitly didn’t want her to go for.

Soap Blog: Monday 21st – Sunday 27th October

Coronation Street

Against Daniel’s protestations, Sinead’s family organise an early Christmas for her, knowing that she won’t survive until December and will miss Bertie’s first Christmas.  Unfortunately, things turn sour when Sinead and Daniel fall out, her sick of Daniel’s negativity around her illness.  She throws him out of the house and unwittingly into Bethany’s arms, only to be caught out by horrified Ken.

While Bethany confesses all to understanding Audrey, Daniel makes amends with Sinead, regretting his actions and vowing to support her to the end.  Unfortunately, Sinead accidentally gets hold of Bethany’s short story, basically describing all her feelings for Daniel.  Sinead confronts Daniel but ultimately forgives him, knowing they need to be a family at the end.  Beth and the other struggle to be as kind and Bethany becomes the Street pariah.  Gail returns home from her big trip away in order to support her grandchild.

Growing weaker by the moment, Sinead records video messages for her son and says goodbye to her loved ones.  While Beth believes she ought to be transferred to a hospice, Doctor Gaddas explains that it is now too late.

In a well scripted, constructed and acted episode, the time comes for Sinead to say goodbye.  She spends one last day with her family, including Daniel and passes away in bed while he reads a story to their son.  It’s not particularly romanticised, which I think is important and it is sad.  I had three different people ask me if I’d seen it!

Max makes amends with Shona and his grandmother agrees to drop the custody battle.  Unfortunately, their troubles are not over as a riot breaks out in the prison.  Having found out about Josh raping him, David’s cellmate slings Josh in his cell and provides him with a weapon and opportunity to finish Josh off once and for all.  David refuses to kill Josh, wanting him to suffer for his crimes but all injured Josh can do is gloat about walking away from it all.  When Josh is stabbed, it remains unclear exactly what has happened and who the culprit is except that David asks Shona to call his lawyer.

Doctors

The staff at The Mill cannot seem to feed themselves with The Icon round the corner, prompting Al to decide he wants to take it over with Jimmi as his partner and turn the place into a real ale pub.

Becky is nervous to meet Daniel’s daughter, Izzie and although things go well, Izzie doesn’t think Becky is interesting enough to make a relationship last.  However, Becky has huge news for Daniel – she is pregnant.

Zara meets a surgeon called Adam and the pair of them arrange a date.  And to improve Zara’s week even further, she and Izzie finally make peace.

Sid and Immie end their relationship.  Ayesha take charge of the flu vaccinations.  Valerie gets caught up with a couple who have been lying to each other.  Ruhma is wrong accused of neglect over a birth she delivered twenty one years ago.

Eastenders

Chantelle enjoys helping out at the salon, against Gray’s wishes.  What she doesn’t know is that he has spotted her in the window and subsequently plans a surprise party to announce her pregnancy to the whole family (and the rest of the Square) with unwitting accomplice, Karen.  Sadly, in the toilets of the Vic, Chantelle begins to have a miscarriage, which she dares not tell her husband about, largely because the baby is her only protection from his awful violence.  The next day, she goes to the hospital and is treated by kind Doctor Ash, Iqra’s girlfriend and later confides in her mother about the loss of her baby.

Martin confides in Kush about the situation with Ben and then seeks help from Jack.  He is thrilled to think that he has finally won but it is only a temporary state of affairs.  By the end of the week, Ben and his gang have Martin literally hanging upside down off a bridge, threatening to murder his wife and children if he tries to break the rules again.  Martin is left a broken man with no more cards to play.

Jay is stunned when Terry, the man who murdered his father, Jase is brought into the funeral home with a whole load of fanfare.  At first, he refuses to do his funeral and is even further upset when his wife doesn’t even remember him.  But later, he confides in Billy that he does plan to do the funeral and he also plans to get up and tell the whole congregation just who Terry really was, warning Billy that if he interferes, he will never forgive him.

Leo continues his pursuit of Whitney, having already scored a job with Gray.  But with Callum still a big part of his ex’s life, Leo digs around on his social media to find an awful video of Callum laughing with his friends around a seemingly unconscious woman.  He tells Gray that he has the video for a case and then ‘accidentally’ shows the video to Whitney who berates Callum for his actions.  Desperate Callum tries to explain that the woman got up and punched one of his friends and the video is not what it looks like but Whitney accuses him of all sorts.

Adam tries to make amends with his foster parents but Arshad cannot forgive him for his affair with Habiba and his continuous treatment of Honey, finally telling his wife what he knows.  Inspired by Daniel, Jean attempts to be more truthful and less tactful but things don’t go quite to plan.

Emmerdale

Despite being reassured, Faith remains convinced that Moira and Pete are having an affair and feels she has no choice but to tell Cain the truth.  He takes his anger out on her and then shuts her out, turning his fury towards innocent Pete.  He ties his up and demands the truth from him, forcing him to confess that it isn’t him who is sleeping with Moira – it’s Nate.  Cain is horrified, having sent Moira and Nate off to a farm show overnight in order to get them out of the way.

Moira and Nate meanwhile have very much enjoyed their hotel room, which to be fair, makes a change to that grubby caravan.  However, it doesn’t make them any less grubby.  But with poor Pete tied up in the barn and only Faith to save him, Cain has made his way to oblivious Nate and Moira to catch them out.  He takes them on a boat trip, where he reveals he knows the truth to Nate before knocking him out.  Nate has further bombshell (which literally every viewer guessed from the second Nate starter sniffing round Moira and generally interfering in Cain’s life), that he is Cain’s son.

Their fight leads to Moira being knocked off the boat, prompting Cain to have to save her (Nate can’t swim) but then of course, the boat explodes and Cain has no choice but to save both of his current enemies.

At the hospital, Nate explains that his mother’s name is Cara, a girl that Cain dated with he was young.  As far as Cain understands, Cara vanished and he was very upset when she did but he had no idea that she was pregnant.  But Nate believes he is lying, explaining that his mother has told him she tried to contact him many times and he sent her away.  Cue Faith – she knew about Cara’s pregnancy from the start and knowing Shadrach’s racism, sent Cara on her way, thus preventing any opportunity for Cain to step up for his son.  All this time, Nate has been getting revenge on the wrong person.

Meanwhile, back in Emmerdale Village, there is chaos at the pub reopening as Chas and Marlon get locked in the pub toilets, thanks to a faulty door – just as Chas’s waters break and she goes into labour!  In some of Emmerdale’s finest, most classic scenes, Marlon supports Chas while she endures contractions, Mandy etc. get drunk and Paddy arrives just in time for the birth of their baby girl, who they expected to be a boy.  Brilliant!  They call her Eve, despite Eve being the name of the woman that Chas’s ex-boyfriend cheated on her with years ago.

Paddy had been absent for the whole thing up until the actual birth, of course, because he had locked himself and Liv in the house with Aaron in a bid to persuade him not to attempt to break Robert out of jail.  And it works.  Hurrah!  However, at court, where Robert is given a minimum of fourteen years for murder, Victoria is horrified to discover that Luke, the guy she has been chatting to at the hospital, is actually Lee’s brother.  He seems as shocked as she is, insisting that he had no idea who she was but she is convinced that he is a liar.

Hollyoaks

Edward makes himself useful to Diane while quietly making it clear that he does not accept Finn.

Cindy’s plans for the village are in jeopardy thanks to the rare birds and the Roman Tunnels.  However, Edwards manages to get rid of the birds and she persuades the builders to plough on, despite the tunnels, ignoring Tom’s fretting.

The truth about DJ’s paternity comes tumbling out at his christening, sending Darren into despair and Luke back to the bottle as he realises that even his son didn’t believe he was a good enough option to be a father.

Goldie continues to worry about her mother and nearly discovers Tony when she comes looking for her at the pig farm.  What she does discover however, is evidence of Harry.  Backed into a corner, Breda breaks down and admits that she thinks she killed Harry, blaming her so called dementia.  Believing that her mother is unwell, Goldie agrees to keep her secret.

With everything crumbling around her, Breda is persuaded by Tony to let him go in time to attend Harry’s funeral.

Home and Away

Irene’s trial begins but the defence team are horrified when Tommy himself shows up, having been told that he was too unwell to attend.  Furious, Colby is removed from the court but Bella bravely manages to testify on Irene’s behalf.  The support for Irene outside the court, led by Teresa begins to become a little too intense.

Alex supports Raffy and her family as they worry about her epilepsy.  She finds another potential medical trial, which Justin refuses as it’s too far away.  However, Raffy can stay with Brody and Simone if she is accepted and she is desperate to try.

Alex also puts in a good word for Mason regarding his internship at the hospital.  On a night out, Mason hits on Alex who lets him down awkwardly, explaining that she is gay.

Things become stressful as Dean tries to keep Karen away from Mackenzie.  Eventually, the two women have to meet but bond over their hatred of Rick.

Desperately worried about the threat against his wife, Robbo arranges for Jasmine to leave the country.  However, the move is intercepted and Jasmine is kidnapped, leaving Robbo’s colleague injured on the side of the road.

Neighbours

Paul discovers that Scarlett provided fake references but when he challenges her, she reveals that she knows all about the hidden cameras, forcing him to back down.  What he doesn’t know is that she is the person who has the footage from the cameras herself.

Her next move is to stage an attack from a motorbike, stepping up her boyfriend’s attacks on her a gear.  Of course Ned is with her at the time and gets caught in the crossfire trying to protect her.  Meanwhile, at the house, David and Aaron install a new security system to protect them all from Scarlett’s imaginary ex.

After a night in hospital, Scarlett persuades Ned to move in with her and therefore manages to block all contact between him and Yashvi.  From there, she and Ned get together for real.

Finn and Bea end up in an argument over Bea’s obsessive suspicion of Scarlett and in a fit of anger, Bea accidentally calls him ‘Patrick’.  They recover but it’s a real setback in their relationship.  The upset is extremely badly timed as shortly afterwards, Finn receives word of an avalanche in Switzerland – Shaun is missing and presumed dead.

Sheila agrees to bide her time with Clive so that he can break up carefully with Beverly and get back together with her.  Wanting to keep him interested, Roxy helps her sext Clive.  Unfortunately, she sends the message to Gary instead!

Amy receives a very tempting job offer.  Kirsha helps Toadie with some background work with the Sonya Rebecchi Foundation, making him realise just how clever she is.  He also realises that she is struggling with the lack of attention she is receiving from her parents.  She attempts to speak up and asks her parents if she can apply for a scholarship to a school in Sydney but they do not support the idea.

The Melbourne Cup arrives at Lassiters but when Pierce lets Hendrix down yet again, Hendrix steals the cup and hides it in Harlow and Roxy’s car.  The girls can’t resist taking some photos with it before they return it to frantic Pierce, Terese and Paul.  They are just about to get into trouble when the unrepentant culprit is revealed.

Soap Blog: 14th – 20th October 2019

Coronation Street

Sinead is pleased to see how far her friends will go when she dares them into a game of naked twister and they are willing to do it – but puts them out of their misery by telling them at the last minute that they don’t actually have to go through with it!

Harry gets knocked out during a game with Lily and Max, the latter of whom gets into trouble for the fray.  Max insists it was Lily who pushed Harry but Shona won’t listen, even going as far as shaking him.  Sarah feels that she is being judged at the hospital, with she and Shona having had a couple of drinks while the children were playing.  Shona panics when Max runs off – he has gone to his paternal grandmother’s house.  When they get into an argument, with Max’s grandmother accusing Shona of being drunk and Shona at the end of her tether with Max, a fight for custody is quickly on the cards – both of Max and Harry.  Marion turns to Adam for legal advice.  Later, Lily confesses that it was actually she who pushed Harry.

David is disturbed to find himself face to face with his rapist, Josh in prison.  Josh has been put in the hospital wing after other prisoners found out has been put into custody for rape – yet another victim after not being punished for assaulting David.

Geoff and Yasmeen want to buy into Alya and Zeedan’s business.  Alya is happy for Yasmeen to buy in but isn’t sure about Geoff, which of course enrages him and makes him blame Yasmeen, putting her in a very difficult position.

Chesney and Gemma win tickets to the football but taking photos outside, Gemma gets stuck in the turnstile.  With the story getting into the press, Gemma is approached by a publicist but Bernie takes over the job instead when Gemma has a health scare with the babies.

Doctors

In a particularly interesting episode named ‘Samuel Page’ Sid and Ruhma become involved with two patients who are sisters.  One is a pregnant novelist, writing about slavery and the other is suffering with her mental health, a historian who has become tortured by their family’s heritage as slave owners.  It all surrounds a particular painting, hosted by Imogen’s art exhibition, which also hosts the novelist’s book launch and the painting inspires Ruhma’s contribution to the art project at The Mill.  She talks to Karen’s camera about the painting, one that reminded her very strongly of Heston and for a moment brought him back to her.  It depicts slavery and it was one that the two of them had discussed at length.  This is one of those special, significant Doctors episodes.  In a less good ‘arty’ episode there is a whole episode dedicated to two comedians with a direct line to Tony Hancock.

Ayesha helps a young artist involved in Imogen’s art project process the pain of his father walking out on him as a young child.  However, when his father shows up to see him, he learns that actually, his mother took him away after an argument and his father was unable to find them again.

The art project at The Mill begins to help Valerie process her pain as she talks to camera about her cat, Geoffrey’s art work.  And things get emotional when Zara brings Joe in to talk about one of his own pictures and he discusses his parents’ breakup.  Karen share a piece of Imogen’s work, becoming emotional about the joy that her daughter’s art has brought to their lives.

Rob supports Imogen as she runs an art therapy course for people with PTSD and three men bond over their art and their stories as they recover from their individual traumas.

The community art project finishes their mural and despite a big row between a man who thinks he knows it all and a woman supporting her child with selective mutism, it all goes very well.

Imogen opens up to Rob about the lump she has found, requesting that he keep it from Karen for now.  He and Sid manage to get a private specialist appointment to speed things up but Rob also finds out from his sister that on his side of the family, there has been cancer.  Thankfully, Immie’s tests come back positive and she is cancer free.

Valerie is shocked to discover that the beloved Icon has been closed down!

Eastenders

Martin remains under pressure from Ben to carry out bailiff jobs.  Unfortunately, he cannot help taking pity on his targets, which keeps getting him in more trouble with Ben.

Tiffany and Keegan get carried away on a romantic night in a hotel and decide to get married!  Their families are not impressed.  I mean, I think they’re a very sweet couple but come on!  Silly, silly plot.

Rainie reaches breaking point, knowing that she cannot control her addiction anymore and is putting baby Abi at risk.  She deliberately gets herself arrested in a bid to get clean, breaking Stuart’s heart in the process.  Taking pity on him, Kathy offers Stuart a job.  Of course, Ian is quite the barrier.

Big Mo hides an eviction letter from her family.  Leo attempts to keep Whitney and Callum apart.

Emmerdale

When Victoria hears that Lee has died from his injuries, meaning that Robert will now be charged with murder, he and Aaron decide that going on the run together is their only option.  Their loved ones are heartbroken to say goodbye but accept that they are desperate not to spend their lives apart.

When Liv decides that she cannot live without her brothers, she begs to run away with them too.  However, they persuade her to stay behind, not wanting her to live a life on the run.  Unfortunately, just as they are about to make their break, the police hone in.  By that time, Robert has already secretly decided to give himself up.  Aaron is utterly distraught to see his husband hand himself in and be taken into custody, blaming everyone around him just because he can.

Graham hooks up with Kim again, only to decide that he really wants things to work out properly with Rhona.  Rejecting Kim, he and Rhona make a proper go of things, deciding to take things slowly and have a real relationship.

Faith becomes increasingly suspicious of Moira’s behaviour, reaching the conclusion that she and Pete are having an affair.

Hollyoaks

Joel confronts Mercedes with his discovery on Harry’s phone, agreeing to give her one day to confess all to her family before he goes to the police with his evidence.  Instead, she turns to Liam, who has just signed adoption papers, allowing Jesse to become Iona’s legal father, for help with her predicament.  Liam promises to shut Joel down.  However, after failing to steal the phone by breaking into the house, he assaults him and puts him in hospital.  Lying in his hospital bed, Joel finds himself face to face with Mercedes and is still determined to tell the police what he knows – until Mercedes goes as far as threatening Goldie, her own cousin’s life.  With Cindy having seen Liam at the scene of the crime, he is arrested but scared of what Mercedes is capable of, Joel insists that it was just a random attack.  Liam prepares to leave with Mercedes but he is heartbroken to discover that she was only using him to get rid of the recording.

Goldie is worried when Joel talks about Liam in his sleep, that he really did beat him up over something he has on him.  She confronts Liam, who isn’t bothered but Mercedes warns Joel to shut his girlfriend down.  Mercedes attempts to clear the air with Liam but of course, what she doesn’t realise is that of course, he never got rid of the phone.  He still has it and the recording.

Scott and Mitchell have spent another night together but Scott refuses to be Mitchell’s dirty, little secret, especially as it’s only Anita that Mitchell is actually attracted to.  However, he soon gives in and the pair are unable to keep away from each other.

Peri finds Romeo hiding out in the Maalik house.  When she threatens to tell the family, he opens up to her about everything that has happened with his father.  Peri eventually spills the beans to Marnie about the attack and she is able to reconnect with Romeo.  When Juliet finds out what happened, she lays into James.  Romeo and Marnie walk in just as James is shouting at Juliet, prompting Marnie to lay down the law to her son.  He has to leave the family home in order to protect the children.  He stays the night with Kyle and a very reluctant Nancy.  After a chat with Kyle, James returns home, reminded that he pays the mortgage and the bills.  He is back in charge, although happy for his family to stay.

Leah and Charlie fall out at school when Charlie overhears her talking about him behind her back.  Leah desperately tries to become her friend again as she was just showing off – with Ste has her Dad, she doesn’t really have anyone other than Charlie who will give her the time of day.  She wins him round and the pair reconnect.  Could it be love?

Pregnant Liberty is desperate to try and get Brodie and Sienna back together or at least talking enough to attend the baby’s first scan.  However, Luke’s ‘help’ ends up with Brodie connecting with Cindy instead (although they don’t sleep together).  Despite not doing anything wrong, Brodie hides Cindy from Sienna at the Love Boat, not wanting her to get the wrong idea.  Of course, they get caught out anyway.  Cindy does the right thing and makes it clear to Sienna that nothing happened and in fact, Brodie cried and talked about Sienna all night.  Brodie goes to see Damon for a pep talk and he and Sienna reunite only for Liberty to break the news that she has miscarried.

Marnie supports Diane as she attempts to plan Harry’s funeral without Tony’s support.  They are interrupted by the arrival of Edward, Tony’s estranged father who quickly makes his presence felt.  Goldie discovers that Breda is still lying to her and the pig farm is still not for sale.

Home and Away

Alf is concerned when he spots Ben bonding with Karen, drinking together at the caravan site.  When Alf reports to Dean that his mother is in town, Dean hurries to retrieve her and enlists Colby’s help in keeping his mother and his sister apart.  Dean also hasn’t told her about Ziggy.  Ben is surprised to realise he has been getting drunk with his daughter’s boyfriend’s mother.  Dean and Karen discuss Rick.  Bella feels connected to Karen when she tells her that she is the spitting image of her mother, her best friend.  However, when Ziggy finally discovers that Karen is in town, she blunders in and the women do not make a good first impression.  Maggie attempts to rectify things by inviting Karen and Dean round for lunch.  She also hopes to get closer to her husband again.  Lunch is awkward as Karen tells awful stories and flirts with Ben.  She then picks apart Maggie and Ben’s relationship.  She then makes things even worse by making it clear she’d quite like Ben for herself!

After a make or break conversation about their marriage, Ziggy is desperately worried to find her Dad depressed on the beach and her mother drunk at home.  Justin attempts to support Ben but he is rejected.  Ziggy supports her mother.  The women finally admit that Ben is depressed and call support services for help.  They then go and sit with Ben, genuinely offering him kindness, love and support without any pressure.

Jasmine confides in Alex about the situation she and Robbo are caught up in as Robbo becomes more and more frustrated by his lack of memory regarding Dylan Carter on the boat.  Alex then offers hypnosis to try and retrieve the memories, although there is no guarantee that it will work.   Although reluctant, Robbo agrees and through the hypnosis, he begins to remember the boat he was taken hostage on.  Remembering waking up and seeing Dylan Carter who calls him Beckett, he launches himself at Alex and attacks her.

Feeling terrible, he leaves, despite Alex insisting that she is fine and wants to continue to help him make progress.  She and Jasmine track him down to the gym, persuading him to try again.  He agrees on the promise that he is strapped down and Mason is there instead of Jasmine.  Under hypnosis, Robbo and Dylan Carter fight and Robbo shoots him.  But then Dylan Carter knocks Robbo out and into the water.  Another boat comes and takes the Dylan Carter aboard.  Coulson, the man recently murdered is also aboard.  Robbo is full of hope that he has a new direction with his investigation.  Afterwards, Mason and Willow both ask Alex out for a drink.  She has to turn them down, as she still has work to do.

Irene reports that thanks to Bella, her lawyer thinks she is now in with a good chance in court.  Sadly, she is left distraught by some hideous things people have written on the internet.  Locking up the Diner alone for the night, Irene leaves a note for Leah, intending to run away.  However, she is caught immediately by Leah and persuaded to stay.  Irene is told that her trial is likely to be delayed as the judge believe the jurors are probably going to have been influenced by the articles online.  Unfortunately, Bella is already desperately worried about getting things wrong in court.

Raffy and Ryder finally make peace after their breakup and force Bella to come back to school with them.  Raffy meets with Maggie, keen to start planning her future.  She also offers Maggie her support, knowing she is going through a difficult time herself.  Unfortunately, the next day, Raffy has a fit at school.

Neighbours

Shaun and Elly discuss baby names and there is definitely a spark between them, leading to a kiss.

Mark and Aaron return from their mother’s without Chloe, frustrating Pierce.  However, what he and nobody else knows is that Mark has decided to return to his mother’s for good to help Tyler and Piper look after her and make a fresh start after everything that has happened recently.  After a run in with Roxy, he departs Ramsay Street, having recorded videos for all the people who mean something to him – Paul, Roxy, Ned, Toadie, Aaron and David.  He also records a message for Elly who rushes off to say goodbye to him properly.  They make peace with each other before he leaves for good.

Pierce turns to Susan for help with Hendrix.  She and Susan plot to make Hendrix work off his bill to the hotel by cleaning the room up himself.  Hendrix is horrified but concedes.  Delighted, Harlow tells Mackenzie the news and she confronts him over him dumping her at the dance.  He is unapologetic and blames her.  She officially ends whatever might have potentially happened between them.  Hendrix quickly ditches his job at the hotel and Susan asks Toadie and Gary to support Pierce while she is in London with Karl.  However, Pierce soon realises.  They talk him out of being offended.  They talk about their own lives as rebellious teenagers and how they turned their lives around.  To thank Susan for all her help, Pierce arranges a car to take her to the airport and upgrades her ticket to first class. 

Hendrix and Pierce tentatively bond as Pierce engages his son in his wine business but things turn sour when Pierce throws him over for a phone call with Chloe.  He responds by stealing Pierce’s car and going joyriding and hits Harlow with the car, causing minor injuries.  Despite his fury with his son, Pierce covers for him with the police.

Mackenzie tells Shane that despite how things have turned out with her Dad, she still feels like she has found family in Erinsborough.

Paul gives Scarlett a hard time at work.  Out for a drink with Scarlett, Ned realises that she has feelings for him (as do Paul and Kyle).  He lets her down gently but she acts embarrassed, insisting that she only wants to be his friend.  Bea enlists Toadie’s help to get to the bottom of what really happened the night Yashvi walked in on Ned and Scarlett together.  When they arrive back at the house, someone throws a brick through the window with ‘you’re mine’ written on a note attached to it.  Scarlett announces that it’s her ex-fiancé’s writing.  Concerned, Ned brings Scarlett to stay with him.  But of course, Scarlett has paid some girl to throw the brick and nearly gets caught sending her on her way.

The next day, suspicious Bea takes the lead and offers to spend the day with Scarlett.  She uses the time to find out as much about Scarlett as she can.  Scarlett tells Bea about being in a car crash which killed both her parents.  She scampers off for lunch with Ned the second she gets the chance.  Bea feels sorry for Scarlett but she is still worried about Scarlett’s attachment to Ned.  Finn is concerned that Bea is getting too involved.  Meanwhile, Aaron is worried, from a safety perspective, about Scarlett continuing to live with them.  She manipulates her way into staying at the house.  Later that night, Ned and Scarlett finally end up in bed together.  While Ned clearly regrets what happened, he confesses to amused Roxy while Scarlett is smitten and announces their dalliance to shocked Kyle and Amy.  She also tells Yashvi.  However, when she realises that Ned is about to turn her down, she turns him down first.  He is horrified to learn from Bea that Scarlett has told Yashvi about their liaison.  Yashvi angrily confronts Ned in public.  Scarlett lies to Ned about the way Yashvi was told – that she was put into an awkward position and couldn’t lie, rather than she walked right up to her and told her deliberately.

Finn, Amy and Kyle encourage Scarlett to attend a domestic abuse support group with Amy even offering to go with her.

Sheila gate crashes and important dinner for David, Aaron, Clive and Beverly, insulting Beverly and almost costing David a chance to speak at a medical conference.  When Clive drags Sheila back home, an argument over behaviour quickly leads to passion.

Soap Blog: 7th – 13th October 2019

Coronation Street

As Kel wakes from his coma, he refuses to tell Gemma, Bernie or the police what really happened.  Knowing that Paul was responsible but unaware of their history, Bernie forces the men together.  Kel takes the blame and says he made a homophobic joke and it was all a misunderstanding he’d like to forget, forcing Paul into a position to make friends.  Ready to leave Wetherfield, Summer, Billy and Gemma beg him to stay.

Things come to a head for Asha when Mary witnesses her being bullied at a school plat rehearsal.  Having thought that he daughter was just misbehaving when she used his credit card, Dev actually talks to his daughter.  He opens the package she bought and is distraught to find the skin lightening cream and forces her to show him her horrifically damaged arms.  Asha runs away to Amy’s, who seeks help from Liz who is genuinely helpful and able to get father and daughter talking to each other properly.  Dev takes Asha o the GP to get some proper help.  I have to say, these scenes were genuinely heartbreaking to watch.

Gary continues to try and win Maria over but his dark side continues to show when he sack Fiz for almost getting too close to his dirty dealings.  However, frustrated that she might lose her own job, Jade persuades him to give Fiz another chance.

Nobody apart from Ryan seems to notice that Ali is walking around like a zombie.  But it all comes to a head when he looks after Liam for the afternoon and falls asleep with the oven on, putting himself and Liam in danger from smoke.  Of course, Gary is on hand to save the day and Maria is furious with Ali for letting her and her son down, especially as they have just said the L word.  Ryan finds pills in Ali’s jacket, confronting him about his addiction.  His words prompt Ali to end his relationship with Maria, not wanting to put her and Liam at risk anymore.  Maria wants to work things out but Ali ends things once and for all.  Maria takes her fury out on Michelle, prompting Gary to step in as the hero again as Sarah looks on.

Kevin’s sister, Debbie shows up, eager to give an inheritance she has received to her brother as she doesn’t need it.  Kevin reluctantly accepts on the provision that he can share it with his kids.  During her brief visit, Debbie notes that Sophie is not enjoying her business course, prompting Paula to book her a ticket to go travelling with Kate in order to set her free (and Brooke Vincent to go on maternity leave).

Michelle confides in Robert that her boss was inappropriate with her but then has to stop him battering him.  She then books them a holiday, which seriously messes with his double life with Vicky.  I mean, how thoughtless of you, Michelle!

Beth comes up with the idea of a bucket list for Sinead but it turns out that she doesn’t want to do anything after all.  With plans to go on holiday cancelled, Claudia asks Daniel’s permission to hold an 80th birthday party for Ken, although Ken is hesitant, feeling it’s inappropriate to celebrate when Sinead is dying.  Daniel and Sinead get the awful news that her body is not strong enough for more chemotherapy and all they can do for her now is to keep her comfortable.  She only has a few weeks left.  At home, Sinead wants to go to Ken’s party, which Daniel reveals to Sinead is also an early 1st birthday party for Bertie so Sinead doesn’t miss it.  Both of them are destroyed by the news they have received but Sinead also wants to be part of their family while she has the chance.  The party goes ahead and even Norris pops down from Scotland to see Ken, bringing with him an online call from Emily, who is turning ninety the following week.  Sinead is overwhelmed by the party and tells everyone what the Consultant has told them, somewhat bringing the party to an end.

Doctors

Zara enjoys toying with Daniel (and Becky) after their indiscretion but eventually agrees to keep quiet.  Daniel’s guilt, meanwhile prompts him to pledge his commitment to Becky and ask her to move in with him.  While Becky excitedly packs her things, she admits some anxiety about Daniel’s commitment to her when speaking to Ayesha.  Daniel meanwhile, is challenged by an old friend about whether his feelings for Zara could ever truly die.  The move leads to questions from Becky to Daniel – has he ever been faithful to any of his partners?  No, he hasn’t.  He swears that he has changed but of course, he only cheated on Becky herself with Zara a week ago but neglects to mention that!

With Daniel apparently having moved on, Emma persuades Zara to join a dating agency.  When Zara receives a ‘dick pic’ from the guy she is talking to, she ends up diagnosing him with HPV!

Karen, Rob and Sid are excited that Immie is moving back to Letherbridge for work.  Immie persuades Becky to let her begin an art project at The Mill, which she eagerly includes Valerie in, in order to help her grief for Geoffrey.  Imogen excitedly prepares for her gallery opening but her mother frustrates her by breaking one of her cameras and has to replace it.  However, that pales into insignificance when Sid finds a lump in Immie’s breast.

Sid performs a vasectomy on a guy who is desperate not to have any children after discovering that his father has Huntington’s, aware that he too could have the gene.  Al and Valerie become embroiled in two older patients who have been stealing.  Jimmi has the upsetting task of testing the rules of confidentiality when his counselling patient reveals a murder to him.   Emma supports a young woman who has become the face of a transplant charity who has become the victim of Munchausen’s by Proxy, as her friend cannot seem to cope with her friend’s amazing recovery and keeps insisting that she has become ill again and won’t survive.  Valerie finds herself in receipt of some unwanted attention.

Eastenders

Martin is faced with a tough choice between Stacey and the kids who are on the run or Bex, who has just attempted suicide.  He decides that in the circumstances, he cannot leave his daughter and decides to stay in the Square, even if that means facing up to Ben.  He demands that Stacey and the kids be allowed home but when Lola is abducted by the men Ben owes money to, Ben agrees to Martin’s demands on the premise that he help him get Lola back.  Martin does what Ben says but when Ben remains in trouble with the brothers, he backtracks on his promise, further demanding that Martin find him the expensive car that he owes the men who are after him.  Otherwise, he will hand in the weapon Stacey used to knock Phil out to the police.

Tactlessly, Ben sends Martin a wreath that says ‘Fowler’ – to the house of where Bex has just attempted suicide.  Sonia is distraught, knowing nothing of Martin’s plight.  Martin successfully steals the correct car and Ben is off the hook.  He hands over the wrench which Martin promptly ditches.  Unfortunately, what he doesn’t realise is that his robbery has been filmed and Ben has him right where he wants him – Stacey cannot return home and he now has to work for Ben.  This prompts a violent outburst from Martin.  You know, Ben really does get beaten up a lot.

Rainie attempts to make a new start by getting a job in the café but Ian soon drives her to drink.  When she finds a note from Stuart telling her that he is proud of her, she tips the vodka away but it’s too late – Kathy catches her with the empty bottle and quickly snatches baby Abi away from her.  When Max finds Rainie not looking after Abi properly in the park, he also removes the child from her care, prompting Kathy to tell him everything about the drugs and the alcohol.  Kathy goes even further by gathering up confiscated cocaine from the Albert and giving it to Rainie in a bid to make her prove herself.  Rainie does prove herself by giving the drugs back and tipping them away in front of Kathy but Stuart is absolutely livid and borderline violent with Kathy for what she has done.  And what neither of them know is that Rainie has kept some of the cocaine.

Karen is touched when Bailey refers to her as Mum No. Two and asks her to become her legal guardian.  Unfortunately, Bailey then overhears her discussing with Mitch that she didn’t stop her mother’s suicide and their relationship is promptly damaged.  When Bailey goes missing, Chantelle is furious with Gray as he informs frantic Keegan about Karen not preventing Bailey’s mother’s suicide.  An argument ensues and Gray nearly attacks his pregnant wife before punching the kitchen counter and storming out of the house.  Bailey returns home unharmed.

Mariam’s family rally round as they learn about her mugging during the Eid preparations.  But during preparations for a family meal, Honey still cannot bear to confront the truth about Adam’s affair with Habiba.  Mariam takes the opportunity to clear the air with Iqra and ensure that she knows she has no problem with her being gay – her reaction was just about the mugging.  It’s a lovely moment.  In less good news, Mariam and her husband discuss returning to Pakistan, which would be awful as they are amazing characters and I would like them to stay.  Iqra has yet more news for Arshad, informing him of Adam’s affair with Habiba and the fact that he is a serial cheater.

Emmerdale

Amy’s party line is that Kerry slipped and fell.  Vanessa is fired up with the truth about Frank, desperate now to prove his innocence while Tracey is torn up with guilt over Kerry’s accident.  Amy visits them, full of remorse over Frank and anger over Kerry’s accident.  She threatens Tracey with the police if they dare call the police on them.  Vanessa and Charity are completely on Tracey’s side.  Just as Kerry looks like she’ll be okay, she goes into cardiac arrest, although she does pull through.  Amy is cruel to guilty Tracey when comes to the hospital to see how Kerry is.  Desperate, Tracey wants to turn herself in, prompting Charity to lock her in a cupboard until she calms down and sees sense.  Unfortunately, that just brings flashbacks to the fire and prompts a panic attack.

Amy tells now conscious Kerry that she has told Tracey that they are even now.  However, just then, Tracey arrives to inform them that she is going to the police to tell them everything.  While Amy is aggressive about the decision, Kerry just feels guilty and insists that she will tell the police she tripped and fell.  When Tracey speaks to Amelia, she feels too guilty to go to the police and take her only mother figure away.

Angry about this turn of events, Vanessa bursts into the hospital to confront Kerry herself.  She is so aggressive that she ends up pushing a nurse and is arrested.  At the police station, she rants and raves over what has happened.  She is kept in a cell overnight and retrieved by Tracey and Charity in the morning.  Out of hospital, Kerry and Amy visit their friends and they all conclude that the police will not be contacted.  The sisters make it clear that Kerry and Amy are dead to them and throw them out of the house.  Vanessa doesn’t want to leave the house, worried about running into them.  Tracey accepts a date with Pete.

Kerry is staying with Amy and Victoria.  She has Dan’s support but he suspects that there is more to the story than he is being told.  Tracey turns to Pete for support and hits on him but he gently turns her down.  Vanessa and Charity think he was trying to do the right thing.  Charity takes Vanessa on holiday.

Things are tense between Nate, Pete and Moira.  Privately, Pete warns Moira that Nate is unpredictable and things will become very dangerous if Cain were to find out about the affair, especially if it was still going on.  He decides to move out, distancing himself from what Moira and Nate have done.  He gives Moira one more chance – if she ends the affair, he will stay.  Refusing him, he confirms that he is leaving.  In the end, Moira does end things with Nate who cannot let things go.  Pete hassles Nate to end things with Moira and he doesn’t tell him it’s already done.  Nate begs Moira for another chance, telling her that he loves her.  She guiltily rejects him and attempts to send him away.  But then gives in and sleeps with him again.

Ryan argues with Kim and Graham about disabled access to their new building.  Although it reaches minimum requirements, the minimum isn’t good enough and will exclude lots of people.  With a few changes, the building will be completely accessible to so many more people.  He then complains to Nicola about it, prompting Kim to pay him off with £2000.  He rejects it.  Kim goes ahead with a press day ahead of the opening of their adventure park but when Ryan objects to the lack of accessibility, Al steps in, promoting Ryan to a consultant and inviting him to advise them on accessibility to make the park as disabled friendly as possible.  The press are really impressed with the company’s accessibility ethos and Ryan’s role.

Rhona and Graham attempt a coffee date and continue to play chess online.  However, still way too attached to Kim, Graham ditches a lunch date with Rhona to attend a business meeting with Kim, Al and Jai.

Harriet misses Pearl, who is now living with Rhona.  When Will redecorates Pearl’s room without Harriet’s permission, Harriet is horrified.

In a bid to win the competition, Liam and Bernice decide to go for a Pride and Prejudice theme for their wedding.  They then accidentally ruin Sam and Lydia’s bid for the competition and win their place.  Feeling guilty about Sam and Lydia never being able to afford the wedding of their dreams, Liam and Bernice hand over their place in the competition to them.

Mandy impersonates Lydia when a solicitor turns up to inform her that she has been donated a large sum of money.  She nearly gets caught by Sam and Lydia herself as she struggles to find some kind of ID.

Rodney and Eric steal some brownies from Doug, believing he has put pot in them.  High, they get caught by Nicola.  Robert tries to make the most of his time with his family before he goes to jail.

Hollyoaks

Marnie struggles to accept James’s assertion that he truly wanted to die.  She, Juliet and Romeo stage an intervention.  James rejects them but then pretends to accept their love.  Romeo catches him hiring a prostitute again and James is cruel to him about Lily before almost beating him up.  The next day, James pleads forgiveness but Romeo doesn’t want to know.  He moves out, lying to Marnie and Juliet over how he got a black out.

Mercedes is less than impressed with Sylver’s birthday present – an old caravan.  However, when Sylver reminisces about their old family caravan holidays and how special the time they spent together then was to him, she comes round to the idea.

Nana refuses to give Maxine a job and instead gives her a piece of her mind.  Only Cleo is kind to her and seeks Walter’s compassion to get her a job at the shop, which he agrees to.  Martine is upset that her father is so forgiving of others but not his own daughter.  Unfortunately, strapped for cash and with Minnie needing a new coat, Maxine messes up her second chance and steals from the cash register.  And gets caught.  And fired.

Cleo and Mitchell are excited to be moving in together.  Walter objects to their plans, making Mitchell back out.  Scott suspects that Mitchell has changed his mind because of their kiss but Mitchell is adamant that it was a mistake.  This only pushes Mitchell into defying his grandfather and moving in with Cleo immediately.  When Mitchell dismisses what happened between them, upset Scott writes Cleo a note telling her that her boyfriend is a liar.  Between them, Mitchell and Scott cover up the truth but it’s not long before the boys give into their feelings and end up sleeping together – just as Walter leaves Mitchell a voice mail – while having a stroke.  When he discovers what has happened, Mitchell is overwhelmed with guilt at having been with Scott while his grandfather was having a stroke.  He takes his guilt out on poor Scott, telling him he is disgusting and burning his wig.  Distraught, Scott decides to abandon Anita but is talked round by Diane and Cleo and performs his gig at Mercedes birthday party.  Mitchell gets jealous when he sees Scott being chatted up by another guy and it’s clear he cannot let him go after all as they end up  in bed together again.  Martine is concerned about Walter’s sickle cell, aware that there is a lost member of their family who could be a potential donor.

Having lost her job at Price Slice, Maxine is more strapped for cash than ever and turns to kind Liberty for £20.  But Liberty is hurt when she learns that Maxine has lied yet again about losing her bank card and actually need the money because she was fired from her job for stealing.  Maxine is offered a lifeline when her sister phones inviting her to visit in America.  She persuades her to pay for the ticket on the promise that she will pay her back.

Nancy and Mandy get Darren and Luke together to force Ollie and Brooke to take responsibility for the baby, offering their complete support.  Brooke cannot cope.  After a talk with Tom, Brooke decides to keep the baby.  When they go for their twelve week scan, Ollie is delighted to see their baby on the screen but Brooke is more confused than ever over how she is supposed to feel and all the questions fired at her by the midwife.  Carried away with his love for Brooke and the baby, Ollie asks Imran to help him stage a romantic proposal.  She is horrified and refuses, telling him she wants to put the baby up for adoption.  Ollie is devastated but eventually decides that as hard as it will be to say goodbye to their child, he cannot live without Brooke.

Breda takes pity on Tony, rewarding him for being well behaved by giving him some of Tony’s belongings.  However, she catches him with Harry’s phone and snatches it away, only to be accosted by Goldie with a bag of Harry’s things in the Dog car park and accidentally drops with phone without realising.  Joel later picks the phone up and listens to the recording he made of Mercedes threatening to kill him over the hit and run.

Home and Away

Robbo and Jasmine remain in danger as he tries to find the truth.  He meets up with the men who are hunting him down, insisting that Dylan Carter cannot be found, as they continue to threaten him and Jasmine.  He begs them give him all the information they have in order to help him track Dylan down.

Later, a man is dumped unconscious by the side of the road.  Jasmine ignores Lance and joins new Doctor Alex Neilson in treating the man at the hospital.  He dies on the table.  Robbo arrives – the man is connected to the investigation.  Alex quizzes Jasmine about her connection to the police and Robbo.  Robbo finds information on the body – a recording with proof that Dylan Carter is alive and has been seen.  Jasmine is horrified when Robbo explains that despite a man being murdered, they actually have hope now they know Dylan is alive and they are actually in a better position.  They discover that the dead man was a low level criminal whose charges were always dropped by the same dodgy cop – Dylan Carter.  Aware that Dylan murdered his family, Jasmine is worried about exactly what Robbo will do when he finds him.

At work, Alex is concerned about Jasmine’s situation putting the staff and patients (including Jasmine) in danger but Willow manages to sweet talk Alex into giving Jasmine a chance.  On the promise of a free PT session, Alex seeks Willow out, admitting that she has never worked out in a gym before but would like a friend.  Let the flirting begin!

Raffy’s loved ones continue to try and find a solution to control her epilepsy, frustrating her that all their loves have become about her condition.  Feeling a sense of freedom, Raffy goes swimming.  Unfortunately, she runs into trouble in the sea and it’s up to Mason and Justin to save her.  She is rushed into hospital where she is treated by Alex.  Given the all clear, Alex carefully tells Raffy’s family that they are mollycoddling her and she needs space to make her own decisions.  She tells Raffy that she has epilepsy too and it’s perfectly possible to live a normal life.  Inspired, Raffy decides to take control of her own future.

Ben continues to live at the caravan park, rejecting friendship from both Alf and Dean.  Ziggy insists on supporting her father but he cannot find a way to open up.  Ziggy then returns home to find her mother in tears.  The pier complex is officially under contact.  Ben makes a new friend – Dean’s mother, Karen.

Colby makes peace with Ryder after the party, with Bella having explained what really happened.  He asks for Ryder’s help in persuading Bella to return to school.  But when Ryder tries to speak to her, she panics and demands that he leaves.  Worried, Ryder asks for help and eventually Roo, Colby and Willow persuade Bella to open up to Ryder.  She does and Ryder proves himself to be an amazing friend.  Bella agrees to return to school.

Tommy decides to sue Irene for pain and suffering.  Consequently, Irene decides to sign over her half of the Diner to Leah so that should Tommy be successful, he can’t take the Diner away from her and destroy the business.  Leah, who has been rallying support for Irene all this time, including encouraging other abused women to share their stories, feels like agreeing to Irene’s request would be a betrayal.  Justin suggests that it’s a good idea and she could just sign the Diner back over to her once everything is sorted out.  Leah refuses, leaving desperate Irene with no choice but to beg Bella to testify for her in court.  She is shaken by the idea but agrees.  She needs to help Irene like Irene helped her.

Mackenzie encourages Dean to set up his own business as a surfing instructor.  He offers Ben a job.

Neighbours

While the Brennan family are busy fretting about their mother, she suddenly bursts through the door!  She is frustrated at the ‘fuss’ her family make about her forgetting to tell anyone that she was coming.  David assesses her and her Huntington’s symptoms have most definitely got worse, meaning she now needs proper care, which is more than Tyler and Piper can provide.  Chloe struggles to see her mother suffer, as well as be confronted by her future.  She attempts to push Pierce away, worried that he won’t cope with her illness but he pledges his commitment to her.  The siblings decide to take their mother back home with Mark having in mind Pierce’s advice that it wouldn’t be fair for Chloe to give up her life to look after her mother when she will then have to go through her own illness afterwards.

Without dates to the dance, Harlow, Yashvi and Mackenzie decide to go together instead.  Mackenzie then accidentally goes back on her word when Hendrix wants to go to the dance with her – against Harlow’s advice.  On his first day, when Hendrix tries to make fun of Harlow over periods, she firmly puts him in his place, prompting the teacher to put him in a class for the youngest kids to learn about periods – and write an essay on the subject!

Shane and Dipi, meanwhile, are worried about how Yashvi’s heartbreak will affect her concentration on her exams.  However, Shane’s biggest concern is has found Mackenzie’s father and he is on his way to see his daughter.  With Dipi’s support, Mackenzie goes to meet her father, Grant, who immediately addresses her by her previous name, Michael.  Father and daughter meet and he just cannot accept Mackenzie’ gender identity.  She leaves and it’s her friends, Harlow and Yashvi who turn up to support her.  Shane confronts Grant about his attitude, challenging him about his beliefs.  Grant apologises to Mackenzie and reluctantly agrees to attend the dance.  The dance does not go well when Mackenzie does not pay Hendrix enough attention, he goes off with another girl.  But worse than that, Grant lets her down and doesn’t show up.  Yashvi very kindly gives her own Dad to Mackenzie for the father/daughter dance and dances with her mother instead.  Hendrix meanwhile, wins Best Dressed, gets drunk and calls out his Dad in front of everyone and also gets into trouble for booking out a room at the hotel and charging up hundreds of dollars’ worth of room service.  He also kisses Harlow without her consent.

Having finally had enough of Scarlett’s crush on Kyle, Amy decides to confront her and tell her to back off, which she agrees to, eager for Amy to get rid of the photo Amy found.  She also uses the situation to get them out of the house for the night so she can spend the evening with Ned, as of course, it’s not Kyle she’s after, it’s Ned.  She stages abusive messages from her ex and fabricates an abusive relationship to garner his sympathy, claiming that he is on his way to see her.  They contact the police who cannot help other than arranging for a patrol car to check on her every now and again.  When she fears being alone for the night, Ned falls into her trap and offers to stay the night.

But Bea and Finn are already onto her, trawling through her social media to try and find out what she is up to.  She reveals her concerns to Yashvi, pushing her to get back with Ned sooner rather than later.  With Ned having fallen asleep on the couch, Scarlett picks up a text from Yashvi to say she is coming over and slips onto the sofa with him, pretending she is also asleep, breaking Yashvi’s heart.  When Ned visits Yashvi the next day, he cannot understand her accusations and is distraught when she breaks up with him for good.

Toadie arrives back home from America with the kids and is immediately bombarding by Shaun and Finn with Shaun’s idea for a Buddy Programme as part of the Sonya Rebecchi Programme.  Toadie is keen on the idea but unfortunately, Finn cannot be part of anything connected with children because of his conviction.

Paul and Terese arrive home from their honeymoon early and are horrified by the state of the house.  Roxy and Harlow make things right with help from Amy and Kyle but Terese is sad to learn of Ned and Yashvi’s breakup.  She is immediately suspicious of Scarlett.

Paul and Terese are called to the hotel in an emergency.  A maintenance man has found a camera in one of the rooms, possibly dating back three years when Amy’s ex-boss used cameras to spy on her, something that Paul is alarmed to learn the whole truth about.  Terese covered it up to protect both the hotel and Amy.  They cancel all work at the hotel, including Amy and get a security firm in to search the whole building for any more cameras.  Amy gets wind of what is going on and confronts her father and Terese who admit what is happening and she and Kyle are alarmed to realise that they were the last people to stay in the room with the camera.  Kyle then also finds out about the cameras from three years ago.  Refusing to listen to anyone, Kyle goes to the police.  Amy persuades him to back down and the camera is proved to be dead.  However, what they don’t know is that an unknown person does indeed have footage from the camera – of Amy and Kyle.

Soap Blog: 30th September – 6th October 2019

Coronation Street

Terrified of Gary, Ryan refuses to tell persistent Adam the truth about the assault, insisting that he was mugged.  But with rumours going around, Gary is quick to sweet talk his neighbours, including Maria, assuring them that he is not a bad man.

Paul attempts to confront Kel about the abuse he suffered.  However, Kel cleverly manipulates him into believing that it was all his fault.  Paul turns to alcohol and ends up attacking Kel, putting him in hospital and under the scrutiny of his oblivious family.

Jade tells Evelyn about the abusive partner that Fiz rescued her from by employing her as Hope’s teacher.  However, there is clearly more to this than meets the eyes, as Jade wedges herself into Fiz’s family and seems to pitting the kids against their mother.

Sophie starts college and Asha steals Dev’s credit card in order to buy skin lightening cream online.

Doctors

Tragedy strikes Letherbridge as Valerie’s cat, Geoffrey passes away.  While at first, not everyone understands the receptionist’s genuine grief, they do mostly get behind her in the end as she puts together a Heston-esque funeral for her dearly departed feline.  Ayesha and Jimmi are particularly gentle with her and even Al steps up to give a eulogy at the funeral.  Valerie attends counselling with Jimmi and unearths some painful memories of the loss of her parents.

Zara struggles to control her hatred of Becky as she cements herself as part of a new family unit with Daniel and Joe.  However, the cracks are beginning to appear as Daniel seems to feel rushed, resulting in an argument in the middle of an electronic store, as Becky tries to push Daniel into buying a new TV together.  When they are thrown together for a CCG meeting, Daniel and Zara’s inability to get along quickly gets them thrown out.  But ducking into a room of the hotel to continue their argument, soon turns to passion and then end up sleeping together!  However, Daniel quickly limps back to Becky.

Eve decides she wants to join a dating agency, although Al is worried about his mother’s vulnerability.  She turns down his offer of moving in with him, wanting them both to live their own lives.

Rob is injured at work, leading him to discover that his colleague has a phobia of hospitals and even abandoned his girlfriend when she developed MS because of it.  Later in the week, Rob stages a very clever victim support group with a local vicar in order to sniff out a burglar.  Ruhma supports a woman with tocophobia – while she is in labour!

Eastenders

Bex puts on a baby shower for Louise to distract herself from her own issues but Mel soon takes over and it’s only Lisa who picks up on Bex’s low mood.  But any conversation that might go anywhere and save the poor girl is quickly interrupted.  As Bex cannot face the prospect of going to Oxford or the idea of talking about how she’s feeling, the poor child instead decides that there is only one way out.  Nobody around her notices apart from Lisa who doesn’t really know her well enough to intervene, although she does try.  They throw her a big leaving party and tell her how proud they are of her.  However, she slips away from the party, writes a suicide note for her parents and takes an overdose, to be found by distraught Sonia in the morning.

Thankfully, Bex is still alive and is rushed to hospital immediately (the note knocked onto the floor to be found by Stuart later).  Sonia struggles to accept that her daughter has attempted suicide and desperately calls Martin to come home, which he does, hovering in the shadows, watching Ben with menace.

After too many people throw doubt at Ben about his future with Callum, most specifically Stuart who all but warns him away, he ruins the date first by inviting Lola and Jay and then by snogging another guy at the first opportunity.  Callum is heartbroken.  And for that matter, so is Ben.  As soon as he realises and with the support of Lola, Callum makes a proper play for Ben, wanting to make a go of things once and for all.  Their attempt at a date is interrupted by Callum’s homophobic father but his abuse is halted by Phil, who steps in and punches him to the applause of everyone everywhere!  Unfortunately, the vile man makes a complaint to the police, putting Sharon’s Portugal plans under threat as the police take away Phil’s passport.  But the good news is that Callum is no longer scared and Ben is no longer jaded and the pair finally become a couple.  In less good news for Ben, a dodgy deal comes back to haunt him and he finds himself under threat by two brothers, who I believe are related to Iqra’s girlfriend, Ash.

Denise ties herself up in knots after a worrying voicemail, convinced that Wanda has bumped Ted off, after what Sheree said about her previous husband.  However, Ted soon phones Patrick.  He is fine.  Jack feels unsupported by Denise as he returns to the police force, as she is too caught up with hating Sheree.

Jean and Daniel grow closer, as do Leo and Whitney.  One of these stories is much sweeter than the other!  Linda attempts to make friends with the other Mums from school.

Emmerdale

The police arrive with a warrant to search the farm for stolen car parts, which Cain is hiding in the barn.  When they get to the hiding place, the car parts have gone.  When the police have gone, Nate announces that he moved them, keen to get on Cain’s good side.  He then meets the police officer in his van – he was the one who tipped them off in the first place.  Obviously.  It doesn’t take long for Moira and Nate to get back together.  He also gets them a contract with a gourmet burger bar before they sneak off to spend the day together.  Unfortunately, Moira has lost her phone and on it, is an incriminating text message from Nate – which Pete gets hold of, working out the whole affair.  He phones Nate and warns them both to come home.  Pete confronts Moira about her affair when she gets home before he argues with Nate.

Will has happily moved in with Harriet and Dawn, now that Pearl has moved out, upset with the revelations from Moira.  Will is all set to move out but Harriet’s meeting with the Bishop goes surprisingly well.

Lydia all but forces David to buy the eggs that Sam has overproduced from the chickens he has overbought and now needs to try and sell.  She also volunteers to speak to Archie from the perspective of a grief counsellor, as he fails to engage on his first day at school.  However, it’s Arthur who makes the breakthrough with Archie when he manages to get him talking about video games!  Arthur also lets slips to Jai that Laurel is feeling neglected as he is spending all his time with Archie.  Jai arranges to spend the afternoon with Laurel, who is oblivious to the neglect.  It’s actually Arthur is who is feeling pushed out, especially when he is left out of a family Nerf Gun game.

Derek, Manpreet’s annoying patient and friend of Doug begins to feel unwell in the shop and David, who also suddenly begins to feel unwell, immediately suspects that it could be down to Rishi’s chocolates.  Ill at home, Leyla comes to see David who feels that he and Jacob are still distanced from each other.  When Derek collapses and dies, Manpreet and Rishi deliver the news that it was suspected salmonella, panicking David that he could be in serious danger.  The health inspector turns up at both the shop and the Sharma’s, which Manpreet has to confess she reported.  After a discussion, the Sharma family realise that the difference in the chocolate making was the eggs – Rishi used Sam’s eggs for the batch that potentially made David ill and killed Derek.  However, Lydia points out that the whole family have been eating the eggs and nobody has been unwell.  Charity pressures Sam to get rid of the problem by slaughtering the chickens but he cannot do it.

Things get worse for Rishi when the health inspector discovers that he never got a new food hygiene certificate – he was just using the one he had for the factory.  He has no choice but to report him to the local authority and if it transpires that he is responsible for Derek’s death, he will likely be prosecuted for manslaughter.  David lays into Rishi for ruining his business but he is comforted by Jacob’s support.  They even have a successful conversation about Maya, although Jacob plays down his feelings.

The news emerges that the salmonella can be traced back to some cheese.  Rishi is in the clear for Derek’s death but he is still facing prosecution for not having a licence.  Manpreet sells the stamp collection she stole from Derek’s corpse to Eric for £1500 and uses it to bribe the health inspector to turn a blind eye for Rishi.  Lydia rushes home to save the chickens!  I am relieved by her priorities!

Tracy struggles as she and Vanessa go through Frank’s belongs.  She rejects her father and refuses to keep anything.  Kerry offers her support to the family but torn up with guilt, refuses an offer for a newspaper interview to celebrate her charity auction to replace the charity money.  Eventually she accepts but Vanessa and Tracy are upset when the journalist wants to paint Frank as a pure villain.  Kerry is further caught out when the keyring that Frank gave Tracey as a child, falls out of Kerry’s bag.  Tracey got rid of it but wracked with guilt, Kerry saved it, feeling that Tracey would regret throwing it away one day.

Tracey later goes to find the keyring in Kerry’s room and in there, she finds unused, one way tickets for Kerry, Amy and Kyle.  Immediately, she puts all the pieces together, including the way Kerry has been behaving.  She confronts Kerry, who breaks down and confesses everything about the fire.  Tracey then angrily confronts Amy too, although Kerry insists that she had nothing to do with it.  Breaking, Amy confesses her part in the fire.  When they refuse to let her leave or call the police, Tracey rushes out the back door.  Kerry gives chase, prompting Tracey to push her away into a pile of bricks, knocking her unconscious.

Charity and Vanessa arrive just as Kerry is ambulanced to hospital.  She explains to them that Kerry started the fire and what happened to Kerry.  She admits that she shoved her.  Vanessa struggles to believe that Kerry could have started the fire but eventually she and Charity understand the depth of the situation Tracey is in.  They go with Tracey to the hospital where Amy is waiting for news on Kerry.

Victoria runs into the café worker again and accepts the offer of going for coffee.  Leyla is annoyed when Andrea pitches Sam and Lydia against Bernice and Liam in their couples competition for a magazine.  The judge ends up progressing both couples to the final.  Rhona and Graham kiss.

Hollyoaks

Breda panics when Tony almost escapes his cell.  But upon learning about his daughter, Grace who died when she was just a baby, Breda feels compassionate and offers to take him to Harry’s finally resting place, warning him that if he tries to escape, she will kill Diane.

Meanwhile, Goldie and Sylver are growing more concerned about their mother, fuelled even further by Joel’s revelation that when she found out about his and Goldie’s relationship, she knocked him out with a Bible.  Goldie decides to go to the pig farm, knowing that it’s a place her mother always used to go to when she was stressed.  While there is evidence of activity, captivity, in fact, Tony and Breda have already gone to the place that Harry has been buried in the woods.  Tony breaks down at Harry’s unmarked grave.  When Breda isn’t looking, Tony uncovers some of the earth.

Goldie rushes back to the pub to tell her family everything she saw at the pig farm, desperately worried about her mother.  When Breda gets home, Goldie confronts her but she easily lies and says that she has been sleeping at the pig farm when she becomes overwhelmed at home.  In a bid to look after her mother, Goldie decides to put the pig farm up for sale.  Ignoring her family’s concerns, Breda refuses to sell the farm.  While she begins to unravel in front of Tony, Goldie takes the dog for a walk in the woods and discovers poor Harry’s body!

Everyone is shocked to hear the news, none more so than heartbroken James.  His response is to turn to drink and prostitutes.  When he sobers up, he finally admits to his heartbreak, only to find himself arrested on suspicion of the murder of Harry Thompson!  Let out on bail, he ends up in a furious row with Breda who accuses him of being just like Mac.  She is the one who tipped off the police in the first place.  Broken over his guilt for his treatment of Harry and now the loss of him, James stands on the bridge, ready to jump.  Marnie and Romeo find him just in time.

Jack and Sylver become rightfully convinced that Tony didn’t run away and he was also a victim of a serial killer.  Breda decides to take drastic action and tells Tony he has to die.  He pleads for his life and she agrees to let him live in exchange for a phone call to Diane confirming that he is alive and has just abandoned her.

Sylver, meanwhile, has other problems.  He is feeling rejected as Mercedes hasn’t slept with him in weeks.  Nanna gives her a good talking too where she opens up about her guilt – she cannot find comfort in the husband she has betrayed so badly.  As she prepares to finally tell her husband the truth, Sylver interrupts and suggest they try for a baby.  After some initial reluctance, Mercedes agrees.

Cindy stops Luke from turning to the bottle and the pair decide to go into business together.  Privately, Cindy admits to Mandy her true feelings for Luke.  Mandy tries to talk Cindy out of her feelings who goes on an awful date – at the same time as Luke does.  They both ditch their dates and run off together.  They pitch a street food business for investment to Tom who agrees to invest and Grace sells them the space, only to later reveal that she has double crossed them.  The space cannot be built on due to endangered birds and Roman baths!

Things become a little tense after Jesse’s suggestion of adoption when Liam pushes the couple to hurry up and get married.  Courtney is keen but Jesse is hesitant, not because he doesn’t love her but because he feels that Donavan marriages are doomed.  After a pep talk from Liam, Jesse proposes to Courtney again.

Nancy and Mandy discover that Brooke has missed her twelve week scan.  Ollie (and Imran) abandon the school trip to a theme park when they realise that Brooke can’t go on any of the rides. 

Home and Away

Ryder persuades Roo and Alf to let him have a party to celebrate the end of his exams.  Ryder and his friends sneak in alcohol to the party, strictly against Alf’s instructions.

Irene reluctantly tells Bella that the police think her best chance would be for Bella to give evidence in court.  With so much to think about and Colby distracted by Mackenzie, Bella decides to go to Ryder’s party after all.  Against Ryder’s request, Bella’ drinks alcohol, as does everyone else, which really stresses Ryder out.  When he finds Bella worse for wear, Ryder brings her back to the house.  He sneaks Bella up to his room to sober up, panicking about getting caught with her in his room.  He sends a text from Bella’s phone to Colby to say that a group of friends are staying at Ryder’s, leaving him free to spend the night with Mackenzie, only for Dean to walk in on them again the next morning!  Ryder meanwhile, spends the night keeping watch over Bella.

The next morning, Bella is hungover and throwing up.  Colby comes round and he and Alf burst in just as Bella is changing into one of Ryder’s t-shirts.  Colby is furious although Bella and Ryder desperately try to explain what really happened.  In light of the events at the party, Colby tells Irene that Bella cannot testify on her behalf.  Irene is devastated but understanding, especially when her lawyer tells her that Bella’s testimony is likely to be the difference between a custodial or non-custodial sentence.

Raffy feels left out when she discovers that she wasn’t invited to Ryder’s party and her mood plummets further when she gets the results of her HSC trials.  She decides that her only option left is to leave school but her loved ones endeavour to find her a new CBD oil trial, no matter what.

Ben’s friends and family are busy searching for him when he turns up of his own accord.  When Alf invites Ben out for a drink, he realises that Maggie has been talking about his mental health.  Livid, he lays into Maggie for talking about his private life with his friends.  Ben soon apologises and promises to find something productive to do with his day.  He struggles during a jolly lunch with Maggie, Justin, Leah and Roo.  Still trying to make things work, Ben makes a new surfboard for Ziggy but upon deciding it’s not good enough, he smashes it up, frightening her.  Maggie gives her husband an ultimatum – get help or leave.  So he leaves.

Tensions remain fraught between Jasmine and Robbo as they remain confined together, Robbo trying to find answers and Jasmine desperate to support him.  During an argument, Robbo challenges her to leave him but panics when she actually does, running away on her own and prompting a desperate search to find her before she falls into danger.

Neighbours

While Mackenzie cannot forgive Shane and Yashvi is also furious with her father, Dipi does what she can to support Mackenzie and explain that the person Shane was back then is not the man he is now.  And regardless of how she feels about him, she has the support of the whole family and community.

Scarlett sabotages Bea’s amp, electrocuting her before her gig.  Ned rushes to her aid, standing up Yashvi in the process as Bea is rushed to hospital, Finn and her loved ones worried about her welfare.  Of course, Scarlett retells the story as if nothing really happens and Ned rushed to Bea’s aid for no reason.  Armed with the wrong information, Yashvi starts a huge argument with Ned about him standing her up.  Once she realises what really happened, Yashvi is full of apologies but for Ned, it is too late.  Scarlett is delighted.  Yashvi turns to Bea of all people for support while Ned talks to Scarlett, regretting his decision.

Bea cannot work out how the leads were damaged when she is so careful with checking them.  Elly rushes back to see her, their argument forgotten.  Susan wonders if an expert should take a look at the equipment.  However, when she goes to find the lead, it is missing.  Things get worse for Bea when she is told that she now has a heart arythmia, which could potentially be permanent.  Scarlett feels secretly guilty, having not meant things to have been so serious.  However, her behaviour is starting to ring alarm bells for both Bea and Amy, although Amy gets the wrong end of the stick and thinks that Scarlett has feelings for Kyle.

David discovers custody papers amongst Shaun’s things and against Aaron’s advice tells Elly’s what he has found out immediately.  Shaun apologises, explaining that it’s not what he wants but his mother has been pushing him, worried about his rights when the baby is born.  David remains suspicious of Shaun but he rips up the papers and tells Elly that he hopes to move back to Australia to support Elly and be part of the baby’s life.  David eventually apologises to Shaun for his interfering.

Mark is embarrassed by Roxy’s behaviour on a date at the Waterhole, as she gets drunk, climbs on tables and makes him down drinks.  She agrees to tone things down but Mark is still not happy with her when for Pierce and Chloe’s wine tasting event at the tram, Roxy changes into the most polite young woman ever.  She expresses interest in the wine and engages Chloe and Pierce in conversation about the business.  Mark drinks too much and gets into more and more of a foul mood, genuinely upsetting Roxy who has really tried to be what he wants her to be.  Still she continues to try before he loses his drunken temper and is really rude to her in front of everybody, basically telling her that she’ll never be good enough for him and he is just using her for sex.  Returning home, Roxy breaks down on Harlow who advises her to break up with Mark – she deserves better.  Chloe berates her brother for his behaviour, prompting him to visit Roxy the next day with flowers and apologies.  She forgives him until Sheila and Harlow give her a self-esteem talk.  Roxy gives Mark one chance to prove how he actually feels about her and when he fails, she dumps him.  Hooray!  Sheila, Roxy and Harlow have a girlie afternoon together.

Also at the wine tasting, Sheila is upset to see Clive on a date with his new girlfriend, Doctor Beverly Robinson, the woman who helped Andrea.  When Beverly accidentally bumps into Sheila and spills wine of her, Sheila reacts badly and throws wine all over Beverly!  Yes, that will help you get Clive back.  Well done.  Gary is furious.

Pierce seeks Susan’s help as he struggles with Hendrix but when he sits an exam for her, she has bad news – his scores are too low for a private school.  She recommends that he repeat year eleven at Erinsborough High with a tutor.  Hendrix is not happy.

Karl visits his daughter in London with Susan to join him later.  On the way the airport, they share a very sweet nod to the Kennedys’ 25th anniversary of being on the show.

Soap Blog: 23rd – 29th September 2019

Coronation Street

Gary decides he has had enough of Ryan messing him about and not paying back his debt.  Tracking him down to a bar where he is a DJing, he summons him outside and beats the bewildered guy up, showing him exactly who he is messing with.  He demands his money, warning him not to tell anyone what has happened.  Terrified, Ryan desperately attempts to get the money, although he fails.  He then agrees to tell his friends and family that he was mugged and that Gary intervened and saved him.  However, Adam is very suspicious of what Gary is up to.

Michael asks James about what he overheard at the party and James reluctantly confesses that he is gay and that Aggie knows.  Now that his brother knows too, Aggie decides that it is time for Ed to know the truth although James is worried about his reaction.

Max causes trouble for Audrey at the salon by messing with Cathy’s hair dye.  Shona is at the end of her tether with Max and his behaviour, especially when she discovers that he has been attempting to sell his ADHD medication to his school friends.

Billy supports Paul as he confronts the demons of his past, accepting that Kel sexually groomed and sexually abused him as a child.  Gemma and Chesney are worried when a scan shows that one of their babies is much smaller than the others.  Asha admits to Amy that she has been lightening her skin.  Struggling to home school Hope, Fiz brings in her special needs teacher, Jade from when they were away.

Doctors

While Becky confides in Ayesha that she is really falling for Daniel, he is more preoccupied with jealousy that his ex, Zara is having a whale of a time, signing up to a uniform dating site with Emma!  The pair of them go on dates with a couple of firefighters and while Emma enjoys flirting with one of them, she eventually decides to give him the wrong number.  Zara meanwhile starts on frosty footing with her date but eventually the pair bond over the difficult world of dating after a long term relationship.  While they both decide neither of them are ready to start something new, they both appreciate the evening they’ve spent together.

Daniel meanwhile, appears to shoot from jealousy to commitment and decides he wants to tell Joe about him and Becky.  Zara is not pleased but agrees and ends up distraught when Joe takes the news extremely well, having previously met Becky as a babysitter and got on really well with her.

Al is horrified when upon learning of Eve’s dementia, her boyfriend, Ray decides to propose instead of backing off, as Al had hoped.  Ayesha encourages Al to be supportive and eventually, he and Ray become friends.  Unfortunately, news of the engagement spreads and brings with it, news of other relationships that Ray claims not to be aware of.  Eve is devastated and furious in equal measure while Al is concerned that Ray may be suffering from memory issues of his own.

Sid has to face a stroppy patient who wants a sick note after a bad hair dye job.  Jimmi finds the missing puzzle in a crime while treating a patient at the police station.  Valerie becomes caught up in her hairdresser’s ‘consciously uncoupled’ relationship.

Eastenders

Mel confronts Sharon with evidence of what she knows about her affair with Keanu and her baby’s paternity.  She demands that Sharon send Louise and Keanu come to live with her and Lisa, which Sharon manages.  Then she demands £20,000 of which Sharon only manages £12,000.  Then she demands a villa in Portugal, where she wants to move with Lisa, Louise, Keanu and the baby.

Tiffany finally finds the courage to open up to Keegan and tell him the truth about what happened to her.  At first he panics and doesn’t know what to say, which pushes her away.  But the next day, he comes back to her and says all the right things.  They really do make a lovely couple.

Sheree introduces Ted to her Mum, Wanda (I genuinely missed that – I thought she was her friend at first!) and the pair hit it off.  Wanda is a widow and is using her husband’s life insurance to travel the world.  She invites reluctant Ted to come travelling with her and after some debate, he agrees and the pair set off into the sunset.  After they leave, Sheree drops into conversation that Wanda briefly stood trial accused of murdering her husband!

Stuart locks Rainie in the bedroom above the undertakers in a bid to get her free from her painkiller addiction.  After several days without medication, Rainie manages to persuade him that she has come through the other side.  The first moment she gets, she goes into the bathroom and drinks mouthwash.

Whitney returns from her honeymoon refreshed and happy.  She wishes Callum happiness for his future and gives him and Ben her blessing.  She admits to Tiffany that she even met someone while she was away and of course, it turns out to be none other that Leo – Tony King’s son!  I mean, can Eastenders do anything more to this poor girl?!

Iqra quits her job with Ian and goes into business with Keegan.

Emmerdale

When Jamie tries to show off his riding skills to Kim, Millie ends up with a broken ankle.  Rushing to the hospital, Graham begins to query his past with Andrea, especially when he discovers Millie’s birthdate.  Is he Millie’s father?  When he pressures her, Andrea shuts him down straight away.  However, he is adamant that he wants proof one way or the other.

An outburst from Bear after Faith rejects his advances, reveals Faith and Zak’s secret kiss to distraught Belle, just as she is accepted onto her course to become a vet nurse.  The rest of the Dingles are equally upset that Zack has betrayed Lisa’s memory so quickly but Zack manages to win their forgiveness.

Rishi ploughs on with his new business while Jai struggles to bond with Archie.  Laurel persuades Jai to attend Rachel’s funeral, offering to look after Archie in his place.  After the sparse funeral, Jai is no closer to making progress with Archie than he was before.

Moira attempts to end things with Nate now that Cain is back but he persuades her to keep things going, only for them to nearly be caught out by Matty and Ryan, who are stoned.  Eventually, Moira sneaks out of the caravan and confronts Matty, dragging him to the house and giving him a good talking to.

Harriet celebrates her 50th birthday but Will is frustrated at having to act like she is a stranger.  Bob overhears Dawn referring to Will as her Dad, forcing Harriet to explain everything to him, including the truth about the stalking.  The news quickly spreads, prompting an eruption of fury from Moira at the harvest festival – how could Harriet bring a drug dealer into their lives after what happened to Holly?  Back at the farm, a furious row erupts between Moira and Harriet, with Cain caught in the middle.  Will also finds himself rejected by Dan, who he is relying on for his job and housing.  Harriet invites him to move in with her.

Nate is frustrated with Moira, feeling he is has been rejected now that Cain is home.  Cain interrupts an argument, throwing Nate out and warning him to give Moira space – it’s three years since Moira’s daughter died.  As Matty, Moira and Cain mark Holly’s death, Cain is kind to Moira as she beats herself up over all her mistakes.  Nate watches, arrogantly informing her later that he’ll give her the time to grieve before they pick their fling back up.  She tells him they are over and she loves Cain.  All she feels with Nate is ashamed of herself.  Well yes, so you should!

With all this talk of drugs, Doug cannot continue with growing his ridiculously vast quantities of weed.  Eric and Rodney are horrified but he destroys the whole plot, keeping only what he has already dried.  Mandy attempts to sell her sob story to Paddy regarding the money but Chas intervenes and throws her out.  She doesn’t buy it for a second.  Ellis worries that things are going too fast with Belle but things come to an abrupt halt when he puts his foot in it.

Hollyoaks

James uses Mitchell to search through Maxine’s medical files, as he becomes suspicious of her story.  However, once he discovers the truth, he is persuaded to keep quiet for the sake of Damon’s freedom as her ‘illness’ will help his case.  Meanwhile, Damon arranges a Last Supper for his wife as he tries to come to terms with both losing her and the prospect of being in jail when she dies.  Scott discovers the files and stops Damon on his way to court, confronting Maxine with the accusation of Munchausen’s.  Maxine has no choice but to admit the truth at last, bring Sienna down with her, promptly ending her relationship with Brody, just as Liberty reveals that she is pregnant.  Damon is heartbroken to have been lied to and to have committed fraud all to make his ‘dying’ wife happy in her last weeks.  He is sentenced to six months in jail and never wants to see Maxine again.  As the word spreads, Maxine finds herself without a friend in the world.

Joel decides to try and change from Catholicism to the Church of England so that they can be together.  Unfortunately, thanks to Breda, Goldie gets carried away and takes this as a proposal.  Joel has to let her down gently and explain that one day, perhaps they will get married but for now, he wants them to take things slowly.

Sylver, Goldie and Jack become confused over Breda’s behaviour when she lies to them about her whereabouts.  Actually, she is busy visiting poor Tony, who is still locked up at the pig farm.

Scott is frustrated with Mitchell and how he blows hot and cold with him (and Anita).  Jesse wants to adopt Iona.

Home and Away

Robbo is collected by boat by the gang who immediately find and throw away his tracker.  They tie him up and put a bag over his head.  He comes face to face with the leader of the gang who wants to know where a man named Dylan Carter is.  I gather he is a character from the past from a storyline of old and I apologise but this is before my time – I have a ten year gap in my Home and Away viewing but I am doing my best to keep up!  Anyway, Robbo tells him that he is dead.  Unhappy with the answer, Robbo is beaten up but he continues to insist that he is telling the truth – Dylan Carter is dead.  The leader of the gang gives him one week to find the dead man.  He is thrown back on a boat and left to drift.  When he regains consciousness, Robbo manages to untie his hands and start rowing the boat.  He finds his way to shore, where Alf finds him, which I gather is a throwback to how Robbo first arrived in Summer Bay.  Robbo persuades him not to call an ambulance, warning him not to get involved in the situation.  In his car, Robbo finds a note, reminding him to hurry up.  He rushes back hope, worried about Jasmine.  Then he collapses.  He reports back to his colleagues about the boat, the tattoo, what they did to him, the phone number he was given and Dylan Carter, the corrupt cop they want.

Raffy freaks out over coming off the CBD trial and takes everything out on Justin.  Mason calms her down and explains to her that how she is feeling is psychological.  The effects of the CBD will be her system for a week at least so missing a dose won’t matter.  She can still get through her HSC trials.  Justin and Mason debate what to do about Raffy but while Mason thinks Raffy can cope without the CBD as long as she can control her stress, Raffy has to be taken out of her exam by Roo as she sobs at her desk, unable to manage at all.  Desperately worried about his sister, Justin considers going to the lengths Mason did before – but without Mason’s support.  Mason warns Leah over what Justin is intending to do.  Leah tries to get Justin to see sense but he takes his frustration out on her instead.  She manages to calm him down and together they begin a campaign to make medicinal cannabis more accessible, starting with an online petition and lots of flyers.  Ryder is worried when Raffy doesn’t come to the next exam but nobody will tell him anything as it’s not their place and she refuses to take his calls.  He is upset to learn that Raffy’s CBD trial has been cancelled.  But when he questions her about the trial, she ends up losing her focus and struggles in her exam, despite her extra time.

Ben continues to battle with depression in the wake of his arrest, much to the concern and frustration of Maggie.  She and Ziggy try to talk to him but it just makes him lose his temper and storm out.  He returns home late, full of apologies.  The next day, he makes breakfast for his family and starts work on lots of jobs around the pier complex.  Alf sets Ben up with a job which goes well until John puts his foot in it, suggesting a poker night to help Ben feel better.  Feeling patronised, Ben goes missing.

Irene goes to a support group for survivors of sexual assault.  She and Colby persuade Bella to stop isolating herself and join her at a meeting.  Bella panics when Irene gets the news that her trial starts in four weeks and it doesn’t sound like her judge is very lenient.

Colby and Mackenzie miss each other.  Dean and Colby get into more than one argument over Mackenzie.  With help from Ziggy and Willow, Mackenzie finally knocks Dean and Colby’s heads together and puts herself back in charge.  Everyone makes friends again and she and Colby get together.

Neighbours

Hendrix continues to reject Pierce’s efforts as a father.  He gate crashes a party organised by Roxy for Sheila’s birthday and it turns into chaos.  While Sheila’s friends hoped that Clive may come and get back together with her, he turns down the invitation and later admits that he has met someone new.  Hendrix meanwhile, kisses Mackenzie and has no issue with her being trans.  While this is lovely, the chances are he is using her as they have already been building the tension between him and Harlow.  When the party descends into chaos, Mark and his colleagues turn up in uniform, only for drunk Roxy to throw herself at him in front of everyone.  He is mortified.  He soon gets over it though and decides that a life of drinking and chaos and sex with Roxy is something he wants, although she is a little hesitant.  Roxy – you are being used!  You are worth so much more!

Shane continues to work hard at tracking down Mackenzie’s father.  Getting closer, he knows the time has come to confess to Mackenzie his role in her broken childhood.  When she was little, her mother let her dress as a girl without her father’s knowledge, knowing that he wouldn’t take it well.  One day, Shane came round and Mackenzie, dressed in female clothes answered the door.  Her mother asked Shane not to say anything but he went straight to Mackenzie’s father and told him.  He told him he would ‘burn all that girlie stuff if he was him’ and that’s exactly what Mackenzie’s father did.  Horrified that his child was transgender, he burnt all Mackenzie’s feminine clothes and then abandoned the family home.  Distraught, Mackenzie cannot forgive Shane, who she has come to trust as a father figure.

Scarlett bags herself Leo’s recently vacated room and continues to cement herself in Ned’s life, including sneaking around and taking secret photographs of him.  She continues to drive a wedge between Ned and Yashvi.

Soap Blog: 16th – 22nd September 2019

Coronation Street

While Paul’s family is oblivious, Daniel immediately picks up on the pain his ex-boyfriend is in regarding the arrival of Kel on the Street, prompting him to open up about his childhood abuse.

Sinead wants to consider going to a hospice when the time comes but Daniel wants to look after his wife at the end.  The chemotherapy quickly takes its toll on Sinead as she and Daniel try to come to terms with her diagnoses as well as look after baby Bertie.

Aggie goes against Ed’s wishes and organises a surprise party for his 55th birthday, inviting all the neighbours in a bid to get to know everyone.  At the party, desperate Daniel gets drunk and falls over.  Everyone feels sorry for him as he is taken home to Sinead.

James and Bethany bond and he admits to her that he is gay but cannot come out because of his role on the football team.  He explains that it is bad enough being a black player but being a gay player as well would make things even harder.  She offers to be his ‘beard’.  James’s older brother Michael overhears part of the conversation.

Gary is furious to discover that Derek has been getting closer to Izzy and signing documents with Nick without his permission.

Doctors

Jimmi and Ruhma attend court in order to support Phil and Theresa as the hospital appeal to the judge to take baby Josh off life support.  It’s a heartbreaking case as both the hospital and the parents plead their case – one side believing it wrong to give up on their son and the other desperately trying to explain that Josh cannot survive off the ventilator and would never have life, brain function or any kind of development.  It is a devastating scene as the judge reaches the decision that the ventilator be switched off.  Theresa and Phil decide that as the decision has been snatched away from them, they will not be there when their son dies.  They ask Ruhma to be with their baby instead and Jimmi supports her and she holds him until the end.

Having chased Ruhma away for keep interfering in their lives, Russell keeps panicking over the baby and drags Sid over to the house to check on her, even though she is absolutely fine.  Sid then has to intervene when Russell nearly gets into a fight with his noisy neighbour.

Zara finds herself making new friends at work, including Al.  She supports him as he worries about his mother’s Alzheimer’s.  When he goes to visit his Mum for the weekend, he is horrified to discover that she has a boyfriend!  Things do not go well and he and his mother fall out.

Zara and Al continue to be very amused over Emma’s increasingly passionate dreams about Rob.  However, their giggling and teasing inevitably leads to Karen finding out.  I thought she would find it funny.  However, she is horrified and gives Emma a very stern warning!  Emma is mortified, especially as it then spreads even further around the staff before she makes a fool out of herself and accidentally reveals the truth to Rob, who is typically very good about it all.

A patient gets rather attached to Daniel and Becky handles things rather more kindly than Zara would have when she behaves very inappropriately towards him.  Becky is disappointed when Daniel is hesitant over telling Joe about their relationship.  Becky and her Gran help a troubled couple at her Gran’s sheltered housing.  And Julie S from Bad Girls guest stars as the wife of a very angry diabetic.

Eastenders

Kathy is concerned when Bobby brings home Imran, his Muslim friend from prison.  Worried that Imran is either trouble or in trouble and going to lead Bobby in the wrong direction, Kathy calls the police who arrest him.  Bobby is distraught.  Overwhelmed by images of Lucy, combined with drugs thanks to some accidental advice from Rainie, he finds himself on the railway tracks.  Thankfully, Callum is there to rescue him and get him to hospital where he finally gets the support from his family that he needs.  The question is, why was Callum getting a train when nobody ever leaves Albert Square?

Linda is nervous about taking Ollie to school.  He gets on fine but doesn’t mix particularly with the other children and she struggles to bond with any of the parents.

Nobody seems to notice how depressed Bex is or that she doesn’t want to go to University.  She desperately tries to avoid the attention and praise Louise and her family ply her with over trying to save Louise’s life during the hostage situation.

Jay feels terrible when Phil forces him to refuse Mel Hunter’s funeral.  He transfers the funeral to another funeral directors and allows Mel to have time with Hunter in his coffin, which infuriates Phil when he finds out.  Nobody but Lisa and Mel attend Hunter’s funeral (Louise is forbidden to go) and Phil forces the Mitchell family to put on a united front against Mel when she attends the Vic afterwards.  However, Louise cannot help but be kind to Mel and forgiving towards Hunter for what he did.  Mel meanwhile, begins to work out the connection between Sharon and Keanu so when she and Sharon argue later, it looks likely that it’s something Sharon will come to regret…

Keegan works hard at his new sandwich business, frustrating his father but impressing Iqra who agrees to work with him.  I just can’t help but wonder why a tech savvy teenager is making sandwiches when he could be fixing phones and iPads…  Anyway, Tiffany panics when things begin to get physical between her and Keegan and she runs off.  After a chat with Jack, she and Keegan have a heart to heart.  He admits that he is a virgin and she tells him she is too, not able to bring herself to tell him about the rape.

Emmerdale

Sarah feels hopeless about her future or lack of one, wanting to enjoy her life for the moment, specifically meeting a boy who doesn’t know anything about her complicated health condition.  She is therefore mortified when Vanessa and Charity (who is covered in chicken pox) ruin her ‘date’.  When she finally understands how her granddaughter is feeling about life, Charity goes to great lengths to find the boy (Denise Welch’s son, in case you didn’t know) she has scared off and encourages him to spend the afternoon with Sarah again.

With Jessie gone, Marlon struggles to deal with his own heartbreak and April’s.  Al is quick to stick the knife in, mocking Marlon and rubbing it in his face.  Between him and Mandy, both Ellis and Billy decide they ought to move out, now their mother has left and treated Marlon so badly.  It all backfires however when the boys see Al for who he really is and Marlon and April are able to persuade them to stay.  And on top of that, Aaron and Robert persuade Marlon to teach Al a lesson by trashing his new car!

Aaron and Robert get up to even more mischief when Chas discovers that Mandy and her son have been holding onto £5,000 cash and £15,000 worth of casino chips that they stole and cannot find a way to cash.  All the while they have been back in the Dales, they have been pleading poverty and living off the kindness of the Dingles, waiting for a chance to cash their fortune with no intention of sharing.  Aaron turns to a friend at the casino but then insists on half the money.  When Mandy refuses to share, Aaron burns the bag of money but of course, he is faking.  The money is in the boot and he has just burned paper.  He intends the keep some of it to look after Liv and Victoria when Robert goes to jail and the rest should be shared amongst the Dingles.  When Mandy gets wind of it, she is not happy.

Dan gets a shock when he is informed that poor Rachel Breckle has been mercilessly killed of screen just to provide Jai with a fatherhood storyline now that Megan has left with his daughter!  Anyway, Dan dutifully goes to collect Archie, who is shaken and scared to be left with the father he doesn’t know as Jai hasn’t even seen him for that last three or four years.  Laurel also arrives back, having taken a job as a cleaner at Home Farm and she and Jai put their differences aside to help Archie.

In a really lovely scene, Kim bonds with her granddaughter after picking her up from school, playing Princesses with her and reading her stories.  They even get Graham wearing a tiara!  Unfortunately, it all goes wrong the next day when she ditches the school pick-up for a meeting, sending Graham instead (who isn’t on the list) and letting Millie and Jamie both down, setting back the relationship all over again.

Victoria is overwhelmed when she learns that she is having a baby boy, terrified that he will be like her rapist, Lee.  Aaron steps in to reassure her, reminding her that he is nothing like his Dad.

Hollyoaks

Stuart and Jonny’s plan is thwarted when they realise they are being watched by the police.  Infuriated, Jonny intends to blow up The Loft where Sami and Sinead are celebrating their engagement with most of the rest of the village.  As the scales fall from his eyes over the true intentions of the group he is involved with, Ste argues with Jonny and begs him not to do such an evil thing.  He hears the true malice of his friend’s words and realises that he is a far right racist and not the person he thought he was.

Things go awry when Jonny accidentally drops the bomb (literally) and his and the house next door explodes.  He, Ste and Yasmine get caught in the explosion and despite being injured, Jonny still cannot let go of his hatred, demanding that Ste not call an ambulance and he certainly doesn’t want Ste to help Yasmine who is in serious danger.  Hearing the explosion, Sami and Misbah rush to help and despite all that has happened and despite the abuse he throws at her, Misbah treats Jonny and saves his life.  However, Yasmine has lost her hearing in the trauma.

Stunned by all that has transpired, Ste is desperate to escape the group but despite reaching out to Jed and the police, he finds himself trapped with Jonny and Stuart who force him to stay with them.  To his family and friends, who are disgusted with him, he has to put on a brave face and keep playing his part but keep looking for a way to escape.

While James refuses to act as Damon’s lawyer unless they pay his fee, Maxine continues to play the dying wife, going as far as telling poor Damon that she only has weeks left, supposedly all with a view to getting him off his charges in court.  However, she panics when James needs to see her medical records.  Sienna, meanwhile, is frustrated when Liberty and Brody insist that they put the IVF money towards Damon’s legal fees.

Home and Away

Colby reluctantly asks Robbo and Jasmine to move out as he needs Bella to come home and be with him in the wake of everything she and Irene have been through.  They end up moving into a motel until they can be placed elsewhere but tensions are fraught between the newlyweds.  After a row, Robbo storms out, panicking Jasmine into calling Irene and Colby to help find him.  When he comes home, the couple make up.  Robbo sets out on a task to track down his pursuers.  He speaks to Lance about a tattoo he recognises.  Robbo continues to track the gang down and later receives a phone call, arranging a meeting point.  Robbo goes alone to the wharf with a tracker in his shoe.

Bella is grateful to move home with her brother but she refuses to talk about anything that happened with Tommy.  She then breaks the news to Dean about what happened to Bella in regards to Tommy.  She begs Dean to make friends with Colby again.  Horrified by everything that’s happened, Dean reaches out to his friend while Willow does her best to look after Bella.  Things don’t go well though and she freaks out in the Diner, screams at everyone and runs home.  Willow and Ziggy follow her and they eventually talk and bond.  The girls are able to reassure Bella that what happened was assault and doesn’t have to ruin her first kiss.

Dean starts work at Salt and he and Mac immediately go head to head in a battle of wills.  Dean feels that Mac is jealous of his popularity until Ziggy points out that she must be lonely in a town where she doesn’t know anyone but him and she and Colby have just broken up.  But when he tries to reach out to her, she rejects him.  However, he tries again and the pair begin to bond.

Ryder and Raffy start their exams but when Ryder reaches out to his ex, she isn’t interested.  While Raffy leaves her exam, proud that she didn’t need the extra time, Justin is upset to learn that his sister has been withdrawn from the CBD trial.  He is desperate to get in touch with Tori to sort things out.  Tori herself seems to be having quite a nice time at the safe house, bonding with one of the officers, Scott.  Lance manages to put Tori and Justin through to each other to discuss the CBD trial to help Raffy.  Justin makes some progress but the only CBD trial available is in Melbourne.  Justin breaks the news to Raffy who breaks down, devastated.

Neighbours

Ned is surprised to find Scarlett in Erinsborough, unaware that she is there for him.  She wangles a job in Lassiters in order to be close to him and quickly ingratiates herself in his life, attempting to drive a wedge between him and Yashvi as soon as she can.

Mackenzie’s gender quickly becomes an issue for parents at the school, with them not wanting to share a bathroom or changing room with their daughters.  She receives a hideous note in her locker and Susan asks her to use the disabled toilets, which upsets her and Susan both but the head teacher doesn’t know what to do for the best.  In a beautiful scene, the students stage a peaceful protest by refusing to use the gendered toilets.  Instead, they all decide to use the disabled toilets in a bid to stand up for Mackenzie.  Even Ritchie joins the protest, going against his friends, included new bully, Ollie.  It’s things like this that make me absolutely love this show.  However, later, this Ollie boy is cruel to Mackenzie in front of Shane who shoves him and is later reprimanded by both Ollie’s mother and Susan, not to mention Shane’s family.

Harlow is horrified when Paul and Terese meet up with her mother while they are on their honeymoon in London.  They meet her anyway and find that she is living in a commune and quite peculiar although pleasant.  However, she ends the meeting rather abruptly when the leader of the commune shows up.  Back in Erinsborough, Harlow panics over how the meeting is going.  Then her mother sends her a message to say that she won’t hear from her again.

Chloe is shocked when Hendrix attempts to flirt with her and it’s clear that Pierce has no control over his son.  Hendrix is horrified when, having been refused entry from any of the private schools in the area, Chloe suggests that he enrol in Erinsborough High.

Gail admits to Harlow that she was in on the plot against Paul.  Finn warns David to back off over Elly and the baby.  Roxy loses the key when she puts Mark in handcuffs and he is mortified when she has to get help to get him out of them!