February 27, 2020 – The Soap Dish

(Monday 17^th – Friday 21^st February 2020)

Ray is determined to make Abi pay for torching his car. Scared, Abi asks Sally for an alibi, which of course she refuses to provide. Paula acts as Abi’s lawyer but she is clearly frustrated with her during the interview. Kevin then steps up as Abi’s alibi but when his car is spotted on CCTV, he is found out to be a liar, getting him into legal trouble himself. Sally is furious. Kevin tells Abi how much he likes her.

James and Danny end up in bed and are almost caught out by Ed but manage to distract him. Over breakfast the next morning, James blurts out to Ed that he is gay. Ed is shocked but tells his son that he loves him no matter what. James later tells his family about Danny. To his face, Ed does his best to be supportive but he later confronts Danny, telling him exactly what he thinks and accusing him of corrupting his son. James overhears everything and is devastated to learn what his Dad really thinks. Ed tries to explain, pulling out that awful line that LGBTQ folk get bashed over the head with at least once in their lives: ‘hate the sin, love the sinner’. Aggie is angry with her husband for letting James down.

Ali feigns congratulations when Maria and Gary announce their engagement. Ryan stops Ali from telling Gary about his one night stand with Maria.

Fiz is left completely shut out of the craft session with Jade and Hope when Hope draws a picture just of her and Jade. Jade persuades the little girl to add in the whole family but Fiz is certain that Jade enjoys her being excluded. She makes excuses as to why Jade can’t see Hope again at the weekend.

The Frescos launch does not go well. First, they refuse to delay so that Chesney and Gemma can take Aled to a hospital appointment about his hearing. The appointment is a bust anyway as the baby needs to be asleep. They make the launch but Gemma and Chesney are made to stand at the back while the babies are displayed at the front. They watch themselves on the TV screen, telling the audience how amazing Frescos is and aren’t allowed to tend to their babies, including Aled who is struggling. Frustrated, Chesney rushes forward and tends to his child, telling the gathered audience the truth about Frescos and the campaign. They lose all their money.

Harassed and busy the next morning, trying to juggle work, the babies and attending a last minute hearing appointment for Aled, Chesney fails to take Joseph right to the door of his football club. He is horrified later to realise that football club isn’t actually on and races back to collect him. He finds his son, sitting sadly on a bench, having had his trainers stolen by some older kids. Joseph accuses his Dad of only caring about the babies. Chesney is full of regret, although he still lets him get on with his day and rushes to Aled’s appointment, where he and Gemma learn that their little boy is indeed profoundly deaf. Gemma tries and fails to win the Frescos campaign back. She is left feeling like a bad Mum for not realising her son was deaf.

Coronation Street airs on ITV on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7:30/8:30pm

(Monday 17^th – Friday 21^st February 2020)

Mandy continues to campaign for Marlon in some somewhat questionable ways, including a rather gross egg eating competition. Some of the Dingles mark what would have been Lisa’s birthday. RIP.

Charity is bereft without Vanessa, believing that she has gone off on their honeymoon without her. Unfortunately, Vanessa is not off sunning herself somewhere, she is locked up in Laurel’s house at the mercy of Pierce who is keeping her from her son who is being kept upstairs under sedation. And that’s not even the worst of the poor woman’s week. Pierce listens to a voicemail from the hospital, prompting him to delve into her bag to find a letter from them, confirming that she has just been diagnosed with bowel cancer! What??? No!!! This is just unacceptable, Emmerdale. My only hope is that as Michelle Hardwick is married to one of the producers, her job is secure. My only issue really is that she seems to be tied to a drawer. Drawers are flimsy at best. Sure she could pull it out? I don’t know. Maybe it’s one of those false drawers? But to her credit, she never gives in to him or stops standing up for herself.

Pierce opens up to Vanessa about his Dad dying of cancer but it ends up in a row. He’s vile, pretty much telling her that she’s going to die and leave her son behind. It’s pretty horrific, uncomfortable viewing. He agrees to let her see Johnny if she helps persuade Rhona to see him. He steps away from Kim and Jamie, claiming to have got a job down South.

Torn up with guilt, Ryan brings the stolen money to Rhona and tells her the truth about what he and Charity got up to on the night that Graham died. Rhona confronts Charity, who feels less guilty but Rhona is persuaded that if they were stealing from Graham, they couldn’t have killed him. Charity admits that Vanessa found out and that’s why she has left her. Rhona tells the police that she found the stolen money in the house and believes it’s motive for Kim to have hired Al to kill Graham. The police head straight round to Kim who struggles to talk her way out of it. Charity texts Vanessa to say she has done the right thing and that ‘Rhona knows’ but Vanessa refuses to enlighten Pierce as to what it means.

At home, Rhona finally finds the card that dropped out of Pierce’s flowers! Panicked, she contacts the police and discovers that her ex-husband was released from prison weeks ago but she never got the message (thanks to Graham). It doesn’t take long for her to twig that he is responsible for Graham’s death and she reports her theory immediately. Pierce overhears the police sending out a search for him.

Dawn has what she believes to be a successful weekend visit with Lucas, despite a momentary panic when a den that Billy has built for him collapses on top of him. She shouts at Billy, scaring Lucas but everything is resolved and they all have fun together as a family, including Harriet and Will. They have a Nerf type gun fight (I’m not sure what brand it was supposed to be!) When Dawn pops out for hot chocolates, Harriet, Will and Billy are shocked to find themselves facing Lucas holding a real gun! Billy talks him down and they hide the gun in time for Dawn to take her son out for a playdate with Priya and Amber. Will has a lot of explaining to do… Apparently, since embarking on a relationship with Harriet, he has been scared of his old ‘colleagues’ coming after him. Harriet is understandably livid. The trio keep the incident from Dawn. Against Will’s wishes, Harriet asks Cain to get rid of the gun.

Moira and Cain have signed their divorce papers but it’s clearly not the end of their relationship, despite their claims. Tracey and Nate briefly fall out when well intentioned, she sends him off to try and help Moira with the rustlers, only to be rejected. Nate advocates for Moira, prompting Cain to threaten him, just as Cara returns to the Village. However, taking Nate’s words on board, Cain helps to look out for Moira on the farm, still denying that he has any residual feelings for her. Taking Will’s gun, Cain guards the farm but things go wrong when he spots an intruder and fires. He has shot Nate! Oh well. Never mind.

Nate is rushed into surgery with Cain, Moira and Cara all waiting anxiously at the hospital where sadly, he will be just fine. When the police conclude that rustlers wouldn’t have used a handgun, Cara is certain that Cain is responsible for the shooting, although of course, he denies it. Nate claims not to know what happened and lies for Cain even after he confesses to truth to him. Moira looks on as father and son finally begin to bond.

In the continuing boring story of Liam and Leyla, the new couple continue to try and keep their boring relationship from Leanna. Marlon refuses to be Eve’s Godfather. Also, Brenda does some weird, awkward flirting with Nate. It’s uncomfortable for everyone, including the viewers.

Emmerdale is on at 7pm Monday to Friday with a second episode at 8pm on Thursdays