April 16, 2020 – The Soap Dish

(Monday 6^th – Friday 10^th April 2020)

I was desperately looking forward to last week’s Doctors and it didn’t disappoint as it aired the fallout from the brutal homophobic attack on Emma and Jasmine. One sad thing to note is that rather than bonding them, it has confirmed the end of their relationship, which is a real shame as they made a really good pairing. But it was all still so new to be facing something so difficult.

Jasmine started the week in a foul mood, having had no choice but to make a witness statement and report to Occupational Health once Emma had reported the attack. She did eventually attempt to make amends with Emma only to find it’s too late. Emma has had a lot of time to think, as well as talk to Victim Support (actually a non-speaking extra who doesn’t even have a face so could probably be a member of the crew!) and has decided that they want different things and their relationship is over. But regardless, if their relationship brought us anything, it brought this incredible, powerful, amazingly, written, directed and acted story and I am so impressed, Doctors. This is one to remember for Soap Award Season. Brilliantly done.

One relationship that is going strong, however, is Emma and Zara. Oh, I love Emma and Zara. Who would have thought that in that muddy field, in the middle of nowhere, that friendship would have been forged for life? Well, whoever saw the potential connection between them is a genius. Bravo.

When Emma failed to show up to work, Zara headed right round there, having not heard from her friend all weekend and she was stunned to see the state of her and hear the story of what she has been through. This lead to a fabulous episode on Friday (10^th) where Zara pitched up on Emma’s doorstep with food, drink and Bridget Jones. She even changed into some pyjamas in a bid to cheer up her friend, who did not want to be cheered up.

Meanwhile, Daniel had his own problems when Izzie and Valerie coerced him into their eco-warrior plan to cut down the netting on some trees in a car park, which has been put up to shut out the birds (thereby putting their lives at risk) to stop them crapping on the cars. Of course, it all ended in disaster and Daniel got arrested for criminal damage. Well, I fully support them! Don’t park your car there if you’re scared of a bit of poo! Honestly! These people need to go to the seaside and then try to protect their cars…

Ruhma continued to try and support Carrie, who is pregnant and immobile with a husband who doesn’t love her or want to spend any time with her. Little does poor Carrie know, he is also giving Ruhma the eye. I mean, who the hell is this guy? Why does he think he can try and move in on our Ruhma? Does he actually think he is a patch on Heston? I’m not saying that Ruhma can’t move on but when she does, I’d like to think she’d choose someone with a bit more kindness and personality, not someone who’d go and play golf and flirt with another woman while his pregnant wife was suffering and lonely.

The sad thing is that Carrie feels she has found a friend in Ruhma and this would otherwise have been a really nice story. Ruhma reluctantly went for dinner with her and Doug in Carrie’s bedroom but when Carrie fell asleep, Doug and Ruhma headed downstairs where Ruhma attempted to make her exit. Then Doug kissed her. And Carrie witnessed it from the upstairs landing. No!

Bear overheard Ayesha dismissing the idea of there being any feelings between them. So this story is going to be dragged out for a while then…

Next week, despite Doctors ceasing filming due to the Coronavirus, the show does appear to still be airing every weekday on BBC1 at 1:45pm

(Monday 6^th – Wednesday 15^th April 2020)

Many apologies for the delay in updating this blog. Easter and everything. Well, the whole world is in chaos right now, isn’t it? Anyway…

Last week was a huge week for Yasmeen as she took a huge step in the right direction toward exiting her abusive relationship. While this storyline is genuinely excruciating to watch, it has me utterly gripped. I love the little details and how honest it is. Yasmeen finally musters all her strength to say no to Geoff and while not ending the relationship, decides to go to Spain for a break and to be with her family. Within hours, she is back with him, having endured countless texts ranging from begging, pleading, abuse and finally threats of suicide.

While Alya cannot understand while her Gran just can’t switch off and let him go, Yasmeen is still tied to the man who has been brainwashing her for so many months, subtly controlling everything she thinks and everything she does. So, she stays. And just as Alya warns her, Geoff waltzes back in as if nothing ever happened.

Thankfully, this prompts Yasmeen into finally contacting ‘Clare’, the police contact that her granddaughter put into her phone weeks before and she is able to learn more of her partner’s past. While the previously mentioned affray led nowhere, his partner at the time had previously made a complaint of harassment against him. Yasmeen turns down the offer of being taken to safety but she does go home and secretly pack a bag. I just hope that Geoff doesn’t find it, either physically or on that awful security camera of his. He has definitely found the domestic abuse leaflet.

This storyline is uncomfortable in every way that it is supposed to be uncomfortable. The actors and the writing are all superb. Every episode, I am rooting for Yasmeen to free herself. And I truly hope that that’s how it will be in the end, that she will free herself. I know that she has Alya and that there are others on the Street such as Ryan, Cathy and Eileen who are kind of looking out for her to differing degrees but I truly want it to come from Yasmeen in the end. I want her to be her own hero.

Another story that Corrie have done very well, I think, is Gemma’s postnatal depression, which came to a head this week when she left the quads on the bus on purpose, unable to cope any longer. Having shut Bernie out and felt too ashamed to talk to Chesney, we were witness to a tender moment between Gemma to Rita, as the younger woman finally admitted how she was truly feeling. It was a nice reminder of the depth of love between these two women. Rita was so gentle with her as she just sat and listened, took her for some food and then returned her to Chesney so he could take her to the Doctor and get some actual help. Gemma is such a great character to do this story with. She is so loud and bouncy and well, irritating. To see her so vulnerable is really sad. You can’t help but root for her.

My only criticism is that after the emotion of Gemma laying her soul bare to Doctor Gaddas and Chesney, it seemed a real shame to rush the treatment. Surely anyone at home going through a similar situation would care about the conclusion. Instead, Steve bursts in and interrupts them and we find out later that she got ‘a prescription’ and a referral for therapy. It just felt like suddenly they decided they’d spent too much time on this story and they needed to move on. Next!

So, why did Steve interrupt Gemma’s appointment? Well, it all began with Emma having a really bad week… First, she broke up with Seb because she quite rightly twigged that he was still in love with Alina, although he continued to deny it. Then she was left to dog sit, only for Eccles to be rushed to the vet with a tumour on her spleen and have to be put down. Tracy was a complete bitch and blamed Emma for the dog’s death (because the dog sitter is of course responsible for an undiagnosed tumour on a one hundred year old dog) and Ken couldn’t have been more passive aggressive if he’d tried. So Emma moved back into the flat with Seb and tried and failed to get him to move out. Steve left Oliver with Summer to break up the argument and when he arrived home, Oliver had just started having some kind of fit so he rushed him down to the medical centre for help, bursting in on Gemma’s appointment. The kid is fine. He overheated or something. But now things are very tense between Steve and Leanne. Oops.

Leanne blames Steve for Oliver’s condition…

And now it’s time for the teenagers to come into play. I actually can’t believe these kids are old enough for this kind of storyline. How old does this make me?!

Amy decides to throw a party, which immediately gets out of hand, largely due to this annoying friend of her and Asha, some girl called Kelly (that thug Rick’s daughter, I think). The crux of it is that Asha has done something extremely stupid and extremely dangerous, which she confesses to Amy before the party – the night before, during a video chat with Corey, she took her top off. Why do these kids do these silly things? Well, I just hope this storyline serves its purpose and raises awareness because you don’t have to have a crystal ball to work out where this one is going to go… While Aadi (played by newcomer Adam Hussein) gets off his face on vodka, stolen from the shop, Kelly gets pissed off for being blamed for breaking a lamp. So, she takes Corey’s phone and passes round the topless picture of Asha. Because of course Corey kept evidence of the chat. Of course he did! Poor Asha. This boy is the one who has done the wrong thing – and Kelly too for passing the picture round. But it’s going to be Asha that suffers. The only thing she did wrong was trust the wrong person.