Neighbours: An Illicit Kiss

(Monday 12^th – Monday 19th October 2020)

Chloe and Pierce struggled to communicate, both handling their grief over the miscarriage in different ways. Wanting to give her daughter time and space to focus on her own life, Fay headed back to Adelaide but not before she stopped to kindly ask Nicolette to keep her distance from Chloe in order to let her focus on her marriage. Unfortunately, the conversation was overheard by Pierce, revealing the Chloe knew about Nicolette’s feelings all along.

More revelations were to come when Pierce challenged his wife and she admitted that she had been having doubts about their marriage and about the baby – and that she had confided in Nicolette about it all. With the couple wanting to resolve their marriage woes, Pierce suggested doing something fun: Dipi’s cooking class. The look on Chloe’s face suggests that she did not think that was fun.

And she was right. The class was a disaster for everyone, including poor Hendrix who had turned up to partner Susan, with whom he has developed a lovely relationship. Things became very intense between his Dad and Chloe as she wanted to forget their troubles and he wanted an intense conversation. Shane turned up to help Dipi, despite Pierce warning him off and as ever, his help was more of a hindrance. Shane and Pierce got into a nasty row and everyone got upset.

After the class, both couples argued. Chloe refused to talk to Pierce who stormed out. Across the road, Shane blamed Dipi for his addiction, prompting her to also storm out, throwing her and Pierce together in their distress. While Pierce gave Dipi a complimentary room at the hotel for the night, Toadie spent the night at home, talking Shane down from using drugs. This set Dipi off again, straight into Pierce’s arms and the pair shared a long expected kiss, which they both regretted immediately and decided to keep a secret. While Yashvi blamed Shane for everything going wrong, a chat with alcoholic Terese helped her become more supportive of her Dad. You’ve gotta love, Terese. And I did feel sorry for Shane, especially when he apologised to not only Dipi but Pierce as well.

Dipi and Pierce share a secret kiss…
(photo credit: Digital Spy)

When Chloe sought out her brother, she ended up chatting to Nicolette again (who lives with him and David) but got caught out by angry Pierce, setting everything off all over again. But it was Hendrix’s words that forced Chloe to sort things out with Pierce in the end. When did he get so wise? Probably when he got together with Harlow. Chloe went ahead with the marriage counselling and also ended her friendship with Nicolette before heading off to Adelaide to make sure Fay had settled in okay. Alone and needing space. Possibly not a good idea to leave her husband unattended right now but then, quite frankly, she’s better off without him.

On Nicolette’s advice, Levi got another medical assessment, independent of Clive so nothing looked suspicious and he didn’t end up pushing himself beyond what he was medically capable of. While Levi was understandably upset with his Gran, Sheila ended her relationship with Clive, having broke the single condition he set when they got back together – no deceit.

Now, Nicolette really was a busy girl this week, dishing out help not only to Levi and Chloe but also to David and Aaron by putting them in touch with a friend who once acted as a surrogate. I am so desperately disappointed with this storyline. I thought it was amazing that they were fostering and providing a home for vulnerable kids. I think it’s absolutely crap that they ran that story once and now it’s all about having a biological baby. Don’t get me wrong, I love Aaron and David; they’re my very favourite Neighbours couple and one of my favourite couples in soap history. That’s probably why I’m so annoyed about it. They could have been the Pippa and Tom of Ramsay Street!

Anyway, the upside is that the story did give way to one of my favourite scenes in a long time. They mentioned to Paul about paying a surrogate from abroad, which would be legal but would not be legal if they had a local surrogate. They also claimed it would be ethical to pay for it that way, although I’m not entirely sure what difference the location makes in terms of morals but whatever. Anyway, mentioning money to Paul is like a red rag to a bull and he immediately visited Nicolette and offered to pay her friend (and her) if her friend would have the baby for the boys. Getting drunk with the boys that night, Nicolette revealed her conversation with Paul, which led to a drunken phone call with ‘Paulie’ to tell him off for meddling, which was overheard by a very angry Terese. Very funny.

Drunk Aaron told Nicolette that Chloe missed her friendship. He and David told her that they didn’t want her to move out. Hooray! Also, Aaron’s stubble is officially turning into an actual beard.

Ned fought his demons enough to complete the portrait of Scarlett, only for her to declare it a rush job and destroy it, terrifying him. He decided that it wasn’t worth the trauma of being around her and told Yashvi the truth. Understandably, she felt utterly betrayed. Meanwhile, Roxy met Scarlett’s oblivious fiancé, who was under the impression that Ned had been Scarlett’s stalker, not the other way around. And in the meantime, Scarlett made a complaint to the police of the same vein. But surely her history of stabbing him would prove that that wasn’t true?! And Bea and Roxy took on the role of Ned’s bouncers by handed back to ruined painting to Scarlett and warning her off. This story is a bit weird, to be honest. Scarlett Part One was quite good but I’m not sold on Part Two. Sorry.

Scarlett destroys Ned’s painting…
*(photo credit: Digital Spy)*

After some pressure from Mackenzie, Toadie decided to do the right thing and warned Rose not to sign her divorce settlement, telling her where to look for evidence over where her ex-husband, James has hidden his assets. After some interference from Susan (it’s usually Karl’s job), Toadie and Rose ended up on an accidental date and admitted that they liked each other. Yay! I do hope this works out. I know she’ll never be Sonya (RIP) but Toadie deserves some happiness.

Then there’s this slightly strange storyline where Karl and Jane have raided one of those Costco places and have so many bulk buy items they can’t store it all. They ended up having to pay Nicolette, Aaron and David a fee for storing it under their house. Yes, that’s an actual plot. I guess the writers took panic bulk buying to heart in lockdown…

Neighbours airs Monday – Friday, Channel 5 @ 1:45pm and 5:30pm

Hollyoaks: Seven Deadly Sins

(Monday 12^th – Thursday 15^th October 2020)

So, Warren, Brody and Felix were in quite the pickle, trying to work out what to do over Cormac, who was now half dead on the garage floor. Warren wanted to finish the job but the other two stopped him. While Felix disagreed with Brody about handing themselves into the police, he did agree with dumping Cormac at the hospital, where he was in a coma and not likely to recover.

While Brody fell to pieces, Warren made it clear that he would have no qualms in putting him out of his misery if he were to hand them over to the police. Brody finally cracked and told Sienna everything and while she was prepared to hand his previous murder confession to the police, she and Brody eventually decided that the smartest thing to do would be to take all three kids and run away. Yes. Running away from Warren has always worked out so well in the past!

Brody was always going to regret getting involved with Warren…
(photo credit: Digital Spy)

They also don’t just have themselves to consider of course. They seem to have forgotten that Sienna’s sister is deeply involved in their baby Faith’s life, as she was their surrogate. What they don’t know is that she much more involved than they realise. Suffering from post-partum psychosis, Liberty was seeing visions of Nurse Nico, encouraging her to bond with and even breast feed Faith in secret. On the sly, poor Liberty was getting more and more attached to Faith and snappier and snappier with her sister.

That doll is VERY creepy!
*(photo credit: Digital Spy)*

Meanwhile, the McQueen family were having big problems when they started receiving threatening messaging, each with the theme of the seven deadly sins. Seven Deadly Sins. Seven Deadly Sinners. Seven McQueen’s. So, John Paul, Mercedes, Sylver, Goldie, Nana, Cher and newly returned Theresa (hooray!) gathered to work out what to do: pay up or face up to the sins of their past. Led by Mercedes, they decided to track down their blackmailer and call their bluff, only for the cash per sin to increase and a warning to be issued: the first sin is wrath and one of them will go to jail.

Theresa McQueen returns to trouble…
*(photo credit: Digital Spy)*

Prior to this, John Paul’s only concern was his discovery that boyfriend George had mishandled Jordan’s arrest, earning him a suspension and Jordan getting released. James had been delighted to announce the news and it had led John Paul to question George’s honesty. This was only furthered when shaken James reported that George had burst into his house and threatened him. This was completely true but manipulative George, who has everyone on side, persuaded John Paul that James was lying. I so wanted George to be a good person but he is clearly evil. I am so disappointed!

Speaking of evil, Edward attempted to cement his control over Diane by creating symptoms of a condition that mean her hair began to fall out. He told her that the condition is due to stress and advised that she start divorce proceedings with Tony, who was devastated at the finality of the end of his relationship with the woman he loves. When Sami realised that Verity had put off anyone taking Tony on, he felt too sorry for him and took him on himself.

Yazz was devastated when Tom broke up with her, believing that his world would eventually be too small for her big ambitions. Wanting to prove her love for him and the love of everyone around him, Yazz began a video project of messages for Tom to let him know how loved he was, starting with Tony. Well, it’s only fitting on their 25^th birthday that the show honours Tom Cunningham, the boy that stayed.

Eager to fulfil her new role as drugs pusher, Juliet has pressured Charlie into dealing for her but when she and Victor saw him just about managing to dodge George, Victor instructed her to drag little Ella into the gang as well.

Hollyoaks airs Monday – Thursday, 6:30pm on Channel 4 (sneak peek on E4, 7pm)

These reviews are based on the E4 episodes

Hollyoaks airs ‘Hollyoaks Favourites’ on Fridays, Wednesdays-Fridays, 7pm on E4

Home and Away: Truth Be Told

(Thursday 8^th – Friday 16^th October 2020)

The Ross Nixon murder investigation became even more intense this week as Angelo finally made a breakthrough. After closely observing Bella and abusing Irene’s trust, he discovered Colby lied about why her interview was delayed; she and Nikau ran off and that Mac, Tane and Ari brought them back.

When he interviewed her again, Bella explained that she ran off due to shock and not wanting to face up to what had happened to her Dad. Knowing a thing or two about covering up a murder (he’s done it before, of course), Angelo didn’t buy it. Bella was firm, telling Angelo who her Dad really was – an abuser and a murderer who had shot her friend and wouldn’t have thought twice about hurt her to hurt Colby. She claimed to have no idea what Ross was thinking that night or what had happened to him.

Willow is worried about Colby’s behaviour…
(photo credit: Digital Spy)

Angelo and Colby argued about him going after Bella but Angelo was now certain that one of them was protecting the other. Seeing that her friends were going into free fall, Willow stepped in, making an anonymous call to the police with a fictional sighting of Ross from after the night of the murder and sending Angelo temporarily out of town to investigate. She was furious then, when, having got Angelo off their case, at least for the time being, Colby continued pursing his wife, Taylor, spending the night with her in a motel.

Colby is using Taylor…
*(photo credit: Digital Spy)*

When Dean discovered what had happened, he could easily foresee Colby bringing his world crashing down around him. He had to bail on seeing Jai, prompting Amber to stop him seeing him completely and he also refused to let Ziggy move back in. Deciding his girlfriend needed an explanation for his behaviour, Dean bravely told Ziggy the truth: Colby shot Ross and he helped him cover it up. Both of them were devastated, knowing their relationship would be fundamentally changed forever, if not ruined. Ziggy sent him away as she tried to process what he was telling her.

Dean confesses to Ziggy…
*(photo credit: Digital Spy)*

Tane ran into trouble when some old ‘colleagues’ turned up wanting him to do a ‘job’ for them. When he refused, they tracked him down at Salt and stabbed him. Mac dragged him down to the hospital where they promptly got trapped in the lift. Will these two ever stop getting thrown together? It’s as if they’re stuck in some kind of forbidden love triangle… When they were rescued, Ari was waiting for them. Tane was treated and Mac lied for Tane over how he ended up with a knife wound. The tension continues…

Meet Doctor Christian Greene…
*(photo credit: Digital Spy)*

Justin enjoyed spending quality time with Leah and Ava. His daughter eventually got the truth out of him about his illness and got him to agree to the operation. Cue the entrance of handsome Doctor Christian Greene, who will not only perform the surgery but is set to be Tori’s new love interest, starting with being arrogant and annoying. I mean, he’s no Alex Neilson (#Willex forever!) but he seems alright, I guess.

Justin and Leah prepare for surgery…
*(photo credit: Digital Spy)*

Roo and Owen tentatively began dating, which is sweet. Roo hasn’t had a relationship in a while. I just hope she isn’t replacing Evan with Owen because that won’t end well, although that is literally what Home and Away have done, I guess!

Home and Away currently airs on weekdays @ 1:15pm & 6pm on Channel 5

Sneak peek on 5Star, weekdays @ 6:30pm

These reviews are based on the lunch time episodes

Eastenders: You Win Some, You Lose Some

(Tuesday 6^th – Friday 9^th October 2020)

At first, Mick didn’t believe a word of what Frankie had to say but then clearly recognised her mother’s name. While Frankie had initially been told her father walked out on her mother when he learned she was pregnant, she recently found letters from Mick which proved otherwise and wanted to find him. Now, I have to say, I am shocked that Mick has completely rejected the poor girl. He has always been such a moral, family man. But he told her that Linda didn’t know about her mother and was an alcoholic who would never cope with the news that he had another child. Well, to be honest, we’re all a bit stunned that Eastenders have re-written Mick’s entire history.

So, while Mick was all over the place, struggling to come to terms with the latest revelations and snapping at Linda, little did he know that Max has now thrown his hat into the ring. Well, I mean, who needs to worry? It’s not like Max is an infamous lothario or anything… Although Linda didn’t confess about drinking, she did confess to Max kissing her. While Mick weirdly didn’t react to Linda, he was quick to warn Max away from his wife.

Mick warns Max away from his wife…
*(photo credit: Digital Spy)*

Callum’s superior tried and failed to get him to wear a wire at home to capture any dodgy conversations but all Phil is really concerned with right now is getting custody of Raymond anyway. Like Denise, he has started visiting the hospital and befriending his grandmother, Ellie.

Callum decided that enough was enough and he was out. Now, the thing I am most stunned about is the revelation that Callum thought this was a legal operation. I have been reporting this all wrong. I assumed he knew that being a completely bent cop was illegal. But apparently, he is actually that stupid. Perhaps his career on the police force actually should be this short. Lockdown must have seriously got to the writers. I mean, what are they doing to this boy?!

From dumb to evil, Suki handed over Jag’s bloodied jeans to the police and fitted him up for the attack on Martin ‘for the sake of the family’. Basically, he was stepping out of line by suggesting she gain some ethics and also daring to date Habiba. So he was whipped off by the police, presumably never to be heard from again as the actor has left the show. It’s a shame. It took me a while to warm to him but I quite liked him by the end. Ash did attempt to persuade her brother to change his plea but in the end, neither of them were brave enough to stand up to their mother.

One person brave enough or dumb enough to throw their weight around with Suki was Stacey. She mouthed off to her in the Square and by the end of the day, Suki had put their rent up, claiming they now owed hundreds as the rent Daniel had put down in advance had now run out. It was then down to Kush, who appears to be fast developing a gambling habit, to save the day with a win to keep their nasty landlady at bay.

Gray loses it in court…
*(photo credit: Digital Spy)*

Worried about both Gray and the kids, Whitney demanded that Gray stepped down from her case and be there for his family instead. However, he opted to abandon the funeral (which happened off screen) and pitched up at the court where he basically heckled proceedings until he was thrown out. Just as he was being removed, he practically told everyone that Leo got what he deserved that Whitney would do it again if she got the chance. Ever so helpful there, Gray.

Whitney holds her own in court…
(photo credit: Digital Spy)

Thankfully, the next day, Whitney held her own with dignity and poise but unfortunately, her next witness, Mick, completely let her down. He had a panic attack on the stand, making her look guiltier than ever. By the end of Friday’s episode, the poor girl had decided that her only option was to plead guilty.

Mick buckles under the pressure…
*(photo credit: Digital Spy)*

At home, Mick was overwhelmed with guilt over betraying Linda. While she reassured him that she has forgiven him for Whitney, she has no idea the depth of what is to come…

Eastenders airs on BBC1 on Mondays @ 8:05pm, Tuesdays & Thursdays @ 7:35pm & Fridays @ 8:30pm

Neighbours: Goodbye to You

(Monday 28^th September – Friday 9^th October 2020)

Sheila, Kyle and Bea arrived home to find Levi having a seizure. While the other two panicked, Bea took charge, aware of his epilepsy diagnosis and knew exactly what to do. When he came to, he remembered that Yashvi had called him from the school needing backup and raised the alarm regarding the siege, although as ever in soap, it takes a hell of a long time for the police to actually do anything.

Levi was left with no choice but to tell the truth about his epilepsy and Clive realised that Dax had messed with his medication. Finally! Subsequently, Levi was suspended from the force pending a medical enquiry, which of course Sheila couldn’t help meddling with, meaning that he has been allowed back without any of the restrictions Clive put in place. When Levi found out what she had done, he was understandably furious.

Sheila had to tell the truth…
(photo credit: Digital Spy)

At the school, Dax held Susan, Yashvi, Richie and Mackenzie hostage with a taser but was clearly losing his grip on the whole situation. Paul, Harlow and Hendrix unwittingly walked into the situation, prompting, Harlow and Paul to get chased into a toilet. Nice. Dax attempted to make his escape. The lights went off and there was generally a lot of running about while the police hung around not doing much and the kids’ and Susan’s loved ones waited worriedly outside. Somewhere along the way, Mackenzie got hit with the taser, sending her into cardiac arrest. Susan desperately tried to save her life and thankfully, Karl was right outside to help. But hero Yashvi took down Dax and he was taken into custody. She is basically the Karl Kennedy of the police force. And she’s only worked about four shifts.

Dax attacked the school…
*(photo credit: Digital Spy)*

In some good news though, Mackenzie and Richie got back together and Paul invited Harlow to give a speech in New York to make up for the fact that she lost the election to Mackenzie. Also noteworthy, Dipi and Pierce held hands while they waited for news. It is beginning…

Shane left rehab, wanting to be there for his family but judging by how close Dipi and Pierce have become recently, it may be too late. Especially as all he seems to have done since he came home is get in the way. Nobody has been happy to see him, apart from perhaps Mackenzie who is always happy to see everyone.

While Yashvi is apparently the best cop in the world, she is apparently oblivious to anything going on in the lives of people she loves. Firstly, Bea had a crush on Levi and they lied to her about dating. Now, they’ve told the truth, Bea doesn’t fancy Levi anymore but he’s harbouring feelings for Bea. Typical. And Yashvi has missed it all.

But more importantly, Ned has got himself into serious trouble trying to raise funds for his exhibition by sending a ‘fan’ nude videos and pictures. The ‘guy’ has easily located him and has asked for more and more to the point that Ned has cancelled his account. He has kept it all secret from Yashvi and decided to focus on his real art instead. He used some of the money to take Yashvi away on a romantic getaway, alongside Roxy and Kyle. He was then horrified for his Fandangle commissioner to appear and turn out to be none other than Scarlett, the woman who became so obsessed with him last year that she ended up stabbing him. What are the chances?! She threated to expose the videos and pictures unless he painted her portrait as a gift for her fiancé. He agreed on the promise that she deleted everything. I mean, this hasn’t got disaster written all over it at all…

Scarlett returned to torment Ned…
*(photo credit: Digital Spy)*

While Pierce was extremely excited about plans for the baby and even started talking about siblings, Chloe was starting to have doubts about the whole thing, including her marriage to Pierce. Despite the awkward situation, she ended up turning to Nicolette about it all, who advised her not to act hastily and take some time to clear her head. But when she had to leave for her first shift at the hospital, Chloe continued her walk alone where she began to have a miscarriage.

Nicolette was an amazing support to both Chloe and Pierce and proved herself to be a beautiful, true friend. When Fay returned from her trip with David and Aaron (who has designer stubble now), full of excitement about the baby and the baby shower, Chloe ignored Pierce and Nicolette’s pleas and decided to go through with the shower so as not to break her mother’s heart. Sadly, she broke down in the middle of it and admitted to having had a miscarriage. In light of recent events, Aaron and David opted to keep their surrogacy plan quiet. So, we’re bored of the fostering storyline after one kid, are we?

Pierce hit the roof when he discovered that Nicolette had been with Chloe moments before the miscarriage and when Hendrix revealed that Nicolette also has feelings for Chloe, he fired her and threw her out, despite how much it upset Fay. Insecure, much? Nicolette accepted it without putting Chloe in any worse a position by revealing that she had already resigned or that Chloe already knew everything.

Trying to be a good person and do the right thing, Hendrix told the truth about Rose using Toadie to get information on her husband James, not wanting Toadie to end up in legal trouble. Toadie was furious, not to mention hurt, having thought he and Rose had built up a good friendship since she started working for him. She begged him not to tell her ex-husband, which so far he hasn’t and when he realised that since he fired her she has no money at all, he bagged her a job as a beauty therapist, the thing she initially trained in, at the hotel.

Unfortunately, her first day didn’t quite go to plan as she had to practice on a couple of volunteers – Toadie and Mackenzie – and managed to burn Toadie’s face and tint Mackenzie’s eyebrows orange! They were very forgiving though and so was Terese who hired her anyway under supervision. When she got pretty much nothing in her divorce settlement, Toadie advised her not to sign it and opted not to tell her husband about her snooping. Karl and Susan have also picked up on a vibe between them… Post-Sonya, I found Dee very annoying and just couldn’t support him and Toadie. Perhaps it was because she and Toadie were together before Sonya and it was being treated as if she was the true love of his life, like Sonya suddenly didn’t matter. Plus Dee is actually quite annoying. But I like Rose. She’s quirky and funny and despite some initial dishonesty, I think I could get behind this potential relationship.

Rose begs Toadie and Mackenzie for help…
*(photo credit: Digital Spy)*

Neighbours airs Monday – Friday, Channel 5 @ 1:45pm and 5:30pm

Coronation Street: A Better Generation of Metcalfe

(Friday 18^th September – Wednesday 7^th October 2020)

Abi got herself into a bit of a pickle between hiding her addiction issues from Kevin, relying a bit too heavily on Peter, getting some feelings confused, Kevin’s sister, Debbie finding out (where did she pop up from again?!), Kevin finding out that being an addict is actual quite a big deal and you don’t get your kids taken off you for no reason and then it all getting sorted out rather easily.

Actually the romantic casualty of it turned out to be Peter and Carla who have been papering over the cracks in their relationship for a long time. He has been harbouring a lot of resentment over her ‘infidelity’ for a while. Well, let’s call it what it was. Rape. And quite frankly, I thought better of Peter than that. I really do hope that they can learn to communicate better and get things back on track. How many times can these two go to hell and make it back again?

Geoff was physically prevented from going to the wedding…
(photo credit: Digital Spy)

Tim and Sally’s wedding was never actually cancelled so they decided to go ahead after all but failed to keep it secret from Geoff who was determined to attend, despite being specifically not invited. Good old Abi saved the day by tricking him into the conservatory and locking him in for the duration of the ceremony so he couldn’t ruin the day. As soon as he was released, he contacted the police, only for the wedding party to vouch for Abi, claiming that she attended the wedding. Craig, who was off duty for once, decided he didn’t want to know. And is this the beginning of a romance between Craig and Faye…?

Everyone vouches for Abi…
*(photo credit: Digital Spy)*

Daniel and Nicky got closer but ultimately, their relationship was doomed, which, quite frankly was a relief as the storyline was quite boring. However, Daniel did make himself an enemy of Geoff right at the end when he nabbed an opportunity to steal £5000 in cash from him. He handed the cash over to Nicky so that she and her child could go and start a new life together. Geoff caught him out when he spotted her giving some of the money back, having had no idea it was stolen and wanting him to spend it on Bertie. Once arrested, Daniel told the truth and Geoff opted not to press charges so long as he received an apology and the money back.

Michael takes drastic action to keep hold of his family…
*(photo credit: Digital Spy)*

Fully committed to Tianna and Grace, Michael got down on one knee and proposed. He was upset when she turned him down and informed him she was already in a relationship and was moving to Spain. In a bid to stop her leaving, Michael abducted Tianna and managed to get himself arrested. At the police station, he was informed that Tianna was not his and Grace’s child. Grace is Tianna’s nanny and she has been lying to him all this time. Now, I don’t like to blow my own trumpet but it’s not often that a storyline completely flaws me. I usually have at least a hint. But I did not see this coming at all!

Grace attempted to sort things out with Michael and explain things to him, including that she lost the baby she was pregnant with when they broke up, the one he assumed was Tianna. She begged him to run off to Spain with her (there was no boyfriend and the whole plan from the beginning had been designed to hurt him, except she developed feelings from him again). Despite clearly being tempted, he did the right thing and contacted the police instead. She never got the chance to tell him she was pregnant again.

Things at the hospital became even more heartbreaking when the clinic in Germany decided that little Oliver was not a suitable candidate for treatment. With the hospital certain that their interventions would not be beneficial to his life, Leanne and Steve were determined to fight them legally to keep their son alive. Nick went along with it for the love of Leanne and of course, Oliver but Tracy could be trusted to give an honest opinion: Oliver isn’t going to get better and sadly, it isn’t in his best interests to fight the hospital’s decision.

Nick, meanwhile, had other things on his mind when he finally met Sam, the little boy he never knew he hand. And gosh, he is a cutie! When a meeting with Sam conflicted with a legal appointment for Oliver (and Nick chose Oliver), Leanne laid into Nick for being distracted. Nick finally told her the truth about Sam and she asked to meet him. She genuinely tried with the little lad but it was clear that his energy and quirkiness and ambitions for the future broke her heart in light of her own son’s tragedy. She later told Nick that she hated him (Nick, not Sam) for having everything she now she didn’t have. Heartbreaking. Utterly heartbreaking.

Nick and Leanne are at breaking point…
*(photo credit: Digital Spy)*

While the police confirmed that Kel’s death was accidental, things have become a little wobbly between Billy and Paul. This is clearly only going to get worse with the imminent return of Todd, who I presume is the person responsible for breaking into Eileen’s…

While professing to Carla that Sarah was ‘the one’, he then ended up sleeping with someone else in his office. Which Sarah overheard. Lovely.

Coronation Street airs on ITV on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays @ 7:30pm and 8:30pm

Hollyoaks: The Lines Are Drawn

(Monday 28^th September – Thursday 8^th October 2020)

After some soul searching, Liberty decided she couldn’t take the baby away from Sienna, as much as she longed to be her mother. Also, Liberty appears to be being haunted by a nurse that may or may not be real and sounds weirdly like Nico… The nurse was furious with her for handing the baby over to Sienna. I’m curious to see where this whole storyline will go…

Liberty is suffering with mental health problems after giving birth…
(photo credit: Digital Spy)

When Brody and Sienna couldn’t agree on the baby’s name, Damon suggested they include Liberty in the decision. She chose the name Faith.

When Faith’s return home was halted due to an infection, Liberty was left in turmoil yet again. The hospital suggested skin to skin contact to help the baby grow stronger but it meant that Liberty’s heart broke even more. And of course the weird and possibly imaginary nurse was still lurking.

Toby was horrified to find some pages of The Red Door, the book written about the experiment done on him as a child, poking out of Mitchell’s bag. He tricked him into visiting him where he fully intended to harm him but the boys bonded instead and Mitchell helped Toby realise that he was more than an experiment and was perfectly capable of making a fresh new start.

The more he thought about it, the more Toby began to realise that once they escape the Doctor, Celeste continued to control him and for the first time, we saw hand movements and the way she speaks to him as evidence that he is correct. All this time, it has looked like she has been looking after him with all his anger issues and recklessness (I mean, let’s not forget, he did murder Lisa) but is she actually the more sinister of the two? Or are they as bad as each other but in different ways?

Celeste has learned to control her brother…
(Photo credit: Digital Spy)

Determined to be his own person now though, Toby threatened Celeste and decided to move in with Martine, who accepted him even when she found out that it was him who assault Felix months ago. He was worryingly proud of having manipulated his mother and not bothered about moving into dead Lisa’s room. Celeste was lost without him as they have been together their whole lives, albeit through a door for a lot of it.

As for Mitchell, Scott discovered that he was up to his eyes in credit card debt. That just doesn’t sound like sensible Mitchell and feels a bit like it’s come from nowhere. A rushed exit story, perhaps?

Felix continued to mess Grace around. You’d think she’d know better after her last boyfriend. Really, Felix wanted Martine but she told him she wasn’t interested and even if she had, Walter was quick to warn Felix to stay away from her! Felix had other problems, however when he and Warren decided to start working together at the garage but during a power struggle, Warren locked him in the garage, triggering past trauma of his abuser, Cormac. So of course, Felix has decided he would get some violent revenge.

When he couldn’t talk him out of it, Warren obediently lured Cormac to the Village where Felix confronted him about the abuse he suffered as a child. Eventually, Cormac admitted he had behaved that way because Felix was black and he apologised, although it’s unlikely that it’s sincere. Brody listened through the door, suffering flashbacks of his own ordeal with Buster, namely the apology he cruelly snatched away recently. When Cormac was finally released, a remark he made triggered trauma for Brody who punched him. When Cormac was undeterred and vile to Brody about the abuse he suffered as a child, Brody and Felix were left to look on as Warren brutally assaulted the man he had looked up to growing up. Will Warren have another death on his hands?

Cormac triggered Brody’s own memories of abuse…
*(Photo credit: Digital Spy)*

Jordan ended up on Victor’s bad side while Juliet’s popularity was just growing and growing. In the process, Victor and Jordan robbed Marnie’s café only to find no cash on the premises. It really shook poor Marnie up. Thankfully, Misbah was there to look after her. But when Jordan began threatening to take Juliet out, Sid felt he had no option but to rat him out to the police for dealing, landing him a potential fourteen years in jail unless he gave up some names to the bigger players. Victor attempted to terrify Juliet and Sid with an initiation ceremony but while Sid lost complete control, Juliet was utterly fearless. Victor handed over Jordan’s patch to Juliet who rejected her family and gave herself a new look.

Juliet easily passed Victor’s initiation ceremony…
*(Photo credit: Digital Spy)*

Leela and Peri were both horrified over Jordan’s arrest, although they both reacted in different ways. Peri was utterly furious, having trusted Jordan’s assurances that he had changed. Leela, who knew absolutely nothing of Jordan’s behaviour felt angry but also sad for him. She worried about him coping in prison but she also felt like she had let Sid down when she was meant to be looking after him. Neither Peri nor Leela have, as of yet, confessed to their relationship with Jordan. Now that will be an interesting episode. Sid, meanwhile, was delighted to have been allowed back into school but torn up with guilt for betraying his cousin, he tried and failed to get him off the hook.

Jordan is in big trouble…
*(Photo credit: Digital Spy)*

Tom and Yazz, who everyone thinks are love’s young dream decided to set Romeo and Cher up. Or at least, Yazz decided to set them up and I have a horrible feeling that Yazz is more into Tom than Tom is into Yazz. She even declared at the end of yesterday’s episode that she is in love with him and seems eager to plan their future whereas he clearly stated they haven’t said the L Word yet and are taking things slowly. Meanwhile, Romeo appeared to have backed away from Cher, who he was once so very keen on and managed to offend her and her entire family. Well done, mate.

Is Tom having second thoughts…?
*(Photo credit: Digital Spy)*

Maxine happened upon the idea of a photoshoot for expanding the business for the law firm. They also appear to be struggling for office space but weren’t they renting the salon? Isn’t that how Maxine ended up working for them in the first place?

Hollyoaks airs Monday – Thursday, 6:30pm on Channel 4 (sneak peek on E4, 7pm)

These reviews are based on the E4 episodes

Hollyoaks airs ‘Hollyoaks Favourites’ on Fridays, Wednesdays-Fridays, 7pm on E4

Home and Away: Off the Rails…

(Monday 28^th September – Wednesday 7^th October 2020)

A female officer supervised Angelo’s interview with Bella who coped remarkably well. Honestly, I don’t know what all the dramatics were about. She answered the questions fine, apart from possibly unhelpfully informing him that Colby hated Ross but she didn’t have a breakdown or anything. At this point in time, she’s coping and behaving a lot better than her brother, quite frankly.

Angelo is an even worse husband than he is a police officer…
*(photo credit: Digital Spy)*

Colby continued to work on Taylor, who I feel extremely sorry for. Firstly, she is married to Angelo. I mean, that’s a pity party right there. Secondly, she has been ignored and neglected for a long time by a policeman who makes Colby look moral and yet is so focussed on his job, he regularly forgets she exists. And now Colby has targeted her in order to seize as much information from her as possible. And the poor girl thinks he is being genuine. So she is going to end up really hurt.

While Bella suffered the consequences of running away, first the wrath of Colby and then struggling to work things out with Nikau, whose feelings were really hurt (although they did make up in the end), Colby’s friends grew seriously concerned by his reckless attitude, especially when Dean discovered that Angelo has bad blood with the River Boys.

When he learned that Taylor is a massage therapist, Colby helped her find some contacts through Willow and the gym. Of course, no murky storyline is complete without an actual massage scene, which inevitably leads to a make out session, which inevitably leads to Colby’s little sister walking in on them.

Taylor fell prey to Colby’s charms…
*(photo credit: Digital Spy)*

Bella was horrified to realise who Taylor really was and it almost led to a punch up between Dean and Colby. While Taylor was eaten up with guilt for betraying her husband, Colby managed to use the momentum to glean more information from her – Angelo had gained a forensic report from a car. He took things further by impersonating Angelo at work to get the report over the phone and rather proudly announced to Bella and Willow that he and Dean had removed every trace of DNA from Ross’s dead body from the car. Bella was upset. Willow was disgusted. Both of them were worried by his behaviour. Honestly, he always seemed so nice…!

Meanwhile, Dean had his own problems as he attempted to get to know his son, Jai but ended up pushing Ziggy away in the process as with Jai, comes Amber who has made it quite clear that she too wants to be in his life. With Amber setting the rules, Ziggy backed off, even moving into her parents’ house to give herself and Dean some space. Dean finally tackled Amber and after Willow ran some interference, Amber agreed to parent Jai together and not get in the way of his relationship. Willow also warned Dean not to step in with whatever Colby was getting himself involved with this time and not to get himself into trouble. He has other priorities now.

Dean loves being a Dad to Jai…
(photo credit: Digital Spy)

In other news…

Justin struggled to come to terms with the idea of having the operation, to the point he refused to go ahead. He was furious when Tori attempted to pressure him to go ahead by inviting Ava to visit him and then couldn’t cancel her.

Jasmine objected to her counsellor wanting her to visit Robbo’s grave but reluctantly agreed when Tori took her there with Grace.

Alf, Marilyn and Ryder helped Owen connect with his now lost twin, Evan, particularly through music with Ryder lending him his guitar. Roo admitted to Alf and Marilyn that she was in love with Evan and thought he had felt the same.

Mac’s tenancy came to a sudden end, prompting her to move in with Ari, which was somewhat awkward with Tane, especially after he accidentally walked in on her in the bath. He resolved things by asking for opposite shifts at work so they should never be at work or at home at the same time if they can help it.

Home and Away currently airs on weekdays @ 1:15pm & 6pm on Channel 5

Sneak peek on 5Star, weekdays @ 6:30pm

These reviews are based on the lunch time episodes

Eastenders: Who’s That Girl?

(Tuesday 22^nd September – Monday 5^th October 2020)

Ian’s life plummeted even further down the toilet as it all came out about his theft of Max’s money. For the second time in a row, Max wrecked his attempt to raise the cash to pay him back, Sharon took him down a peg or two after the way he has been throwing his weight around with her since she turned him down and he continued to completely let his youngest son down. He really has become a terrible, terrible person.

Speaking of Max, he and Linda suddenly seem to be BFF’s, don’t they? I know they did that wife swap thing a while back but I didn’t realise they were besties now! However, Linda was quick to look out for Max when she realised he was being screwed over by Ian. And on a night out with the girls when she caved and had a drink, feeling stifled by Mick who was genuinely trying to look after her, Max stepped in and made sure she was okay. But of course, in soap, nobody can just be mates, can they? Of course they had to have a secret snog. Unacceptable!!!

Max hasn’t stolen anyone’s wife for a while…
(photo credit: Digital Spy)

For now though, Mick is distracted by his dislike and discomfort with Frankie’s interest in his family. Tina has completely misread the signs that Frankie fancies her, leading to a more awkward moment than she even realises. But when Linda allowed Frankie to babysit (because her son was annoying her), Mick lost it and snatched Ollie away, demanding to know why she was so interested in his family. The young girl finally confessed that she believes his family is her family – that he is her Dad. Now, while I am annoyed at the potential rewrite of Mick and Linda’s entire relationship, I do like Frankie and I am curious to know where this is going to go. I am also excited at the prospect of Simone Lahbib coming bounding onto the Square, presumably as Frankie’s mother. Bad Girls reunion anyone?! I mean, just to wave my rainbow flag for a moment, any gay woman my age (maybe not even my age) was in love with Simone Lahbib back in the Bad Girls era. I actually cannot explain how exciting it is to think she is joining Eastenders.

Mick is shocked by Frankie…
*(photo credit: Digital Spy)*

Ahem. Moving on.

So, what on earth is going on with Callum, the nicest boy in soap? He’s only been in uniform for five seconds and he’s turning into some kind of dodgy cop, controlled by an even dodgier cop. He’s also managing to turn into a Mitchell, controlled by Phil. He’s making Martin Fowler look like he’s had the last year completely under control! Honestly, what are the writers playing at? I don’t like it. Callum is our equilibrium in Eastenders. He is the good amongst the dark. He is the moral compass. If you have him beating Phil’s gangster mates up and trying to fit Phil up with the police, what hope is there for anyone?!

Meanwhile, Gray’s murderous activities seem to have so far gone undetected. Although Kheerat raised the alarm with Mitch, Karen dismissed the idea completely out of hand. She is going to be so distraught to have believed in him so sincerely. Mitch did suspect him. He has always suspected him. Unfortunately, Gray used Mitch’s own guilt for being an absent father to deter him from any accusations. He really knows how to get into people’s heads. And the funeral is on the first day of Whitney’s trial. Of course it is.

Denise confesses all to Jack…
*(photo credit: Digital Spy)*

In other news:

Martin had to persuade Ruby not to press charges against Stacey for the sake of the kids but Jean quite rightly didn’t welcome her daughter back to the Square with open arms.

Denise was shocked to be reunited with her son, Raymond when his adoptive parents were killed in a car accident.

Amy accused Isaac of smoking weed when he dropped her as a tutoring student, upset because she had a crush on him.

Stuart and Rainie participated in the first social distanced wedding, with him trapped inside a car. Very creative! She also announced that she was pregnant, which a lot of people have objected to as she was previously revealed to be infertile and they think it is unrealistic. I have two words for you: Sharon. Mitchell.