Coronation Street: Standing in the Way of Control

(Monday 2^nd – Friday 13^th March 2020)

Geoff continues his campaign of cruelty, this fortnight, this time working on driving Yasmeen and Alya apart. However, Alya spots a spelling mistake in the constant, targeted reviews and realises that it’s not Ray behind them but Geoff himself. While Yasmeen defends her husband, Alya also discovers that money has been withdrawn from the business account. At first, Geoff pushes the idea of buying Alya out but when she won’t budge, he decides that he and Yasmeen should pack up their lives and move to Cyprus. He is furious when his wife is not keen on the idea.

Meanwhile, Eileen mentions in passing that she has noticed a real change in Yasmeen. She also tells her about the night Gail saw her crying in the garden and that Geoff left her locked in a box for hours. Armed with this knowledge, Alya challenges her grandmother about what is really going on. Although Yasmeen denies is, insisting that Geoff loves her, Alya realises that she is scared of Geoff. She leaves, not wanting her to get into trouble with him if he finds her at the house but finally, someone understands that she is being abused. Finally, Yasmeen will hopefully get the help she needs!

Having accidentally lost all of Sinead’s belongings, on Sarah and Adam’s wedding day, Daniel completely falls apart during his speech, overwhelmed with how much he loves and misses Sinead. The penny finally drops for poor Bethany, who realises that they should not be moving to London together. The next day, he drunkenly decides to prove his love by proposing, with Sinead’s newly returned wedding ring! It’s all Bethany needs to end things between them and head off to London alone. Worried about Daniel’s state of mind, his family send him off to a retreat with Bertie, escorted by Beth of all people, presumably to give actress, Lisa George some time off to do marvellously well in Dancing on Ice. Hopefully Daniel will return without his beard or at least with a tidier one. He is currently reminding me of Ian Beale when he had his homeless storyline.

With wedding bells ringing in the air, Maria suggests that she and Gary get married sooner rather than later. However, Gary gets wind of her one night stand with Ali and it’s not something he can let pass. After threatening Ryan, he bumps into his old ‘colleague’ Sharon and trades in his client list in order to ‘sort’ things with Ali.

The next thing we know, Ali collapses with an overdose of diazepam and is rushed to hospital. When he wakes up, he swears he didn’t relapse but nobody believes him. He practically abducts Maria in order to convince her but only succeeds in pushing her further away. Gary basically admits it to him, provoking him into attacking him and then getting him arrested. He also loses Toyah’s friendship, as his ‘relapse’ leads her to have to admit she knew he was a recovering addict and still a practicing GP and therefore, she loses her job. Eventually, Ali decides to leave the Street and thankfully, the first thing actor, James Burrows did was get a haircut!

Guilty Maria confesses to her one night stand with Ali to Gary but is relieved and surprised when Gary chooses to continue their relationship.

Jade gets the wrong idea when Tyrone buys her a thoughtful birthday present on Hope’s behalf. Getting him alone, she kisses him, convinced that there is a romantic spark between them. Of course, he rebuffs her but she immediately informs Fiz that she and Tyrone have feelings for each other. Thankfully, the move turns out to be her downfall as when Hope overhears that Jade has tried to split her parents up, she is horrified and rejects her sister, even telling her that she loves her parents more than her. Well, goodbye, Jade! Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!

Aggie returns to nursing in the same week as she receives her Golden Heart of Wetherfield Award, which she is convinced she doesn’t deserve. At the ceremony, James is cornered by a journalist about his sexuality, after Danny accidentally outs him online. He meets with his manager and opts to deny that he is gay rather than come out. While Ed thinks it’s the right thing to do, Aggie and Michael wish James felt safe enough to be honest.

Roy shows his kind heart when he abandons his ‘bat group’ in favour of his niece, Nina. His friends object to her because she is different but Roy accuses them of being judgemental and walks away, as does Brian. He and Hayley lived too long a life being judged for being different and he isn’t prepared to let Nina go through the same thing. I am genuinely enjoying the connection between Roy and Nina (and Carla too).

Ken is very reluctant to say goodbye to his home. Claudia wants him to cull his book collection (which is just unacceptable) and he is not allowed to take Eccles with him (also unacceptable). However, Claudia is eager to get going and Tracy, Steve and Amy are already making plans for the house. Liz is buying their flat from them. It’s time for Ken to say goodbye. I am sure he’ll be back. Hopefully without Claudia.

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

Coronation Street: Goodbye Charlotte Bronte

(Monday 24^th – Friday 28^th February 2020)

Tracy is livid to learn that Ken really is putting his house on the market and immediately competes with Peter to buy it. Carla doesn’t want to buy the house anyway and at first, Peter accepts it but a row with Tracy spurs him on to fight for it. They agree to a silent bid but when Tracy catches sight of Carla’s bid, she is able to sneakily bid £5,000 higher – without Steve’s prior knowledge.

Paula does her best to reassure Kevin and Abi but they hit a snag when Ray reveals video evidence from a dash cam of her actually torching the car. He requests that Abi sleeps with him in exchange for his silence. Aware that Kevin is in serious trouble otherwise, Abi agrees.

Abi is prepared to sacrifice herself for Kevin…

Disgusted with herself for what she has to do, Abi turns up at a hotel and gets changed into the clothes he has provided, unaware that he has photographed her in the process. When it comes down to it, Ray rejects her rather unkindly, telling her that he doesn’t want her, he just wanted to know how far she would go. He then turns to Kevin, demanding his business in exchange for dropping the charges. Kevin and Tyrone reluctantly hand it over.

Just as he leaves, Ray drops the bombshell about his encounter with Abi, who brokenly attempts to explain. Frustratingly, she was going to tell him the truth anyway but thanks to Ray, it is now too late. Any hope that Kevin, who was so kind to Anna when she was forced into the same situation with Pat Phelan, would understand, are immediately dashed. Kevin rejects Abi until Sally quickly puts him in his place. Kevin admits to Abi that he loves her and they get back together.

Bethany is in turmoil when she doesn’t get onto the writing course but is offered an internship with a magazine in London. While Sarah is thrilled for her, Bethany is reluctant to leave Daniel behind. She really needs to let him go. He’s not over Sinead. I mean, how could he be? She’s only been gone a few months. He’s using Bethany (and a lot of alcohol) to numb his pain. Bethany needs to take that job and move away and start a new life away from all the terrible things that have happened to her in recent years.

When Adam lets slip to Daniel about the job, Daniel sets his heart on moving to London with Bethany instead. Beth interrupts Sarah’s hen night to shout at Bethany about the plan, which leads Sarah to interrupt the stag night to lay into Daniel for ruining Bethany’s life and also argue with Adam for supporting the idea. Well that doesn’t bode well for a happy marriage!

Cathy takes Gemma to mother and baby class where she is thrilled to make friends with some other Mums. They invite her to a baby yoga class, which she thinks goes well, not realising that a couple of the other women are talking about her behind her back.

Alya starts working at Speed Daal again, which immediately puts Geoff out. When she notices that Yasmeen has a bad back from cleaning, Geoff is forced to show compassion and send her home, leaving Geoff and Alya to snipe at each other all day. Geoff also lies twice about bad reviews about Alya, which he presumably writes himself.

At home, Yasmeen is worried about her favourite chicken, Charlotte Bronte who is not eating properly or laying eggs. Geoff insists that Yasmeen stays at home for another day, leaving him to continue sparring with Alya at work. When Geoff arrives home, he is furious to find that Yasmeen has been too caught up with Charlotte to have cleaned the house properly or cooked dinner and when she does prepare their meal, it’s not good enough as she couldn’t afford to buy any meat on the meagre money he provided her with. He angrily throws the food in the bin and orders her upstairs.

Then comes the moment we all dreaded but knew would inevitably come. He joked about it months ago, remember? The evil bastard kills Yasmeen’s beloved chicken, Charlotte Bronte. Then he serves her up on a plate and lets Yasmeen start eating her before telling her the truth. Yasmeen is sickened, not to mention heartbroken. It’s an absolutely sickening moment, the worst so far in this storyline. I’ve read a lot of objections to this storyline, a lot of complaints and a lot of people saying that they are turning off. We must not switch off. We must face up to the truth of coercive control and domestic abuse. We must be able to recognise it. We must be educated. We must not turn our faces away because it’s upsetting and uncomfortable. It’s not supposed to be comfortable. That’s the point.

Yasmeen breaks down furiously at Geoff who remains unrepentant. He has the audacity to blame her for making a mess of dinner the first time around. He cruelly tells her how hard it was for him, mentioning that Charlotte put up a fight. It’s a truly awful series of scenes. While he storms out, Yasmeen sobs in the garden, only for Gail to find her from the other side of the fence. Yasmeen hurries off, denying that there is anything wrong but hopefully, this might be a turning point as Gail is concerned enough to mention Yasmeen’s distress to Alya. But perhaps Charlotte has not died in vain if it means that Yasmeen will find the courage to escape from him. Also, Cathy, Gail, Eileen and Alya are all concerned about her now. Let’s hope Geoff’s days of abuse are numbered now.

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

Coronation Street: I’m Coming Out!

(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

Coronation Street: Otherwise Engaged

(Monday 10^th – Friday 14^th February 2020)

Ryan is relieved to pay off his debt to Gary at last but he is soon set on a mission to buy an engagement ring for Maria on Gary’s behalf. Stupidly, Ryan brings the ring to the house when Gary isn’t there and then quickly backtracks, making Maria extremely suspicious that her boyfriend is up to no good again. When she then sees Gary taking pity on an old client and giving him some money as a gift and not a loan, as he’s determined not to be a loan shark anymore, she misreads the situation and becomes convinced that he hasn’t changed at all.

Maria turns to Ali for comfort and he is only too happy to slag Gary off and console Maria, which of course leads to them sleeping together because in soap, nobody can ever have a hug! Afterwards, Maria lays into Gary for his behaviour. Begging her to believe him, Gary brings both Ryan and his former client to see her and explain the situation. He produces the ring and proposes. Ryan is then left with the job to break the news to Ali that Gary and Maria do not look like they are going to break up any time soon. I’d also like to give a shout out to Mikey North who looked very fetching in Maria’s dressing gown.

Ray sets his sights on Alya, inviting her to a business meeting at a hotel and making her extremely uncomfortable. He is furious when Bethany bursts in, filming them, determined to prove that he is a sexual predator. It takes a while for Alya to really accept that she was about to become his next victim but eventually, she is on board and vocalises how he made her feel. Taking things further, Daniel and now unemployed Bethany get hold of Ray’s private accounts and managed to work out that several of his past employees have NDAs.

Bethany publicly reprimands Ray for what he is, in front of Abi who had no idea and a journalist who doesn’t quite know what to do but privately confirms the truth to Abi. Bethany writes an amazing article about Ray for the local paper, destroying his reputation, although he still denies any wrong doing. Abi feigns faith in him and attends a charity event with him at the Bistro. However, he is horrified to realise that she has invited all the victims that she could find. She then makes a public announcement about his crimes. He throws her out of the Bistro, only for her to steal his car and set fire to it. Good!

Having spent so much time working together against Ray, Bethany and Daniel grow closer and end up in bed together. While Bethany is unsure, Daniel tells her that Sinead left him a message telling him to move on and be happy. However, Beth is outraged that he has moved on so quickly, especially with the girl he kissed when Sinead was dying. Despite what he says, I don’t think Daniel really does like Bethany in that way. I think he just doesn’t want to be alone. In the end, I think she will get her heart broken.

Daniel and Bethany come out as a couple…

Sean and Mary have teething problems as they settle into living together at Eileen’s. Nick is dismissive when Eileen applies for a sales job at the factory but Sarah gives her an interview, where she loses her temper under pressure! It’s Alina the gets the job in the end and kindly Emma invites her to move into her and Seb’s spare room. Honestly, that girl is too kind for words! This has disaster written all over it!

David struggles to maintain family life alongside constant trips to Leeds to visit Shona, who doesn’t even want to see him anyway. Distracted and exhausted, David crashes his car and writes it off – with the kids in the back. Eventually, he accepts that he needs to slow down and focus more on the children, reducing his visits to the hospital.

Social Services decide that Fiz and Tyrone can supervise visits between Jade and Hope. Ken tells Peter and Tracy that he is thinking of moving into the retirement village but Claudia gets annoyed when he is vague. Peter and Tracy are mostly concerned that he may sell the house. James tests the waters when a colleague of Ed’s, Danny comes out to him. Ed isn’t horrible about it but he is awkward and struggles to let it go. Also, James and Danny clearly have history as the moment Ed’s back is turned, they’re all over each other!

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

Coronation Street: 10,000 Episodes

(Monday 3^rd – Friday 7^th February 2020)

While Geoff prattles on about his magic show, Yasmeen desperately cleans the house. He continuously harasses Yasmeen at work and then sabotages a spa day for her an Alya when Emma is unable to be his assistant for the show. He loses his temper when she is anxious about being locked in a box for one of the tricks, as she is claustrophobic.

During the show, the trick with Yasmeen in the box goes wrong and Yasmeen is unable to get out of the box ‘magically’, meaning Geoff has to really wrestle with the box to set her free. The audience find it hilarious and it earns Geoff the name ‘Jiggle It Geoff’, sending the video viral. Of course, Geoff does not find it funny and what is not caught on video is Geoff blaming poor Yasmeen and calling her a ‘clumsy, oafish bitch’. It’s a truly horrible moment, with worse to come, as the more compliments they receive for doing ‘comedy magic’, the worse punishment Yasmeen receives from her vile husband.

That night, Yasmeen almost begs Tim to stay when Geoff sends him off to try and sort things out with Sally. Alone together, Geoff lays into her for apparently sabotaging the show. He physically intimidates her and frightens her before shoving a phone camera in her face, videoing her and screaming horrific abuse at her, suggesting he might put that online to embarrass her. But of course he won’t because it won’t show her in a bad light, will it? Hopefully this video will eventually be his undoing…

He sends her out for chips, having rejected the dinner she has made. Out, she bumps into Emma who reveals that she was actually fired as Geoff’s assistant. So the whole ordeal was caused by Geoff and all because he didn’t want Yasmeen to a spa for a couple of hours with her granddaughter.

The poor woman is treading on eggshells the next day as the video of the show has gone international. Geoff is raging, although they both put on a front for Tim. He throws Yasmeen’s breakfast away and calls her fat. He tells Tim that Yasmeen doesn’t want him to stay with them anymore, making him feel like he is putting their marriage under pressure. Geoff suggests that Yasmeen help him practice for his next show as a way to make things up to him. He makes some adjustments to the box, during which time, Yasmeen mentions her conversation with Emma but it only gets her into trouble as he recalls that she took ten minutes longer to get the chips than she said she would be. He then locks her in the box – for the whole afternoon! He ignores her cries to be let out before turning music up loud going for a pint with Brian.

While Yasmeen screams and cries for help, Geoff enjoys a casual pint with Brian, not letting on how annoyed his is by the gentle teasing about the magic show from his friend. Eventually exhausted, poor Yasmeen gives up. The music has stopped by the Tim arrives back at the house and he is absolutely stunned to find Yasmeen locked in the box. He rescues her and is still trying to work out how such a terrible thing could have happened when Geoff arrives back, clearly horrified to have had his son rescue his wife. At first, Tim accuses his father of locking Yasmeen in but Geoff is quick with a denial and a lie. He tells him that Yasmeen was timing herself and must have got locked in. Yasmeen doesn’t contradict him. Tim reluctantly accepts it and gives the couple time to talk. Come on, Tim! Work it out! Genuinely concerned, he tells Eileen what has happened. This incident, coupled with Geoff’s previous behaviour makes Eileen suspicious. Could she be Yasmeen’s surprise salvation?

Tim is shocked to find Yasmeen locked in a box at home…

Despite the horror of what he has put her through, Geoff is still ready to lay all the blame at Yasmeen’s door. However, traumatised by her ordeal, Yasmeen stands up for herself and accuses him of lying about how she got locked in the box, unable to comprehend how he could have done that to her. She makes it clear that this is not how love should be. She shows genuine strength, which only gives me hope for the future of this storyline. But of course, he changes his tactics. He knows he won’t get anywhere with scaring her anymore that day so he makes her feel guilty and sorry for him instead. He denies locking her in the box on purpose and claims to have just been playing a trick on her. Then he breaks down over his previous trauma over the way Tim’s mother treated him, claiming that he thought she had messed the trick up on purpose because that’s what she would have done. He begs forgiveness and begs her not to leave him. She accepts it but something has definitely shifted.

Tim makes a bid to win Sally back by presenting her with his signed divorced papers and an invitation to their wedding. Sally is not impressed.

Daniel apologises to Maria who in turn apologises for Gary’s attack. Gary and Maria explain the miscarriage to Liam but Maria is annoyed when without prior discussion, Gary suggests to Liam that they might have another baby instead. He turns down a desperate customer in need of a loan.

Bethany is still unhappy working for Ray and makes her point by serving his table of colleagues and blatantly telling them that she has been told to flatter them all. Ray is not happy. She and Daniel submit one of her stories to a course in Preston.

Steve and Tracy skip off to a hotel to try and rekindle their romance. Unfortunately, they only end up frustrated with each other, resulting in Steve ending up locked in the bathroom. She seems to have come to the sad realisation that she loves him more than he loves her. She says he is scared of her. He says everyone is scared of her! Well, fair point. However, they do end up reconnecting so perhaps they will be able to move forward now.

It turns out that Nina has been evicted from her flat and is now living on the streets. She eventually turns up at the café and Roy takes her in.

Rita receives the news that her third husband, Dennis Tanner has died. He has his ashes sent to her with a request for her to scatter them in Blackpool. Jenny arranges a party bus with half the cast to do a day trip to Blackpool to celebrate the show’s 10,000^th episode: Rita, Jenny, Sally, Gail, Eileen, Sean, Ken, Tracy, Emma, Amy (who is celebrating her birthday), Mary, Audrey, Evelyn, Carla and Nina all hop on board, dragging reluctant Yasmeen (with a FIVER spending money) along for a ride. Apologies if I’ve missed anyone. Claudia definitely does not join them. Apparently Blackpool is like Vegas for the poor!

While Yasmeen struggles with the pressure of discussing getting locked in the box and spends most of her time reassuring Geoff on the phone that she is not drinking (very much noticed by Eileen), Audrey and Rita end up snapping at each other about times gone by. Ken begins to regret that he has spent his entire life on one road (but what a busy life it’s been!) and quietly reveals his plans to move to a retirement flat round the corner with Claudia. Well, I’m sure that will be thrilling! Nina argues with Tracy and tries to hitchhike home, only to be talked down by Carla. I do like Stable Carla. Yasmeen brings Sally and Tim back together at last with a video call. Sean admits that he feels pushed out of Eileen’s life when once upon a time, they were family. When Emma reveals that Seb has moved out without telling her (he’s scared of her, apparently!), it frees up his room for Sean to move back in. How lovely.

However, the group don’t actually make it to Blackpool as the bus driver has a heart attack at a wee stop. Rita has a tantrum and the urn gets run over by the ambulance, essentially scattering the ashes in a car park (in the most convenient moment of prop placement ever).

On the way home, Rita is finally grateful for her friends who gave up their day to be with her. Back on the Street, she gives Amy her engagement ring, which belonged to the legend that is Elsie Tanner. Amy is thrilled! Rita enjoys an evening in the pub with her friends. Then alone in the bar that night, she recalls memories of times gone by before Jenny comes down and Rita tells her she couldn’t have wished for a better daughter. It’s a lovely way to mark a special moment in the history of Coronation Street as we hear the echoes of so many remarkable characters from the past, who have made the show so very special. Outside, Ken says goodbye to the Street but rest assured, he’s not going far. The credits roll through every sequence in the show’s history, dating right back to its days of black and white. A great episode focussing on so many of the great and longest serving characters.

The 10,000th episode fades to it’s original black and white…

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

Coronation Street: Measles

(Monday 27^th – Friday 31^st January 2020)

Bertie is rushed into hospital with a temperature and a rash. With Daniel desperately worried and Peter and Beth by his side, Daniel privately admits to the doctors that he didn’t complete Bertie’s jabs. Bertie is diagnosed with measles. Overwrought with guilt over putting his son in danger, Daniel throws everyone out of the hospital. He temporarily lets Bethany in but when they hug for a moment, he feels guilty and throws her out too. She stays the night at the hospital anyway and thankfully, the next day, Bertie is out of danger.

Maria is also unwell, which is clearly also going to turn out to be measles, especially as she is the one who noticed last week that Bertie had a temperature. She sends Gary on his trip away, prompting Ali to come and check on her, hoping that things have gone downhill in the relationship. She sends him packing. However, the next day, Maria is still really poorly and accepts when Ali wants to take her to the Medical Centre. Sadly, it’s there that she discovers she has had a miscarriage. Ali examines her and confirms that she too has measles, which is the cause of the miscarriage. She is devastated and opens up to him about a miscarriage she had twelve years ago. She is heartbroken as she breaks the news to Gary and perplexed as to how she even contracted measles until her mother confirms that neither she nor Kirk ever got their jabs.

Daniel cowardly avoids telling Gary about Bertie when he breaks the news to him about the miscarriage so it’s up to Audrey to break the news and Beth informs them that Daniel didn’t complete the baby’s vaccinations. Of course, Gary responds with violence and punches Daniel, who takes it, feeling extremely guilty about Maria losing the baby. However, Maria is furious with Gary, pointing out that her mother is just as much to blame. The couple do calm down and comfort each other in the end. Grief stricken Daniel allows Bethany to comfort him, hallucinating for a moment that she is Sinead. They share a kiss.

Daniel is a ball of confusion… I mean, look at his beard!

Tyrone proposes that he and Fiz suggest allowing Jade and Hope to see each other, assuming that Social Services will say no. That way, it will be Social Services that will be the ‘bad guys’, not them. Unfortunately, the plan backfires as it just makes Hope obsessed with seeing Jade, provoking more rows at home and as it happens, Social Services are open to Jade seeing her sister under supervision if Fiz and Tyrone are happy with the idea. The couple have even more problems on their hands when Hope floods the school bathroom, although the Head Teacher is more than compassionate. When they speak to Hope about it, she informs them that she wanted to get expelled so that Jade could home school her again. Fiz meets up with Jade who claims to have seen the error of her ways. Social Services agree to assess Jade for access to Hope.

While Charlie, who clearly wants Tim back, settles herself into the Rovers, Tim lies to her about Sally and continues to nag her about signing the divorce papers, something she appears to be delaying. Tim enlists Abi’s help in trying to move her on but it’s clumsy and misfires. Charlie tells Tim that she has scored a flight attendant job and potential new flat but still no closer to getting her to sign the divorce papers. Sally returns home, ready to start again in the belief that nobody knows about the bigamy situation and that it’s been dealt with but gets a shock when she realises that half the Street knows, Tim has passed her off as her sister, Charlie is working the Rovers and has fallen back in love with him. Charlie is devastated to have been led on and there is quite the awkward confrontation in the pub. However, she does eventually sign the papers. But is there any point when Tim’s marriage to Sally is now in tatters all over again? He decides to hand himself into the police as a bigamist, believing it’s the right thing to do as the story hits the papers online.

Geoff is left with no choice but to let Yasmeen spend time with Alya when she comes to the restaurant to see her, however, he cannot resist making snide comments about her not pulling her weight at work. When Alya is concerned, Yasmeen insists that everything is fine. If only Alya could work out the truth! But when Geoff is booked as a magician for Michael’s daughter’s birthday party, he loses his temper with his wife for not being able to concentrate on his ramblings about the show while she is being worked to the bone, cleaning at home. She is already in trouble for having doubted his ability to do a whole show. He can’t stop laying into her about anything he can think of, including her imaginary drink problem. However, he realises he has gone too far when she decides to go to an AA meeting with Peter, knowing that reaching out to other people will mean that he could lose his grip on her. When she returns from the first meeting, feeling reassured that actually, she only has a mild issue with alcohol compared to a lot of the people she met, Geoff is enraged and makes her drink an entire bottle of red wine under desperate protest. It’s a hideous moment as she begs to stop and he forces her to drink. When she is finished, she runs upstairs in distress, just as Peter knocks on the door. It’s a convenient moment for Geoff to inform Peter that the meeting drove Yasmeen to drink and she won’t be attending any more sessions.

Chesney and Gemma return home with the news that the yobs who set fire to the house have been arrested and also that Frescos want them back as part of the ad campaign with the children. They are shocked to learn that Bernie has moved on. When the extremely airbrushed posters are published, Gemma is particularly upset, feeling they have been misrepresented. She drags Chesney to see Imran but the contract they signed is watertight.

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

Coronation Street: The Fight for Hope

(Monday 20^th – Friday 24^th January 2020)

In a slightly clumsy plot twist, it’s actually Ruby who saves the day for her parents. She asks Tyrone when Jade is coming back so they can play hospitals again and mentions the bruises that she painted on Hope. It’s useful but it’s a little obvious. But from there, Tyrone, Evelyn, the social worker and Dr Gaddas are able to ascertain that Jade has been faking the abuse, despite Hope sticking to the story. They then discover Hope’s phone with incriminating text messages between Hope and Jade that blows Jade’s story out of the water completely.

Fiz is upset when Hope doesn’t welcome her back to the family home. All she wants is Jade. And her phone back. In the morning, the family are horrified to find that Hope is missing and report it to the police. They immediately visit Jade who denies any knowledge of the little girl’s disappearance. The police search the property but come up with nothing, although the storytelling attempts to persuade us that she has the little girl hidden in the loft. Unable to stick to the police advice, Fiz storms round to the house in panic although she doesn’t find Hope (or Jade), she does find Hope’s passport and preparations to run away together.

Tyrone and the neighbours go out searching for Hope where Tyrone gets caught up in an argument with Jade who has come to search for her sister. Genuinely scared for Hope, Jade goes to her Dad’s grave where Hope emerges from the shadows. She has been hiding there all night, hoping that Jade would come and find her. Jade genuinely does the right thing and brings her home. Later, not knowing what happened to her daughter (who has been taken to hospital), Fiz angrily confronts Jade who tries to explain things. Tyrone walks in just as Fiz knocks Jade out. Ouch. While Fiz and Tyrone panic and distract Evelyn and the children from walking in, they return to the kitchen to find that Jade has vanished. They confide in Evelyn who remarks that Jade has had it coming for a long time! Ha! Not since Blanche Hunt have we had such a fabulous Corrie character as this!

But anyway, Jade collapses in the ginnel on Victoria Street, to be discovered by Yasmeen, who has just avoided spending time with Alya and taken a nagging phone call from Geoff demanding to know why she is one second late home from the shop. Having found Jade and also received a hang up 999 call from Fiz when the accident happened, the police turn up to ask questions. Fiz, Tyrone and Evelyn all act guilty and weird but send them on their way. Tyrone and Fiz then attempt to actually explain to Hope who her father was and that Jade is wrong about him. Unfortunately, Hope is deeply attached to Jade and is desperate to see her. So when Jade turns up, having lied to the police about being mugged, it’s an emotional conversation as Fiz tries to get her to understand that John was an uncaring man. She had no idea he had a daughter because in all their time together, he never even bothered to mention her. Hearing Jade in the house, Hope is desperate to go home with her but Jade does the right thing for a second time. Later, aware that Jade now has the attack over them, Tyrone suggests that they let her see Hope. But Fiz and Evelyn point blank refuses to listen to him, despite his plea that he would rather supervise an hour in the park between Hope and Jade than visit Fiz in prison. Well, I’m Team Tyrone on this one, personally.

Tim is shocked when his Vegas wife, Charlie arrives to see him, having lost both her jobs and up to her eyeballs in debt. With Tim still pushing for the divorce, Charlie has him over a barrel and demands 5K on top of signing the papers. She then shows up announcing she has been evicted. With Sally having temporarily moved out and needing to pay Charlie off before she discovers that he is a bigamist, Tim decides he needs to sell the business. Eileen, Steve and Kevin are all too happy to do him over for his share until Emma shames them with her kindness, offering to lend him her life savings. His friends then have no choice but to help him out. Unfortunately, despite giving her the cash she needs, Charlie decides to stick around and bags herself a job at The Rovers!

Ray and Abi (who has passed her exams) continue to get to know each other. Bethany mistakenly believes that she is going to be the new manager of The Bistro (and typically tells people) so is devastated to discover that Ray has actually hired Alya. I suspect she has had a lucky escape. Bethany also suspects she’s had a lucky escape and gets information from Carla about what happened to Michelle. When Bethany tries to warn Alya, the new manager disbelieves the story and responds to Bethany (in light of the abuse she previously suffered) in the most unforgivably patronising way she possibly could. A genuinely unpleasant scene, actually. Royally pissed off, Bethany is ready to quit her job and seeks career advice from Daniel, who believes that she should return to her dream of writing. However, he quickly gets distracted by Bertie spiking a temperature. I’m sure the upcoming storyline will be very dramatic and everything but the problem is, I can’t concentrate on any scene Daniel’s in because he looks like Tom Hanks in Castaway. I know he’s grieving but the state of his face is just unacceptable.

Gary and Maria attend a baby scan but their happy news is not met well by their neighbours. Sarah in particular warns her, prompting Maria to accuse Gary of having an affair when he is actually talking to Jake on the phone. Unfortunately, her mistake only seems to cement them together more than ever!

In an act of revenge over the live stream of Kel, someone vandalises Chesney and Gemma’s house and puts a burning rag through the door, sending the quads into hospital with smoke inhalation. When Rita and Billy both scold Bernie for letting her family down, she decides that the right thing to do is move away and let her kids live their lives without her drama. Paul needs to heal from Kel’s abuse and Gemma has enough on her hands with the quads. She says an emotional goodbye to Paul and sincerely apologises for not protecting him as a child.

David is heartbroken as he sends Shona off to the Rehab Centre in Leeds for specialist care and actress, Julia Goulding goes off for maternity leave.

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