Coronation Street episode review – Wednesday 17 September 2014
Todd’s Machiavellian chickens finally come home to roost as his efforts to make amends fall on deaf ears. Tony freezes him out as he tells him he’ll deal with Fiz and Tyrone. While they initially refuse his latest offer of £5,000 on the grounds that they’re doing things above board, a persuasive visit from Eileen and Eva shows that their principles are as thin as the plaster board they’re still hoovering off the bedroom floor and they agree to take Tony’s money and forget about the whole thing. As all celebrate in the Rovers, Todd makes an unwelcome appearance and knows to leave. I will duck for cover when admitting I felt ever so slightly sorry for him.
Sally, unable to locate the source of barking in her own house and attributing it to next door, either needs a hearing test or a trophy for gullibility. The fact that she believes it to be Sophie’s non-existent barking dog text message alert sees her win first prize for the latter. Meanwhile Tim scratches and sneezes and gets a whiskey for his trouble and Deirdre frets so much over missing Eccles that Tracy reckons she wouldn’t be as upset if she were to go missing.
Maddie gets two week’s unpaid work from Carla in lieu of her not contacting the police about stealing her car. Both are well able for one another in the banter stakes, and I look forward to the possibility of more spirited tête-à-têtes between them over the coming weeks.
Some top class cleaning from Anna sees her deliver Steve and Amy’s visiting order straight into the hands of an incredulous Liz. But her attention to detail and commitment to thoroughness doesn’t end there as she turns her attention to the other side of the closed door. Her split second fall through it and recovery as Tony opens it to leave, together with Steve’s fleeting glimmer of puzzlement was comedy gold. But he has more pressing things on his mind than Anna’s ear, and Liz warns him that if Jim turns on Steve, Amy will be heartbroken. I’m not so sure. It appears of late that Amy is fixing to be Tracy in training and this was evidenced by her eagerness to hear about Jim’s crimes and unflinching, almost morbid desire to visit him.
Meanwhile things accelerate quicker than Deirdre’s broken washing machine over at the prison. Jim is of the belief that saving Peter’s life is a big motivator behind Steve’s visit and is afraid that Peter will reveal where he got the alcohol from and ruin his chances to make amends with his son. I’m not quite sure that Jim’s concerns are that well founded, as Steve no longer has much time for his old friend. Nevertheless, he attempts to ply Peter with a pending batch of booze in a bid to keep him quiet.
Peter tells him he doesn’t want a drink, he just wants Jim to leave him alone and he won’t have anything to worry about. What appears a simple request from a man with the upper hand is interpreted by Big Jim as a threat, and he tears up Simon’s photo and roughs Peter up. This gets the latter’s dander up and he tells Jim that he’s played him from day one, and if he wants to see Steve again, it all stops now. “You just made a really bad move” sneers Jim, and the absence of a ‘so you have’ means he really means business.
Peter and Eugene’s cell is trashed and the latter is gutted to find a book from his Dad is destroyed. Peter admits that it’s because he threatened to tell Steve a few home truths causing his cell mate to blow up and tell him he has to tell Jim he didn’t mean it.
Next thing a shirtless Peter is raving in the locked cell and begging to be let out to make an urgent call to Steve to tell him everything before he lets Amy into Jim’s life. Eugene vehemently warns him against being a grass, telling him he won’t make it to the trial and that he’ll have him to contend with if he makes the call. A breathless Peter vows to stop Jim one way or another, declaring he won’t get away with it. Phew! Definitely a two cups of tea episode this one.
And if all that wasn’t enough, Neil sullies the name of Atomic Kitten and commits crimes against pop through an open car window in the name of losing an already long lost battle. While Lloyd must stay away from him to avoid being accused of harassment, Neil can apparently sidle up to him reciting the spoken word section of Whole Again and thumping his chest without any charges whatsoever. Where’s the fairness in that? If anyone deserves to be in a cell with Jim McDonald breathing down their neck it’s this man. As he reminisces about 2001, Andrea, firmly in 2014, tells him she’s filing for divorce. Undeterred, he completes another chorus and pledges to ensure that Lloyd and Andrea will never be happy together. Whatever comes of this one sided separation, I think it’s safe to say there’ll be no disputes over the CD collection.
Emma Hynes 