November 1996

Friday 1 November 1996
Much of the focus tonight was on the local school sponsored walk with Alf and Percy playing off against each other as they challenged each other to who could do the most laps. Both were super confident that they would be the most enduring of the pair but until the walk began we would have to wait and see.

Claire was visited by her mother in law at her new flat, her first reaction was one of disgust when she looked at the abode she was living in. What also annoyed her was the fact that she and Becky were only living a few doors away from Des Barnes. Essentially she insinuated that she and Des were still living together which in her eyes was wrong while she was still claiming her RAF widows pension.

It was Bill's birthday and Maureen and him were planning to go out for a meal to celebrate, unfortunately however Maud was looking a bit pale and this was worrying Maureen. Maud insisted she was O.K but Maureen still worried.

Jim handed over £1,000 to Liz tonight as a settlement, this finalised things between them and Liz stood looking smugly at the bar. Before Jim had even got out of the bar Sean Skinner was sniffing around Liz and she was loving every minute of it.

At the school both Percy and Alf had talked the talk and now they had to walk the walk, there was already a crowd gathering in the assembly hall. Many of the crowd were there to gawp at Ken and headmistress Sue after hearing the gossip train cranking up locally. Percy and Alf set off, and before long Alf was puffing and panting and looking decidedly out of breath. Percy however was striding purposely onward without breaking a sweat.

Fred Elliot turned up on the scene and collared Sue whom it appeared he knew from his younger years as a neighbour. Fred and Sue chatted briefly until Fred dropped a quip in about all Sue's "altercations" with Ken at the conference. Sue was gobsmacked as you would expect.

Raquel and Curly were still enduring something of a strained relationship, and it looked like things were getting worse. With a friend of hers coming to stay she began nagging Curly to get his possessions in order yet when it came to the relationship she seemed completely uninterested.

Alf meanwhile had dropped out of the race with a twisted ankle whereas Percy was still going strong. Meanwhile Sue looked up Ken and from the look on her face he was facing her wrath, she believed he had kissed and told about something that hadn't happened.

Monday 4 November 1996
Ken was kicking off somewhat tonight against Derek over the leakage of mis-information regarding his school trip to Southport. Derek could merely stand open mouthed as Ken gave him a stern lecture on his actions which had resulted in Weatherfield wrongly gossiping about his business.

The arrival of Raquel's friend was one of the foremost storylines tonight. Raquel was still cool to her husband and I could only see things getting worse when her friend arrived. For Raquel it was going to be something of a night of veiled disappointment. Because her brief employment at the salon was due to come to an end. Apparently there had never been any real job for her at all and the salon had been merely trying to accommodate her.

Raquel was sent on her way with a bonus and a grade "A" reference. Her friend quickly picked Raquel up and dusted her off and encouraged her to go for an interview with her the next day at another company. The two of them then spent the afternoon in the Rovers, with Raquel looking down her nose at her past while they got merry.

Des and Claire had words over the living conditions they were experiencing with Claire eventually relinquishing her grip on the flat and deciding to simply use the flat as a postal address. It was Des in the driving seat all the way and that's not necessarily the best thing.

Mavis was forced to admit that she had been in the wrong by blabbing to all and sundry about Ken Barlow. She confided her wrong doings in Derek and Claire (telling her to put a lid on the rumours) but didn't find the face to apologise to Ken face to face. Fiona was singing at a club to a non receptive audience, which fuelled her anger, which in turn caused her to walk off stage. I don't know where Fiona got off thinking she could jump the talent queue but surely common sense told her not every audience would be baying for more of her frankly dodgy singing.

There was yet more slap stick farce with Bill and Maureen as they went out for dinner, rather than have a cup of coffee the other option was to nip back to Bill's for a "night-cap". Once they arrived back at Bill's the two of them who had been trying to keep the relationship secret were seen by Dreary and Roy who both saw them creeping furtively upstairs.

Wednesday 6 November 1996
Raquel's career took some faltering steps forward tonight as she tried to keep people on both sides of her happy. Initially showing signs of hesitant behaviour regarding the job interview Lorraine had suggested for her. She eventually decided to buckle down and try her luck with Curly's support and a little bit of Lorraine's stirring.

Trouble looked to be on the horizon for Claire and Becky as their mother in law came around and started laying down the fire and brimstone about how wrong she was to be claiming a widows pension while living with another man. Claire showed no conscience and no sign of budging.

Bill and Jim had another setback as the van decided to give up the ghost and flatly die on them. Kevin announced the van to be a monetary write off and told them to think about getting a new one. The trouble was they were both skint as Jim had just shelled out £1,000 to Liz.

Tracy came back to the Street and a nation hid underneath the settee, her acting had shown no signs of improving as she told Dreary of her impending plans to be wed within the next month. Dreary took the news well and gave her blessings, as did Ken when he found out the news.

Alec and Rita both pep-talked Fiona tonight about her somewhat slumped singing career. They encouraged her to go on but, as sour-faced as she was, it doesn't look promising.

Raquel's interview for the new job went well and she, Lorraine and Curly sat talking about their fruitful day. Curly looked somewhat disenchanted when the girls talked about how long-term their careers could be if they played their cards right. The thought of playing house and family seemed as far from Raquel's head as could be at that time. Partially due to the subtle machinations of Lorraine.

Jim pulled a little masterstroke to pull him and Bill from the mire, after seeing his ex wife with Sean he assumed she was in the money with a new "boyfriend". Thus he stopped the £1000 cheque and announced he was redirecting the funds towards a new van. Cue World War III.....

Friday 8 November 1996
Ken was upset, as Tracy's adoptive father, of not being able to host the wedding. After Deidre explained this to Tracy she rang boyfriend in London they agreed to move it to Weatherfield so that the tradition of "father of the bride" paying for the wedding could be maintained. Unfortunately the registry office was booked solid for 3 months (puh-lease!) and so they had to take a cancellation - which means the wedding is next week!!!!

Raquel's friend started showing signs of paranoia. She annoyed Curly by making him late for work after hogging the bathroom for an eternity. Then she insisted that her and Raquel couldn't go out anywhere unless the phone rang. She didn't even want Raquel to pop out to the corner shop while she stayed to listen for the phone. When it did ring of course it was to say she'd not made it forward to the next round of interviews - but Raquel had. She lashed out at Raquel about how unfair it was, and how Raquel had "stolen" her job which she wouldn't even have been up for without the friend's assistance. We saw something of the old Raquel back as she apologised profusely and tried to calm things over. The friend left, feeling she couldn't stay around much longer. Curly told Raquel it was obvious she'd do well because "those who've really got class don't even know it" (or something similar). Raquel replied with "you're bound to say that as you're married to me" which seemed to shock Curly as he pointed out "no - that's WHY I married you". This left Raquel looking strangely thoughtful.

Bill persuaded Jim to tell Liz he'd stopped the cheque before she found out the hard way. He was a bit of a wet blanket about it in the Rovers, not really explaining he'd needed the money to guarantee work and of course she went ballistic and started talking lawyers again. He walked out of the Rovers and she chased him down the street. He sat in the van looking defeated and in the end Liz calmed down and he explained the whole situation and how he'd probably done it because he thought she was seeing Shaun and could afford to help her out. They parted semi-amicably with Jim promising to make regular repayments in lieu of the lump sum.

Monday 11 November 1996
Raquel nervously talked with Curly about her next interview that day and about the guilt she felt because Lorraine hadn't been a successful applicant so far.

The interview for the job was one of the primary focuses of tonight's episode. She sat nervously waiting for the actual interview with an other candidate. It was discussed how best to improve their respective chances and one way was removing their wedding bands.

The actual interview was quite a stuffy affair with three panellists fielding questions to Raquel. She answered well with the occasional humorous inflection to her voice. She even felt confident enough to drop in some of her famous conversational French.

Wedding plans were afoot for Tracy and her intended, there was obvious planning to be done with Ken giving Tracy the chance to go an buy a wedding dress. There was also the meeting of the respective parents as well to contend with. Ken and Dreary made every effort to be as accommodating as possible but they could hardly be prepared for what would happen next.

It would seem that Tracy's prospective in-laws were a right old pair of miserable so and so's. They were opposed to the marriage on the grounds that their son was on the rebound from a previous relationship. In his father's words "they weren't happy". Ken and Dreary stated the case for Tracy but at the end of the day relations between the two sets of parents were frosty.

Sean Skinner made a persistent play for Sam and it looked like he might be getting somewhere as well. He finally persuaded her that he could show her a good night out at by offering to take her to the dog track. Sam gave in and decided to go with him. However bitchy Liz came along and put the boot in by informing Sam that Sean was guilty of sexual harassment. Sam who had been looking forward to the event did an about turn and told Sean where to get off.

Joyce showed signs of money troubles, she was hinting to Vera and later to Alec that her dog was ill and needed the attentions of a vet. Her story was designed to tug at the heart strings of her respective employers. Both of them swallowed the stories (both were different illnesses in the dog) and gave Joyce a sub.

Raquel had suitably impressed her prospective employers in the interview. They were keen to offer her a job but there was only one catch. They thought that Raquel was unattached with no hindrances so the job they offered her was in Malaysia. Raquel looked happy on the outside but knowing she would have to face Curly at home soured the moment somewhat.

When Curly found out about the offer his attitude was one of "never mind, there'll be other jobs". Raquel however looked very downcast it was clear she wanted the job but Curly for the time being just wasn't seeing it.

Wednesday 13 November 1996
Raquel and Curly taking a centre stage with a storyline of despair whilst on the flipside of the coin Tracy's wedding took precedence. The day kicked off early morning with a despondent looking Raquel opening her mail in bed.

She had received a letter of confirmation regarding the job in Kuala Lumpur. Curly did his usual reassurance job on her stating that she would find another job and that Kuala Lumpur couldn't have had that much to offer anyway. Raquel was defensive about the job whilst Curly went about the day in a most chipper fashion.

The two of them engaged in idle chat about the job although it was clear to see even at this early stage that Raquel wanted the job badly. Slowly it was to sink into Curly as the day wore on. In fact the dawn of realisation came as he got into the car and he began to ask himself some questions.

He asked himself why Raquel's prospective employers didn't ask about her marital status before making such an offer of a job so far away. He mulled this over and then went back inside to ask Raquel about what had been puzzling him. Raquel was forced to admit she hadn't disclosed her marital status and to make matters worse in Curly's eyes for the interview she had removed her ring.

Meanwhile at Ken's house there was no sign of pre wedding jitters on Tracy's part. The day was being spent in preparation with Tracy and Dreary and Dreary's mum all inspecting the wedding outfit with various types of response. Tracy was taking the entire day in her stride which was of much surprise to everyone.

Curly by now had decided to take the day off work and had retired to the Rovers to sit in quiet contemplation. Talking to Raquel had done little good as they could both pretty much see what was happening. Judy Mallett tried to comfort Curly in her own way but he was already blocking people out.

Meanwhile Raquel had a visit from Fiona who had was passing on a potential client for aromatherapy. Raquel was in need of someone to talk to and Fiona was handy. Raquel discussed the job and what it could offer her life but she still seemed to be no closer to a resolution.

There was a threat to Tracy's wedding looming on the horizon as a phone call from the father of the groom revealed he had not been home that night and neither had the best man. Ken and Dreary allowed some time to pass before worrying unduly.

Before long however they mounted a search for the missing groom, the trail ended up at a friend's house. He had been on the stag night with Robert and revealed what in fact had happened. It transpired that Robert had been very drunk the night before so the stag party had locked him in a shipping container for the night.

In a blind panic, Ken and Dreary began searching the shipping yards looking for Robert but before long they realised it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Especially when the crate was probably being shipped down to Liverpool by now.

Curly returned home from the Rovers in a more depressed state than ever, resigned to the fact that he was going to lose Raquel. He became somewhat bitter and talked at length about how she only felt pity for him and not genuine love. He told her he was going to a sales conference for a few days and when he got back he expected her to have gone to Kuala Lumpur.

Robert turned up unharmed after escaping the shipping container during the early hours of the morning and the wedding took place. In the Rovers the party went well and there was possible sparks of rekindling romance between Ken and Dreary.

Friday 15 November 1996
This was Raquel's swan song tonight as she made the final preparations before her exit to Kuala Lumpur. Curly as we know had already took time out to go to the sales conference so he could spare himself the pain of seeing the woman he loved leave.

We watched Raquel start to pack her bags when there was a knock at the door, Dreary returning something she borrowed for Tracy's wedding. All very poignant it seemed as Tracy celebrated a beginning, Raquel approached the end of a chapter of her life.

Outside of Curly and Raquel's turmoil's things were happening in other people's lives. Jack was once again up to his plotting and planning ways following a conversation with the brewery boss Harvey Nuttall. Jack had buttered Harvey up by telling him about the talent night he had arranged a few months ago. He explained how taking were up on that particular night so Harvey asked Jack to arrange this type of evening for all the local pubs under the Nuttall Brewery.

Jack knew his limitations and promptly called in the expertise of the man who really arranged the talent night. He offered Alec 10% of the commission but Alec was no fool and turned him down stating he would take nothing less than 50%. Jack flatly refused this thinking Alec would come and see his way of thinking.

Tensions was running high between Sean and Liz following their disagreement over her slating him and accusing him of sexual harassment. There was a scene in the corner shop where Sean got to let off some steam. Liz wanted to apologise there and then but he didn't allow her the chance before he left.

At the sales conference in London, Curly was in morose mood as he mourned the death of his marriage. He stills seemed to be vainly clinging to the hope of Raquel changing her mind even though deep in his heart of hearts it wasn't going to happen. Curly even came clean to Eric Firman that his marriage was over as they sat having a drink in the bar. Eric offered words of advice telling Curly to try and win Raquel back. Curly however knew the score and he knew the best thing to do would be to stay away.

Raquel had found an unlikely confidant in the shape of July Mallett, she had originally come around for a chat with Raquel about her worries of being infertile. Raquel tried to reassure her that a Doctor would calm her fears. Judy took this well and then began to question Raquel's packing her bags. Raquel came clean and told of her imminent departure to Kuala Lumpur. She told of the hurt and pain she had inflicted upon Curly and how she regretted doing that. Judy implored Raquel to try and save her marriage but Raquel was resolute it was over. She told Judy that the marriage was a mistake and essentially on her part loveless, she knew that staying would be bad for both of them so the time to end it was now.

Judy proved to be a supportive friend in Raquel's time of need as she spent most of the day with her as she prepared to leave. Of course for now nobody else was going to know about the departure. A particularly poignant scene showed Raquel leaving her wedding band on a pile of Curly's clean and neatly pressed shirts. She was about to walk away from the scene but could not resist taking the ring with her secreted away in her handbag.

Raquel then finalised things by saying a final goodbye to Judy next door, Judy commented about how they could have been good friends given time. Raquel stated that regardless of time they already were "good mates". She asked Judy to keep an eye on Curly for her and with that she was gone.

Elsewhere Liz tracked down Sean to apologise for her recent outbursts and they found themselves alone in the bookies. After the inevitable argument the dust settled and the obvious attraction began to show. Sean admitted he found Liz attractive even though he knew she was trouble. There then came an embrace and a kiss.

Alec meanwhile cut Jack to the quick by snaffling the talent night job from under him by winning Harvey Nuttall's favour with what looked like a cheap or perhaps even a free holiday.

Monday 18 November 1996
It was time to come home and face the music for Curly tonight as he pulled into the Street to face life post-Raquel. Judy Mallett was eager to fulfil her promise to Raquel and ensure that Curly had as much support as she could offer him. This meant recruiting her unwilling husband Gary to go round and give Curly something of a shoulder to cry on.

Gary did his duty under duress and listened to a tearful Curly in his hour of need. Although he was a little at something of a loss to help Curly as he hadn't been through his heartbreak. However he did offer Curly a night out which would mean a fun packed fiesta of lager and curry. Curly wasn't in the mood for such celebrations right about then and took of to spend some time alone for the day.

Jack was still smarting at having the rug pulled out from under his feet by Alec with regards to the Nuttall Brewery promotional night. It was to get worse for him as he discovered that Fred Elliot was taking Rita to a special promotion arranged by the trainer of Betty's Hot Shot. Jack was miffed at being left out of the proceedings and as a result invited Gary along with him to gate crash the party.

Anne Malone was getting on her high horse about working at Firman's without the aid of her boss Curly. Neither him nor Eric had turned into work leaving her snowed under with trainees and the like, and generally making her annoying nature that much worse than usual.

Fiona was offered some support from Emily when it came to want someone to practice with when it came to her musical career. Emily offered her piano skills to aid in Fiona's development. This was an idea immediately pooh poohed by Alec who reckoned all she would learn to sing via Emily would be "Onward Christian Soldiers".

Whilst Fiona was out for the afternoon doing some musical training with a band, Maxine was left hold the fort for the while. In walked an admirer of Fiona's in fact he proclaimed himself her greatest fan. When he saw Fiona was not about he promised to return at some other point.

Curly turned up drunk as a lord at Andy and Anne's house, essentially he was looking for someone to unload his troubles on and these two seemed the most likely targets. He sat and drunkenly rambled on about losing Raquel whilst Anne listened in embarrassed silence. At one stage I even though Curly was even going to make a pass at Anne whilst Andy was in the kitchen. Luckily though he dozed off before he got the chance to embarrass himself.

Wednesday 20 November 1996
The episode started with Curly being nowhere to be found when Andy and Anne woke the morning after he had passed out on their sofa following something of a drinking binge. Anne, being her usual self seemed more concerned about getting some privacy in the bathroom rather than worrying about poor Norman.

All however was as well as could be expected under the circumstances in Curly's camp. He had sneaked home in the early hours and was now getting ready for work. Judy as ever was keeping an eye on her new charge and came round to see if everything was O.K. Curly assured her he was keeping his chin up as best he could but he did have a favour to ask of her. Essentially Curly didn't fancy the lengthy explanations involved in telling people his marriage was over. Thus he asked Judy to be the messenger and bearer of bad tidings which she agreed to do for him.

Alec and Fiona were at loggerheads tonight following a potential double booking that Fiona had arranged for herself. Whilst Alec had arranged a gig which would involve a top agent from London being present, Fiona was to be singing at The Hourglass the same night. A gig which was essentially arranged through Liz McDonald. This led to some friction between the two of them but luckily it was juggled so Fiona could do both gigs in the same night. Alec secretly rang Liz and arranged to be cut in on The Hourglass deal after all he was her manager. Speaking of being her manager Fiona also agreed to a contract between herself and Alec which would give him the booking rights etc.

Liz meanwhile was at the prison visiting her errant son Steve, the general trend of the conversation had something of a negative feel. The only good news for the two of them was Steve was soon to be transferred to an open prison for the remainder of his sentence. The conversation soon soured though when Liz revealed she was seeing Sean Skinner. Although in all honesty I think Liz was making much more of a deal about the "relationship" than was actually there.

Judy was finding it hard to spread the word for Curly about his misfortunes, every time she tried to speak to someone they were generally engaged in conversation or distracted in some way or other. Finally Gary stood up and demanded some silence to allow Judy to get the news out into the open. There was stunned disbelief from all in the Rovers and Vera's solution was to send Jack round to see Curly with some tins of beer.

Round at Curly's house he was talking to his mother and explaining what had happened to his marriage, his mother was obviously distraught and Curly told " mummy" (did I hear that right ?) not to cry. Jack saw fit not to intrude on such a moment and returned to the Rovers. He told Vera he needed a drink as they might never see Raquel again.

Ken and Dreary were at his house poring over the wedding photographs of Tracy, they were also poring over the mess they had made of their marriage to each other with what seemed like some regret. Ken apologised for making a mess of things. Dreary feeling "too comfortable" with the situation decided to leave before things got out of hand.

Curly deliberated over changing his answering machine message, it was time to wipe away aspects of Raquel so he could move on. He laid a new somewhat morose message on his answering machine and went to bed cuddling Raquel's dressing gown crying his eyes out.

Friday 22 November 1996
In response to the recent hammering that Coronation Street has took in the press and the like it has decided to come out fighting with tonight's offering. Starting off with Fred and Rita preparing to go to the race meeting to check on Betty's Hot Shot's progress. Fred was planning to go and mix with hob nobs to impress Rita but Jack and the other share owners in the horse had other ideas.

Jack feeling put out at not receiving an invite for the bash had decided to arrange a little school of gate crashers. The little ensemble consisted of Jack and Don along with Gary Mallett and young Jamie who was merely along for the day out.

Vera of course had grievance because she thought the entire trip was merely an excuse for a booze up and it did look a little bad on Jack's part when he was caught sneaking around the front with a box full of beer for consumption during the day.

Fred arrive first and of course was doing his best to impress Rita with some knowledge (limited) about horses. He was just in the process of furnishing Rita with some more information about the fillies when Don's car came sweeping into the stables with the horn blaring and Jamie hanging out of the sunroof like Bart Simpson given human form.

Fred wasn't impressed by this sighting although Rita quietly hid her amusement, Jack immediately took the situation in hand began swaggering around like he owned the place and that's when things started to go wrong for him. He spied another owner sat astride his horse with photographs being taken for posterity. Jack admired the dressage outfit and immediately pictured himself sat on Betty's Hot Shot with pictures being taken which would immortalise him looking very swanky indeed.

After a quick conversation with the trainer Jack swung it for him to be pictured on Betty's Hot Shot. Within minutes he came waddling out in what looked like and ill fitting dressage costume. Feeling very smug and pleased with himself he mounted the horse and sat posing. Young Jamie saw this as an opportunity to make mischief and blew up a crisp packet which he then burst making the obligatory loud noise which spooked Betty's Hot Shot quite badly.

Within a second the horse had bolted and was off at something of a flying pace, Jack of course not being particularly accomplished in the saddle hung on for dear life. This was much to the amusement of the assembled crowd. The horse raced on for some time until eventually it ground to a sudden halt and threw Jack to the ground.

It was a scene of merriment for everyone watching until it dawned on them that Jack had hit the ground hard and wasn't moving. Despite their calls to rouse him Jack remained still. The smiles and laughter quickly turned to looks of concern and an ambulance was called.

Things were moving at a pace back in the Street as well although at first glance you would not have believed it. Ken turned up to return some wedding photographs of Tracy, Dreary congenially invited him in for a cup of tea which a short while later extended to an invitation to stay for a meal.

Maureen had spent the afternoon round at Curly's offering her support to him in his hour of need. When Curly cracked open a bottle of wine I instantly cast my mind back and anticipated a repeat performance of Curly bedding Maureen whilst under the influence. Instead nothing happened merely some words of comfort before Bill turned up to whisk her away for the evening.

Back at Dreary's the two of them were mulling over their lives and mistakes, Ken admitted regret at losing Dreary and explained how Denise could never have meant as much to him as she did. This prompted something of a bottled up response in Dreary and the two of them moved in to kiss. It all seemed to happen in slow motion and I could swear for a while they almost looked like they were rubbing noses.

Cutting quickly back to the Street a car pulled up outside Ken's house, it's occupants were none other than Denise and her boyfriend Brian. They had business with Ken and that business was obviously related to baby Daniel.

Back at Dreary's again at this point the two of them were still locked in what I thought was a pretty un-inspiring kiss. Following that Dreary then took Ken by the hand and led him to the bedroom of all places.

At this point Denise and Brian were out of the car and knocking at Ken's door, Kelly was dutifully attending her nannying tasks as she answered the door. Denise upon seeing baby Daniel barged in with little of a word of explanation it had been a long time and she obviously wanted to catch up with her son. In fact it was clear she wanted to take Daniel away with her. Denise's approach was pretty heavy handed to say the least and with Brian stomping around as well it didn't make matters any better. This panicked Kelly and she quickly tried to ring Ken at Dreary's .

Back at Dreary's nobody, but nobody, was going to be answering the phone tonight, Ken and Dreary were on the bed and they were all over each other like a rash showering passionate kisses on each other. Heck Dreary had even taken her glasses off, in the background the phone was ringing but Ken was dusting off the cobwebs and he looked pretty unstoppable. "Don't answer the phone" he rasped urgently.

Denise and Brian were not in any mood to hang around at Ken's place and insisted on taking Daniel there and then. Kelly was hysterical and understandably so at this point because Denise was simply content to leave with the child and do a vanishing act.

Sunday 24 November 1996 (First Sunday episode)
Tonight's offering kicked off where the previous episode left us, with the phone ringing with a senses of urgency over at Dreary's house. It was Dreary who jumped out of bed first to answer the insistent caller. The caller was none other than a hysterical Kelly who was desperately trying to inform Ken that Denise was in the house and trying to take baby Daniel.

Faster than a speeding bullet Ken jumped off the wet patch and instantly got dressed and sped back to the Street to confront his nemesis and former partner Denise. She and Brian were in the house sat there as cool as ice and ready to take Daniel out of the house. Dreary had come with Ken to act as moral support. Ken angrily rasped for Denise to hand the child back but she merely responded with a legal letter stating that she could legally scarper with Daniel there and then. Ken locked the door in a desperate bid to keep his son with him whilst Denise outlined that she would allow him access once a fortnight.

Kelly was still in floods of tears whilst Ken found himself in something of a dead end situation. Denise appeared to have all the legal angles sewn up tightly and for now Ken had no recourse but to let little Daniel go. All his possessions were packed away including his teddy bears and toys and Brian and Denise rushed from the house before speeding off into the night.

Meanwhile Vera had left the Rovers Return in Judy Mallett's hands while she went off to maintain a bedside vigil with her stricken husband. Jack had broken his arm and it would appear slipped a disc in his back leaving him something of an invalid for the foreseeable future. Jack's immediate response as he came round from the anaesthetic was the belief that he was dead. He was relieved to discover he was still amongst the living especially when he thought that being dead would mean Fred Elliot's booming voice was still in the vicinity.

Throughout the waiting at the hospital Fred spent his time with Rita Sullivan as they reminisced about the old days and the like to pass on the time of day. Rita insisted Fred go home rather than have the two of them hang around. A somewhat chivalrous Fred declined the offer.

Fiona was in the process of getting on Alec's bad side as she pulled out of the gig he had contracted for her. Instead she was warming for a night on at the hourglass instead with her mobile fan club of Tony and Maxine along for company. Liz was serving behind the bar and was getting some attention from a heavy drinking stranger who was engaging in small talk for most of the night. Liz looked a little nervous at the creepy gentleman's attention and was relieved when he finally left. However not before leaving an envelope full of cash marked from "a friend of your son's".

Fiona performed her set and just as an aside words can't begin to describe how bad her singing was but then most of us had gathered that already from previous performances. However there is no accounting for taste and Fiona had attracted the attention of the gentleman who had been in the salon the other declaring himself as a fan. When Alec turned up reading the riot act he came over and bailed Fiona out as well as bringing her a drink of champagne.

Ken was heartbroken at losing his son to Denise and it looked like the only course of action for him to follow was to do things by the book and take a legal approach to getting him back. Kelly went out for some chips whilst Ken sat weeping.

To end things Fred walked Rita home from the Rovers where Vera had treated them to a free drink for their troubles. He talked about how he enjoyed her company and how well they got on. It became clear Fred had something to say, in his own inimitable way Fred managed to stumble out a marriage proposal. Rita looked shocked as Fred asked her to think about it for a while.

Monday 25 November 1996
Something of a slower paced episode than recent offerings with a less focused approach than I'd have liked. Starting off with Vera mulling over the bills pouring into the Rovers at the moment. What upset her was a catalogue red letter which she was sure she had paid through Joyce. It seemed clear that Joyce had not paid up as she claimed she had which led us to speculate further on her money problems.

Rita told Mavis about her proposal from Fred which led Mavis on a little trail of put downs and mockery about Weatherfield's most famous butcher. Mavis harped on about how unpleasant Fred was whilst Rita merely listened to what she had to say. Almost as a deliberate rebuttal of Mavis's cruel attack on Fred, Rita said she intended to marry him.

As always Mavis was unsure whether Rita was telling the truth or merely pulling her leg. All the same she found it necessary to tell Derek in the Rovers at lunch time which led to more deliberation between the two of them.

Ken meanwhile went to seek legal advice from a local solicitor about getting his son Daniel back. It would seem Ken's case wasn't as good as he could have hoped with his prospects only being "pleadable". If he was going to have any chance of getting Daniel back it meant a tremendous amount of effort being made on his part involving regular visits to Scotland, where Daniel was now living. It also meant getting Kelly to move out thus to avoid anyone getting the wrong idea about their relationship when the case went to court. Naturally this idea didn't go down with Kelly but she was forced to accept it and for now she looked like moving back in with her mother and father.

Liz told Dreary about her benefactor and the fact that a friend of her son had given her £1,000. There was some confusion over who had given the money but Liz intended to get to the bottom of the matter and find out who was her benefactor indeed was.

Speaking of Dreary she was eager to find out where she stood with Ken following their recent bout of horizontal dancing. She went to see Ken to spend some time with him in his hour of need. However she found him to be somewhat cold towards her and in the end all she got from him was something of a rebuttal.

Jack was going stir crazy in hospital due to being laid up on his back all the time. Various hospital practises were causing him some embarrassment including the regime of using a bedpan. He thought all his birthdays had come at once when a female nurse came to give him his bed bath however. Unfortunate his look soured when he saw his bath would be administered by none other than Martin Platt.

Wednesday 27 November 1996
Vera overheard Jamie talking about some Christmas card, and Vera decided Jack was a little love, and that she was going to treat him, as he had been planning a nice surprise for her.

She later found out from Judy's mum what Jack's surprise really was, i.e. the picture of him and the horse saying Merry Christmas from me and the old nag ! She now has a surprise planned for him !

Mavis invited Rita for Sunday Lunch, and slipped in the fact that she may invite Fred. Rita told Mavis she can organise her own love life thankyou very much without Mavis's interference.

Fiona confronted Alec, who was sat in the Rovers behind a newspaper. He said before he would discuss anything else she owed him an apology, and until he heard one, the possible booking for the weekend would not be confirmed. She later apologised and got the booking in Scunthorpe sorted.

Diedre called round to see Ken, and tried to make some arrangements for Friday night but he said he was busy doing something else. He was going up Scotland and Dierdre offered to go with him, but he cold shouldered her again.

Jamie got a box from the Cabin and put a pigeon in it, and took the pigeon to see Jack at the hospital.

Friday 29 November 1996
A good deal of the show was devoted to the will they or wont they storyline of Rita and Fred's potential marriage. Rita was of course truly flummoxed as to what to do for the best and essentially stalled for more time by making out she was little under the weather with flu.

Fred was almost in the doghouse tonight when young Jamie revealed Fred had announced his proposal to Jack at the hospital. Fred panicked at the prospect of being on Rita's bad side but as it happened he needn't have worried as Rita couldn't stay mad at him for long although it didn't help her come to a decision one way or the other.

Alf however was consumed with jealousy and it showed, he discovered from Audrey what Fred's intentions were whilst driving. In shock he drove the car up a wrong way street and drove slap bang into a police car. Something which made him the butt of many jokes at the Rovers later on. Incidentally he voiced his opinion of Fred loudly in the Rovers at that point as well.

The Malletts had of course put all their usual trimmings up in the windows of their home making the house look like Blackpool illuminations. Gary had done this in an effort to cheer up his "under the weather" wife. There was of course the usual baby agenda as far as Gary was concerned.

Fiona tempted the wrath of Alec by dropping out of yet another booking by deciding to go away for the weekend with her new boyfriend. It was to be something of a swanky dinner and dance affair which turned Fiona's head completely. Maxine was a tad disapproving of Fiona for dropping Alec in it but agreed to cover for her when she left.

Vera was being more or less deserted at her post in the Rovers due to staff shortage, Andy had to be at an engagement bash with Anne. Judy was sneezing for England so she was sent home for the night and as for Betty she simply wouldn't do it. Thus poor Vera was going to be rushed of her feet for the night all alone behind the bar. At the hourglass Liz was received some flowers from her secret admirer, she showed no happiness at the prospect of being the focus of such attention and made that quite clear to the bearer of the flowers.

 

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