Well folks, Denise has left!! Ken goes to see her again regarding
access to Danny and hands her a letter outlining his 'demands'
(as she requested from him). She takes the letter from Ken and
then later Fiona sees Denise getting into a taxi with baby Danny.
Fiona asks her where she is going but she doesn't say, she just
says she wants to get away from everything and tells Fiona to
look after the salon for her while she is away. When Ken finds
out he tells Fiona he thinks it's a 'positive' thing for Denise
to have done, although I'm not quite sure why he said this. Fiona
calls John and he comes into the salon to help out for a few hours
while he tries to contact other hairdressers to get some permanent
help for Fiona.
Ken goes to see the consultant at the hospital about giving one
of his kidneys to Tracey and the consultant tells him he can't
give his kidney as he is not a suitable match for Tracey. Shamir
is feeling a bit left out, feeling that Ken is only trying to
help Tracey to get back into Deidre's good books and Shamir and
Deidre argue over this. Then, Shamir announces that he is going
to meet with the consultant to see if he is a suitable match for
Tracey and *surprise* he is! (I don't think anyone saw that one
coming 8-) ) Tracey has come out of hospital now and is living
in Ken's flat with Deidre and Shamir although she is being quite
unpleasant to Shamir. She doesn't know yet that he could be her
donor.
Vera and Jack's grandson Tommy is staying with them now before
they all go on holiday to Mould in North Wales this coming weekend.
Vera decides to throw a little party for Tommy and invites Martin
and Gail's children and Rosie Webster. Vera falls asleep and one
of the children draws a moustache on her face! Des brings a little
toy to Tommy and is overjoyed to see him again. Jack is at a loss
as he has no one to look after his pigeons when he goes on holiday,
so in the end agrees to little Jamie looking after them. Derek
is not amused when he finds pigeon droppings on his new gnomes!
Now that Tracey is out of hospital she is living in Ken's flat
with Deidre and Shamir and space is a little tight, so Deidre
arranges for both her and Shamir to move out of the flat and live
with Liz and Jim McDonald in Andy's bedroom (who moves in with
Des). Shamir is feeling very jealous of Deidre's feelings towards
Ken, especially when Deidre kisses Ken in front of Shamir. When
they move into the McDonald's house they argue and Deidre slaps
Shamir across the face, although they patch things up later. Deidre
wants to tell Tracey that Shamir is prepared to donate his kidney
to her (more tests pending) but Shamir doesn't want Tracey to
know yet. Tracey continues to be as awful as ever, especially
to Shamir.
Martin passes his exams and is now a qualified nurse. Maud Grimes
buys him a present. He is so pleased that he has passed and relieved
at the exams being over so he books a family holiday in a caravan
park. Gail doesn't want to go at first but is persuaded and they
set off. They awake on their first morning in the caravan to hear
Jack and Vera Duckworth shouting at each other. It turns out that
the Duckworth's have gone to the same caravan park as the Platt's
and are in the caravan next door to them. Gail and Martin are
trying to get back on normal terms with each other. Vera takes
the Platt children out for an afternoon and play hide and seek,
with Jack doing the hiding. Of course, he runs straight to the
local pub and can't find his own caravan when he comes back much
later that evening.
Don and Josie were planning a quiet holiday weekend (it's been
a holiday here on May 8th to celebrate 50th anniversary of VE
day) but their plans are dashed when Nicky decides to stay with
Don rather than go to the caravan with his family. Josie asks
Don if they could go away on holiday later in the year together.
One of Derek's gnomes has gone missing from his garden and there
is still no sign of Denise (not that these are connected in any
way... !) Fiona brings in one of her friends to the salon to help
out, she is a real flirt and chats up Des Barnes in the Rovers.
Des takes out little Tommy to the park and another chap there
asks Des if Tommy is his only child, and a rather wistful look
comes over Des' face.
Things are still tense between Steve/Vicky/Fiona. Vicky has invested
more money into Steve's business on condition that she has total
financial control, she also brings him to book over quality control
too. Vicky is doing her utmost to get back into Steve's life much
to Fiona's annoyance.
On the night of the VE Day celebrations, two old soldiers drink
in the Rovers, just as they had done 50 years earlier on the night
that the war ended. One of them, Billy Williams remembers Betty
from 1945, they celebrated the end of the war together. Billy
and Betty become friends again and he takes her to a tea dance
one afternoon and confesses that he thought about her often over
the years and that he wrote to her often too. Betty tells him
that she wrote to him but neither of them received each others
letters because of the war, and Billy tells Betty that in one
of his letters he had asked her to marry him!
Derek and Mavis receive a postcard from a topless beach in Eastbourne,
which has been signed by the missing gnome. Mavis suspects that
Des Barnes has stolen the gnome and that he intends to make a
fool of her and Derek.
Samir confides in Jim McDonald that he is scared about donating
his kidney to Tracey. Jim tells him that it has to be his own
decision. Tracey is feeling very sorry for herself and argues
with Ken who tells her not to be so selfish. She goes to borrow
some money from Deidre so she can have a drink in the Rovers with
her friend and Samir expresses concern that she shouldn't be drinking
so she argues with Samir and then Deidre and walks out shouting
at them both.
Denise rings Fiona in the salon and gives her the telephone number
and address of her sister's house where she is staying. Fiona
tells Ken she knows where Denise is, Deidre advises Ken to get
in touch with Denise regarding Danny or it could look like Ken
isn't concerned about the baby.
Mike Baldwin gives Trisha 2 months notice to leave the house and
of course she is most upset about this and complains to Racquel
and Betty in the Rovers, who have little sympathy for her.
Gail and Martin's relationship is getting back to normal now after
they enjoyed themselves on their caravan holiday. Nicky has a
girlfriend now... he takes her to Don's house when they should
both be at school and they are just getting to grips with each
other on the sofa when Josie walks in on them. Don says he won't
tell Gail and Martin about it as long as it doesn't happen again.
Alf and Betty are getting ready to hang up the Mayoral chain as
their year of command ends this week.
Bet hasn't been in the show for a while
A controversial Coronation Street story line in which Deidre Barlow's
toyboy husband Samir dies after donating a live kidney to save
his dying stepdaughter Tracey is to be dropped, it was claimed
today. The proposed plot provoked protests from kidney charities
who feared it would put off real life donors worried for their
safety, it was claimed. According to the proposed story line,
actor Al Nedjari's character was to be killed off by the effects
of anaesthetic after the operation to remove a kidney to save
Tracey. She was to be shown on dialysis after suffering renal
failure caused by experimenting with drugs. Instead, according
to newspaper reports, he will be found beaten almost to death
beside a canal. The drug plot will remain however. Screen wife
Deidre Barlow will then make the heartbreak decision to turn off
his life support system once his kidney has been used to save
her daughter's life. National Kidney Research fund director general
Leslie Rout said "If they have changed the alleged ending
then we applaud them for having the courage to listen to public
comments".
Well, she's back!! Ken calls to see Denise at her sisters house
and she invites him in for a coffee but doesn't offer any information
as to when she might come back to the street, or even if she ever
will. Then, last night Denise came back into the Street (without
Danny) and after briefly calling into the salon to see Fiona,
she headed straight to see Ken. Denise told Ken she'd been doing
some thinking while she was at her sisters and she realised she
had been wrong all this time. She wants to try again with Ken,
to start the relationship over again and to bring Danny up in
as normal a family environment as possible. In fact, she almost
pleaded with Ken. Ken told Denise he'd had time to think too,
and as much as he would love to be involved in baby Danny's life,
he could not commit himself to Denise at this stage, only to have
her change her mind about the relationship when it suited her.
They argue and shout at each other and in the end Ken asks Denise
to leave his flat.
Samir has further tests at the hospital to see if he is definitely
suitable to donate a kidney to Tracy, and the tests come back
positive. Deidre tells Samir that if he doesn't want to have the
operation, then he doesn't have to, but Samir has made up his
mind, and they tell Tracy. Samir, Tracy and Deidre go to the hospital
together for pre- operation counselling and the doctor asks to
see Samir and Tracy together only. They end up confessing to the
doctor that they are both scared about the operation, and Samir
even gets Tracy to smile! Deidre is pleased that Samir and Tracy
are now on speaking terms with each other, and the operation is
set for Friday 2nd June.
A bouquet of flowers arrive at the Rovers for Betty. Racquel jokes
to Betty that they are from her new friend Billy Williams but
they turn out to be from Alf, as a thank you for being his mayoress
this past year.
Steve McDonald receives an order from an Irish company in Dublin.
Vicky checks out the company before they do business with them
and it turns out that it is a legitimate business. Fiona wants
to fly to Dublin with Steve when he goes to get the order, but
Vicky buys two plane tickets for herself and Steve only.
Alma and Audrey have a day trip out together to Southport where
they go shopping. They pop into a pub for a drink with all of
their shopping bags when two men come and sit at their table as
there are no free seats left in the pub. One of them comments
on Audrey's collection of shopping bags, and she tells him it's
because she is a fashion buyer for a large store, and tells them
that Alma is a catering consultant. They really wind the 2 blokes
up and when they leave, one of them gives Alma his business card
as he would like her catering expertise for one of his businesses.
They both just treat the outing as a big joke but when they get
back to the street, Audrey rings the number on this business card
and pretends to be Alma. The chap then rings the cafe later asking
for Alma and with Audrey encouraging Alma, she arranges to meet
the chap on Friday for a business meeting.
At the Rovers, Tricia asks Bet for her wages and Bet gives her
less money than she usually does. She tells Tricia it's because
she's only paying her for the work that she has carried out, and
reprimands her for being late and sloppy in her work. Tricia doesn't
take the criticism lightly and both she and Bet end up arguing
in the bar in front of everyone. Bet gives Tricia the sack, tells
her to leave and not to come back.
Maureen and Maud are both laid in bed ill with gastro- enteritis
and so Reg has to find someone to work in the corner shop and
Deidre steps in to help for a while. Then, when Tricia finds out
that Reg needs help in the shop, she offers to work there and
Reg takes her on. She has only been there a couple of days when
she brings Jamie in to help her and he's already started eating
the stock!
Vicky tells Bet that she is in business with Steve McDonald. Bet
isn't too keen on this idea as she thinks Steve is just using
Vicky to get at her money. A thug called Denny comes around to
Steve McDonald's flat when he is out, Fiona lets him in and the
thug starts smashing chairs and ornaments because Steve owes his
boss some money. Fiona is shaken by this but Steve gives her no
sympathy at all, in fact he walks out on her and over to the Rovers
where he is as nice as can be to Vicky, and holds Vicky's hand
across the bar.
Deidre and Ken have a chat about Denise and Deidre advises Ken
to perhaps allow Denise a second chance, which he now seems to
be doing. Denise confides in Bet at the Rovers about her relationship
with Ken, but doesn't get much sympathy from Bet. Ken and Denise
go out together on the Bank Holiday Monday with baby Danny and
Denise is being very nice to Ken, although they are taking things
one step at a time.
Samir prepares Lancashire hotpot for Deidre, Jim and Liz in the
McDonald household. However, Jim and Liz are now starting to feel
the strain of sharing their house with Samir and Deidre and want
more privacy. Tracy tells Samir that he doesn't have to go through
the operation if he really doesn't want to, and that she is prepared
to have dialysis for as long as it takes for another kidney to
turn up from a donor. Samir tells her that he is ready for the
operation, no matter what.
Mavis and Derek's gnome turns up on his doorstep after a knock
on their front door, we still don't know(m) who took it.
