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First off this week, Betty told Fred she was handing in her notice at
the Rovers. Fred takes it with a pinch of salt until he realises she's
serious and then he gets worried. And so, as Betty pulls her last pint
(which she hands over to Jack) and serves her last hot pot, her leaving
was almost, but not quite, as sad as when Hilda went. Fred arranges a
party for her in the Rovers and invites some old faces to share the
event. There's her son Gordon ("that's not Gordon!" the nation cried as
A Jobbing Actor tries to fill Gordon's shoes) with his snooty blonde
wife and Betty's overjoyed to see them. She's even more pleased when
Gordon asks Betty to go live with them in Wimbledon and Jack muses that
he and Vera once thought of moving south once, to Macclesfield. And
then, just when Betty was thinking of resting her corns, an old face
from the past returned to the Street.
There was never a subtle way to handle the return of Bet Lynch but John
Stevenson, the writer for these cracking two episodes, did it with
humour and style. I guess it depends on whether you like her or loathe
her but I wanted Bet back and I think it worked. In full drag-artist
make-up with leopard skin prints, ear-rings the size of flash bulbs and
artificial blonde wig, the creature that is Bet Lynch climbed out of a
taxi and walked into the Rovers. Her vulnerability is apparent right
from the start (but only ever to the viewer), and it's interesting to
see how the regulars react. Many know her, of course, and are glad to
see her turn up for Betty's party. But a lot of them have never met Bet
before. "Who's that old slapper?" asks Janice while Les tries to chat
up "that old tart over there". Bet has yet to meet Roy and Hayley and
it'll be interesting to see what she makes of those two although it'll
be even more interesting to see what they make of her. Bet tells
Audrey she had fallen in love in Tenerefee to a man called Bruce with a
40ft barge. But now he's dead and she's feeling alone; who better than
Audrey to understand and let her stay at her house? Bet catches up on
all the news, astounded to hear that Jack and Vera once owned the
Rovers but even more surprised to hear that Curly's married a copper:
"Never mind who wears the trousers in that house, who's in charge of the
truncheon?". The only one not gushing to speak to Bet is Rita, who
remembers only too well that their friendship had ended just before Bet
left. They speak to each other, finally, cordially.
As Bet lights up another cigarette and does her second rate Bette Davis
routine, the one she's always done so well, Audrey comments: "I see
you're still smoking, then?" to which Bet replies: "I'm still
everything, chuck." And indeed she is.
And so as Bet returns, Betty leaves. I'm sorry for the clichŽ but it
really is the end of an era - for Betty Williams, the Rovers, Coronation
Street and us. She'll be missed.
After last week's shenanigans on the red rec, Fred and Roy finally shake
hands and make up after Roy admits: "I behaved in a petty and infantile
manner". Oh yes, you did. Roy tries to explain to Hayley how his
raging emotions and violent feelings came to the fore as he cornered
Fred on the cobbles, but she isn't listening to him too much, not as
he's fondling a huge knife in the cafŽ as he speaks. Bless him.
It's Bethany's second birthday and Sarah's in no mood to stay indoors
and play mum. She nicks off out with Ade and Candice leaving the baby
at the party with everyone else. When Todd finds out he finishes with
her and when Gail finds out she grounds her.
Norris is thrilled to be picked as a steward in the Manchester
Commonwealth Games. There was a dodgy scene in the Rovers when Jack
collared Norris to ask him if he could get him access to the swimming
pool where the synchronised swimmers do their swimming, synchronised.
Too many shades of Len Fairclough for that scene to be funny.
Les is a stinking, creepy rat. Whoops, read my notes wrong, it should
have said Les has stinking, creepy rats. Ah, what the heck. Emma and
Curly have a BBQ in their back yard and have already taken issue with
Les over the amount of rubbish he's hoarding in his. Les does nothing,
of course, and on the day of the BBQ there are rats running around
inside Curly's kitchen. "I'll talk to him!" says Curly. "I'll cripple
him!" says Emma, and she almost does too. She grabs Les by the lapels
and slams him up against the wall (it was dead good this bit) and
threatens to stick rats where the sun don't shine if he doesn't clear
his rubbish. Les still does nothing and neither does Curly, who had
promised Emma he'd call the rat-catcher at the council. Masculine
inertia proves too much for Emma so she takes baby Ben and stays at her
mate's.
Karen overhears Vik say that Joe's fresh out of prison and of course,
she's straight on the gossip to Janice and Fiz. Later in the Rovers,
Geena overhears and isn't best pleased but doesn't seem bothered after
Joe gives her a bit of a talking to. He tells her that there's no need
to worry, he was only jailed for doing fraudulent things with ladies
pants.
Sexy (yeah, right) Sam the stripper left this week; what a waste of time he was.
And that's just about that for this week.
Glenda
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