Julie Goodyear

I do spoilers. I check the ITV Corrie updates and i also download episodes. I even write an update summary now for the first Monday episode each week for a few mailing lists. I don't do many spoilers on here, though, because i wanted it to be a Canadian timeline blog, mainly a place to keep my Sunday comments or rantings about current to us storylines. Occasionally i branch off and this is one of those times.

I mentioned downloading. I knew that ex-Bet Lynch Gilroy was going to be on a celebrity Mr. and Mrs. game show in the UK. It's one of those shows like we used to have, the Newlyweds where newish married couples have to answer questions on how well they know each other. The celeb version in the UK has them playing for charities. I was really interested to see Julie and her new husband Scott Brand. Julie and Scott have been together for about 12 years but only just tied the knot last year. Their wedding pictures are here on an unofficial Julie Goodyear website. Even though she got married in a white dress with a veil, i actually thought she looked quite nice. I would have expected a 60+ year old woman in a white bridal gown to look ludicrous but she didn't at all though i think the veil might have been a tad much. Still, she did look nice and she certainly looked happy although who knows, she certainly does know how to put it on for the cameras but on the surface, she looked like every happy bride.

Scott is quite a bit younger than her, about 18 or 20 years, i think, and is close to the age of her own son, Gary. Looking at him in a couple of those photos, he looks like he has quite a hang-dog type face and looks awkward in a wide smile. It's like smiling isn't his natural facial expression! Anyway. Back to Mr. and Mrs.

Julie looked really good. She's short. I'm always surprised at how short she is and Scott is tall. She's heavier these days and her face is softening and filling out and aging but having said that, she looks fabulous. She had a much lighter touch with the makeup than we're used to seeing her with, as Bet. But Bet always was over the top. She had a lovely purpley bluey sparkly dress on and it really suited her. Sure, she was "on" for the cameras and for the show but again, not over the top. I actually got the impression she was a bit nervous. She "acted" a bit nervous sometimes trying to guess the answers to the questions but you could almost see behind that, that there was a real "nervous" under it. Maybe i'm seeing things.

My impression of Scott, though... Julie said she wore the pants in the family and i can believe that. He's very understated and quiet. He seems content to let her rule the roost and one thought that went through my head when i watched their interaction was "lap dog". That doesn't sound very nice, i know, and i don't mean it to be nasty really. Maybe it's because he just is so quiet and seems to defer to her all the time. She's so much a dominant personality, very much the Diva in front of the cameras though she is probably lower key in private. But maybe not. You only know the person that they let you see, even in her autobiography recently, you could tell she has a strong personality.

So how well did they know each other? The questions weren't that difficult for the most part. I did have to laugh at one. He was asked what her favourite drink was. He started with Baccardi and Pepsi Max but changed it to a nice cuppatea. Was he worried that it would make her look like a boozer or just that tea is her usual every day drink and the Baccardi is her favourite alcoholic drink? Anyway, she came back and was "stumped" at first because she wasn't sure if it meant a drink for when she's going out somewhere special or just normal. No hints. So she said Baccardi and coke. No? Then she said Baby Cham(pagne) so that was her "going out special" drink. She seemed flummoxed when it was revealed that it was a cup of tea. She answered questions that he later had to guess first and he got all of them correct. Three of them were questions about him so it implies she knows him well or at least knows what he would answer to the same questions. When he had to answer questions that she would later guess, she got two of the four wrong (one was the Baccardi question) so I guess that means he doesn't know her as well as she does him.

Sometimes i felt that the questions were almost something that were pre-determined. She was asked what his favourite piece of leopard print was. She implied he had it on him (underpants was the implication though she didn't say). It turned out to be a small TY stuffed leopard he keeps as a good luck charm in his inside jacket pocket. It just seemed odd that he would have that with him but maybe a 40 something year old man is daft enough to carry that around. I don't know. But it's one of the things that made me think it was a bit of a setup. Maybe the celeb ones are, and they have a list of acceptable questions vetted ahead of time?

Anyway, i skipped all the parts that they weren't on so i can't say how the rest of the show was. I didn't know the other celebs so i didn't bother. I like to see the actors in interviews but things like a game show or cooking show, something more casual, lets you see a different side of their off screen personality.

Sunday Comments, April 27

Lines of the week:

• Sean "I can keep my gob shut when i have to" (really?)
  
• Paul "I can pretty much work with anything" (and work anything and anyone)
  
• Sean "Why does everyone have me down as a man-slut?"
  
• Cilla to Jodi "you don't get a figure like this by eating dross like that!"
  
• Pat "It gets lonely on the road" "The others mean nothing to me"
  
• Violet to Jamie "The only baby that's causing any trouble around here is you" (and she's right)
  

Today's the day. Once Violet chokes down the healthy breakfast Sean is making for her, it's time to pee on a stick. She's scared to find out if she's pregnant i think, and scared of the disappointment if she isn't. How come Jamie's so nice to her and worried about her all of a sudden, too? She burst into tears over the stick. Is she or isn't she? Coming out of the health clinic was a clue. She is! And she's already pushing Sean away. Well after she had the ectopic pregnancy, no wonder she's scared. Sean wittering on about pregnancy isn't helping her nerves. Aww well at least the scan shows everything is ok. She's making him wait 12 weeks. You *know* he's not going to last five minutes. And he didn't. He was happier than if he'd met the love of his life in a bar and blurted it out to Jamie.

But it's a secret, so when Violet came by at the opportune moment, he let Jamie figured it out for himself. That way he can't say he told him. Now Jamie is jealous and it looks like he's still got feelings for Violet after all. Looks like that undying love for Frankie really was just a moment of madness and well forgotten. Sean *is* selfish, let's face it. This is going to be a very long pregnancy for poor Vi. She thinks she's doing the right thing having the baby on her own but Sean's excitement and need to be a father is going to run her ragged.

Blanche is on a mission to find out who is smoking in the Rovers toilets. Laughed at Kevin pointing out that Deirdre smokes 50 a day. How much you want to bet it's Liz having a crafty fag? Yep, it was her, hiding it from Vernon. As if he couldn't smell it on her. Blanche busted her anyway. Liz is good at breaking her promises. I think she didn't try the patch before because she really didn't want to quit. I'm not sure she does now. Telling Steve about her affair to prove what a good man Vernon is as compared to Jim, was that more information than a son really needs to know? Now he's moaning about Michelle. Yet again. He thinks Michelle is bored around him. I don't know what it is but they just annoy me, especially her giving him constant mixed signals.

Sally's kids don't really understand why she wants to do schoolwork. It seems like Sally might have bitten off more than she can chew. Sophie should be well chuffed that her mother has a Jane Austen book. It wasn't so long ago she was running around quoting Austen herself. Sally puts on to the other workers that her books are very interesting but i don't think she's got a sweet clue. Janice comes across as jealous and threatened by Sally trying to better herself and Even Roger can see that. Fiz ought to understand, though, she used to want more out of life, too and still does. Hmm. So Fiz's John is going to be Sally's tutor for a fee. Poor John. I think it's going to be an uphill battle but maybe she's picked books that are a bit much for a beginner, too.

For all the new cook was appalled that Leanne served microwave meals on his first day, he was sure quick to decide it was a lot less work and suggested it the next day as well. Paul was critical of Leanne when he visited and then turned around and applied for the job of cook. No question that he wouldn't be hired though. At least she'll have a proper cook, though. If he's any good, the restaurant will make money. Sounds like Paul left his most recent job under a shadow. He got off with the boss's wife, so he says. Sounds like he is indeed a chip off the old Terry block. And I think he and Leanne are a lot alike. (I love pasta carbonara too!) I'm sure Paul has all the patter for the suppliers. He even has his own white cook's whites. Did he bring it with him? Roger's invested everything and now he can't work because he's got a bum shoulder. Things are looking dire for Roger.

Ashley apologizes all over Casey's phone and it'll never happen again and then he asks her if she wants to meet up. Uh. Yeah. He can resist anything except temptation. And what does he do? Bring flowers but all he came for was to tell her about Josh being ill the day before. Most men on Corrie *never* do that unless they feel guilty about something. I think Casey's attitude is only winding Ashley up even more and he's losing more and more patience with Claire. What he needs to do is get her to a doctor to get some help with her anxiety because she's doing a really good job of avoiding the problem by staying away. When Ashley said Claire was coming home tomorrow, you could see the wheels turning in Casey's head and she was determined to make it not happen smoothly. Claire is very very good at saying things that put doubts in Ashley's and Claire's mind and pulling them away from each other.

Claire's really broken inside and Ashley, while sympathetic, doesn't seem to *really* get it. Someone tried to kill Claire and Ashley is being very thick about it. Casey found a great excuse for Claire to be out of the house and zeroed in on Ashley. I'm not excusing Ashley finding comfort in Casey's arms, there's still no excuse for that, but you *could* see it coming a mile away. She played on his insecurities and he jumped at the chance. Gotta say, though, the actress, Zoe Henry, is really really good. Good God, though. They nearly did it *out in the glass walled conservatory*!!!! How stupid is that for taking the chance of getting caught and they nearly did, by Claire!! They might not actually have gone all the way but you know it's only a matter of time, no matter how horrified Ashley is at his behaviour.

I laughed at Cilla calling Jodi fat! Pots and kettles? She's on a campaign now to give the kebab shop a bad reputation. Happy Birthday, Chesney! All he got for pressies were for the dog who's now gone missing. I'm guessed it was Cilla left the gate open because she lost her job and figured she can't afford to feed a horse the size of a dog. But it was Jodi thinking she was getting her own back on Cilla, not realizing (duh) that it was the lad's dog. Cilla wasn't too pleased to see the dog back either.

Eileen spent a whole weekend with Pat and Jason makes some really good points about her seeing a married man by asking her what she'd say if it was him seeing a married woman. Eileen makes very good points throwing the pot/kettle thing at Lloyd and STeve, too. But does she really believe that Pat and his wife aren't sleeping together? That's one of the biggest lies that most cheating husbands tell their other women. Maybe he's not but he's certainly got more than one other woman on the go. Sweetie, if he runs with you, he'll also run on you. Turns out he's not even married. Just didn't want anyone to get any ideas about committment so he could cut a swathe through all the women he met. I guess Pat is well and truly dumped this time, with a wonderful thump to the face!! Go Eileen! I love the friendship between Steve and Eileen. Steve only just got back off holiday and he's away again, to Malta, with Eileen on a mates' holiday.

We're back to non-curly Freddy baby. Oh i'm sick and tired of Gail haranguing the Mortons about their music. The Mortons are being unreasonable, i'm saying. Poor Gail was abit out numbered but she stood, or sat, her ground. Compromise, they'll be better about the sound level if she lays off about the shed. How's Hayley, Claire asks. *Where's* Hayley, I ask. Kirk and Tyrone giggling about seeing a woman breast feeding and Kirk wonders why Fiz prefers John? Claire likes books by Marian Keyes. So do i! Becky thinks Tyrone has a crush on her. He might. Just a tad. Everyone likes to be flattered.

Ashley, Ashley, Ashley

First off, just a note. CBC and Granada have signed a new long term contract so we'll have Corrie on CBC for the foreseeable future. They're also going to create a website for Canadian fans with (i think) streaming video of the shows for catch ups as well as interviews and other features. No eta on that yet.

Some spoilers below but it's pretty obvious where this storyline is going anyway.


I know what the powers that be are doing. Casey lost her baby and now she want's Claire's life. She's slowly pushing Claire out and sucking Ashley in. Ashley is at a vulnerable point. He went through a lot dealing with Claire's post natal depression and he's still grieving for his father. Someone tried to burn down his house, kidnap his son and kill his wife in the fire. We are to believe that all this makes him vulnerable to Casey and he'll end up doing something he'll later regret. He's already kissed Casey once, and this week, it's happening again and much worse! No mistake this time either. The thing is, I just don't buy it. Ashley *might* kiss someone else in a low and weak moment but he'd *never* ever cheat on Claire. Not after what he'd been through with Maxine and the tall doctor.

After all the grief over Maxine's one night stand (which was pretty contrived in itself) and dealing with Matt Ramsden being Joshua's biological father and him wanting visitation, I just don't buy that Ashley would turn around and do the same thing to Claire. Mind you i never bought Kevin's affair with Natalie either but there was no damning precendent. Some people have affairs in retaliation for their partners' affairs. This is not the case here either. It's all about Ashley's vulnerability.

Ok, maybe i'm just being pedantic. Maybe i'm just being sniffy because every soap couple seems to go through this tired old plot device at one time or another. Ashley is just so honest and upstanding. You just want to believe that there are some people that just don't cheat. Ever. Roy and Hayley are one of those couples that are loyal and true. Ken and Deirdre are not. I thought Ashley and Claire were the faithful type, too so maybe i'm only ranting because i'm disillusioned that Ashley ends up being like most men on soaps, feet of clay. (yes, and some women too. Sally's had loose knicker elastic for years!) Soaps are geared primarily towards women and women are mainly the stronger ones of the species, where men are portrayed as weaker, if usually loveable fools just the same.

The actress that's playing Casey, Zoe Henry, is really good though, isn't she? She's not playing it like a crazed stalker with that mad glint in her eye. You can really believe that she really isn't a manipulative cow, she's just totalling inside a whole different world in her head. Something is very broken inside her and she's unraveling but so slowly that nobody notices. She's being Best Friend to both Claire and Ashley all the while making subtle remarks and looks that are pushing the two of them apart, casting doubts, twisting words. I've gotta say that the writers are really quite good and she's really playing it letter perfect.

That's one thing about Corrie. You might not always like the storyline, but most of them are always quite well written. The writers always seem to peg the characters pretty well and are consistent with them. Their remarks, their reactions, their dialogue are always spot on. The actors do ad lib a little i think but not that often. The writers often will pick up on things the actors do and how the actors portray the characters and work with that. It's the mark of a good team. Corrie's always had that. Long may it reign!

Sunday Comments, April 20

Lines of the week:

• Claire "I can't cope with this the way you are"
  
• Jason to Eileen "You've got the same look on your face you had when you dyed me best shirt pink in the wash"
  
• Casey "I was just passing" (yeah, right)
  
• Joanne about Liam "A priest? He already thinks he's God's Gift!"
  
• Vernon "You're a difficult woman to love. And a difficult woman to leave"
  
• Roy "My breakfasts are more travelled than i am"
  
• Claire to Casey "You've helped keep me sane" Casey "I'm not going anywhere" (no, just straight into your house and marraige)
  
• Casey to Ashley "You will feel better, I promise" (and you're going to show him how!)
  
• Sean to Violet on being patient "I can't even wait for a bus!"
  
• Kevin to Sally "Nobody reads between the lines better than you!"
  

Claire keeps this up, the police will be charging her with wasting their time. So she thinks packing up and decamping to her mother's is helping matters? I can understand, though, with the memories and uncertaintly. So where was her mother? Would she mind Claire gutting out her cupboards? Casey was pretty quick to encourage Claire and even quicker to encourage Ashley to pour his heart out to her. How does she do that? She moved in pretty quickly, already doing the gentle hand over his thing, bringing coffee in the morning and helping with Joshua and the shop. She's going to start turning him against Claire, just subtly like. But the end result will be the same. No wonder Ashley was in an instant panic when Josh and Casey weren't there when he got home. He'd almost lost Freddie once and let's face it, Claire has form when it comes to disappearing with his kids.

Ooh Claire's mum *is* there and she's already suspicious of Casey. I think Claire seems to be distancing herself from Ashley, too. Maybe a bit of the depression coming back again too after all she'd been through. Oooh Claire and Casey went for a ride on the Manchester Wheel! I've done that although it was a different one they had a couple of years ago. Casey really knows how to put the digs in to each of them against the other so that they don't even know she's doing it. And she was right there when he broke down. Couldn't have timed it better. Sally's already suspicious isn't she! Casey was also able to find out that Ashley does doubt Claire. And the next thing we know, he's moving in for a snog. Stupid, stupid man!

Ooh i'm glad Sally is making Rosie pay board and lodging but she got a bit of a shock, didn't she? She has decided on further education and focussing on English Literature. Kevin's a bit mystified as it isn't all that practical but he's happy as long as Sally's happy. Sean's shirt was a bit tight. Buttons gaping and all that. Um, Does Roger remind any of you of Fred Flintstone? Violet seemed to have lost half of her red top somewhere. Sean's already putting pressure on Violet. And he was supposed to be the donor only. Full stop. No more involvement. And i've got this swampland in Florida to sell if you believe that.

Tyrone doesn't trust Paul. He's the son of Terry. Enough said. Molly can't see the problem. Nobody else can either but to me, Paul is just too good to be true. Problem is, right now, Tyrone is just looking jealous. Jerry even managed to talk the council worker into revealing it was a "her" that complained. He automatically assumed it was Gail. It was but it could just as easily have been Claire. She was the one that stole Darryl's stereo before the fire after all. He says he'll fix it with Gail. All he has to do is get odious one to turn down the music to keep the neighbours happy. I don't understand why Jodie went off on one all of a sudden. Jerry's right those neighbours are their customers. So she asks where are the customers then? Case in point. If they're narked at them, they won't come and spend money. If Kirk is only just learning how to cut meat today, how come he's been sporting bandages on his fingers for weeks? Oh right. This is Kirk we're talking about.

Joanne must be sick and tired of being the pawn in Liam and Carla's control struggle, to the point where she insulted them both so Carla used that against her too and sacked her again. for the 38th time. I wish Joanne would take them to a tribunal. She tried to blackmail her way back into a job... for what? 5 grand? That's all it took and she walked away? And it sure felt like the Personality Transplant Fairy hit her upside the head too.

I guess the odious Pat didn't get dumped very far. He's still sniffing around Eileen and Jason certainly does not approve. Vernon must be staying with Lloyd. I must say, as much as i didn't like Vernon, i'm growing respect for him even if he is as feckless as they come. So he thinks a job in Spain will heal his broken heart. Becky took great delight in telling Liz that Vernon was going. I think she likes stirring it. Now did you really think Vernon would actually leave? Liz pushed all the right buttons with her homemade tape. And...do you think if the situation was reversed, Liz would allow Vernon just the one mistake? Yeah, maybe she would. Now the rebuilding begins and it won't be easy.

Looks like Leanne's rats are leaving what they think is a sinking ship! Starting up a restaurant is not easy at the best of times but even more difficult when you've got a mutiny on your hands and you really haven't got a clue what you're doing. And Roger's investment is going to be a bone of contention too but he shouldn't have cleaned his accounts out. Leanne often did work hard when she had a proper job that she liked but i reckon this is the hardest she's ever worked even if she's still feeling her way. Now she's got no cook or waiter. (Did they really only have just the one waiter?) Oh wait... Paul Clayton is a chef isn't he? And he's jacked in his job. That's convenient. (Did he actually even have a job to jack in, i wonder?) How long will that take before he's in the kitchen shaking her parmesan. Good heaven's, between on scene and the next Janice was behind the counter at the restaurant and then strolling through the factory!

I wonder why Leanne thought Carla would consider going back into the restaurant. I wonder why Carla would even consider it, even for 60 percent at a cut rate price. Nah, she wasn't serious. (Is Carla living in Michelle's flat over the Kabin? It looked like it.) Laughed at Leanne having to serve up frozen meals to the customers.

The wheels are turning

I was watching Corrie online this week (you'll see it Sunday if you haven't checked out cbc's streaming site), and there was Claire and Casey taking a ride on the Manchester Wheel! That's pretty neat because I've been on it too! Well, not the exact one from the show this week (pictured top, here), though i've seen it when i've been in Manchester. I've ridden in the one Manchester had before this was one with more dangly cars (these pics below which I took) and it wasn't as high as the one they have now, which is the one we saw on Corrie. The views are really good from up there, too!

That's one of the neat things about travel, and in Corrie case, specifically to the Manchester area. I've been there quite a few times now, so sometimes when they do shoots in the city centre or one or two other places, i recognize the location. There was also one scene a couple of years back where Adam Barlow and Candice ran out of gas and had to get a fill up at a station. That station was about 30 feet from where my fella lives in Salford. His dad was out walking the dog on the day they were there filming and stopped to watch.

They often use local locations such as parks, churches, courtrooms and shops for scenes when they're just a one off or short term stories. I've recognized a couple of places including some areas of Chorlton where friends of mine have lived. Location spotting in movies shot in various locations where i've been is always fun, even if it's here in Halifax.

Sunday Comments, April 14

Lines of the week:

• Janice to Rosie "You're going to have to get used to hearing things like that (insulting her mother) working around here" Rosie "I'm used to it from what she says about you at home!" (nice one!)
  
• Sarah "Everyone wants to hit David"
  
• Kirk (with bandages all over his fingers) "I'm the Kirster, knife man of the north!"
  
• Ashley to Kevin "Fancy swapping Laurel for Hardy?" (Tyrone for Kirk)
  
• Vernon to Liz "You're not the woman i thought you were"
  
• Leanne to Cilla "Your CV will be kept on file. Now get stuffed!"
  

When did they whitewash the back yard of the Rovers? Vernon seems to be picking up something just a little off with Liz but i don't think he knows he's doing it. Or does he? I guess that close call on the balcony was too much for her guilt. Well good. I'm glad she feels guilty. I am not a big fan of Vernon at all but less a fan of messing around. She thought she could keep it all a secret. Well she did until she spilled her guts to Violet. Now she's unburdened herself, she feels better but poor Vi has to keep her gob shut. Just when it's over, though, the wife shows up. Doesn't that woman have any friends that she has to unburden herself to a virtual stranger? Of course, that's a soap staple too. She's unburdened herself to the woman that was shagging her husband! And if he's been having it off, and she knows it, and it isn't the first time, why don't you just chuck him out yourself? Liz trying to pretend Derek had "just" told her that this affair he was having was over is a pretty lame excuse and Liz knew it was. So she spills the beans on herself. I wish Linda had clocked her one instead of walking out. Very clever having Sally singing about cheating and boots made for walking during these scenes.

So the aftermath...Derek didn't show up to do the delivery the next day. Maybe Linda buried him in a barrel! ;) Dev is advising Vernon to take Liz to Paris. No money but it looks like he might have swung it anyway. A tall blonde with endless legs and two heavy boxes seem to have something to do with it. If anyone had said anything about her to Vernon, he'd have said or she'd have noticed his mood change drastically. Well you know there are no secrets kept for long so Vernon did find out, predictably and straight from the horse's mouth (Derek). And it was all because Linda finally saw sense and chucked him out so he decided if he was getting the boot, he would make sure Liz would too because it was her that tattled and her that wouldn't be blackmailed. He even sold his record collection for her and then tore up the tickets. Well i would too. I'm glad he had the backbone to walk out even if he didn't get any further than the old chair in the taxi office. Surely Lloyd could have offered him the sofa at least, without Liz's putting the idea in his head. Violet's right, Liz did treat him like a dishrag. And why? She might love him but she hasn't had a lot of respect for him either even though he thought she did. Boy he really told her some hard truths in the cafe didn't he!

Happy 40th birthday Sal! The girls do a whip round. Carla hires a personal assistant but hasn't even thought about what she's going to be doing. And the Morton's are trying out the karaoke machine at full strength in the morning! Only Jerry could get Gail to have a go on a microphone! At least it was a quiet song! Bridge over Troubled Waters, sounds like the Platt Family Motto! Gosh i didn't realize that most of the factory bees dislike Sally that much. Mind you, Kelly always was a bit of a two faced cow. Sally was terrified about Kevin's speech. Well it wasn't too bad but Sally's sense of decorum was a bit put out with him mentioning two marraiges! lol! Why couldn't they actually sing the whole Mustang Sally song from the start properly instead of just the chorus over and over? That was just silly! Mind you, Tyrone ROCKED!

So now Sally is 40 and hungover. Why did she have the party on a work night, then? Nice of Kevin to take the day off with her but it won't look good to Carla seeing Sally and Kev swan off. Sally seems to be at an early mid life crisis and it's nice to see Kevin is supportive. Hayley's put the bug in her ear. A new challenge. Roy too, further education.

Molly's going to call some of Vera's family to help out. I didn't think she had too much family around other than Terry... and the grandson Paul. Now that will portent the arrival of said grandson because that's a soap staple. You all of a sudden start talking about a character long since not seen and poof they appear!

Like... the very next day! There shows up Paul Clayton, and it must be ok because Jack and Vera recognized him. Tyrone seems to have taken an instant dislike to Paul, too. Jealously over a "real" relative or is there something else there? Is he picking up on something? Or maybe it's because he's Terry's son and he doesn't trust or like Terry. Well i guess time will tell if the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree.

I think Paul was winding Tyrone up on purpose about maybe keeping the money for Jack's bet and poor thick Tyrone believed it. So Paul might stay on? Maybe Ty was right. No job? Molly likes him so i can see conflict between Ty and Molly too. Paul does come across as a bit smarmy, don't you think?

Joanne was pretty mouthy to and about Carla. Where did that all come from? It's not like Carla was the one that turned Joanne in for the immigration bit. The others have been far more trouble but a few narky words and Joanne gets the sack? Overstaffed my left eye. Liam finds out, he's not best pleased. he's right, casual workers should go first and it looks like Joanne is going to be a pawn for the power control between Carla and Liam. Can't have been Darryl's first guitar, he seemed like he could actually play it. Now the environmental health is going to be involved.

David is going to have fun taking the mickey out of Sarah with another wedding coming up. Well i'm glad Jason told David a few hard words, not that it'll make all that much difference really. Wait a minute, Jodie *did* get her hair done but she told Violet she hadn't and then implied that Violet looked cheap and tarty!

Ashley and Claire had a nice break. Across town with her mother. Did they change Freddie babies between two different episodes? When Claire and Ashley got out of the car and Gail patted his head, he had straight hair. The birthday episode, that baby had a head of curls and i think nots as round a face either.Laughed at Roy's robot cake, Becky thought it looked like it's been shot! Becky's in charge of the birthday pressie too. Not too sure about that, me. A firetruck! Bwahahahaha! Poor kid, she really doesn't think, does she?

Claire hasn't really bounced back all that well. She's awfully quiet. And on top of things, Claire disappeared. Are we looking at a return of her post natal depression? With all she's been through, it would be understandable. Still worried about who set fire to the house yet Ashley doesn't seem to be worried at all no matter what he says to Kevin and that sort of makes him a bit insensitive and impatient with her. Ooh, Claire's mother makes an appearance. Bloody hell, though, Claire nearly missed the party but Casey showed up all apologetic, worming her way back in to the bosom of the family. She comes across very believable, so much so that Claire ends up apologizing to her too. Fancy her remembering it was Freddie's birthday, too? Now Casey and Claire are thick and Ashley has heard that Claire knows he doesn't trust her and thinks she's fragile.

As if bright red tshirts weren't bad enough, now Cilla and Yaha have food on their hats as well. They'd probably be better actually serving in the shop! Lots of flirting between Liam and Maria in the salon and walks out with exactly the same haircut as he went in with. Traditionally. Restaurants do tend to start off slowly so Leanne shouldn't worry too much if there isn't a lot of business just yet. I absolutely loved Cilla asking Leanne for a job and having to do it in front of Janice. I loved Leanne putting her in her place, too! Kirk is a bit of a crap butcher, isn't he? But Andy Whyment is just brilliant.

CBC does something right for once

Ok, corrie-starved viewers. Hands up how many of you want to get up at 7:30 on a Sunday? I know, you can always record the omnibus and watch it later and many of you do just that but what if you forget to set the timer? What if the vcr/pvr is on the blink? Well Cbc has played a blinder and you can watch the week's omnibus, without commercials, online here. It works on a Mac as well. Looks like they're going to have it all week before the Sunday viewing too so you don't have to wait and watch it after Sunday's episode airs. Well done, CBC. For a change.

Sunday comments, April 6

Lines of the week:

• Lloyd "Eileen's a big girl" Steve "Don't say that to her face"
  
• Eileen "I'm not the scarlett woman type"
  
• Eileen again, to Pat "Ey, get yer nuts out!"
  
• Lloyd to Eileen "Did you say you dumped him or you jumped him?"
  
• Gail to Sarah and Jason about their wedding "You've talked about it before. It's doing it you struggle with"
  

Everyone's coming and going this week it seems. Sarah and Jason are back from Greece and engaged and not pregnant. Liz is back (but where did she go?, i missed that while i was away), Liam is back but Michelle is still gone somewhere. Joanne is back and Steve is gone to Spain to see Andy.

Most of the lines of the week were between Eileen and Lloyd but they just had the best ones! It all came out of Eileen's fling with that awful Pat. Steve and Lloyd play private detective like two little kids and determine that Pat is married but Eileen already knows. The local neighbourhood watch reports them for smoking in their place of work and threatens to call their bosses. Hah. Pat's married but he had to ring the doorbell of one woman which probably means he's got a string of them. Eileen didn't mind looking the other way when nobody else knew about the wife but once it was out in the open, she started to sour. Mind you, that was the nicest dumping of a bloke i've ever seen. I don't know if they'll keep on but probably she'll push him away shortly. A married man is a no-win situation as a rule.

Violet and Sean are also like two little kids with a secret. But you know, th is baby making project between them is all just a bit TMI don't you think? It's only been a few days and Sean is already being pushy in his over excitement. On top of that, when he voiced doubts about their friendship suffering, Violet uttered the classic SOPOD saying they'll always be good friends or words to that effect. That all doesn't bode well for the future.

Carla is as tough a boss as Mike Baldwin used to be, maybe tougher. She sure can find ways of getting what she wants as Hayley the new Line Manager found out. Sally's nose is right out of joint too and Rosie getting the Personal Assistant job that Sally wanted is really going to add to her angst. She's seeing her life going nowhere (yeah, Sal, change the record) and wonders why she ended up where she is. She keeps saying stuff like that to Kevin. If i were him i'd be well sick of it by now. Anyway back to Carla, it seems like she's all that upset that Steve's staff like him but hers don't like her one bit. I don't think she likes her staff so it's all good i guess. Once Liam came back, there were sparks and the two of them aren't going to work easy together. I am of course trying to ignore how Carla was able to suddenly just up and walk into a factory and have all the legal signing abilities on the bank accounts and be able to place orders and pay the staff when she's only inherited the factory a couple of weeks ago and had no intentions of running the place so the legalese wouldn't even have been attempted let alone finished. It was a bit irresponsible of Carla to buy them all a round of drinks (which would have been at least their second drink) and then tell them to be back at the factory and their machines after dinner to finish the Sunday shift. I think Liam and Carla are going to be at each other's throats but then again, hate is a short hop from lust. I don't think they ever really liked each other much so if there *is* lust around the corner, it is bound to be purely physical rebounding stuff.

Rosie's voice was suffering a cold it seemed. How do you think Leanne will do with the restaurant? The neighbours certainly don't think she's up to the task but they might think Leanne's a slag and they might think the restaurant is going to fail, but they're all going to go for free food, aren't they! Tyrone and Molly are finding it difficult looking for a flat and finding it even harder looking after Number 9 with both Jack and Vera laid up. She only twisted her ankle and that was at least a month ago. Longest healing bones i've ever seen. About time one or two of the usually do-gooders in the neighbourhood pop in to help out. Cilla seems to be at a loose end with no Les to bounce off. I still want to see Cilla and Janice in a knock down drag out on the cobbles. All they've every really done was have shouting matches and light scuffling for the most part. This campaign to win customers away from Jerry's really isn't worthy of her.

I am remembering how much i really dislike Dreary Derek, Liz's very passive aggressive jerk of a lover. Side tracking her at the bus station and tempting her to the flat and an afternoon of delight when Vernon is waiting for her? Then she's stuck out on the balcony in a towel with her clothes in her hand and then she gets home and he's got her suitcase in his car. Meanwhile Vernon is buying flowers and watching them wilt. She did say she wanted a bit of excitement. Liz even had to make up lies about where here suitcase was. She's very good at it, isn't she? So she's finished with dreary Derek. About time. Now... will it stick? And if it does, will Derek tell Vernon to get revenge or will his wife spill the beans?

Schedule changes during the Stanley Cup playoffs

Canadian fans, it's that time of year again. UK fans know what it's like when sport events like the World Cup play havoc with the Corrie schedule. Canadian fans have the yearly NHL hockey playoffs. They start next week and rather than mess around with the schedule for Coronation Street in so many different time zones.

CBC is not going to show Corrie on weeknights but WILL still be showing the Sunday "omnibus" with five new episodes per week. You will *have* to watch on Sunday mornings (or set the VCR/PVR to record it) in order to keep up. This schedule will take place starting next week. No Corrie from April 7 - 11 but an omnibus on the 13th and the weeks will continue like that until June.

On Tuesday, June 10, there will be a double episode of Corrie and the regular weeknight episodes will start airing again from there.