His mother seems to have some sort of job but she's in and out. Anna nearly got caught. Anna left her wallet at his and when he came to Number 13, Faye found it, and of course doesn't know what's really going on so she thinks Seb stole it. Anna comes in and she and Seb use a cover story, that he found it in Dev's. Faye is bemused that Seb is so comfortable around her mother now.
Rita tells everyone that the appointment was fine, standard stuff about when to be at the hospital etc. She splashes out on champagne but Colin intrudes his obnoxious self. Rita doesn't mind, she wants a word. She wants all the paperwork drawn up asap. Colin proceeds to get drunk on Rita's champagne, as you might expect. Rita later comes out onto the cobbles on her own and surveys the street where she's lived a great deal of her life, and she looks scared. She then tells Gemma she wanted to spoil her friends for once but she's holding back the sobs. She and the Street have a few words. It's clear she doesn't think she's going to survive.
On the day of her operation, Rita goes missing. Gemma is so frantic she screams in the pub for anyone to let her know if they see her!! Finally, hours later, she shows up. She's made a decision. She's not having the operation. All her loved ones are shocked. Norris elects to be the one to talk to her. He's visibly shaken. She finally comes out of the bedroom. She admits she's afraid. Even with the operation, she could end up damaged and doesn't want to be a burden. He does understand. He challenges her fears. He promises he will be there for her no matter what. She went to the hospital for the operation and was very grateful to Norris for reminding her that she's tough as old boots.
It was a bit strange seeing her go off to brain surgery with all her hair, nothing shaved at all. I suppose they might shave a spot once she's in there but you would think they would do that ahead of time. Even though we've often seen her in the salon getting her hair done and it doesn't seem like a wig, it's bound to be one, right? The day after, her whole head is bandaged at least. Jenny and Gemma worry while waiting for Rita to wake up and she does. They took out the tumour but they don't know yet if it's cancerous or not.
It would all be very heartwarming if that twit Colin weren't making an ass of himself, trying to ingratiate himself in everyone's back pocket and scheme to make sure he gets what he wants. He's got to go. He talked Todd into going to see Rita with the contract on the flat, back dated.
Adam shows up to Eva's flat later with booze (rum and coke, that's a bit different at least than the usual wine or vodka) to comfort her. The drinks seem to perk her up and she's reluctant to see him leave. She coerces a heartfelt admission from him that he's in love with her. She takes the rebound road and ends up in a clinch. (or more!) The next day, Eva avoids him as much as possible. She can't avoid him forever though and in the pub, tells him she'd rather just stay friends. Ouch.
Now, for the rest of the trial. I know it's what you've all been waiting for.
Nathan is told that Bethany hasn't shown up and that little bit of worry leaves his face, he's now cockier than ever. But he's going to get a big surprise. Mel has driven Bethany to the court, or as near as, and hands back her phone. She finally faced the guilt and her part in the whole scheme. She still refused to be a witness. She is too much a guilty party. Bethany gave her access to her debit card and the money in it, not a large amount but in hopes that Mel could find a way to make a fresh start. Mel tosses her own identical necklace out the window and Bethany goes to face her tormentors. (I thought it was Audrey's car but it can't be. Must be hers or Nathan's, I guess)
Bethany faces Neil and Nathan in a fabulous showdown, face to face instead of by video link. She's nervous and wobbly but she tells the court everything even though Nathan stares at her or makes faces like he can't believe the things she's managed to come up with, trying to shake her. Neil looks a bit more nervous but the vibe we see is between Nathan and Bethany. It's really difficult for Sarah to hear, too. Her testimony is at times tearful and always heartfelt. The cross examination is tough and insidious. There's also a court artist drawing Bethany and I'm pretty sure that's not legal in this sort of case but never mind that. The defence really tears her testimony apart Bethany thinks she's blown it.
Craig also has to testify as does Shona and Mary. Craig is in uniform, lending an air of formality. The defense makes Craig out to be someone that wants to big himself up. Craig is nervous and flustered as he gives his testimony against Neil but he does get one over on the lawyer at the end by waving the Bible around and insisting he swore to tell the truth, accusing the lawyer of knowingly defending a guilty man. But he thinks he's blown it, too, because he wasn't allowed to tell them that Neil confessed due to it being illegally recorded. There is other evidence against them like computer and phone records.
Nathan's solicitor doesn't want him to testify in his own defense. She tells him his demeanor isn't humble enough. He's too cocky. No, he's determined to tell his story and defend himself. He's sure he can get off. Away we go.
It was indeed an award winning performance at first. He makes out he was in love and reached out to Bethany who had a rough home life at the time. He puts her burns down to self harming. He pretends he tried to get her away from her family and all the other men she was sleeping with, as a rescue, all out of love. Everyone watching think Nathan has the jury in the palm of his hands. But the evidence of the money, always follow the money, it's damning. He can't explain it and he can't think up a lie as to why the men owed him money.
It didn't take long for the jury to make a decision. We didn't get to see the closing arguments. Bethany goes to the courtroom to be there for the verdict, no matter what. GUILTY. Many times over Guilty. Nathan, Neil and the three men that were in the room with her as well!
In the aftermath, Bethany thinks everyone is looking at her and talking about her and she's probably right but it will be with sympathy and respect for her standing up to the evils. She worries about Mel, too, who has gone through and taken money out of Bethany's bank account with the card Bethany gave her. She needs a fresh start. I don't suppose we'll ever know if she finds it. Bethany still has a long way to go to get her life back. Gary has a solution, he's taking Sarah and Bethany to Milan for a holiday. Meanwhile, Craig is suffering. I think facing Neil wasn't as difficult as the thought of finding out how Bethany feels about him but she's off to Milan so he missed that chance.
Rana finds Imogen and Kate in the Bistro being friendly. Rana is decidedly *not* friendly, blanking them to speak to Zeedan, and he gets the sharp end of her tongue as well. Back in the medical centre, she's surprised to hear that Sean has a son (Dylan will be 10 soon!). She tells him she already had to stop Yasmeen nagging them about grandchildren though Sean could see Yasmeen's point of view. Rana looks thoughtful.
We later find out that Imogen doesn't like camping or traveling, which is disconcerting to Kate. Kate, in turn, is not really comfortable that Imogen wants her to meet the parents. Kate later admits to Zeedan that it feels too soon for that sort of thing. I don't know where Kate disappeared to all of a sudden but Rana comes marching in and drags Zee into the kitchen and tells him she wants them to have a baby.
Daniel has a chat with Yasmeen to get more detail about the scandal around the flat conversion. When Phelan comes to the cafe, Daniel sits with him. He wasn't about to say anything but Eileen joins them and he changes his tune and of course they're putting all the blame on Vinny. Eileen hopes that media attention might help root out Vinny. Daniel talks to his editor about it all. Keep digging, she advises.
Andy's still in the cellar, of course. Phelan brings more painkillers with the grocery order but Andy seems to be saving the painkillers on the sly. He's given up and Phelan has no intention of letting Andy find a hostage replacement. After Phelan leaves, Andy puts the hidden pill with all the others. Outside, Daniel rocks up for a few more questions after getting the address from Nicola. Phelan blanks him. He'll not get any answers from Phelan.
Daniel goes to Anna next. She warns Daniel off but tells him Todd was working for Phelan at the time so Todd is the next one contacted. Daniel is cool and collected and Todd plays the party line but he and Phelan worry that Daniel already has proof against them and they aren't best pleased that Daniel continues to dig for information. Phelan warns Daniel off but it's clear a verbal warning isn't going to do the trick.
It may be that Daniel's persistence is paying off. He's got a lead at a local nursing home where there's a Flora MacArdle, someone Phelan decides he needs to see, too. He can't hear them from out in the hallway and we don't get to hear what the conversation is, either. After Daniel goes, Phelan approaches her but she doesn't recognize him. All he can get from her is that the conversation with Daniel had something to do with Calcutta street but he sees a photo of Vinny in the room. It's her son, Harvey, who has lots of names for work. The plot thickens. Why isn't she questioning who Phelan is, when she doesn't know him?
There may be a connection with Vinny next week since it's his mother's birthday and Daniel promised to come to see her so they could both speak to him when he calls. Daniel's editor is pleased with his success so far. She's also a bit of a cougar, so it seems, wasting no time stroking Daniel's leg and making untoward suggestions. Phelan interrupted the afternoon delight with another less veiled warning. But the editor is upstairs and she heard it, too. Later we see her put a wedding ring back on and take a call from someone that must be the other half of that ring. Phelan made the connection between her perfume and the scene he smelled on Daniel and managed to get hold of her phone. She never did see Phelan from inside the flat but you'd think that distinctive voice might have connected. It didn't.
Andy's going a bit mad but he's still stockpiling painkillers. Phelan has donated a bottle of scotch which isn't going to go well with those painkillers. They both know this situation can't go on forever. What are the chances Daniel will find out what's going on before it's too late? Not good since Andy starts taking the pills with the booze. That booze has to be hitting him hard since he's not had a drink or been eating properly for the better part of a year. Anyway, Phelan found him with a note to Steph and passed out. But he wasn't dead or even in a bad way, he couldn't do it. Phelan has come round to Andy's suggestion of getting a new hostage.
A few days later, Andy confirms from Phelan that he's going to let him go and replace him with someone else, Andy being the new prison "guard". Phelan hasn't decided yet who it's going to be. Phelan comes to the Bistro and overhears Daniel asking for Friday off this week. When Michelle goes to sort out something, he grabs the rota and changes the X by Daniel's row for the Friday to a check mark.
Phelan is also aware of some sort of connection between Nicola and Gary but he doesn't know what. Gary isn't going to say and he's not scared of Phelan.
The factory girls come up with a couple of prototypes for the headscarves but there are no donations yet. Izzy does apologize for their harassing yesterday. Todd is consulted and tells them that the crowd funding page is not very attractive. Beth thinks they should use Hope's story on the page to grab peoples' emotions. Fiz and Tyrone are shocked at her suggestion. Beth has a point, though, a true story, a success story, that will appeal to people.
Looks like Beth went ahead and posted Hope's story anyway, unbeknownst to Fiz and Tyrone. Fiz catches Beth red handed with the laptop so Beth had to admit what she did. But before she could take it down, the donations start pouring in. Fiz feels guilty because the girls all need this money for the business.
Fiz is upset about Beth using Hope's story for the crowdfunding, feeling like it's tempting fate. Roy thinks that the ends justify the means but is surprised at her superstitions. Fiz mentions how most of the factory staff are struggling. Billy overhears as Roy donates to the fund. Turns out Todd told Billy his suspicions about Adam's involvement and Billy thinks Adam should give a hefty donation to make up for it. Billy comes to the law office and takes note of the envelope of cash on the desk. Adam ignores Billy's hints about the crowdfund scheme and leaves and what does honest Billy do? Grab the envelope of cash!
He then divides it up and puts it through the letterboxes of the former factory staff, watching to see nobody catches him. Adam tells Todd over the phone that the envelope is gone, he thought Shona must have taken it. Adam comes to the conclusion that Billy must have taken the money. Todd can't believe it. Adam demands he get that money back because if their reputation suffers, the police will be involved. In the pub later, as Todd joins him, Billy hears Fiz and Sean talk about the anonymous donations, 100 pounds each. Todd tells Billy who the money really belonged to.
Shona really has been accepted by the family, they're even celebrating their birthday and Gail has given Shona a white blazer out of her very own closet! You wouldn't think it would fit, as Gail is so little! Shona's quite pleased at the gesture. But that Dane is still lurking. He threatens her in the cafe but Todd overhears. Shona has caved in and is going to give him some of the money but wants to keep it in the legal office until she can hand it over so Todd reluctantly agrees. At the Bistro, Dane establishes himself at a table behind the Platts and then makes contact with David, implying he knew Kylie so Shona takes action and breaks the fire alarm. She also lied to David about Dane's identity when he saw them talking outside.
Shona wavers about giving Dane the money but David is adamant. Then she utters the Phrase of Doom "I'm sure Dane won't bother us again" It'll take him about 5 minutes to start bothering them again now she's said that. Sure enough, Dane's lurking around the corner of the Kabin while David and Shona start to load up that new car David's bought (we saw that Kevin was doing a bit of work on it a few days ago). The kids are in the car and belted up along with the dog. David gets in the car but Shona can't find the blankets Gail left out. David gets out of the car and Dane scoots across and gets in with the kids and locks David out.
Ken's birthday is today. He doesn't want a fuss, just a quiet night in with friends, Brian and Cathy included, with Roy and maybe Audrey. Amy and Asha comes barrelling down the stairs, knocking Brian's coffee all over him. Later, Brian is heard moaning that Roy's attempt at fixing the shower has not had good results. Brian decides to ask Ken if he can shower there. (ugh)
Ken has made Asha and Amy hand write an apology to Brian and they're highly resentful of the punishment which includes no screen time before bed. Roy brings a cake from the cafe and we see a sad looking concoction that's supposed to be a cake, with aqua blue icing and it's barely able to stay on the plate, it's so saggy. Simon apparently baked it for his granddad. Roy likens it as an homage to Deirdre's pottery which is a lovely little throwback and which makes Ken smile much more indulgently at the confection than previously. The girls overhear that Brian will be coming to Number 1 to take a shower and they glance at each other with evil little smiles. Uh oh.
Tvor @tvordlj on Twitter
No comments:
Post a Comment