Chesney and Sinead's wedding day dawns. Suits are waiting. Soaps are wrapped and decorated as favours. Chesney looks like he's facing the firing squad. But Tyrone and Gemma's ear-bashing rendition of Get Me To the Church On Time manages to raise a smile on our earnest ginger groom. They've brought beer, Chesney has sausage. What more could you want to start your special day!?
Over the road, Kirk is practicing his speech, determining that a nephew is closer than a brother but in any case, it's true. Kirk and Chesney have been very close. Sinead finally arises from her beauty sleep and she's glowing. It's mentioned that Dev has paid for the food, all very appreciated. A nervous Kirk decides to go to see Chesney.
Sinead's Mom and Nan have arrived, both of them dressed completely inappropriately. I love it! Her family, the few times we've seen them, are so over the top that characters like Cilla, or even Liz in her heyday, look like nuns!
Tracy is doing the flowers. She makes sure Daniel gets the full meal deal of wedding and loved up couple talk but he says, glumly, he's very happy for her. Carla comes along and exchanges a few words on the nightmare that is Tracy. Simon ambles along as well and he tries the dinner money scam on her but she sees right through it and sends him on his way.
When next we see Kirk, he's in the ginnel and later in the house practicing the speech. He's at the part where he's talking about Chesney's career. His jokes don't seem to be too obvious. Oh dear.
Carla offers to take Daniel for a cup of tea and when she does, he wants to know what women want in men. Her answer ends up being a lot of contradictions and that's pretty much right. He asks if she wants Peter back but she's emphatic. No. And that's not "No" as in "she protests too much". That's "No, that ship has sailed". She's encouraging him to give it one last shot to convince Sinead to marry him instead.
Gemma has Henry in tow and they are watching Joseph draw a picture of his new family. He calls Sinead his new Mum which makes Chesney uncomfortable. Tyrone tells him he's getting married in a hour so he better get used to it. Henry puts his foot in it making a remark about Joseph's mother and is very embarassed when told by the lad that his mother is dead. Ooops.
Gemma follows Henry outside to the car and his response to her seems a bit off, telling her he thinks she looks great, especially if she was covered in grease (the kebab shop reference). Across the road, Tim has a decorated cab for the bridal party. Sinead's mother gets a grope at Tim's backside before taking her mother to their car.
The bride emerges and her dress is very much in Sinead's style, with a short underdress and a floral sheer mid-calf length overdress, flowers in her hair. Beth is dressed in sparkly hot pinks, purples and greens with bright bows in her hair. A few other guests gather round. Sally and Sophie have handmade fascinators courtesy of Gina and I think they look just fine. Others call over their best wishes.
Just before she gets in the cab, she sees Daniel on the corner looking longingly at her. Chesney spies this exchange from an upstairs window. Daniel heads back towards the ginnel as Tyrone and Kirk call for Chesney to hurry up. Daniel calls Robert and leaves a message to say he's feeling sick and can't come in to work.
At the registry office, Sinead's mother reminisces about Jason. Her nan makes a less than complimentary remark about Kirk, much to Maria's annoyance. Roy, Cathy and Brian are sitting together talking about their favourite buildings in Weatherfield. Gina's fascinator must be meant to outshine Sally's but it's rather like a pink explosion on her head! The male half of the wedding party is practically pacing, waiting for the bride. Kirk panics because he thinks he lost the rings but they're only in another pocket.
The bridal party arrives and Sinead makes her way into the room with Beth, pretty much holding Beth up. That bubbly wine earlier went down far too well! Sally whispers to Sinead as she passes by to ask where Tim is and is told he's parking the car. Now I don't believe for a minute Sally would make such a faux pas.
The bride and groom are in front of the Registrar and the bride looks particularly happy.
But outside, Daniel rushes into the building and approaches the room where the wedding is about to start. Will he or won't he? While we wait to find out, Gemma has go at Henry for yet another sarky comment. Then the door opens but it's a late arriving Craig. Daniel is still out in the entry way looking sad and deep in thought. He walks away.
Rings are exchanged. Sinead sincerely pledges her everlasting love. But when Chesney is ready to be-ring her finger, he looks nervous, edgy. He starts his vows emotionally. He has to be prompted by the Registrar but we're not sure he's going to get through it. He backs down. He uses Joseph as an excuse, saying they've rushed it and the lad isn't ready. He tells her he doesn't think they should do this!!
The guests have convened back at the pub anyway, bringing the news. Carla's there and Toyah hovers over the wedding food, not wanting Carla to have any as she wasn't a guest. Maria asks David to try to find out how Bethany feels about Craig. Gemma accuses Henry of causing the wedding fiasco by his comments making her stressed which Chesney picked up. She ends up dumping Henry. A bit of a stretch. Dev thinks Chesney just lost his nerve. Dev wonders if he can get reimbursed for some of the food even though it's already been paid for and people are eating it.
Sinead, Beth and Kirk have returned to Maria's flat. Sinead is gutted, looking down over at the Rovers where she should be now, celebrating. Kirk is happy, at least, he doesn't have to do his speech. Beth shoots him a very killing look over her shoulder while Sinead sobs in her Auntie's arms.
Chesney and Tyrone are picking the meat off the bones of the wedding. Chesney admits he's still mad about Sinead. He's convinced she'd leave him eventually and he could have lived with it if it weren't for Joseph. Tyrone tells him he should have had more faith. Chesney says he won't regret his decision. But Roy arrives. Good old Roy. More of a dad to Chesney than he ever had with any of Cilla's many men.
In other non-wedding news
Simon gets some cash from Leanne for school, I guess, and calls her Dude when he thanks her. Dude? Really? He then scams a bit more money from Toyah, calling her "Mate" instead of Auntie Toyah. He even manages to get a couple of pounds off Eva. Ok, I think we're supposed to know that Simon is coming into another teenage phase here, right? The three sisters realize later in the day that they've been taken. When Simon comes home for lunch, after scamming all that lunch money, the women call him on it. Simon is unrepentant and full of attitude. Yep. Teenage phase, big time. Simon comes downstairs to go back to school and spies a box of booze in the back hallway. He slips a bottle or two of what looks like vodka into his backpack.
When Toyah comes back, she's shocked to hear what Simon did but when she brings up another missing bottle from Christmas, Peter has to admit he was the one that took that one. He didn't drink but he came close. Toyah is not happy that Peter was tempted and that Leanne helped him cover it up. She give both of them an ear bashing. Leanne does wonder, though, since she only saw him pour one glass of it down the sink. He promises he poured it all away (down Billy's throat, if you will recall)
As punishment, Leanne sends Simon into the cellar to clean and both Toyah and Peter back her up on that so Simon doesn't have a choice.
Shona goes to the pub later and notices Eva is overly tired for no apparent reason like a late night. She looks up all the symptoms (fatigue, nausea, weird taste in mouth). Shona comes up with one diagnosis. Could she be pregnant? Eva doesn't think she's pregnant but Shona leaves a test with her anyway and Eva looks worried after all. Eva bans Shona from saying anything until she knows for sure. She hides the test just as she's about to check the results when Adam comes through to pick her up for their date. She begs off and since she's going to be spending the evening in a bubble bath, Peter comes along and asks if he can stay on the couch at Adam's to keep a low profile. Toyah's got big guns out for him tonight! After he leaves, Eva checks the test. Pregnant. Oh dear, she's not happy.
Eva's heading to the doctor for a definitive diagnosis but doesn't tell Toyah what she's going for. Tries to defend Peter but Toyah, seeing Carla and Aidan across the road, tells her that Peter has been acting weird for weeks. We know it's about Billy but she doesn't. Down at Adam's, Peter contemplates telling Toyah the truth but Adam doesn't think it's such a good idea.
Peter tries to give her flowers but she's not a soft touch and is still showing him the cold shoulder and the silent treatment. She confronts him that the timing of his acting strange goes back to Christmas. He insists nothing's going on.
Eva tells the doctor she's had no signs at all that she could be pregnant (meaning she's still having periods) but that is actually more common than you'd think says the doc. She's going to be sent for a scan. Eva asks if she could possibly be bumped up the list because it's "urgent" aka I don't know who the father is yet. Shona offers to go with her to the scan when she tells her she managed to get in this afternoon. Later, back at number 8, Eva is feeling downcast. Shona thinks Eva needs to tell Adam but the wrinkle in that is that the baby isn't his. She's 17 weeks along so it's Aidan's.
Eileen has a visitor order to go see Anna. She hides it from Phelan and pretends she's going shopping. She eyes the cupboard under the stairs where the toolbox is kept but he pops back in to get something he forgot and the moment is lost. In the prison, Anna meets a mate of Seb's mom Abi. Anna is confused as to why Eileen is coming to see her.
Anna goes to find that woman she met earlier, the friend of Abi's, to see if Abi said anything about the whereabouts of Seb. She also asks if she can get hold of a mobile phone for her. Back at Number 11, Eileen ascertains that the house is empty. She fetches the toolbox from the cupboard But I doubt the gun is in there and it isn't.
Abi has come to see Phelan, he's called her apparently. She doesn't know where Seb is either. Phelan pretends they are all concerned when he's really the one that's got the most to lose. He pretends that Seb is nervous about the upcoming trial. He also hands over some money, pretending it's wages owed to Seb in case Abi sees him. Abi isn't long snapping that to her chest.
Bethany pretends to Craig that she can't go to the wedding because she has to cover at the salon. She's really tired, too, even though she had an early night. It's probably all those other late ones that are catching up to her! She gets a text while she's talking to him, glances at it and then sees Craig out the door. Craig admits to Maria that the night with Bethany didn't go as planned. She indicates that the wedding might change things, it can make women feel very romantic. Later Craig sees Audrey come out and lock up. He questions her and she knows nothing about Bethany working in the salon today. Maria looks suspicious. Later we hear Bethany on the phone making a coffee date with someone. A mate? A man?
David later asks her why she didn't go to the wedding after Maria had asked if he could get some info for Craig. Bethany tells him she's meeting a mate called Sam in the cafe. David tells that to Craig when he comes looking for her and tells Craig he should ignore Bethany which will have the effect of her coming after him. Nope.
Craig decides he's going to have to go to Roys to see what's what. He joins Bethany who is sitting with a dark haired woman and is introduced to her. This is Sam. The conversation is a bit awkward and when the subject of the wedding comes up, Bethany's remark about Chesney and Sinead as a pasty redhead and a beautiful blonde doesn't go down well. Oops! Craig jumps up and shoots out the door. I think Bethany's got some major 'splaining to do. Anyway, Sam and Bethany work together and the shifts seem rather extreme. Bethany isn't ready to tell anyone what sort of job she's doing, certain it would freak everyone out.
Sinead is out of her wedding gear and feeling pretty low. Beth insists there are other fish in the sea and she'll find someone. Down the road, Daniel has gone to work after all. Carla comes in and brings him the news. Carla thinks he should take advantage and sweep her off her feet but the sensible Daniel knows that wouldn't be the right thing to do, not with Sinead.
Maria's flat has lodgers stacked like cord wood, now that she's also got Sinead under her roof! Sinead is crying into her cocoa dinosaur cereal. No man, no home, no hope, weeps she. Kirk offers to help move her stuff out of Chesney's. Craig is getting a bit out of control when he can't find his watch and because he's narked that Liam was playing with it, launches into an attack on Maria for interfering with his lovelife. He freaks out a bit when Beth orders him to leave, almost as if he can't leave because it isn't time to leave. Or something. Later, Maria tells Beth that he's been getting mixed messages from Bethany.
Chesney wasted no time packing up all Sinead's belongings. He's also taking Joseph to the caravan in Wales they had booked for the honeymoon. She thinks he has been damaged in his views of women by his awful mother and reminds him how he messed her around when they first met. She's not wrong, there. Chesney says nothing about that but asks for his key back. She warns him he is going to live a lonely life.
Gary meets Sarah on the street but when he asks why she hasn't replied to his texts, she tells him she didn't get them. It's a mystery.
Bethany meets Craig in the cafe whereupon he asks for the time, from the mobile because it's more accurate and checks what she tells him against Roy's clock. Does he really think Roy would allow a clock to be wrong in his establishment? Bethany pretends her friend Sam was someone met in the victim support group and can't tell him many details. Craig returns to Maria's to get his watch and starts clicking power switches off and re-positions pots on the stovetop. He's worked himself up into a state but can't tell his mother why. She understands he wants to keep Bethany safe but it's a difficult thing to do. He keeps checking his watch and runs out exactly on the minute he needed to in order to go to work. This might be the start of something.
Beth gives Bethany a lecture on safe, nice men. She says she's fond of Craig. Beth warns her to take it easy on Craig. She promises she'd never hurt Craig. Sarah tells Bethany about the un-received texts and finds out Bethany blocked Gary's number. She's doing it for her mother's own good.
Craig and his partner arrive at a club called Tassels, looks like a strip or lapdancing club. They had a client that was causing trouble and he hit one of the dancers, Bethany's friend Sam. He's gone now but Sam needs questioning. Craig questions another male and we see Bethany dressed in a plunging cleavage baring top come through a door, spot Craig, look horrified, and flee back behind the door. But she's the one that witnessed the trouble in the club so the manager goes looking for her. She's using the name Madison and Craig is as horrified to see her as she was to see him!
Bethany was going to do a runner but decided to stay and help her friend. She's not going to let any man do that to her or any of her friends. I guess the therapy is working. Craig confronts Bethany and Jesse dismisses Craig because he's too close to the witness to be involved. He's sent away while she questions Bethany.
At home, Craig thinks someone is forcing Bethany to work in that club, especially as she's underage. He doesn't think she could possibly be dancing there by choice. She loses her temper and tells him he's wrong. It's her choice. She likes it. Craig still sees lapdancing as being abused by men but Bethany corrects him. She has the right to say no, to say what men can and cannot do. This is her way to put the past behind her. He doesn't know if he can support her but she accuses him of trying to control her just like Nathan. He gives her an ultimatum. Job or relationship. She tells him if he can't accept her job, he knows what to do.
Things are awkward between them the next day. Craig goes to the club to see Bethany but she won't speak to him in private so he finishes with her.
Henry isn't taking getting dumped lying down. He comes into the pub a few minutes later to persuade Gemma to take him back. He tells her he's really starting to fall for her. Maybe it's true. Maybe it's not. They're a very odd couple. He admits he tries so hard not to patronize her that he ends up doing it anyway. She is not shy about calling him on some of the stuff he's said. I think she might be persuaded to take him back but when she's at the bar, he takes a phone call that sounds dodgey, turns out he's with her for a bet.
Sean is considering a job opening at the abbatoir. Oh no, Sean, definitely not your job. Looks like he agrees. He'd end up wanting to set all the animals free. He's feeling the pinch and really needs to find something and get out of the house. Hope tells her daddy she's missing her mummy. Sounds like the separation is difficult for the children as you might expect. They're getting so cute, Hope and Ruby! Later we find out that Aidan has asked Sean to sew up some samples for a potential client, cash in hand.
He keeps himself busy all day sewing. Tyrone has taken the kids to a soft play thing and offers to get a chippy tea when they return. Hope scolds Sean for using Fiz's sewing machine without asking. There's some really funny back and forth between Hope spouting out the house rules and Sean's philosophy "Needs must when the devil drives. So think on!" Loved the discussion about how each of the men always wanted the career they have (mechanic, machinist creating fabulous clothes). Hope tattles on Ruby for taking one of the samples which seems to be unharmed.
It's worse than that, though. The next day when Sean gives the samples to Aidan and Carla, they turn out to be all damaged with lace torn off and holes in them. He instantly realizes the children were at them but neither of them will admit to doing anything of the sort when he sits them down and asks them. Hope, however, later tells him that Ruby was the one that "did it".
Anna has managed to get an illegal mobile in prison and has wasted no time calling Eileen to hang onto that one thread of doubt she spied when she spoke with her last week but Phelan pops into the taxi office and she has to hang up quickly, pretending it was a robo-call. He's noticed she's been edgy and nervous and is trying to get to the bottom of it. She fobs him off. Doesn't look like he buys her excuses.
Faye reminds Tim to call the school to let them know she will be out of class when her mother's trial comes up. He doesn't think Anna wants her there but she's determined. She runs ahead and joins Simon. Tim takes a call from Anna who's burning up her credit like gangbusters. She tells Tim that she found out Seb has done a runner. Tim didn't tell her because he thought Seb would be back. She tells him that Eileen came to see her and she needs to talk to Eileen again. She's sure Eileen has doubts.
Tim finds Eileen in the cafe and passes on Anna's message. Eileen passes one back. She got the apology she wanted and she's never going back to that prison. Later, Tim and Gary tell Fay that Seb's gone off. Faye thinks Seb is scared of someone or something. Eileen overhears them talking about Seb perhaps finding out something that scared him. It ruffles her guilt and she calls the prison for another visiting order. Phelan sees her get into her car and calls her but she doesn't take the call. Now he's really suspicious and baffled.
Anna realizes that Eileen hadn't told Phelan he was visiting her. Eileen wants to find out more about Seb, thinking that's where the problem lies. Anna tells him Seb wanted to live a better life than his mother. Anna points out all the things everyone has been saying about Phelan, and she thinks Eileen is getting scared, herself, and the alarm bells are going off. Anna tells Eileen that her mother turned a blind eye to her father's criminal activities for years until she couldn't any longer and left him. She warns Eileen to watch out for herself in case Phelan turns on her, too.
Back in the pub, Eileen can hardly look her husband in the eye and makes excuses for going back home. Yep, his radar is definitely up and running. Eileen brings Alya some flowers and condolences. Alya is pretty shaky and tells Eileen she can't get rid of Luke's things yet, leaving his jacket on the back of a chair to make it feel like he might come out and put it on any minute. Everyone understands. Alya will have to move on but not yet. They've not even buried him yet. Eileen chats with Alya about Luke, and how Phelan liked Luke.
Alya says the police haven't been any help charging the racists so she and her grandmother are going to take a private case out against them. She says they know for a fact they were behind the prosecution but you know what? They know no such thing. There really is no evidence. Eileen goes home and cooks up a nice roast dinner for Pat.
Next, on that infinite unlimited calling plan, Anna calls Faye to tell her that maybe there's hope though she won't say why. Personally, I think Anna's being extremely naive. Anna calls Eileen again, begging her to do the right thing but Eileen has had a change of heart and threatens to report Anna if she calls again.
Anna calls Gary the next day and asks him to try to find Seb and that's all the phone she gets because a guard the size of a building comes in and puts out his hand to take the phone, which Anna gives up to him without a word. Later, Sarah and Bethany find Gary in the cafe. Bethany is rude to him but he gets a call from Nicola and leaves.
Eileen gets a call from Jason who's had a call from Todd so at least we know he's alive! Seems both Shona and Adam have been visiting Billy. She tells Adam that Eileen has had some news that will cheer up Billy but won't tell him what it is. In the hospital, Billy continues with his painful physio therapy. Eileen comes in to tell him about Todd calling Jason.
Back home, Phelan tells Eileen that he'll be working on the factory roof now that the factory refit is back on. They are about to settle in for a night with a movie and a takeaway when the police come knocking and asking questions about the murder of Luke Britton. Eileen refuses to leave until she finds out why he's being accused. He goes with them to the station because he says he's got nothing to hide. Tim and Gary watch from across the road. They tell Aidan that Phelan is being questioned about Luke's murder. Let the gossip begin.
Tim and Gary go to tell Anna the news. She's shocked that he's being accused of Luke's murder. She's doubly worried about Seb's safety now, with the trial starting tomorrow!
Tvor @tvordlj on Twitter
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