TERRIBLE Tracy Barlow is used to being time behind bars. And normally rival Becky McDonald is more than happy to see her there.
That’s bars as in prison, where Tracy has been doing time for bashing lover Charlie (the late lamented builder with the big toolbox) over the head with a heavy object.
But Becky isn’t best pleased to discover Tracy behind the bar in Coronation Street (ITV1). The bar of the Rovers Returns, the very pub that she and hubby Steve Of The Dancing Eyebrows run. Tracy is out of bail and has lost no time causing trouble and trying to get her daughter Amy back from Steve (the tot’s dad) and Becky. Even an attempted murder bid on Tracy by the normally placid Claire failed to put an end to her incessant scheming.
Getting Steve to give her work behind the bar is just her latest ploy to put Becky’s nose out of joint. But Tracy’s revenge plan could come to an end as she’s due back in court to hear if her freedom will be permanent. Isn’t our justice system wonderful, allowing a spiteful murderess to roam freely on the cobbles?
Another Barlow – Peter, the not-quitereformed alcoholic – is having marital problems. Not only is he drinking again (and I don’t mean water) but his efforts to walk again hit a stumbling block.
Wife Leanne turns to her sometime husband, sometime lover Nick Tilsley for a shoulder to cry on.
Peter, meanwhile, heads round to see Carla. They have a lot in common – a liking of drink and difficulty in staying away from it. And when he’s seen leaving Carla’s flat the next morning... well, draw you own conclusion and colour it in.
Handy Andy’s on the receiving end of a double battering in Emmerdale (ITV1). Everyone’s against him because they think he’s been arson about and caused the fire which killed Terry and Viv. We know that dodgy detective Nick Henshall is the culprit, but he’s doing a pretty good job pinning the blame on Andy.
He even goes round to Andy’s caravan for a quiet word – if you describe holding his head over a lit gas ring and threatening him as quiet. There’s more punishment to come when Brenda, devastated by boyfriend Terry’s death, drives her car straight at the caravan while Andy’s inside.
And so to Walford where Michael Moon returns to see his new-born son in EastEnders (BBC1). Alfie has to tell him that little Tommy is dead although we know that it’s not Tommy who’s died but Ronnie’s baby and that she switched them.
Expect a lot of hand-wringing, soulsearching and, on Ronnie’s part, guilty conscience – especially when Ronnie’s other half, Jack, invites Michael to move in with them. Ronnie’s terrified that he’s going to be living under the same roof as the baby that’s really his son.
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