NEVER judge a builder by the length of his trowel. Rovers barmaid Shelley discovers this to her cost in Coronation Street (ITV1) when Charlie the builder with the bulging toolbox turns nasty.

He hasn't been the same since he had his hair cut. And as we all know odd things happen when a man is shorn of certain vital things. Samson lost his strength when Deliah cut off his flowing locks. John Bobbitt lost his will... to live when his angry wife gave him the snip. And Charlie has turned into a manipulating, abusive boyfriend since his trip to the barber's.

He seemed such a nice chap, a sort of soap Handy Andy, when he first arrived in Weatherfield. But shacking up with Shelley has led him down the dark path. For her part, she has shown an interesting if misguided choice in men. Following Peter the bigamist (taking advantage of the corner shop offer of two wives for the price of one), she was attracted to Charlie's handling of his hammer and chisel.

After months of mental abuse, he turns physical and blames Shelley for devious Dev discovering the builder's insurance scam. After a night on a bender (an alcoholic not sexual diversion, it should be pointed out), Charlies returns to the Rovers and takes it out on Shelley. To be precise, he takes it out on the diamond earrings he'd bought her. But he doesn't do it nicely - he rips them from her earrings, leaving her bleeding.

Eroding her self-confidence by telling her she's fat and stupid is one thing, but physical abuse is going too far. Trouble is Shelley doesn't have the self-confidence to tell the bullying builder to sling his hook.

The other big question is the Street is what are we going to do about Maria? This flibberty-gibbert, this will of the wisp, this slapper is causing poor old Tyrone problems again. She cheats on him, this time scoring with a footballer after he slips the ball in the back of the net during extra time. It emerges that soccer-playing Stuart only wants one thing - the very thing that Maria dispenses among men like a charity worker distributing aid.

Discovering that Stuart is cheating on her, an upset Maria runs straight into Tyrone's arms who, for reasons no one can understand, asks her to marry him. This is distressing enough. But the worse is to come - she accepts.

Sarah Platt, the schoolgirl mum who rivals Maria in the love stakes, brings home her new boyfriend who is neither gay or a thief as previous beaux have been. He does have a silly name, though. Scooter. You can imagine mum Gail the hamster's face when Sarah tells her: "I'm just going for a ride on my Scooter".

EastEnders (BBC1) gets more like The Sopranos every days. Graham the rapist tells silly Billy that he'll be little Freddie's dad when he gets out of prison. Someone hits Nana Moon and steals her engagement ring. And Patrick goes to identify the body of son Paul. And, of course, it wouldn't be Walford without a punch-up. When Billy spots Alfie and Little Mo together, he's not over the Moon about it and gives Alfie a good punching.

Another week, another pregnancy too - this one in Emmerdale (ITV1). Scheming Chloe is the one with the bun in the oven and dad-to-be Carl is less than chuffed. His reaction causes her to consider an abortion.

Disgraced Charity's revenge on Sadie the bitch moves on apace as she snogs Sadie's husband Jimmy. It's payback for Sadie ruining Charity's wedding day by distributing pictures of Sadie and Cain kissing.

Having protested her innocence at killing Shelly, Bad Girl Steph does a U-turn and confesses to her murder. Anything to stop dad Alan Turner moping around like a wet weekend.

Published: 20/01/2005