Week Commencing May 19th 2002

Mike Dixon had been getting grumpier by the day as his raging toothache made it almost impossible for him to sleep. He became even more agitated when he suspected that Jacqui, Max and Ron were plotting something behind his back, and resorted to listening in on their conversations to try to discover what was going on. Rachel had more important things on her mind as Beth became unwell and had a high temperature. She was also is worried about how they were going to pay for Mike’s dental treatment, and decided to take out another loan, despite the fact they were already deep in debt.

As Beth’s health continued to deteriate, Rachel took her to see Dr Parr who reassured her that there was nothing to worry about as Beth just had a mild infection. Feeling just a little happier Rachel returned home where she tried to cheer Mike up by giving him a voucher as an anniversary gift to pay the dentist. Mike was not at all grateful particularly when he discovered Rachel had taken out another loan to pay for it. Things came to a head when he heard that Ron was thinking of exchanging houses with Max and Jacqui, without having discussed it with him and Rachel first. Mike was furious and made the decision to leave, but when Rachel said she wanted to stay as she was still concerned about Beth, Mike left anyway.

Meanwhile Bev was still struggling to find someone to look after Josh for more than one night, but told Jacqui she had sorted out a childminder and could work all week. Her plan came unstuck when she had to take Josh out of the after school club when they complained about him fighting. Bev felt she has no choice but to leave him at home alone while she worked at Bar Brookie. It was not long though before he made his presence known to Garry, who was shocked to discover Bev had left him to fend for himself. Garry confronted Bev about her attitude and told her that her first priority should be Josh.

Also on Brookside this week Sammy persuaded Nisha to stay after she realised that she would be left to look after Katie on her own. Ray wasn’t at all surprised when Jimmy announced he has tracked down Helen’s mother. Russell almost incurred Brigid’s anger when he frightened Anthony who thought they had an intruder. Katie was overwhelmed by Garry’s words of praise while Gabby and Bev swapped life stories over a bottle of wine.