Well, the week of Luke's trial has finally arrived and the whole of the first day was taken up with Nikki giving evidence for the prosecution. The *whole* of the first day *just* with that and they reckon the trial will be over in three days? Hmm. That's three days in soapland, too (not real life) and since we know that the trial started on Monday 28th, then Friday's episode will cover Wednesday 30th, then. Arrrgghh, they're doing it again, aren't they? I can't keep up with this!
Anyway, I'm not going to recount here everything that Nikki said - it's all been aired many times before. Suffice it to say that Nikki gave quite a performance, she certainly had Niamh feeling for her. Matt on the other hand, thought it to be all an act - well he would, wouldn't he? Joey too, seemed particularly moved by the whole thing - he couldn't look anyone in the eye and generally acted very shiftily. Something to hide, maybe?
Notice that Matt Mussie was in court - the Disciples of Shad etc, obviously made it back from Glastonbury in the nick of time, then! Maybe that's a good thing - that plot was *such* a let down, IMHO.
Jackie and Jimmy maintained their vigil at William's hospital bedside. It seems that the poor kid may just have a chest infection from the water but this has still to be confirmed. In the meantime, Jimmy returned to Number Ten, on the way enlisting Sinbad's help to fill in the offending garden pond which he proposes converting into a sandpit. No doubt Sinbad's previous experience of digging up that particular garden will come in very handy. Jimmy, apparently, has got his hands on some 'cheap sand' - lets just hope that this doesn't mean that the new sandpit will be full of *quicksand* or the Corkhill clan will be back down the 'ozzie before you can say 'patio'!
Over on the Parade, Mick arrived at work to find Sinbad holding a box of soggy meat pies. There's been a power failure in the shop and the contents of the freezer have defrosted. In fact, the power is out across the whole parade.
Mick is understandably annoyed at losing hundreds of pounds worth of food and tells Sinbad to dump the defrosted goods - he daren't risk selling any of it. Sinbad asks Mick why he doesn't simply make a claim on the insurance, like any normal person would. Mick replies that he "doesn't need the hassle" which presumably means that he's not insured. Oh dear, Mick. I'd have thought you'd have learnt that lesson by now.
Anthea calls into the chippy to buy two pie and chips for her and Ron's lunch. Sinbad explains that he's not serving food just yet since the power's only just come back on and that she ought to call back in about fifteen minutes. Anthea agrees and departs. As she does so, Sinbad picks up a couple of the dubious pies, sniffs them and shrugs. No, Sinbad, you wouldn't...would you?
Over lunch, Anthea tries to steer Ron's mind away from his feud with Sinbad and onto their wedding the following week. She even manages to convince Ron to let Sinbad off paying for the replacement window. After all, Sinbad did cook lunch for them. . .
Summary © 1999 Graeme Selway
Brookside and all related materials are © Mersey Television 1982-2001