It's tough being Nikki Shadwick. You've got one stiff in the extension, a stiff drink in your hand and on top of that, you get a stiff talking to from your Nan.
Yup, you've guessed - the day of Greg's funeral has finally arrived and Nikki has started on the booze early. So early in fact, that she's clearly the worse for wear even by the time everyone leaves for the service (not that anyone actually seems to notice, mind you - unless, that is, that they've simply got used to her drunken stupors by now!).
As I've already mentioned, Nikki got yet another stern warning from Jessie, who fears that Nikki will say something that she'll regret (well, *Nikki* probably *won't* regret it!). For her part, Jessie is so busy trying to sort out everyone else that she's barely got time to think about mourning her own son - she's already had to talk Margi out of opening up the coffin to have one last look! This being Brookie, perhaps it's surprising that it *didn't* get opened up (stolen, blown up, or lost - remember Jimmy and Sinbad losing Little Jimmy?).
Margi has decided that she wants Jason's ashes to be buried with Greg's coffin. This upsets Katrina somewhat, who remarks that it "would have been nice to have been consulted".
Jerome has returned from Newquay on his own, to accompany Nikki to the funeral. Walking down the parade, looking for Mick, he gets his first sight of the trashed chippy. Annoyed that he wasn't around to effect some kind of revenge, he offers his thoughts on Josh:
"He wants sorting out once and for all." (No change there, then!)
"Oh? What? So, you can go the whole way? End up with a murder charge, next time?", asks Mick, brusquely.
At the cemetery, Nikki is surprised by Harvey, who appears out of the blue and like usual, tries to apologise. Nikki gets Jerome to fend him off and he runs away.
At the graveside, and just as she'd threatened, Margi, clutching Jason's urn, tells everyone how wonderful Greg was. Halfway through her spiel, she loses her grip on the urn, which falls to the ground and promptly distributes the ashes everywhere. There's a wonderful shot of a distraught and tearful Margi holding out her hands which are covered in ash!
By now, Nikki's wandered away from the main group, unable to stomach listening to Margi's wise words. Katrina follows her and rather belatedly seems to notice the effects of a morning's imbibing.
"You're drunk. You should be ashamed of yourself."
"It's me Dad who I'm ashamed of, for carrying on with Susannah right in front of everyone." (Well, no, actually. They were *slightly* more subtle than that!) Nikki continues:
"They were even at it when he died in the club". (Yes, true, but again, not 'right in front of everyone'!)
Talking of Susannah, our hospitalised restaurant owner complains to a visiting Jacqui, that she's feeling worse rather than better. In fact, her condition becomes serious as she then suffers a collapsed lung.
On the Close, Jimmy is sitting in his kitchen and given the recent events is feeling somewhat on edge. When someone tries the back door handle, he grabs a nearby fork (from the table, not the garden!) and brandishing the fork above his head, tackles the intruder as they enter the room. It's actually Jackie, who has to scream the place down before Jim regains his self-control. When Jackie (hysterically) asks him what he's doing, he, for obvious reasons, can't explain!
Over on the parade, Vic and Darren return to their flat having apparently enjoyed a week of "unbridled passion" in a hotel. Vic quickly notices that the answer machine is full (a bit odd that, I thought, since Nathan has been back in residence for several days!) and correctly deduces that she's had a few (!) calls from Mark. In the last message, he announces that he's on his way round because there's something he needs to say. Lucky the tape hadn't run out then, wasn't it?
Mark's news was pretty stunning to both Vic and Darren - he revealed that he's been diagnosed as suffering from Motor Neurone Disease and that he may only have a couple of years to live...
A few more stiff drinks called for then.
Summary © 1999 Graeme Selway
Brookside and all related materials are © Mersey Television 1982-2001