Jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs - you've either got one or you haven't, and if you're a resident of Brookside Close, it means hassle either way.
A quick round up of the jobless hordes, then:
Firstly there's Luke. He might have got Katie to type up his CV for him and he might even have got as far as being called to interview, but there's still the tricky little problem of his, let's say, 'non-availability for employment' during the first half of this year. Luke's luck is in however, when he calls into the garage to let Joey know of his latest interview fiasco just at the time Joey is complaining to new boss, Jackie, about how she got *given* the job without even so much as an interview and that now he's having to run around doing two people's jobs by himself. Out of the blue, Jackie offers Luke a job and he gladly accepts it.
Sinbad's ostensibly looking for a job too, although it's debatable just how much effort he's putting into the task. In reality, he's more or less convinced himself that his hearing problem will render him unemployable. Niamh doesn't believe this and tells him of a warehouseman's position which is available at her place.
Next there's Mick, who isn't doing anything about finding employment just now. Not that it seems to worry him, though.
Leo's not having any luck on the employment front, either and is encouraged by Tinhead to ask Mick to set him up in business. Mick, according to Tim, is currently "loaded" after having sold the lease on the chip shop and as Leo "didn't ask to be born" is therefore *owed* this favour. It's his *right*, if you like! Mick, of course, doesn't see things as *quite* this clear cut and given that Leo's intended business amounts to a hastily concocted plan to sell "stuff", merely laughs and scoffs.
Who else is unemployed? Well, Jimmy of course, although he doesn't seem to have enough time to actually fit in working for a living. With the time available when he's not wandering around art galleries and museums, he's started creating "Jimmy Corkhill's Tribute to the Millennium". And what is this "Tribute" exactly? Err, I haven't got a clue. Well, that's not strictly true, there are one or two clues - Jim's obtained himself a quantity of second-hand bits of wood and two tons of old rope. The rope (at least) has, according to Jimmy, not so much been "lifted", but "liberated". Presumably there's a difference to Jim! All I can say, having seen the size of the rope in question, is that it's going to be a pretty big tapestry.
As I suggested at the beginning of this summary, actually having a job tends to cause difficulties too, Jackie's been getting grief from Joey and even went so far as to explain to Jimmy why she'd given Luke a job rather than him.
"It wouldn't have worked," she told him. Jim, on the other hand, was spectacularly unbothered about it. Like I say - he's got no time for a job.
Niamh is thinking about a change of job. Now that she's literate, she's started working towards attaining a promotion at the electrical store.
Two people who don't have jobs and never will, if the effort they put into their degree courses today is typical, are Nikki and Bernie. Rather than go into university, they instead went round to Harvey's flat and confronted him about the doctored photograph.
Harvey, not unsurprisingly, was rather proud of his creation and was disappointed that Nikki found the whole thing so upsetting.
"You're sick and you're a creep," she tells him. As she leaves, she screws up the photo and chucks it at him. He merely picks it up from the ground, smoothes it down and files it away in the Nikki-Cupboard or "Harvey Fairhurst's Tribute to Nikki Shadwick", as it probably ought to be known.
Back on the Close, Deborah has discovered that both Doctor Darren and Jacqui Dixon will be working that evening, therefore leaving Nathan to fend for himself. She arranges to cook for everyone and feigns disappointment when it's pointed out that it'll only be herself and Nathan there to eat it.
Deborah takes the opportunity of having Nathan to herself to suggest to him that she hadn't appreciated that he was serious about Jacqui, that she hadn't wanted to snare him and that she wanted to start again, by thanking him for letting her stay and by promising to keep things at friendship level only. Hmm....
Having said all this, she then spots Jacqui walking up the garden path and clamps herself onto Nathan just in time for Jacqui to walk in and jump to conclusions.
"That's it," she exclaims. "This stops right now."
She tells Nathan in no uncertain terms that it's either her or Deborah and to make his mind up - and quickly.
Luke's still hankering after Katie. In Bar Brookie, he gets his advances rebuffed and tries to tell Katie something important, but it's clear from his clumsiness that he's not sure whether he should say it at all. In the end, he gives sufficient clues for Katie to work it out for herself.
"I can't say, Ryan's me brother."
"Well, don't say it then."
"You should know."
"Know what?"
...and so it went on, until...
"Has he slept with Abby? Luke, will you *tell* me?"
"I'm so, so sorry."
Well, with a performance like that, I'm not surprised that Luke never got through an interview!
Episode written by Debbie Oates
Summary © 1999 Graeme Selway
Brookside and all related materials are © Mersey Television 1982-2001