The day after her encounter with Jacqui, Katie has her bags packed and moved into the lounge area of the flat she shares with Jacqui, Darren and Victoria. Jacqui notices the baggage and ventures to break he ice with Katie. She offers to fix her breakfast, hoping that they could use the opportunity to talk some more. Katie refuses the offer. Jacqui then indicates the bags, asking if Katie is having a tidy-up.
Katie briefly replies that she's moving out. Jacqui asks where she's going and Katie tells her that she will be staying at Nisha's. Jacqui insists that Katie doesn't have to do this, that she and Katie can resolve their differences, but Katie is adamant. If she stays, she and Jacqui will only end up hating each other. (Sorry, run that by me again - I thought Jacqui was the recipient of Katie's misplaced hatred).
Jacqui responds that Katie is being a bit unreasonable, asking her to deny supporting her father. Katie only scoffs that Jacqui is taking up for him again. Yet again, Jacqui tries to explain that, although she doesn't condone what Ron has done, she can't NOT support him. He was her father, her family. Katie couldn't ask Jacqui to forsake her family. Katie says if she remained, Jacqui would always be walking on eggshells around her. It wouldn't be right. Did Jacqui seriously think Katie could remain in a place where the Dixons would be popping in and out? Jacqui replies that she'd see that they wouldn't visit, but Katie reminds her that she was already walking on eggshells.
As she prepares to go, Jacqui asks if she can at least give Katie a lift to Nisha's, but Katie refuses. Jacqui asks if she can call her. Katie says Jacqui may call, if she needs something. Jacqui tearfully replies, 'Everything', and the two embrace briefly, before Katie leaves.
Comic Interlude Number One - NOT: We see Marty Murray, with a maniacal grin, brandishing a needle and syringe aloft, whilst announcing: 'Two-thirty.' Cut to Diane, looking fearful at first, as she bends over, but as the needle makes contact with flesh, a beatific grin broadens the one already painted on her face. Kinky or what?
There's more aggro, however, at the Corkhill abode - this time between Jimmy and Lindsey. Rlindz is less than pleased with her dear old dad. In fact, she's tearing him off a strip. Seems Jimmy forgot to take the padlock off the door to the downstairs that morning and - as a result - Cabbage Patch Kylie the Doll with All the Questions (retailing at Toys'R Us at £19.99) and Kewpie Doll Wills (won as a prize at the local fun fair) had to have sausage rolls bought at the garage for their breakfast. Jimmy's got a classic remark for that - at least Rlindz gets a staff discount! When Lindsey begins to lose her rag at the comment, Jimmy hastily tells her it was a joke; but Lindsey is about to do a reasonable impersonation of her mother, telling Jim that his behaviour and his insistence on dividing the house can't continue. Jimmy recognises the resemblance and accuses her of sounding like her mother.
Jacqui, meanwhile, having 'lost' Katie and unable to find Victoria or anyone resembling family, turns to Max. She's seated at Max's kitchen table, while he, comfortingly, holds her hand as she pours out all the latest trouble encountered with Katie. Max is reassuring her, telling her how wrong it is for Katie to expect her to turn her back on Ron. Of course, it's only reasonable for Jacqui to support her family. Jacqui rejoinders that Katie is family, but Max maintains that she isn't, not in the literal sense. He tells her, quite rationally, that Jacqui will have to show immense patience with Katie - as much patience as she showed him when he was incessantly grieving for Susannah. As he says this he draws Jacqui toward him and kisses her tenderly on the top of her head.
Comic Interlude Number Two - NOT: We see a smug-looking plank of wood in the Murray kitchen with a grilled sausage spiked on a fork. He walks into the conservatory extension, where he catches sight of Jimmy leaving the portaloo. He watches as Jim makes a face at the apparent smell and fans the air. When he sees the plank, however, Jim smiles and gives the thumbs-up sign. Plank weakly waves back, before - overcome by the stench - he wretches, spitting out the mouthful of sausage. Not funny. Just gross.
Over at Bev's Bar, Katie and Nisha are settling at a table, with Katie about to open a bottle of wine. Nisha, obviously doesn't want to be there - mainly because Jerome is ensconced at the bar, ostensibly talking to Bev, when he's not eyeing Nisha. Nisha is trying to talk Katie out of a drinking session, as Katie is obviously intent on this. Nisha thinks it would be a better idea if Katie went home, unpacked and chilled out. Katie wants to drink, in fact she wants to drink and drink until they both have to be ferried home in an ambulance. In fact, Nisha can buy the next bottle.
Bev is giving Jerome the evil eye, as Jerome watches Nisha. He seems intrigued at the prospect of Nisha and Katie having a drink and asks Bev what that was all about. Still eyeing him suspiciously, Bev says that it would appear Katie has moved out of the flat above and will henceforth be sharing digs with 'the Naughty Nurse'. Jerome looks even guiltier at that remark than he normally looks these days (and our J has cornered the market in looking guilty, believe me!). But Bev isn't finished racking him and begins to ask pointed questions about why he's doing a lounge-room lizard impersonation when he should be doing studying, but Jerome studiously (pun intended) avoids her remarks, until Nikki shows up and Bev stops. Behind the bar, Bev draws Nikki aside for a quiet word, asking her for the umpteenth time why she's putting up with Jerome and his shenanigans. Nikki should have it out with them both, then and now, sooner rather than later.
Now it's Nikki's turn to stun Bev, as she remarks that she knows Bev told Nisha about the rape and wished that she hadn't. Sorry, says Bev, but under the circumstances, she felt Nisha deserved to know, but Nikki counters with the fact that she wants Jerome to WANT to be with her, not to feel that he HAS to be with her because of her sexual history. He has to WANT to finish with Nisha to be with her, she doesn't want Nisha to dump him, because then it would be as though she, Nikki, were just someone for which he had to settle. In other words, she wants J to ditch Nisha.
Back at the Corkhills', Lindsey is still trying to reason with Jimmy, who's enthralled with the celebrity birthday section of the paper, or is he pointedly ignoring her? She's arguing with him, still trying to make him see sense into dispensing with the padlocked doors, the outside loo etc. But Jimmy is fascinated by the fact that it happens to be Joan Collins's birthday and challenges Lindsey to guess how old La Collins is. Lindsey could care less and tries to broach the subject of the divided house. But Jimmy still pesters her to guess Joan Collins's age. Finally, in exasperation, Lindsey ventures a guess - 62, 63? Jimmy looks smug. Nope. She's 68. 'Looking good, our Joanie,'smirks Jim.
Just at that moment, Jackie finds the door to the downstairs sans padlock and opens it. Jimmy is surprised and turns accusingly to Lindsey, reminding her that she should have locked the door. Lindsey flippantly remarks that she forgot (did she?). Jackie isn't to be deterred and remarks sarcastically to Jimmy that the kids were really 'made up' that morning at not being able to have a proper breakfast. Just what was he playing at. But Jimmy has resorted to his new-found hobby of celebrity birthdays. Here's another one for Lindz - Rosemary Clooney (now that's a woman worth knowing, Lindsey, in your ambitions - auntie of George, top-rank Hollywood star and eligible batchelor - hmmm ... You could be the poor man's Michael Douglas and CZJ!) Jimmy wants Lindsey to guess her age, but Lindsey is more concerned with hushing Jackie's potential tirade.
Jimmy has an idea about celebrity birthdays. One could cut this section of the paper out daily, save the snippets and use them as an after-dinner game, but go on, guess Rosemary's age. He gives Lindsey a clue: she was born in 1928, so that makes her ... SEVENTY-THREE! At that point, Lindsey gives up in exasperation, telling Jimmy that he had a great idea for a game - people could sit huddled in a stone-cold bedroom, having their dinner around a camp stove and play Celebrity Birthdays. Jimmy should patent his idea. And with that, she flounces from the room.
But Jackie still remains and she tentatively enters, adopting a calm approach to Jimmy. She approaches his seat and sits on the arm of his chair. She hesitantly begins by telling Jimmy that she knows that his doctors have said he is steadily improving, but what would they think if they saw the way he was living - the bolted doors, the portaloo. She didn't think the words they would use to describe that would be 'steady'. Jimmy rises from his seat and goes to the door of the lounge. It seems he has some words for Jackie ... 'Do one.'
Jackie leaves the room and Jimmy immediately picks up the telephone and dials a number. But whose?
Plank Murray sits on the sofa in the Murray front room, looking at some riveting pictures in a magazine - well, he wouldn't be READING a magazine, would he? - when Di and Marty arrive. They are surprised to see Plank at home and not at work. Marty asks if his high-powered boss has given him the day off. Time off in lieu, remarks Plank. Seems Geoff wants him to attend some business do that evening. (Er, is Geoff actually in pantomime? I thought maybe the business meeting was Geoff auditioning for the part of Gepetto, with Plank playing Pinocchio). Marty is NOT impressed. Plank asks if his parents have been to see Fraser, Antony's headmaster.
Diane remarks that they have, but it appears that the man can do nothing to stop Antony's bullying because Ant won't reveal the culprits. Plank remarks that he's told Ant repeatedly to defend himself, if someone hits him, he has to hit back. Our Lady of Rigor Mortis disagrees, that's the last thing she wants Antony to do. Plank then tells his folks that some 'showroom salesman type' gave him some attitude the other day and he put him firmly in his place. Anyway, Plank is suffering from water retention and has to 'take a slash', pushing abruptly past Marty on his way to the loo.
Over at the bar, Katie Rogers is sodden. In fact, she can barely sit in her chair. Bev and Jerome watch her from the bar. Jerome is disgusted - it's not even five o'clock and the state of Katie. Bev shakes her head and remarks woefully that Flint will still be dead in the morning and Katie will have the mother of all hangovers. Nikki remarks that sometimes it helps just to get wasted.
Katie is showing Nisha her ring and Nisha is admiring it. As drunken people reveal the true nature of things, the drunken Katie reveals that she's less than pleased with Flint's taste in rings - it's not what she would have chosen, but she'll never take it off.
Nisha tells her that someday she will, someday she'll find someone else. Katie comments that Nisha can't know that. Nisha hates men. Nisha counters that she doesn't hate ALL men, and with a pointed look at Jerome at the bar, obaserves that there ARE some horrors amongst the male species. Katie remarks, self-pityingly, that she now has no boyfriend, no home and no job. Nisha tells her that her job at the Centre is safe; after all, Nisha is responsible for hiring and firing. But then Nisha excuses herself to go to the loo, and the ever vigilant Jerome notices this. Bev notices it too, as he leaves the bar and stations himself by the door leading to the upstairs loos. (Bev watching Jerome watching Nisha ... What a treat!)
At that moment, Max and Jacqui enter the bar, Max greeting Bev and ordering a bottle of Chablis for him and Jacqui, but Jacqui notices Katie sitting alone at her table, surrounded by the detritus of a serious drinking spree. In fact, it's all Katie can do to sit up at the table. Jacqui exchanges worried glances with Bev, who tells Jacqui that Katie's been here the better part of the afternoon, drinking. Bev says she's tried to stop her, but to no avail. Jacqui thinks that she should have a word with Katie, but Max tells her it's probably just best to leave her alone.
We now visit Brookie Comp, where we see Adele and her friend (is her name Sue?) walking down the corridor and discussing something about learning lines for Drama Club - well, at least Sue is discussing that, as Adele's mind seems to be elsewhere. Sue reckons the pair are a couple of swots and that's the reason why a fella Sue's been eyeing won't ask her out. Anyway, is Sue still staying over at Adele's that evening? Adele glumly gives an affirmative answer. Sue looks put out and sarcastically remarks on Adele's enthusiasm. Adele apologises for her surliness, saying that it't that time of month ... Or, at least, it should be.
Sue immediately looks concerned and asks Adele how far over her due date she is. Adele ruefully admits that she's two months overdue. (Crikey, has it been that long since she slept with Leo?)
Over at the Corkhills, Jackie and Lindsey are seated on Jackie's bed. Jackie is huddled in a heavy coat, remarking on how cold the room is and how she must be getting old to feel the cold. (I'll say, especially since Lindsey is sitting beside her in a lycra top with a scooped neck!). Lindsey says that this bedroom has always been like ice. Jackie eyes the television, remarking how it dwarfs the room (er, the Corkhill telly was only a portable, I recall), and how she's never read so much in her life as she has now she's 'confined' to her room.
Lindsey broaches the subject of Jackie taking Jimmy's offer and moving, but Jackie refuses, asking Lindsey if that's what SHE would do. Under the circumstances, Lindsey admits, yes, she would. After all, how much more of this can Jackie put up with? Jackie remarks that she's put up with a lot in TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS (capitals intended) and she could put up with a lot more.
Back at Brookie Comp, the girls have just finished Drama Club. Adele remarks that she wasn't in the mood for Drama Club today and could have done without it. Sue says that she'd better be in the mood for Pudding Club as she'll have to spend about nine months in that. Adele fails to see the humour in this; in fact, she's sure she's NOT pregnant. It's all the stress of having to revise for GCSE's. Everyone knows how that can mess up your hormones. Still, Sue says, she'd be best to take a home pregnancy test and asks if Adele has any money. Adele only has £2.40, but Sue reveals that her dad has gone off with a younger woman, but he feels REALLY guilty about leaving Sue ... And with that remark, unrolls a £20 note.
Back at Bev's, Bev is sitting at the table with Katie, trying to reason with her to stop her drinking spree. Katie ignores her, saying she'd pay someone to go to the loo for her. Jerome waits patiently for Nisha to finish in the loo, and when she returns, he's there for her, oblivious to the fact that his girlfriend is working in the bar. He has to talk to Nisha. Without a word, Nisha picks up an unfinished drink from a nearby table and douses him with it.
Needless to say, Jerome is stunned and asks her why she did that. She then berates him about not telling him about Nikki's rape and says there is no more to say. All this, of course, is witnessed by Nikki, who enters the scene at the tail end of Nisha's tirade. When Nikki enquires what happened, Jerome quickly lies and says that he accidentally spilled all his drink on himself. Nisha leaves in a huff , pausing only to tell an almost incoherent Katie that she's going home; and Bev appears, offering Jerome a change of shirt. He's welcome to wear one of the bar shirts. Jerome declines, saying he's going to nip home and change and Nikki jokes that a bar shirt would destroy his street cred. (But, of course, she knows he's going to tag after Nisha).
As he leaves, Bev points that out - the fact that Jerome is going panting after her like a sick puppy and Nikki is taking it. Nikki says that all she wants is for Jerome to get Nisha out of his system. She knows that the only reason he's after her is sex.
Outside, he catches up with her, but Nisha wants nothing to do with him, asking him what he's playing at, having sex with her when his girlfriend has been through such trauma. Jerome remarks that Nisha has a funny set of morals - it's OK to have sex with someone else's boyfriend until she finds out that the girlfriend has been a rape victim. Nisha advises him to go back inside to Nikki, that Nikki didn't buy that silly story about Jerome spilling his drink for one moment and - finally - she tells him that if he doesn't leave her alone, she'll tell Nikki everything.
Inside the bar, we see Jimmy pause in his job as popman to greet Cheryl, who is waiting for him at one of the upstairs tables. It seems Cheryl was the recipient of Jim's surreptitious phone call. The two greet each other affectionately. Cheryl says she's been thinking about Jimmy since she last saw him and Jimmy acknowledges that he's been thinking about her. He asks her to wait until he's finished his shift, because he wants to spend some time with her and to take her back to his new 'flat'. Cheryl agrees to wait.
Back at the Murrays, Sue and Adele are seated at the table as Diane prepares tea. Plank appears, suited and booted and ready for Geoff. Apparently, Geoff is picking him up at the house and will 'beep' for him from outside. Marty sarcastically asks why Geoff doesn't come in for an apperatif. Plank then relates a tale about a bloke at work who kicked off about tea breaks and how Geoff left him 'wiping his eyes'. With that, Geoff's horn sounds outside and Plank planks off. Marty comments to Diane that she can't deny that Plank's attitude is changing since he started working for Geoff. Diane ruefully agrees. The two girls decide they are adjourniing to Adele's room to revise and as they leave the room, Sue spies the portaloo next door and asks what it is, as Adele holds her nose.
Katie Rogers, meanwhile, is propped up against the bar, demanding Bev serve her another gin and lemon. Bev is refusing and Katie is getting belligerant. Jacqui tentatively approaches her, asking Katie if she doesn't think she's had enough. In fact, Jacqui offers to take Katie upstairs and make her some coffee. Katie then turns on Jacqui in a particularly nasty way, shouting at the top of her voice that Jacqui is the daughter of a murderer, that Jacqui's father murdered her fiancé in cold blood and finishes by viciously pushing Jacqui back against the table, causing her to fall on the floor. Max helps a sobbing Jacqui up. (Actually, I'm surprised Bev didn't step in here and ask that Katie remove herself or BE removed).
Adele and Sue are seated nervously in Adele's room waiting for Marty to finish in the loo. They are studying the directions on the home pregnancy test. Adele wonders if they can do the test in her room, instead of the loo, but Sue says Adele has to pee on the indicator. Diane enters, playing the nosey Mum routine, the girls hide the pregnancy test. Adele asks how long Marty is going to be in the loo and Diane says that she's welcome to use their en suite (why isn't Marty doing that?), but Adele demurs. Diane continues by asking Sue if she's sweet on any fella at school and Sue tells her about the bloke she fancies, who doesn't know she's alive. Diane leaves the room.
Comic Interlude Number Three - Maybe: We see Jimmy and Cheryl seated at an upstairs booth at Bev's sharing a joke. Jimmy asks Cheryl if she knew that Joan Collins was 68. Cheryl laughs and remarks that that means on Joanie's NEXT birthday, she'd be SIXTY-NINE!!!
At another upstairs booth, we see Max holding a sobbing Jacqui in his arms and kissing her tenderly on the top of her head.
Again, back at the Murrays, Adele and Sue are still awaiting the use of the bathroom, when the Sainted Mother enters the room yet again, this time with hot chocolate. They swiftly hide the pregnancy test and ask again how long Marty is going to be. Diane reveals that he is in the bath listening to the cricket, but she'll hurry him along.
At the end of Jimmy's shift, he brings Cheryl home. Jim's having trouble opening the door with his key and Cheryl makes a double entendre remark about Jimmy not being able to 'get it in'. When they open the door, Jackie is sitting at the foot of the stairs in her bathrobe. Cheryl laughingly greets her and remarks on the classy robe (obvious that the Brookside writers also read Jaci Stephen's column on Saturdays as she repeatedly bangs on about Jackie's bathrobe).
Jackie asks Jimmy what he's playing at, saying that he'd hit rock bottom now, consorting with her cousin. Cheryl remarks that she needs the toilet and begins to ascend the stairs, when Jackie stops her, telling her that the upstairs of the house is her domain. Cheryl will have to use Jimmy's facilities, which are distinctly al fresco. As Jimmy unlocks the downstairs, Cheryl remarks as how she's looking forward to seeing his extension.
Later, as she sits upstairs alone, Jackie forlornly listens to the banter downstairs, hearing Jimmy say that Cheryl's bra is like Fort Knox and hearing Cheryl rejoinder, 'Like Fort Knockers'.
In fact, Cheryl is seated on Jimmy's lap while Jimmy unsuccessfully tries to undo her bra. Suddenly, he stops and looks at Cheryl. He confesses that he can't do this - not to her and not to Jackie. He had brought Cheryl home because he wanted to humiliate and degrade Jackie, but he couldn't, even now, because she was still the mother of his children. And he couldn't do this, this way, to Cheryl because she was too good a woman. And again, we are treated to a warm and distinctly vulnerably
Finally, back at the Murrays, Adele emerges from the toilet, holding the indicator in her hand. Her face is a picture, she needs utter no words. Sue susses that she's pregnant and Adele is distraught, but moreso at the fact that Diane has been trying for yonks to conceive and Adele gets pregnant on the first whack. It appears that her stepmum's potential jealousy concerns her more than the fact that she, herself, is about to have a baby.
Observations: AGE AND TIME AGAIN!!!! PLEASE NOTE THAT THE CORKHILLS WERE MARRIED IN 1971!!!!! I hate the repeated references to the fact that they have been married only 27 years, when they have not. And Lindsey is supposed to be the same age as Mike Dixon, ca. 28! And the Murrays' ages are all over the place!!! Diane was introduced on the website as 39 and Darren made reference to that when he couldn't refer them for NHS IVF - suddenly she's just turning 37! Last year, when they arrived, Adele was 13, but turned 15 last summer and was in a class of 14 year-olds when they met Jim on a field trip to a local museum. Also, when they were introduced on the website, STEVE was supposed to be 18 and a trainee mechanic. This week coming, he's about to turn 21!!!
Brookie isn't the only one to do this. Eastenders got away with upping Kat Slater's age to accommodate a teenage pregnancy by saying she's 31 but lies and says she's 28; but they've aged her old man by ten years to accommodate a romance with Peggy Butcher! Sort it out, you lot!
And finally: has anyone ever thought to use the phrase 'bi-polar' to describe Jimmy and Max?
Summary © 2001 Marion Watts
Brookside and all related materials are © Mersey Television 1982-2001