It happens to be Harry’s birthday, and Jacqui and Max are preparing for a child’s party. Jacqui is shell-shocked, as much by the attempted kidnap of Harry as by Max’s sudden insistence the previous evening that they call the marriage off. In fact, Max is insisting that they tell the Dixon family without delay about the cancellation - preferably when the clan arrives for the birthday celebrations.
Jacqui mutters that it will spoil Harry’s big day, especially after all he’s been through. Anyway, what does Max suggest that they give as a reason for calling the wedding off, she asks. The only excuse Max can come up with is that calling the wedding off was ‘for the best’ - and that’s as limp as a wet noodle. Jacqui argues that SHE doesn’t think it’s necessarily ‘for the best’. As a matter of fact, it will look as though the couple are giving into Gobby’s taunts, giving the yob what he wants to achieve.
Max is still maintaining that he’s not so very different from Gobby, himself, and he wants Jacqui to see and realise that. Jacqui refuses to tell her family that the wedding is cancelled until Max can come up with a better reason to give HER for the cancellation than he has already done.
Gobby, meanwhile, is in police custody, being question by a man called D.I. Holden, a Scouser dectective with a funny voice like an older Terry Christian, and who looks oddly familiar. (He wasn’t the fella who pursued Luke, because he later showed up on Dinner Ladies. Is he the same policeman who pursued Sinbad when the latter was accused of child abuse?) D.I. Holden informs Gobby that he has statements from three different witnesses who all say that Gobby led them directly to the flat where Harry was found. Gobby sullenly maintains that the witnesses are lying. He asks the detective if the copper seriously thought that Gobby would be stupid enough to lead people to the place he was stashing a kidnapped kid, IF he had kidnapped Harry in the first place, which he didn’t.
Holden agrees that he does, indeed, think Gobby is stupid. In fact, his assessment of Gobby is that he was more than stupid, he was scared. His bottle went, he panicked and he scarpered for the place where he’d hidden Harry, thinking that he wasn’t being pursued. Gobby thought he’d found a safe house, but it wasn’t, was it?
Gobby argues that, as far as being scared, he didn’t choose to argue with a baseball bat. He explains that he had arranged to meet Katie Rogers, when the Corkhills and Tim O’Leary appeared wielding a baseball bat. The trio had chased Gobby down a back alley off the Dock Road, where they caught up with him and beat him up. (A lie).
So he was beaten up? Queries the detective. Did anyone see them beat him up in this alleyway?
No, answers Gobby sullenly.
And did anyone see him at the flats?
Anthea is leaving the Dixon home when she bumps into Jimmy. Jim asks after Harry and Anthea replies that he’s fine. He seems unphased by it all. Jimmy supposes that the child is too young to realise what happened. Anthea explains that she’s on her way to the shops for some sticky tape. It’s Harry’s birthday and she needed some to wrap his present. She’d told Ron to pick up a roll, but he’d forgotten.
Jimmy reckons Ron’s got a lot on his mind, and tells Anthea that there’s some spare tape at Hotel Corkhill. Come on in, and he’d get it. Anthea demurs, saying she’ll wait on the doorstep. Jimmy then asks how she and Ron are getting on. Anthea says that they are all right. If the ordeal concerning Harry taught her anything, it’s that families should stick together. Realising her faux pas, she apologises to Jimmy, who remarks that he’s in the middle of a messy divorce.
She asks how the divorce proceedings are going. Jimmy replies that he’s on pins at the moment. The report from the Welfare Custody Officer is due out any day, determining who gets custody of William. Anthea asks if Jim’s hopeful. Hopeful? Laughs Jimmy. The court had a choice between the bi-polar manic depressive or the long-suffering saint. Who would Anthea chose?
Anthea says that a few months ago, her choice would have been an easy one; but since then, she’s seen what a good dad Jimmy was. (Of course, Anthea’s SUCH a good judge of character - her befriending of Ma Moffatt and Katie ...)
Jacqui is still seeking an answer from Max. Is he calling off the wedding because of Lisa? Is it because of the things Lisa said? Max brushes this suggestion aside, saying that he took no notice of Lisa. Jacqui pursues. Does Max think that Jacqui’s actually scheming to get Harry back by marrying Max? Because if that were the reason, Jacqui would easily take him to court. Max tries to ignore the girl.
Jacqui desperately continues. She loves Max and Harry and Emma. She wants them all to be a family. Max is phaffing about the kitchen, trying to look distracted, when the doorbell rings. The Dixons have arrived. Again, Max suggests that they tell the family and not prolong the ordeal. Jacqui refuses. She deserves a proper explanation for Max’s change of heart first, before the others are told.
Gobby is still getting questioned. Holden asks why the yob went round the Farnhams’ the previous evening. Is it true he smashed a window? Gobby replies cockily that that was an accident. Holden raises his eyebrows disbelievingly and continues with the questioning. Is it true Gobby raised his voice at the Farnhams? Gobby admits grudgingly that maybe he did raise his voice.
Well, the policeman continues, and quotes Gobby from his pad: ‘Maybe now you’ll know what I feel like’. Did Gobby say that? What exactly did he mean?
Gobby explains that he was referring to his brother. Jacqui had lost her kid for a couple of hours; his Ma had lost her son forever.
Another quote from the pad: ‘This is only the start ...’ What did Gobby mean by that.
Gobby has another facile reply. Oh, that was a reference to the trial and the fact that the two families had a long way to go.
Yet another, and more potentially dangerous, quote: ‘’I’ve had Harry once, I’ll get him again.’ Did he say that?
Gobby is decidely uncomfortable now. In fact, he’s angry. He vehemently denies saying that. But, the silken-voiced detective points out, the Farnhams heard him say that. Well, the sullen yob maintains, they’re lying.
But why would they lie? Asks Holden.
The poor pitiful yob show begins. Because they hate him, maintains Gobby. They hate him and his family, and if this case ever came to court, his brief could easily show how much the Dixons and Farnhams hate him and his. Max and Jacqui have nothing on him.
Leaning close to his face, the detective tries another tack. The neighbours on the Close heard him shout the last threat to the Farnhams.
Gobby hesitates a moment, avoiding the policeman’s eyes. Then the neighbours are lying, he shouts, and Holden is trying to stitch him up.
No, the policeman replies innocently, he’s giving Gobby the chance to confess.
He’s stitching him up, argues Gobby, now cocky and more confident. In fact, Holden had nothing on Gobby, nothing for which he could hold him legally. If he had, Gobby would have been formally arrested by now. If Harry had recognised him, Gobby would have been charged; but the kid didn’t. If there had been any other witnesses near those flats who had come forward, he would have been charged, but there wasn’t. The police, Gobby smirks, can’t prove anything.
At Hotel Corkhill, Emily flops on a sofa, announcing that she’s bored. Jimmy shouts to Tim that his wife is bored, and Tim should do something about it. Emily wants to do something exciting. Jimmy and Tim shake their heads. They’re done with excitement, after yesterday.
Emily is disgruntled that the rest of the household were tearing around Liverpool on a rescue mission, when she was stuck in the salon goind grannies’ perms (pronounced ‘pearrrrrr-ms’). Jimmy tells Emily that she would have been proud of her Tim, but Emily argues that she should have been taken with them. Tim’s heroics were all the talk of the salon, and frankly, she was sick of it.
Tim produces a wad of cash and suggests that Emily go shopping and buy something nice to wear that evening. He was taking her out to dinner, courtesy of Gobby Moffatt. He shows her £45.00. Emily snarls roughly that she certainly hopes Tim doesn’t think she’s one of those wives who’s content to be kept in the dark as long as her husband throws money at her (as if). Because she’s not, she tells him. But not before she’s grabbed the money.
The birthday party is in full swing, with Mike playing DJ whilst the kids, helped by Ron, Anthea and Rachel, play musical chairs. Jacqui and Max are looking grim, but determined, and Anthea asks Jacqui if everything is sorted out for the wedding, which happens to be the next day. (So, let me get this right ... Everything from last Friday’s episode, actually happened in the FUTURE ... Hmmmm, no wonder there was no mention of the catastrophe in New York, in a specially filmed scene reminiscent of those done for the death of Diana, the petrol crisis and the election ... Oh, but that happened in wicked, evil, depraved America. What’s a few Yanks’ lives?)
Jacqui half-heartedly assures her step-mother, whilst eyeing an uneasy Max. The music stops, and Ron loses this round of musical chairs, amidst banter from the grandchildren. He announces that this game was too energetic for him and that he was going outside for a mo’ to get some fresh air.
Mike, meanwhile, notices Jacqui’s downer mood and asks if she’s OK. Jacqui gamely explains that she’s in no mood for a party after the events of yesterday. Mike assures her that Harry’s safe now.
Emily is still sulking, but preparing to go shopping courtesy of Gobby. Tim’s sitting happily doing nothing, when Em stops briefly to ask him if he wants to go shopping with her. Tim declines, and Emily reckons an afternoon’s retail therapy simply isn’t exciting enough for him, after being such a hero. As she storms off, Tim shouts after her, in a husbandly manner, that this sulking will have to stop.
As she’s leaving, the doorbell rings and she finds Ron on the doorstep. Emily is so ridiculously self-centred that she actually imagines that Ron is calling to see her and explains that she’s off out, before the man has a chance to open his mouth.
‘Er ... Actually, it’s the other fella I came to see,’ explains Ron, quietly, as he sees Jim and Tim moving about in the background.
Emily leaves and Jimmy confronts Ron on the doorstep. Ron humbly wants to thank Jimmy for what Jim did for the Dixons. Jimmy’s acting wierdly cocky and off, when he responds that he did what anyone else would have done. Ron remarks that if Jimmy hadn’t rescued Harry, there’s no telling what might have happened. Jimmy invites Ron inside.
About the same time, a squad car pulls into the Close and DI Holden knocks on the Farnham door. Jacqui answers. He asks if might have a word, over the din of the children’s party in the background. Jacqui explains that they were in the midst of a birthday party, as Max appears at he side. The copper informs her regretfully that the bizzies had to release Gobby Moffatt.
Inside Hotel Corkhill, Ron stands in humble gratitude before Tim and Jimmy. We notice that there appears to be a card of some sort in his shirt pocket. Ron reiterates how grateful he is to everyone who saved Harry, and again Jimmy protests that he was only acting the way any responsible citizen and parent would do. Ron remarks that after everything that’s transpired between the Dixons and the Corkhills over the years, this act doesn’t exactly make him and Jimmy quits; but Ron certainly won’t forget what he’s done.
He pulls the card from his pocket. It’s actually two cards, and he hands them to Jim and Tim. He and Jacqui have been talking, and they’d like the Corkhills and O’Leary to attend Jacqui’s wedding reception. Jimmy and Tim are pleased.
Meanwhile, DI Holden is trying to explain his predicament to Jacqui and Max. It’s all down to a matter of interpretation, he says. Gobby has twisted the meanings of everything he’d said previously to have some sort of reference or connotation to Ron’s upcoming trial. All his threats were actually, according to Gobby, veiled references to the Moffatts’ situation with regard to the Dixon trial. Sadly, there was nothing in either Jacqui’s or Max’s statements to contradict this claim. If the case about harrassment came to court, Gobby’s brief would tear it apart as irrelevant; he would simply say that Gobby was ‘misunderstood’.
There were other factors, as well, he continues. Firstly, Harry couldn’t identify Gobby as the man who took him. (Er, since when can an almost three-year-old - which is what Harry was when he was kidnapped - be expected to do something like that?) There was also no forensic evidence (what about the flat and all that was in it?). And finally, there were no witnesses to the incidents that occurred at the flats where Harry was found.
Jacqui, to say the least, is indignant. No witnesses? Why, the Corkhills and Tim O’Leary practically tracked Gobby down and led the police to him!
The policemant is patient. What he means is that there are no other independent corroborating witnesses to the scenes at the flats. It was simply a matter of Gobby’s word against that of the Corkhills and Tim O’Leary - and, frankly, the latter lot was far from irreproachable. Besides, Gobby DID have mitigating circumstances, of a sort. He’d been beaten up.
Max and Jacqui are near speechless with indignation. What about the smashed window? Asks Max, in disbelief. That was never an accident. Gobby is a dangerous and violent man, protests Jacqui, he feeds off violence. And one day someone is going to get killed.
DI Holden concurs. But there’s nothing he can do, the man explains. He needs something else to get him on. It’s possible he could convict him for destruction of private property. Max asks if Gobby would go down for that offence, but Holden tells him that it wasn’t punishable by a custodial sentence.
Jacqui is adamant and frustrated. Why, Gobby admitted to kidnapping Harry. He said as much. He said he’d kidnapped Harry once and he’d do it again!
DI Holden immediately listens to the girl. Kidnap? That wasn’t in her original statement, he points out. Jacqui glances at Max, uncomfortably. Well, she hesitates, she forgot to mention it, she was under so much stress.
The dectective is sceptical. Is she saying she wants to change her statement? Jacqui admits that she does. OK, says the copper, but he wants her to realise that if the case comes to court, Gobby’s barrister would tear both her statements to shreds, besides wanting to know why she’d decided to change the original. Under cross-examination, the defence barrister would be like a dog with a bone in his ability to make her look less that credible. Could she stand it? He asks.
Jacqui can’t even stand this knowledge, and she turns blindly and runs inside the house.
DI Holden is left to apologise to Max. He’s sincerely sorry. For what it’s worth and off the record, he says, he’s of the opinion that Gobby did take the child. But he’s a cocky sod, who knows that the police have no real proof. Anyway, he’s been warned to stay away from the Farnhams.
As the policeman is leaving, Ron emerges from the Corkhills and crosses the Close. Curious, he asks Max about the police presence, and Max tells him that Gobby has been released without charge. Ron turns in disbelief and shouts at Holden for letting ‘that psycho’ back out onto the streets. Max tries to calm Ron down, by reminding him that the children would hear.
As the two men enter the house, Max explains to Anthea, Rachel and Mike what’s transpired. Mike is unimpressed. It will only be a matter of time until someone else is kidnapped, he remarks. Max asks Jacqui’s whereabouts, and Anthea explains that she was upset and ran upstairs. Rachel volunteers to look after Jacqui whilst Anthea suggests some more party games for the children. Ron innocently suggests ‘Hide and Seek’, but that goes down like a lead balloon.
Rachel finds Jacqui in tears. Jacqui explains to Rachel that Gobby has a way of taking the joy out of any situation. Rachel tries to comfort her, saying that it’s only a matter of time before all this will soon be over. Anyway, Gobby doesn’t ever have to come near her again. But that’s just it, Jacqui maintains. Gobby doesn’t have to. He’s won. He’s got what he wants. His little kidnapping scheme worked. Max doesn’t want to marry her now.
DI Holden is now visiting Jimmy and Tim. He’s interested to know something about Tim’s statement. In his statement about following Gobby Moffatt, Tim failed to mention the fact that he had a baseball bat ... Nor did he tell them that he’d beaten Gobby up, or that Ma Moffatt had been assaulted.
Jimmy tries to explain that desperate times called for desperate measures. They had to hurry to rescue Harry. If they hadn’t proceeded the way they did, young Harry would have died with seconds to spare. There was, simply, no time to be nice.
The policeman tries to be reasonable. Look, he’s not saying that if he were in Tim’s shoes and if the kid in question were his son or a neighbour’s kid, he wouldn’t have reacted the same way. But people can’t go around taking the law into their own hands. Tim cheekily banters that they were only doing the job the police should have been doing in the first place, but Jimmy checks him from further verbal diarrhea.
Tim should listen to Jimmy, remarks DI Holden. Aggravating a police officer is not a good idea, he advises, especially when Tim was about to get off an assault charge.
Tim doesn’t understand, and the dectective explains that neither Gobby nor Ma Moffatt are pressing assault charges against the posse. Tim is even more baffled. He can’t understand why they aren’t.
Jimmy is jubilant, and exchanging understanding glances with the policeman, he explains to Tim that no charges are being placed by the Moffatts because Gobby DID kidnap Harry. And if the assault case ever came to court, then the whole can of worms surrounding the kidnapping would be reopened.
DI Holden agrees, and warns them against further vigilante practices.
Rachel is trying to comfort a weeping Jacqui, but we all know that Rachel is one of the most cack-handed people when it comes to offering emotional support to anyone else. Her attempts are so pathetic, they’re almost funny, as we see as the scene unfolds.
Jacqui is lamenting the fact that Gobby spoils everything in her life. She wishes she’d never laid eyes on him in Benidorm. That’s what started the beginning of the end of the whole Nathan fiasco. Gobby made her wonder if there were other blokes out there with whom she had more in common than Nathan. She explains to Rachel that, somehow, it was easy to see Gobby with HER kids - kicking a football around with them, riding them on his shoulders. She couldn’t envisage Nathan doing anything like that.
Rachel dumbly asks, ‘What about Max?’
Jacqui answers that she’s seen what Max is like as a dad, and he’s a good one. Jacqui confesses that she knows that most people think she’s marrying Max for Harry’s sake - at least, she’s certain Ron thinks so.
Rachel makes another bovine comment, saying ‘nothin’s wrong wi’ bein close to yer soon’.
And Jacqui replies that she realises what people say about her having sold her baby too.
Another useless remark is made by Rachel, to the effect that Jacqui is being too hard on herself. (OMIGOD! I just realised something. I looked into the future. LAURA BUSH is Rachel in thirty years! SOMEBODY WARN MIKE!!!)
Jacqui tries to explain to her sister-in-law, who suffers from the affliction of not having a brain, that when Harry was missing the previous day, she was utterly terrified. Max was there to help and sustain her. For the first time since she gave birth to the child, she felt like a proper mother. There was one point, she elaborates, when Max was hugging her. She had suddenly thought: ‘What if I don’t get Harry back? Could I still marry and live with this man?’ And she knew the answer was that she could, because she loved him. If the worst had happened, she would have needed Max more than ever. She needs him now, because she has no one else.
Rachel makes another inane observation, saying that Jacqui was wrong about having no one. Jacqui had loads of friends and family. Who? Jacqui asks. Katie had deserted her. Darren and Victoria were off in parts unknown. Ron was facing a murder trial and DD was miles away.
Rachel point out that she is still Jacqui’s friend. (Although, were I Jacqui, I would be less than comforted by that fact. In fact, with friends like Rachel, who thinks loyalty wears two faces and must be suffering from sever gynaecological problems from sitting on that fence, Jacqui needs no enemies). But Jacqui manages to tell Rachel that she is, indeed, a brilliant friend; and she knew that if Jacqui ever needed Rachel, Rachel would be around in no time. But at the end of the day, Rachel still had Mike and Beth. Jacqui had no one.
Rachel offers her own brand of cack-handed encouragement to Jacqui’s predicament, by reminding her that a cancelled wedding is better than a bad marriage.
At that moment, Max knocks on the door. Rachel offers to tell him to go away, but Jacqui declines her offer. Max appears, carrying Harry, saying that Harry was impatient ot light the candles on his birthday cake.
Back at Hotel Corkhill, after the departure of DI Holden, Tim is using the policeman’s attitude as a plus side to his argument to Jim about a life of crime. Holden was living proof that some bizzies take no notice of crimes committed. If that were the case, why should he take any notice of the law in general.
Jimmy turns to face Tim and tells the lad that sometime it’s necessary for the bizzies to ignore the law in order to get justice. But that doesn’t excuse ignoring the law because you’re short a few bob, he says. Tim should learn from Jimmy’s example.
The children’s party is over and the Dixons are leaving en masse, murmuring the usual platitudes as they leave. Ron says he has to work on his speech for the big day, and jokingly asks if Jacqui definitely plans on going through with this wedding. Mike makes a remark about Jacqui getting engaged every six months. They leave, looking forward to the wedding the next day.
After they’ve gone, Max tells Jacqui that it was cruel not to tell them of their decision to cancel the wedding. Jacqui replies that it was cruel of Max to cancel HER wedding without giving her an explanation.
Emily’s just finished a phone call to Margi. She enters the room where Tim’s sitting, wearing an abbreviated top which shows off her real-life boob job for the phony that it is. She asks Tim how he likes her purchase, meaning the top. It was a bargain - reduced from £80. It was really difficult to find something for 45 quid these days.
Jimmy grabs his coat and announces he’s leaving for work and wishing the pair a good evening. He tells them not to do anything he wouldn’t do and mutters under his breath, ‘Like spending 45 quid for a vest’.
After he leaves, Tim asks after Margi. Did she ask after Tim, he wants to know. Emily shakes her head. Good, says Tim. Because the next time she calls, he won’t ask after her.
Emily admits that she’s missing her mother, and Tim suggests that she visit her for a couple of days. Emily wants to know how that would be possible. By the end of the evening, they would have spent all the money stolen from Gobby Moffatt. Tim consoles his wife, telling her not to worry about money from now on. Emily replies that talk is cheap.
Jacqui looks out of one of the Farnham windows at nothing particular in the distance, wondering aloud if Gobby is watching. He’d certainly be happy to know they’d called off the wedding, wouldn’t he? She asks bitterly. Max makes another annoyingly lame remark, saying that they really shouldn’t get married just to spite Gobby.
Jacqui turns and peers at Max. She doesn’t understand. Is Max, perhaps, afraid of Gobby? Max admits that he’s certainly afraid of what Gobby is capable. Once again, he reminds the girl that he isn’t very different from Gobby at all. In fact, he’s afraid that one day he’ll hit her, as Gobby did. Max warns her that he becomes a violent man when provoked.
Jacqui disagrees. Max is nothing more than gentle in his demeanor; but Max points out that she thought the same of Gobby when she first met him.
Jacqui is distraught. If Max is violent, does that mean all men are violent? Does that mean that she’s doomed either to die a spinster or a battered wife? Max assures her that not all men are violent. He’s sure Jacqui would find someone else who wasn’t.
Jacqui is frustrated by Max’s attitude and lashes out against him in frustration, punching him on the shoulders, whilst he backs away. Max is being extremely selfish, she argues. He must be listening to Lisa’s rantings, but Max denies this. What about Harry? She asks. Max tries to tell her that by not marrying her, he is, in fact, protecting her from himself and his potential.
Jacqui doesn’t understand Max’s logic, and finally Max explains that he has to protect Jacqui from himself and what he can potentially become. Max, he admits, is a killer. He killed Susannah.
Summary © 2001 Marion Watts
Brookside and all related materials are © Mersey Television 1982-2001