Or
THE EARLY BIRD CATCHES A TAXI
Getting there, getting there, and taking some time about it. This episode was a tad more promising, than the other two, although it was written by the man with the name of a porn star. In this episode, we see Brookside employing the device that Eastenders uses so effectively - that of a single idea, joining all the threads of a story.
In this episode, we studied the concept of time - lateness versus precipity - and all inherent consequences. And then there’s the idea of returning home - Jimmy from hospital and Ron from prison, but the homes to which they are returning are nothing like what they left. Both have been physically changed, and both men will have to adapt in a world totally unlike that with which they’d previously become familiar. In both instances, the homes are filled with people who are no blood relations, but who have taken over from top to bottom, Both men have been rendered incapable of looking after or caring for themselves, and so are totally dependent on two young women, who have enough problems in their own personal lives without taking on added responsibilities.
And then there are the circumstances of those two young women - Nikki and Jacqui, both determined to thrust their own self-importance onto the world, with scant concern for their own welfare or that of their families. For them, life is a race against time. Get Jimmy normal, so Nikki can be a heroine and have a nermal life, herself. Get the bar up and running and get this baby born.
And throughout all this, in the background of happenings, the time bomb that’s Imelda ticks on and on in Ant’s mind. The suspense is good, in this respect. We are waiting for the discovery of the body or whatever. It’s as good a wait as it was in the heyday of the Jordaches. I just hope the wait is not so long that it proves to be boring.
This episode is begun with a series of short, episodic spurts, setting the scene for the action.
Poor, pitiful, stinking, sodden, rotten, drunken, filthy, greasy, smelly Katie lies in a drunken sleep. Louise the Ratchild tiptoes in precipitously and quietly leaves a cup of tea beside Katie’s bed, before scurrying out, rodent-fashion. (If she’d stayed in that room any longer, she would have gagged a maggot at the stench).
Ron Dixon stands before the slab of mirror in his prison cell and prepares to shave himself. He glances at the family photo of Mike, Tony and Jacqui taken some years before.
Jimmy sits apprehensively in his hospital room, dressed and ready to go. In the foreground on the table, is a glass of water and a bottle containing Jimmy’s lithium tablets. Jimmy eyes the accoutrements with dismay, but also with resignation, as he reaches for the bottle to take his prescribed dosage.
Dr Nikki, carrying a pail of paint and a paintbrush, wills herself to enter Jimmy’s lair, or rather, the extension at Hotel Corkhill. She stands momentarily, gazing at Jimmy’s graffiti that covers the wall, reading the words ‘Trapped’ and ‘Caged’. Sighing, she sets the pail of paint down and starts to work on the walls.
Back at the prison, Ron begins to pack his bags.
Nisha enters the stinking hole that’s Katie’s room. Finding the wretch awake, but still abed, Nisha launches into a tirade about Katie’s behaviour the previous day. She’s not surprised Katie doesn’t appear to be going to work ... AGAIN, she adds for good measure. Not that she still has a job to go to, mind. Nisha admits that she was stupid to stand up for Katie. Why, she went out on a limb trying to plead Katie’s case to Gary Parr, only to have him shove Katie’s file in her face and inform her that Katie had a written warning against her. Why hadn’t Katie told Nisha this?
Katie doesn’t respond.
Nisha continues. She went through all the motions of pleading with Dr Parr for clemency for Katie, she says. All the malarkey about Ron Dixon being released and the pressure Katie was under. Well, she was tired of hearing about it all and tired of defending it. (Go, Nisha. Kick the bitch out. Then there would be no justifiable reason for keeping her in Brookside).
Against all this verbal hassle, Katie pulls the covers over her head and turns away from Nisha.
As Ron prepares to leave prison, he pauses for a moment and glances about the level, taking in the sights and sounds of the place for one last time. As he closes the door of his cell behind him one last time, he removes his prison card from its slot on the door and walks downstairs.
Ray, parked outside Hotel Corkhill, toots his horn, as Dr Nikki appears at the door. She shouts to Ray that he’s a half-hour too early for Jimmy. They’d only have to wait once they got to the hospital. Ray tells Nikki that he wants to get back early, as Helen is calling around.
As Dr Nikki walks toward the car, Ray wonders aloud if Nikki isn’t taking on too much responsibility in looking after Jimmy.
Dr Nikki is cocky in her response. She’s perfectly capable of coping. Anyway, now Jim was on his meds again, it would be like having the old Jimmy back. Besides, working with Jimmy this way would be A GOOD EXPERIENCE FOR HER CAREER. (Is that so good? Did Nikki know the old Jimmy, the old scally, the old lag? God, this woman is so smugly stupid, I could quite easily kill her with my bare hands).
Ron waits outside the warder’s office as he’s called inside to be inspected before release.
Mike, ready to leave for the prison, has called round Jacqui’s, but Jacqui is running late. Mike is hurrying her along, telling her that Ron will be ballistic if they aren’t there when he steps out of the compound. Suddenly, Jacqui turns around and bolts for the house, in the pangs of morning sickness.
At the start of the day in the Walk-in Clinic, Nisha seeks Dr Parr. She tells him humbly that she’s spoken to Katie.
Dr Parr is distinctly unimpressed, either by Nisha’s pleading or by Katie’s behaviour. Nisha, seeing him unmoved, pleads that he treat Katie as a special case.
Parr looks at her sceptically. Is she trying to do a number on him or something? He asks, embarrasing the Naughty Nurse. He needs to remind Nisha that Katie was drunk and she was in HERE, in the clinic.
But, Nisha argues, Katie’s drinking wasn’t REALLY a problem. (Oh no? That’s a new one). It’s more like a symptom, she says, persuasively, smiling prettily.
Yes, yes, nods Parr, he heard everything Nisha had said the previous day about Ron Dixon, the father of her best friend, who killed her fiancé yadda yadda ... Well, he was hooked on the outline of that story, And forgetting that he’s employed by the NHS to see and treat patients, he asks that Nisha elaborate on the details of the story.
Ron is sent by the warders into a side room as his personal effects are returned to him.
Dr Nikki enters her patient’s hospital room to find him waiting apprehensively. Glancing briefly at her, Jimmy expresses surprise that she’s even shown up.
Nikki is surprised that Jimmy would doubt her.
He’s used to people not keeping their word, Jimmy says.
Nikki asks him if he’s ready to face the outside world.
Is the outside world ready for him? Asks Jimmy, rhetorically.
Dr Nikki, anxious to leave and begin proving that she’s a prodigy at psychology. She jollies Jimmy along, saying that they were all ready to go, with Ray parked outside on a double yellow line.
‘Good old Ray,’ quips Jimmy.
Nikki continues to hurry him along, as Jimmy takes one last look at the sanctuary that was his room.
Ron, bare-chested and watched by a prison warder, begins to dress himself in his civvies.
At the Clinic, Dr Parr smiles as Nisha finishes relating the sad, pathetic story that’s the life of Katie Rogers. He remarks, ironically, that Katie’s life read like a soap opera. (That’s because she’s IN one). Some people DO lead troubled lives, he remarks, inconsequentially.
This is why, Nisha argues, Dr Parr should treat Katie like a patient. It’s actually therapeutic for her to have a job. (Oh, yeah, sure. A doctors’ surgery with an indiscreet, alcoholic receptionist. I’d feel really assured going there).
Dr Parr smilingly relents and remarks that Nisha should be a psychiatrist. (No, please. The lunatics will take over the asylum!). Her friend, Katie, owes her one, he says, agreeing to give Katie another chance.
As Ron is finally being checked out of prison, he has a request to make of the warders. He wants to keep his prison card as a reminder of his stay there. As the warders agree to his request, their faces remain blank and impassive.
As Mike rushes Jacqui to the people carrier, Jacqui is taking a phone call on her mobile from Mrs Sol, who’s asking Sol’s whereabouts. Mrs Sol has tried contacting him at the club, but he’s not there. Jacqui explains to Mrs Sol that she doesn’t know where he is, as he never told her about having this day off. (Remember: Sammy is on a day out in ‘London’. Where is Sol? Coincidence?)
Mike is nagging that they’re going to be late, when Jacqui finishes her phone call and gets into the car. She suddenly remembers that she has to get petrol, and Mike starts nagging her again. They should have left earlier, but Jacqui replies that she couldn’t help having morning sickness. Why, of all times, did she have to be pregnant now?
Ron is being given the final all-clear before being released. He’s asked his name and roll number and asked if he has any complaints about his treatment in prison. He joins the queue of other inmates preparing to be released. The doors open and the men emerge, all but Ron, to be greeted by loved ones. Behind Ron, the prison door shuts and he’s left standing on his own.
At Sitcom House, our first visit of the episode, Marty is also rushing to put his jacket on. As Plank descends the stairs with a bag in his hands, Marty explains that he’s been called to the school to take a delivery. Plank stops him to show him the contents of the bag. Inside we see Antony’s smashed statues. Marty and Plank exchange concerned looks.
As Nikki, Ray and Jimmy arrive back on The Close, Nikki fumbles for Jimmy’s keys, saying that Emily will have the kettle put on. Helen is arriving at the same time and greets Ray. Jimmy, immediately re-establishes his rapport with Helen and loses all thought about entering his own house, cadging an invitation into Number 8 for some tea and biscuits.
A taxi stands in front of the prison, as Ron has called one, and he gets inside. The car drives off, just as the people carrier with Jacqui and Mike arrives. Mike is extremely agitated, especially since he hasn’t told Ron that Number 8 has lodgers now. Mike remonstrates with Jacqui, knowing that they’d miss Ron.
Jacqui reasons that he must have only just left, but Mike tells her that if Ron arrives home before they do, they’re both dead.
In the foreground of the lounge in the Dixon house, Jimmy sits, talking animatedly to Helen, asking her about her work. Helen tells him that she works at the bingo club as a cashier. She issues the cheques for the winnings, and Jimmy flirts with her, saying that she must be the most popular person in the place.
Emily eyes Jimmy warily from a disance and remarks sceptically to Jessie that she doesn’t know what’s going on inside Jimmy’s head. Jessie shakes her head slowly, hoping aloud that Nikki doesn’t get too involved with Jimmy’s care.
Emily pointedly remarks that Jimmy’s a dirty old man.
Jessie laughingly scoffs at that idea. She’s more inclined to believe Jimmy’s treating Nikki more like a surrogate daughter.
As Antony enters Sitcom House, Plank meets him with the bagful of smashed relics. Plank informs Antony that he found these while looking for something in Ant’s cupboard. He wants to know how they got to be like this. Ant doesn’t even bother to reply; he just walks away, whilst Plank shouts after him not to walk off.
The taxi bearing Ron, arrives on the Close. Ron alights, tells the cabbie to keep the change, and pauses to glance at the burnt-out bungalow.
At that moment, the door to Number 8 opens wide and a beaming Jessie bellows out, ‘Welcome home, Ron!’
Ron’s bemused by her presence as she ushers him inside. Ray, Jimmy and the two girls greet him with welcoming sounds. Everyone’s smiling, and Ray shouts out a welcome, as Jessie tells Ron that there’s tea in the pot.
Jimmy approaches Ron, asking how things were on the oil rigs, explaining that that’s how they used to refer to being in the clink in his time. Jess is surprised that Ron’s arrived home in a taxi.; she thought for certain that Mike and Jacqui would have met him.
Jimmy reckons that Ron’s been looking forward to sleeping in his own bed. Realising that Ray and Jessie are staying in his home, Ron clenches his teeth and looks about the room, replying to Jimmy that he’s been dreaming about sleeping in his own bed for weeks. Ray and Jessie exchange guilty looks, as they have appropriated Ron’s bedroom.
Plank pursues Ant for an answer as to why he smashed the statues. He demands to know if this act had anything to do with the bullying at school.
Ant refuses to meet his brother’s stare, and shrugs his shoulders stubbornly. It was nothing to do with school, he says. He was simply tired of those statues.
But why break them? Asks Plank. Ant could have given them to some charity shop.
Antony replies that he thought Plank would be pleased that he’s thrown off his religious stuff like that.
As Jacqui and Mike arrive at the Close, Jacqui receives yet another phone call from Mrs Sol. Once again, she tells the woman that she has no idea where Sol could be. She tells her that she’s also received other calls from people wanting to know his whereabouts.
The two approach the Dixon front door and as they reach the doorstep, the door is opened by Ron. Expecting a telling off, Mike and Jacqui begin to apologise and protest that they’d only just missed Ron. Ron suddenly quiets them down and tells them to chill out; worse things happen at sea, and anyway, he was home now. He gives the two a warm embrace, as Jimmy comes up behind him.
Jimmy, in Sage-mode, waxes lyrical about the importance of having the support of one’s family around. Looking over his shoulder at Jimmy, Ron affirms that, in Mike and Jacqui, he has two of the best. (Well, I’d hate to see two of the worst!).
Jimmy begins to make his excuses, saying he’ll leave to make room for Jacqui and Mike, but Ron encourages him to stay for another cuppa.
Nisha returns upstairs to NNT to confront a hung-over Katie, informing her that Dr Parr had reconsidered and Katie wasn’t to lose her job.
‘Yippee,’ snarls Katie, unenthusiastically.
Nisha is well put out by this reaction. Katie could at least thank her for her effort; she went out on a limb for Katie.
Katie begins to moan about Ron Dixon getting out today, when months of strain at living with such an ingrate and such a manipulative, little bitch, snaps Nisha. ‘I know about Ron Dixon getting out today,’ Nisha says through clenched teeth. ‘I’ve heard about nothing but this for months. But it’s time you stopped being such a sad-faced moo and get on with your life. Get OVER Ron. And you can go talk to Gary Parr and apologise when you’ve got your face straight!’
Meanwhile, back on the Close, Helen says her good-byes to Ray, and Jimmy decides that it’s time for him to leave as well. He accompanies Helen to the door and walks her across the Close. It’s obvious that Jimmy is attracted to the woman, and the two engage in meaningless small talk as they walk. As she prepares to branch off to walk to her home (always within walking distance), Jimmy helpfully suggests that he’ll be sure to see Helen the next time she dropped by to visit Ray.
Taking the hint, Helen laughs and tells Jimmy that she’ll ask Ray to let him know the next time she’s going to visit.
Poor, pitiful, greasy, stinking, redolent, filthy, dirty Katie has cleaned herself up somewhat and staggered downstairs, intent on making an apology to and thanking Dr Parr for not doing what the hell he should have done and sacked the ungrateful, unwashed, drunken bitch and put us ALL out of the misery of watching Diane Burke’s minimal acting skills.
She meets the good doctor as he’s leaving the clinic. As Katie’s timing is normally so great, she asks if she can have the ubiquitous word. Walking briskly as he talks over his shoulder, Dr Parr tells her he’s off on some house calls. (Doctors still make those?) Trotting after him at a pace, Katie merely wants to say she’s sorry for her behaviour the day before and to thank him for not sacking or disciplining her.
Dr Parr stops briefly and lectures her. She’s lucky to count Nisha as a friend, because it was Nisha who stuck up for her. Were it not for Nisha, he says, he would have sacked her without a thought.
Katie starts tugging at her greasy forelock and kowtowing to the man, promising profusely never to let him or Nisha down again.
Dr Parr continues severely. Katie let herself down in this instance. Then his manner softens a bit, remembering that he’s supposed to emulate George Clooney as Dr Doug Ross. He wags his head from side to side and says that he understands that Katie’s depressed. She’s lost a loved one, and it takes time for heartache to heal.
OK, OK!!! Enough is enough. I have to have a rant here. I expect someone with a modicum of a brain cell on the O.F, might read this far, take umbrage and start a flame war, but I don’t give a fuck, because this is my opinion. KATIE IS NOT BROKEN-HEARTED OVER CLINT. SHE ACTUALLY DIDN;T LOVE CLINT. SHE LOVED THE IDEA OF BEING IN LOVE WITH CLINT AND THE FACT THAT, FOR A TIME, SHE HAD A MAN IN HER BED AND JACQUI DIDN’T. IN FACT, KNOWING THAT JACQUI WAS TRYING TO ESCAPE FROM THE THROES OF WHAT HAD BECOME AN ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIP, KATIE BLITHELY PUT HER FRIEND’S NEEDS ASIDE AND WAS PREPARED TO WING IT AWAY TO SPAIN.
WHAT’S IRKING KATIE AND WHAT HAS IRKED HER FOR THE PAST YEAR, IS THAT JACQUI HAS LEFT HER IN THE STARTING BLOCKS YET AGAIN, AND THIS TIME, KATIE WAS UNABLE TO STOP HER AND BRING HER DOWN TO HER SORDID, SAD, ADOLESCENTLY-CHALLENGED LEVE.L.
KATIE ISN’T BROKEN-HEARTED. KATIE IS NURSING A CHILDISH, PETTY, BUT EXTREMELY BITCHY AND OBSESSIVE GRUDGE. KATIE IS MISERABLE FOR LIFE AND SHE WANTS JACQUI TO SUFFER TOO. (ANOTHER PATIENT TO ADD TO DR NIKKI’S LIST. THAT MAKES THREE NOW).
A POINT FOR DISCUSSION, THIS.
Dr Nikki ushers her patient proudly through the front door of Hotel Corkhill. Jimmy saunters briefly through the length of the house, as Emily stands apprehensively in the lounge. The camera holds on her face, set against a backdrop of robin’s egg blue wall.
‘Home sweet home!’ Jimmy exclaims, looking around, but failing to remark on the paint. ‘Where’s Tim?’
Emily says that Tim has a job moving an old engine for one of Plank’s mates ... For a tenner, she adds, under her breath.
‘Never mind,’ says Jim, cheerily. ‘It’s an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay!’
And with that observation, Jimmy disappears into the extension.
Emily is baffled. He didn’t even notice that they’d painted the walls, she says with wonder, to Nikki.
Meanwhile, next door Plank has taken the liberty of showing the bagful of smashed religious ornaments to Marty, who gazes at the mess with concern. Marty asks his oldest son if Antony had said why he’d done this act. Plank shrugs and mumbles that all Ant said was that he was fed up with the statues.
Marty fingers the broken relics and reckons that this sort of action is down to Imelda’s adverse influence. He had really thought Antony would be able to move on now, and leave Imelda behind.
Plank is worried about what his rent-a-Catholic stepmother will say when she sees this bagful of broken saints.
Marty zips the bag up purposefully. Dire won’t know, he says. He’ll see to that, and the broken saints would be all gone, just like Imelda, and Antony could make a new start.
Dr Parr rings the doorbell of Hotel Corkhill and is coldly admitted by a suspicious Dr Nikki. She ushers him into the lounge, where Jimmy sits, grudgingly glaring at the unwelcome doctor. Matching his narrow-eyed stare, Nikki arranges herself on the sofa next to Jimmy, united against a medical degree.
Dr Parr asks Jimmy politely if he minded if they talked in front of Nikki.
Jimmy is surly in his response, introducing Nikki as his all-singing, all-dancing home care.
Dr Parr glances at Nikki dubiously. (Speak up. Man! She’s an incompetent!)
He next asks Jimmy if he’s continuing with the medication the doctors prescribed him.
Rearing cockily back on his elbow to regard the younger man from loftier heights of arrogance, Jimmy dismisses him pithily with the remark that his medication was OK for the moment ... Until something better comes along, he adds ominously.
‘It’s very simple,’ says an exasperated Dr Parr. ‘You take the medication; you remain stable.’ He goes onto explain that Jimmy’s recent episode was a huge shock to his system. Glancing again at Nikki, he admits that he’s not reassured Jimmy’s receiving the best possible care in this instance. People scoff at Care in the Community, says Dr Parr, but it wouldn’t do to have Jimmy harming himself or running amok, causing undue scares.
Jimmy and Nikki continue to stare, sullenly superior, at the hapless doctor. Dr Parr says that Jimmy’s home care plan is good, but he needs to start taking responsibility for his own actions. Jimmy wants to remember that he broke a policeman’s nose. He should reflect on that, because if he comes off his drugs for any length of time, he’s a danger to himself AND to others.
Across the Close, Ron Dixon strides purposely out the front door of Number 8, followed at heel by a frantic Jacqui and Mike. Simultaneously, the two younger Dixons mouth loud apologies to the back of their father - apologising for being late, but most of all, for neglecting to tell Ron about Jessie and Ray moving in. In fact, Jacqui makes Ron the rash promise of getting the couple moved into a B & B as soon as possible.
Ron turns abruptly to face his children, a relaxed smile on his face. Ron’s easy about Ray and Jessie, he says. No need for all this bother. He was simply leaving the house for a bit of fresh air, something he hadn’t been able to do for the past four months. And he wasn’t at all bothered about Ray and Jessie being there, or about Mike’s debts or even about the dire state of Great Grannies. His freedom was all that mattered, and now he was free to do as he pleased - and that includes going to the shop to buy sweets for his grandchildren. Ron affirms to Mike and Jacqui that freedom is the most important commodity a person can have, more important than anything. And saying that, he turns on his heel and saunters off in the direction of - where else? - The Parade, leaving an amazed Mike and Jacqui in his wake.
And at the same time on the Parade, a much cheered-up, poor, pitiful Katie blithely tells Louise to get her hat and coat on. Katie was taking the Ratchild out.
(Cue music of impending danger).
Now that Dr Parr has taken his leave of Hotel Corkhill, Nikki finally asks Jimmy how it feels to be home. Jimmy remarks that, even though Nikki’s keen to be his home support, she doesn’t appear to be getting much support from her own sister. Still, he reckons, this is better than being in hospital. But is Nikki absolutely sure she wants to continue with the home support routine? After all, he observes, sarcastically, Dr Parr DID say Jimmy was a danger to others.
He wants to know if Nikki’s ever felt frightened of him?
Nikki does her party trick that she always does when she lies. She hunches her shoulders and draws her head in like a turtle, widening her eyes and raising her eyebrows, all whilst looking ANYPLACE but at the person to whom she’s speaking.
‘Ehhhhhm,’ she begins, she wasn’t exactly SCARED of Jimmy, joost worried once, when whe was in his room with him, by himself.
Jimmy, this time, raises his eyebrows sceptically, knowing that the stupid bitch is lying. Anything could have happened, he murmers, softly (and not a bit threateningly). Still, Jimmy admits, changing his voice to a semblance of its old booming self, he didn’t remember a thing about it. Mind you, he supposes he could have done something like Charles Manson (Lez, that’s a mass murderer in California during the late 1960’s). As far as his manic episode, he feels as though his brain has been stripped - can’t remember a sausage.
Nikki unhunches her shoulders with relief and turns to face Jimmy. She lies again and tells him he didn’t do or say anything OTT. (So you liked the grope, then, Nikk?)
Nikki then escorts Jimmy ceremoniously into the extension. Believe me, if she could have carried him over the threshold, she would have done so.
Jimmy stands in utter amazement and stares and the newly blank blue walls. He touches the wall gingerly, noting that the paint is still wet from this morning. (Boy, that Nikki sure can paint expertly and fast. Is she going to have a decorating sideline in addition to her psychiatric career?)
Nikki shyly admits that she painted over Jimmy’s scribblings on the walls.
Jimmy muses that it was like painting over a part of his past.
But that, Nikki says, dismissively pointing to the walls, THAT wasn’t normal. (We know, you dolt). This is the real Jimmy, here and now. Not the Jimmy of the manic episode. (Oh, Nikki, I’d say that the manic episode exhibited the real Jimmy in the flesh). In fact, Nikki brushes the whole episode under the proverbial carpet as having been inconsequential. IS THIS WOMAN KNOWINGLY STUPID OR DO THE WRITERS WANT US TO BELIEVE SHE’S CLEVER?
Jimmy again verbally expresses his appreciation of Nikki’s caring for him.
As Ron walks toward The Parade from the direction of the garage, Katie and Louise approach him on a collision course from the opposite direction. Katie sees Ron first and sends Louise back to the flat. When Ron sees her, he calls out to her and she approaches him.
As Ron begins an apology, poor, pitiful, sneaking, silly, stinking, fetid, rancid Katie, hocks a great globule of foul, drink-sodden, puke-stained spit and gobs one full in Ron’s face.
Axe the cow. Now.
Peter Cox wrote this episode, an improvement on his earlier fare.
Summary © 2002 Marion Watts
Brookside and all related materials are © Mersey Television 1982-2002