‘Testing, testing. One, two. Hello, Manchester.’ As Christina Boyd tests the PA system at The Rovers, ahead of the next Karaoke Night, her daughter Daisy Midgeley gets the feeling there might be ‘a Barbra Streisan coming on.’ Christina corrects her, pointing out it’s Streisand with a D. Daisy is right about one thing, though. It doesn’t take long before the expected rendition of Streisand’s 1974 Academy Award-winning song The Way We Were tumbles from Christina’s lips.
Carla Barlow is the last person Jenny Connor wants to bump into, so she’s naturally the first person she meets while visiting Roy’s Rolls for a coffee. Carla has been alerted to the theory that Jenny and Daisy took Stephen Reid’s money. He initially pilfered said money from her, so she’s fishing for evidence. She tells Jenny she heard it was ‘very Knives Out’ at the dinner party, referring to the Rian Johnson whodunnit film franchise. The awks atmos is interrupted from behind the counter by Bernie Winter, who suddenly blurts out: ‘Get your rocks off.’ The seemingly random outburst is explained when Bernie says she might start her Karaoke Night set with Rocks, by Bobby Gillespie and Primal Scream, followed by some Happy Mondays. ‘Or maybe summat a bit left field. Like Leftfield,’ she muses. Maria Connor says wild horses wouldn’t be able to drag Carla to a karaoke event. Let’s be generous and assume this is a very witty allusion to the Leftfield song Phat Planet, which famously soundtracked a Guinness TV advert (directed by recent Oscar winner Jonathan Glazer) where waves morphed into white Lippizaner horses.
When Lauren Bolton’s mother is targeted by online trolls, Roy Cropper decides to be a knight in shining armour and ride to her rescue. Evelyn Plummer thinks this is a really bad idea. Lauren’s mum didn’t help Roy after he was similarly targeted, she says. Evelyn adds a scintilla of Shakespeare to her argument when she suggests his misfortune is akin to the slings and arrows detailed by Hamlet. Meanwhile, there’s something rotten at The Rovers – namely, Kirk Sutherland, Alya Nazir and Izzy Armstrong’s performance of the Elton John song Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me. This doesn’t discourage Debbie Webster from trying to rope Ryan Connor into duetting with her on Up Where We Belong. He isn’t entirely convinced that where he belongs is up on a stage singing the Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes number. Daisy is fed up with Jenny ordering her around, so she grabs the mic and launches into a cathartic, spleen-venting version of Fighter by Christina Aquilera. Mid-performance, who should turn up but Carla. Kirk reckons she’s ‘the Renee to my Renato’. However, karaoke-averse Carla quickly dismisses any chance of the pair paying tribute to the vocal duo, who took Save Your Love to the top of the singles chart in 1982.
As Karaoke Night continues, everyone is treated to the combined vocal talents of Sally Metcalfe and Debbie on I’ve Never Been To Me. The best-known version of the song is by American singer Charlene. With lyrics that mention drinking champagne on yachts and visiting Monte Carlo, it functions as the perfect backdrop to Carla raging at Daisy for spending her stolen £250,000 on designer clothes and clutch bags.
There’s yet more drama at the hair salon, as Maria opens up to Audrey Roberts. She reveals that her son Liam searched online for ways to commit suicide, which prompts Audrey to disclose how she attempted to take her own life several months ago. In a moving scene, Maria recalls watching a Roman Kemp documentary about the suicide crisis currently impacting young males. Our Silent Emergency was shown on the BBC in 2021, while its follow-up The Fight For Young Lives was screened last year.
Amidst all this turmoil, Evelyn and Roy are an oasis of calm as they do a 1,000-piece jigsaw called Making Steam. There are no prizes for piecing together which of them chose a puzzle that features a steam locomotive.
Coronation Street episode 11232/11233. Originally aired 3rd April 2024.
