After Hope Stape shops Beth Sutherland for kissing Marco Sweeney, Beth describes her as a ‘poisonous Hobbit’. JRR Tolkien wrote that Hobbits eat seven meals a day, so there’s a lot of scope for poisoning. At Speed Daal, Stu Carpenter is on the phone to Oakhill School and he manages to secure an admission interview for his granddaughter Eliza Woodrow. ‘That’s fantastic, Mr Fox. Um, no pun intended,’ says Stu, realising he’s just accidentally said the name of the 2009 animated film by Wes Anderson. If he’d inadvertently said The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou instead, that would have been really impressive.

Glenda Shuttleworth emerges from The Rovers’ toilets, mop and bucket in hand, singing I’m Every Woman by Chaka Khan. Unknowingly, she gives Beth an idea for how her son Craig Tinker might propose to Faye Windass. Before Craig does the deed, he pops into Streetcars to ask Tim Metcalfe for Faye’s hand in marriage. In the process, he sits on a talking Action Man figure. If Craig had Action Man’s Eagle Eyes, he would have spotted it lying there. A nervous Craig says he has a request. ‘Ask and thou shalt receive,’ says Tim, quoting the New Testament’s Gospel Of Matthew.

Faye is strolling past Victoria Gardens when she encounters Kirk Sutherland strumming a guitar and Glenda singing All Of Me by John Legend. It’s the musical backdrop for Craig’s marriage proposal. At first, Faye is less talkative than the Action Man Craig sat on earlier, but then she says yes. Back at Speed Daal, Stu wants Eliza to get ready for her Oakhill interview. ‘Fail to prepare, prepare to fail,’ he says, paraphrasing 18th Century American Founding Father Benjamin Franklin. As Stu continues to push the qualities of the school, Eliza’s new friend Sam Blakeman proffers an Albert Einstein quote for consideration: ‘Wisdom is not a product of schooling, but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.’ Eliza would much rather go to Weatherfield High and Stu concedes to his granddaughter’s wishes, which is possibly something to do with Einstein’s theory about relatives.

Coronation Street episode 10934/35. Originally aired 21st April 2023.