King Charles III’s impending Coronation is front and centre at the start of the episode, as the screen is filled with a commemorative plate held by Sally Metcalfe. Sally Dynevor, who plays her, received an MBE in 2022 – but not from Charles, it was Princess Anne. Meanwhile, Adam Barlow compares himself with a different king. Elvis Presley. ‘Elvis didn’t do encores,’ he tells his wife Sarah, when she wants him to skip work and come back to bed. ‘You’ve got to leave them wanting more,’ he adds, explaining that’s where the phrase ‘Elvis has left the building’ comes from.
Stephen Reid and Elaine Jones have left their building to eat breakfast at Roy’s Rolls. As they’re discussing their idea of getting wed in Las Vegas (maybe they’ll get married by an Elvis impersonator?), Shona Platt overhears them and offers her congratulations. She says she finds it uplifting that people of their age have found love and compares Elaine to Joan Collins. In 1985, Joan Collins married her fourth husband Peter Holm in Vegas, so Shona’s comparison isn’t entirely fanciful.
Undertaker Todd Grimshaw is having a relaxing Bank Holiday in front of the box (not that kind, he has the day off), watching John Wick 2. His plans are disrupted when George Shuttleworth pops by to fiddle with his Golden Hind. At Viaduct Bistro, Paul Foreman is looking out for extra shifts. ‘I’m your man,’ he tells Nick Tilsley. ‘Alright, George Michael,’ replies Nick. Todd goes to the cafe and Damon Hay asks if he has any objections to a late-night venue in the Street. Todd has fond memories of a place in Liverpool that was a restaurant by day and a club downstairs at weekends. It was like sliding down a pole to The Batcave, he says. Shona overhears (again) and reveals she has a problem with Batman because he’s a grown man with a butler. We can only imagine what she thinks about 53-year-old MP Jacob Rees-Mogg and his nanny.
Elaine tells Tim she might be able to catch some entertainment when she’s in Vegas. She tries to remember who has a show featuring a tiger. Tim suggests Joe Exotic (the Tiger King makes it three kings this episode – in Vegas that would be a decent poker hand), but she means the late magicians Siegfried & Roy. Another double act, Brian Packham and George, have joined forces to tackle the model shipbuilding project. Things get geekily serious when Brian suggests bringing his Endeavour over. He presumably means James Cook’s 18th Century research vessel, not a scale model of Inspector Morse.
Stephen tells Elaine that people think he only wants her for her money. ‘I’m not exactly Gwyneth Paltrow,’ she responds. She could have said she can’t hold a candle to Gwyneth, but that might have been an unfortunate turn of phrase. At the shipyard, otherwise known as Eileen Grimshaw’s living room, there’s barely room to move. Todd observes that it’s lucky Eileen isn’t around because she always got angry when he made a mess with his Lego. He can scoff all he likes, but I bet Todd would love a Lego funeral playset.
Coronation Street episode 10942/43. Originally aired 1 May 2023.
