Salute! Brian Packham’s celebration of his Italian heritage continues. He hangs Il Tricolore outside The Kabin and blasts Luciano Pavarotti’s iconic performance of Nessun Dorma from Puccini’s Turandot all over the Street. Where Brian hears an exquisite aria, Rita Tanner hears an excruciating racket. She doesn’t give an Italian fig about it soundtracking the 1990 World Cup either. ‘Puccini, Pavarotti and Paul flamin’ Gascoigne, I don’t care,’ she shouts. ‘Turn it off!’ Brian apologises and explains he’s excited to be part of a culture that produced the likes of Michelangelo, Marco Polo and… ‘Mussolini,’ interrupts Rita. As for the flag he’s hung outside the shopfront, Brian quote-hops across the Italian border to France and recalls a pronouncement by Napoleon: ‘A soldier will fight long and hard for a piece of coloured ribbon.’
Beth Sutherland is flagging at The Rovers, hunched over a Betty’s hotpot while gripping her fork. Glenda Shuttleworth asks her not to do a Uri Geller and bend the cutlery because it’s in short supply. On the cobbles, Abi Webster spots a departing Aaron Sandford. Not knowing the truth about him raping Amy Barlow, Abi persuades him to stay with the promise of a game of Jenga. With a bit of luck, Aaron’s tower of lies will soon collapse around him.
Beth returns from having a drink with her old flame Marco Sweeney. She meets her husband Kirk in The Rovers and tells him: ‘I do love you.’ Kirk responds in kind, not picking up on Beth’s guilty feelings, then gets back to reading Leon The Extraordinary. In Jamar Nicholas’s graphic novel, an ordinary kid combats villainy. Tracy McDonald has similar plans, as she prints out flyers in a bid to exact revenge on Aaron.
Coronation Street episode 10916/17. Originally aired 31st March 2023.
