When I first read about the David rape storyline, my first thought was: Oh god, I hope it's not on a Monday. I was relieved that it wasn't, but then realised I'd be recapping the aftermath, which is just as hard. We open with David waking up, the first thing he sees is Josh's face - a photo, the actual Josh is out, having left David a note, as if nothing has happened. Back home, he faces Shona's wrath, then tries to cleanse himself in the shower, throwing his clothes away, before finding his attacker in his living room, causing him to run outside to throw up. In a creepy scene, David tells Josh he knows what he did and Josh denies it, saying it was consensual, but admits that he spiked the drinks. Josh is appalling, but I have to say that Ryan Clayton is brilliant in this scene. He further manipulates things by telling Shona that David was upset about Martin and needed to let off steam and so Shona forgives her boyfriend. "I wish I'd come home," he says heart-breakingly.
I'm glad that we're getting a little bit of fun out of the ridiculous surrogate storyline (even Toyah has now realised that this is going to be more complicated than she had originally thought). Toyah and Eva go off to their ante-natal class, pretending that they're going to a
Michelle makes an enquiry about booking Millbrook Hall (a.k.a Ryecroft Hall, no doubt) for her nuptials, because, as Robert says, she wants to belt out a power ballad in the ballroom. Michelle is the sort of person who would insist on singing at her own wedding. Ali is off the guestlist, but I'm wondering which Ryan's going to turn up? Maybe a whole new one? Dr Ali is invited to something - Tyrone asks him to be the boxing match ringside doc, but when he finds out it's Robert's idea, he turns Ty down, only for Steve to persuade him otherwise. Helped by Steve, Robert starts to bond with his sort of step-son, but as we see Ali once again yelling at his other mum, Wendy, it might be harder than he thinks.
Rita enlists Carla's help in persuading Gemma not to accept her sacking from Prima Donner. Nice to see a bit of actual personnel law, rather than the usual fire and re-hire two weeks' later. But Chesney won't talk to her, so it's up to "Aunty" Cathy to call in "Uncle" Dev, who sorts it out, although Chesney still refuses to play nice with his ex-friend.
And finally, Gail agrees to meet with Rosemary the psychic, who tells her that she wants to get rid of the malevolent spirit who's hanging around. Gail is easily persuaded when Rosemary implies that the bad things that happen to the family Platt are because of Richard's ghost. I thought it was because they're in a soap!
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