Given that the current coercive control storyline is one of Corrie’s most important and most dramatic in years, I realise this next bit is going to sound a little daft – not to mention borderline insensitive.
I’ll say it anyway though: tonight’s episode made me miss Harry Hill’s TV Burp more than ever.
Harry would have had so much fun with that rhyming CID officer who was interviewing Yasmeen (Shelley King) down at Weatherfield nick.
In fact, I’m willing to bet that whoever wrote the line “At 20.29 you dialled 999” is secretly missing Harry too.
On another night they might have followed it up with “At 20.35, you knew Geoff was still alive,” and “At 20.42, we arrested you.”
But, like I said, this is far too serious a subject. And by 19.58 tonight one thing was clear: Yasmeen’s torment is far from over.
Geoff (Ian Bartholomew) survived last Friday’s assault and it looks like he will make it out of intensive care.
It also looks like the writers are preparing for a national game of You The Jury, which could well end up in another Free The Weatherfield One campaign.
The seeds were sown early doors, with Sal (Sally Dynevor) reminding Tim (Joe Duttine) that Yasmeen “was acting very strangely” on Friday night. “Where were her manners? Acting all moody and picking a fight with your dad.”
The post-mortem continued at the Rovers with Cathy (Melanie Hill) and Brian (Peter Gunn) voicing their concern about Yasmeen’s erratic and angry behaviour.
Tellingly, only Eileen (Sue Cleaver ) – still recovering from the Pat Phelan years – seemed to want people to look at the situation from Yasmeen’s side of the fence.
It was good to see the residents hinting at the forthcoming complexity of the situation.
With Yasmeen in shock and looking for all the world like someone who thinks they are at fault and deserving of punishment, the signs are Geoff could actually get away with his year-long campaign of abuse. (Well, as long as he hadn't done anything stupid such as installing secret cameras to spy on his wife.)
Some viewers had of course been complaining that this storyline had been dragging on too long. The irony is, those very same viewers will now be eager to see what happens next.
With the impact that lockdown has had on soap production, they could be in for a long wait.
Which gives me an idea. To help eke out the few episodes that remain in the can, Corrie should take its lead from ITV’s Isolation Stories and film an extra pair of one-offs.
One would be from Yasmeen’s angle, the other from Geoff’s – each interspersed with flashbacks to remind viewers exactly what has gone on over the past year.
Given the strength of their recent performances King and Bartholomew could easily pull that off.
Then again, as our rhyming copper pointed out at the end of tonight’s episode, “If he (Geoff) doesn’t wake up it’ll be a very different story.”
In which case, come on Geoff - wake up. There's a good boy.
