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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 410112" data-attributes="member: 23">Episodes 431 - 445 15 December 1986 - 2 February 1987 continued Doreen, too, has found things weighing on her and, after the phone is cut off, has to swallow her pride and approach Sheila while trying to save face:Doreen accepts and it seems an understanding is reached, but by the time she’s walked across the Close it's a different story:The Corkhills do attend the party, Doreen the worse for wear immediately after a party at the dental surgery, throwing herself on Billy on the sofa to the amusement of the neighbours. It probably doesn’t help her own cause much.Like Marie Jackson before her, the relationship Doreen has with Sheila is full of layers and undercurrents and as a result never fails to fascinate. I think in both cases, the fact that they’ve come from the same estate is a significant factor. By the time the Jacksons and Corkhills arrive, the Grants are already established on the Close (and in the biggest house of all the regulars). Sheila is liked and trusted by her neighbours which is something to which both Marie and Doreen aspire, and that seems to cause resentment. Perhaps it’s their shared ground and hardships that makes their relationship so difficult. Climbing the social ladder is important to both Marie and Doreen. They’re trying desperately to get away from their old estate and the Grants are in some way a threat to this. People tend to be most competitive with those who have common ground.It’s ironic that one of the few bright spots for Billy has come from the dodgiest of sources when Jimmy gave him the gift of a brown Datsun Sunny which, for a number of reasons, I remember as one of the series’ more iconic cars.Rod leaving for his police training is one of a number of significant changes over at Number Five. Billy’s now been forced to take a job in Tunbridge Wells for three months. Cash in hand, of course. This leaves Number Five an all-female household for a while, with Doreen and Tracy, no doubt with regular visits from Julia and Tracy. I’m not quite sure how it will look, but I’m hoping we see some more of Doreen’s mischievous side which has surfaced a number of times during these episodes. There was a nice, comedic moment for her when Harry Cross came over to announce Ralph had abandoned him, and to ask (as he was all the neighbours) if she would keep an eye on him, perhaps with some food parcels thrown in. Doreen relished in meeting Harry’s request immediately, by calling down Julia from upstairs and telling her of Harry’s predicament. Then she gleefully watched as Doreen leapt into action… to Harry’s horror.Ralph was leaving Harry for a holiday with Ralph (a “mucky weekend”, to Harry’s mind). This is just one in a series of what Harry perceives as red flags, and I very much enjoyed that things came to the surface during an ostensibly B-story sitcom arc where Harry pretended to have lost his voice to gain Ralph’s sympathy. Ralph mentioned that Madge’s birthday was approaching. Harry recalled her mentioning her birthday during their trip to Torquay and there was a vast discrepancy in the date. Which he then had to relay to the disbelieving Ralph using a pen and paper.At the moment, it could be read that Madge is simply a bit of skirt coming between two friends, with Harry the jealous party. And it’s easy to understand both Harry and Ralph’s frustrations on this point. But I remember well where this story is going and I’m looking forward to revisiting it.One place where Harry has been conspicuous by his absence is Number Seven. In recent weeks, Terry and Pat have sub-let a room to two friends - Mick and Mike - who are in the area to do some work. Since they work opposite shifts, one takes the bed during the day, the other at night. Which effectively means simply living there is impossible because someone’s always asleep. Not that this stops Mick from creating noise and air pollution with his loud music, demanding parrot, pipe smoking and slovenly ways. The writing does effectively show the challenges of this kind of communal living, and the actors playing Mick and Mike are good enough but - because it’s happening to Pat and Terry - it’s a complete trial to watch. As expected, there’s an abundance of Pat’s petulant “awwwwww?”s, tuts and sighs. Despite these kinds of attempts to change the dynamics, I still find it very puzzling that with few exceptions (not least the siege) Number Seven has mostly delivered banality since Harry and Edna moved out two-and-a-half years ago now. Not only this, it’s progressively got worse and worse as its roster has changed. Some great writers seem to give up when it comes to this house, yet there’s no sign of any desire from on high to remove the real rot. It’s mind boggling considering the high quality output from the other homes.Back at the plot, the timing of the parrot arriving coincides with Paul Collins rescuing Lucky the puppy from her watery fate. Which in turn got me thinking that pets haven’t really been a thing in Brookside. Did I imagine the Jacksons had a dog at one point? I half suspect I did.</blockquote>

Verification: What month follows July?