Was I the only one who just couldn’t imagine Sean Kennedy with a dad? He seemed like the kind of nasty dude who sprouted out of the ground, straight from the gates of hell, to wreak havoc on the good folk O’Shieldinch. But it turns out it he had a family and everything! Plus it’s apparently true what they say – the hard guys have the mumsiest mums and the most psychotic dads. He. Was. Terrifying!

Even when he was playing it cool, Billy the Butcher was menacing and, after his gravelly voice-off with Gabriel, even the Don of Shieldinch couldn’t get him off his quest for revenge! It wasn’t long before he showed his true colours and to the person who deserved it least. Poor Stevie, he was traumatised enough just seeing Sean deid on the floor. Imagine what he’s going to be like after getting jumped, hog-tied and whacked about the gob. Nicole is going to have to put up with sleeping with the light on for the next few weeks, we reckon. 

But while trouble at the Tall Ship seems never ending (seriously, there’s bad mojo in that place, do you think anyone’s going to drink there again?) it was all sparkle, cheer and exceptionally early tinsel in the Mullen household as Scarlett decided on a plan for Christmas…in early October. Never underestimate Scarlett when she’s on a mission of enforced funand sure enough she managed to recruit Jimmy, Kelly-Marie and even Molly to the cause. Though, we have a sneaking suspicion that Molly has been waiting for yonks to float her hooch idea around the table. Betcha it was her back up plan to get out of doing the washing up that night. 

Next week:
Gabriel is trying to convince his family to give him another chance…again.

Quote of the week:
SCARLETT: I’ve got an idea.
JIMMY: Never!
SCARLETT: A special family Christmas!
JIMMY: Aye, and do you know what you’re getting? A calendar. It’s October woman!

Bloggage Fans, we have been away for a couple of weeks and we can tell that you’ve missed us. We are terribly sorry to have deprived you of all the best of Shieldinch gossip. But now we present you with a blog extravaganza from the last four episodes. Enjoy!

Wow! That was quite the roller-coaster of emotion. We’re not going to lie, for a couple of moments there we might have had to imagine a Shieldinch without Big Bob. A Mini-Market with no cheeky chap behind the counter, a guitar with no one playing to lift people’s spirits and a Molly with no one to harass nurture. Our hearts were in our mouths (pun unintended) when Big Bob collapsed and, like Iona, we were yelling out for him to wake up! But, unlike us, she definitely kept the heid and managed to keep poor Bob alive until they got him to hospital. And that was just the beginning of the drama! As Iona explained, she had been given a sacred responsibility (by the Clydebankite-Japanese dude she once dated) to take care of Bob now she had saved his life. And decided the best place to announce this was in the middle of the hospital waiting room with his terrified wife and family. Smooth move. You definitely didn’t want to mess with the O’Hara/Mullen clan combined and it was quite a show of force when Tattie, Scarlett and Molly sent her packing.

Tattie, meanwhile, was also given a vigorous talking-to by Molly, who demanded to know if she was in for the long haul or looking for the first exit to a Bob-less future. Those two have had their ups and downs but there was definitely a little tear in the eye when Bob made the grown up decision to make his marriage work rather than walking off into the sunset with Iona.  Poor Iona’s heart was in the right place (and she made sure Bob’s was) but it was definitely broken when Big Bob gave it to her straight. Here’s hoping that Iona finds a fella in her pastures new and Big Bob sticks to his guns and keeps himself healthy.

Elsewhere, Nicole was making big life-changing decision but definitely not based on the contents of her wardrobe. But it looks like Leyla and Nicole are right back on track. Could the mistakes of the past have been put behind them? Here’s hoping, and with Nicole working with Robbie AND getting an education, we’re definitely looking forward to the future for this young lady. #haveyourcakeandeatit indeed.

Next week:

Eeek! Shady Sean wants Angie gone but Gabriel is refusing to help her. Come on, Gabe! We know you can do the right thing! And Big Bob’s back from hospital so Scarlett’s turning the O’Hara’s into a biscuit-free zone.

Quote of the week:

TATIANA: I’m going home.
IONA: Back to the Ukraine, aye? Brilliant! Send us a post card.
TATIANA: Home here.
IONA: Aye, that’s probably best. You don’t want to get knocked up again, do you? 

Oh, dear. *Dabs eyes* We were all getting very teary-eyed as Doctor Dan said his goodbyes and took the long taxi ride out of Shieldinch to start on pastures new in North Africa. He even managed to make up with BFF Gabriel before he left and it looked like these two would never speak again after Dan found out Gabe’s secret about working with Sean. After his lovely safe send off from Malcolm, Liz and the Health Centre staff, it must have been quite a shock for Dan to find out just why Gabriel’s not been hanging out round the Arcade so much. You could have cut that scuzzy brothel air with a knife when he blasted his look at Gabriel.  You know the one, it’s like that awful look your mum used to give… I’m not mad. I’m just disappointed. We’re surprised Gabe didn’t spontaneously combust from the glare.

What ever happened to Sir Gabe, knight in shining armour? He’s got a bit tarnished now, especially when he didn’t let Dan phone an ambulance for poor new girl, Charlene.  Maybe this will be the nudge our Gabriel needs to find a way out of his horrible situation? Or maybe not. When Gabe finally got a chance to explain his side of the story and the whole tangled web of Leyla, Michael and Shady Sean came spilling out, poor heroic Dan’s head must have been spinning. We were all set for Dan and Gabriel, the dynamic duo, to save the day when the good doctor offered to stay. But we kind of have to agree with Gabe’s assessment. Dashing as he may be, Shieldinch’s resident George Clooney wouldn’t have had a snowball’s chance in hell of scaring off Sean.

But! There was hope across the Street. We had out the Lenny flags and the Lenny bunting up, all ready to see him gangster-off with Sean. Things were looking up and, judging by how scared Sean got with Lenny’s mention of the naughty step, the Don certainly has a better chance of chasing him off than the Dan. But no. Ever a dark horse who marches to the beat of his own….cab  horns, Lenny is still refusing to get rid of Sean once and for all. And for all his protests of it not suiting him and playing the long game, we are just a teeny bit suspicious that the lordy doth protest too much. Are you a bit feart, Lenny? Come on! We believe in you! Sort that Sean out and send him to bed without tea.

 On the other side of the street, things were looking a bit brighter with Iona winning £50,000. Um....we’ll have what she’s having! And it seems like it might be what she was thinking after she saw Tattie with Doctor Dan.  That was some nifty fishing with Molly, Iona, we were very impressed. But what’s your game, missus? We’ll have to wait and see.

Next week:

Could this be the end of Tattie and Bob, Shieldinch’s starcrossed lovers? And is Iona making her play for Bob’s big heart?

Quote of the week:

LENNY: Look, I’m going to make this simple for you. Do what you want but stay away from my family.
SEAN: Or what?
LENNY: Do you want putting on the naughty step?

So. Well. Things didn’t finish up too well in Shieldinch this week, did they? And for Robbie they certainly didn’t start too well either, what with having his lovely flat trashed and then working himself up into a MAJOR tizzy when he found another man’s number in Will’s phone. Even here at RC Towers we had a moment of doubt. Could our Will have been cheating on Robbie? Would he be so cruel? Would he even have time considering the long hours he spends looking into Shady Sean’s underworld and saving the day in most crime-related incidents in Shieldinch?

For Robbie, the answer to all was a definite, paranoid ‘Yes’ and against the advice of Deek (and Kelly-Marie and Nicole and pretty much everyone who’d given it a moment’s thought) he stormed round to confront his rival!

 

But poor Robbie. Who could have guessed that Edward was Will’s dad and he would be so cruel and nasty about his own heroic son. Robbie was sent back to Shieldinch with a flea in his ear and regret in his heart. But he still managed to make it ten times worse by A) yelling at Will’s dad over the phone and B) not admitting to it with Will when he had the chance. Now, we will acknowledge that going through your boyfriend’s phone, shimmying open his LOCKED personal drawer and managing to systematically destroy his relationship with his father is all a teeny bit mental and Will had every right to be royally cheesed off at Robbie. But that’s just it. Cheesed off. Not  violently elbowing him in the gut! We’re seeing a bit of a pattern here. It starts with Will losing his temper and doing something nasty to Robbie, Robbie running off and then getting coaxed back by Will and taking all the blame on himself. The words ‘cycle of violence’ are on the tips of our tongues, Robbie. No matter how bad you behaved no one deserves to be hit by their better half. Here’s hoping Robbie is able to stand up to Will as well as he stood up to Will’s Nasty Pop.

 

Tattie and Raymond weren’t getting elbowed in the side but they were getting stabbed in the back this week. Raymond trying to live through Murray and playing hard-man with his unknown car buyer spectacularly backfired when the mystery man turned out to be Sean himself! Ooh, Raymond even we were wincing at those sour grapes when Sean forced you to hand over your own money to pay for it. The big question remains…when is Sean going to stop?

Meanwhile, Tattie’s dreams of having a relaxing holiday were totally scunnered when Big Bob “accidentally” spent all the savings on a new computer for Christina.  Low blow, Bob! Tattie was so looking forward to some fun in the sun after her year from HELL. She wouldn’t even let Molly and Christina tag along! Mind you, we would pay oodles of money to see what would happen if Molly had her way and she and Christina went to live it large in Ibiza! Any other takers? Shall we have a whip round?

 

Next week:

Doctor Dan is leaving. (One, two, three – Nooooooooooooo!) and Lenny seems about to put Sean on the naughty step.

Quote of the week:

MOLLY: Listen, how do you think you’ve done in the exams?
BIG BOB: She’ll have done brilliant.
MOLLY: Let’s hope so. Otherwise, all the effort you put into them would be a complete waste of time.