Forums
New posts
What's new
New posts
Latest activity
Awards
Log in
Register
What's new
New posts
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The forum is about to undergo some crucial server updates
There may be a little downtime, but we'll be back online as soon as possible.
Watch this thread for updates
Forums
Telly Talk Soaps
UK Soaps Forum
An Oral History 1985-2015
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="James from London" data-source="post: 120794" data-attributes="member: 22"><p><span style="font-size: 18px"><u>1995</u></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ronnie Mitchell: I was always more of a Blur [than Oasis] fan myself.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Heather Trott: I told Shirl I’d get us tickets to the Spice Girls. We missed out because of my mum’s sciatica.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Heather to Queenie: All the years I looked after you.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Babe Smith: I felt sorry for Heather all those years ago, stuck in that stinking flat up from mine, that old cow Queenie screeching at her.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Heather on Tina Carter: She tried to electrocute me.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Shirley Carter on Tina: She got in a scrap and I bailed her out.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Shirley to Tina: The last time you and I went on “a little trip” I ended up in a prison cell with a bunch of women rugby players.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Tina: I was always the quietest of the three.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Mick Carter: I once bought L a can of White Lightning for her birthday.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Dean Wicks: How’d she take it?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Mick: Not very well. No idea why.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Max Branning: Tan, what do I do every year on my birthday, what do I get you? Get you a present, don’t I?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Tanya: It’s tradition — you always get me something on your birthday. You’re soppy like that.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Johnny Allen: You remember the kitchen door? Every year on your birthday, you'd stand up against it and we'd mark off, see how much you'd grown.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ruby Allen: I remember that. I was always trying to catch up with Scarlett.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Johnny: And you did. I always said you would.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Johnny: Have you ever seen me drunk?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ruby: When I was six. We all knew, Dad. You used to hide the bottles under Scarlett’s bed. She told me, said it was yours and hers little secret, and I was jealous.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ruby on Johnny: When we were younger, we used to idolise him, me and my sister - his little princesses. We thought, “What a great bloke. Everyone loves Johnny Allen, everyone.” It’s not until we grew up that we realised no-one loves him at all. Everyone hates him. They’re all scared. I was scared too. I was scared to face up to what he really was.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ruby on her parents: They really loved each other and he didn't have eyes for anyone else but her.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Tina Stewart to Johnny: When we first met, you had the run in with that cousin of yours. You got angry and Tina sorted you out, didn’t she?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Johnny on himself and Tina: We had an affair for ten years, sneaking and cheating around all over the place.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Tina Stewart, speaking to Ruby in 2005: Me and your dad, we've been together for ten years. I known about you for so long, since you were a little girl. We never wanted to hurt you.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ruby: I’ve had it all my life, one lie after another, secrets up to here.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Tina to Johnny: How many times do you think I've seen you and your wife in bed up here [in her mind]?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Tina: You hid behind your wife for years, Johnny.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Tina: You can't live your life putting everything in different little boxes.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Johnny: That's how I've had to live my life, keeping business away from family, and family away from ...</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Tina: Me. Well, there was reasons for that.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ruby on her mother: I thought you loved her.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Johnny: I did.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ruby: Then how could you do that to her, go behind her back, cheat on her all that time, and still pretend to love her?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Johnny: I wasn't pretending.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ruby: It wasn't real. She thought you really loved her. You tricked her. You had an affair, a mistress. Mum was at home looking after you and making everything nice for us, and you were with Tina. That's pretending. That's tricking her, isn't it? How could you look her in the face?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Johnny: Your mum knew. She understood. That was the way it was. She understood and she was all right about it. It was private between me and your mum.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ruby to Johnny: We've never been close, have we? We've always been strangers to each other.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Johnny: Your mum was good at [being physically demonstrative]. She did that for you two girls. I'm just not that kind of person.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ruby: You seemed to manage with Scarlett. You were always laughing and joking with her. She was good fun, weren't she?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Johnny: Yeah, she was.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Johnny to Ruby: I was working way too hard when you were growing up. That's what men in my world do. It's our way of convincing ourselves that we're looking after you, providing for you. The truth is, we're so busy putting food in your mouths that we miss the whole thing. I used to keep a few things on my desk though, to remind me why I was working so hard.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Johnny: When we bought the big house, I didn't realise how much travelling I was going to have to do.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ruby: We hardly ever saw you.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Johnny: But it was worth it because your mum really loved it out there.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Johnny to Ruby: Your room was really nice back at the big house.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ruby: I've been brought up to be polite when people come round the house.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ruby on where she lived: Everyone was stuck up there.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ruby on Johnny: He was big on entertaining — business, pleasure.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Johnny on his wife: She wasn't interested in the business so I just got on with things. It was like two separate worlds. Suited the pair of us, really. Problem was, the longer me and your mum spent apart, the more often I ended up seeing Tina. You and Scarlett were just kids. You were the one thing that me and your mum had in common.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ruby: So you stayed together for us?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Johnny: No. There was no question of us ever splitting up.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ruby: Well, it wasn't a proper marriage, was it?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Johnny: It worked for us, and in the end, we became best mates. She was a brilliant mother, Ruby. I loved your mum. She loved me. We just weren't in love.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ruby: So that made it all right for you to sleep with someone else?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Johnny: It wasn't the most important thing in her life, no. Nor mine, come to think of it. Family was.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Tamwar to Zainab and Masood: You taught me a lot as parents, most of which I spend my life trying to ignore, but there’s one thing I can’t ignore — you taught me the value of family.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Zainab: Do you remember Jalil Iqbal from when we used to visit Uncle Amir in Slough?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Shabnam: The nerdy little geek with the big ears and the braces?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Zainab: Come on, he was such a cute little boy.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Zainab: I have relatives I’ve been writing to for decades. Do I like them? No.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Shabnam on Zainab: She’s fallen out with all Dad’s family — the uncles, the cousins, the lot.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Zainab: Masood always said I had an impulsive side.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">AJ Ahmed: What does Zainab always say when she sees me? "Very bad man, very bad influence, yadda yadda yadda.”</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Tamwar: Cousin Amira — didn’t she move to Leeds?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Tamwar: Cousin Samina’s engagement party [was] a disaster. Uncle Waseem was in and out of the toilet on account of his prostate. One of his trips, he opens the door to find cousin Samina and her fiancee’s best man ...</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Zainab: Enough, Tamwar.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Christian Clark on Samina: Sounds like she followed her heart, not the Koran.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Syed: Cousin Samina was cast out by her family, her mosque, her entire community. She lost everything that mattered to her.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Christian: Maybe she found something that mattered more.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Zainab on Syed: To remain indifferent in the face of human suffering, that is not how I bought him up.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Syed on Zainab: I knew Dad saved her in a fire but I didn’t know [about her first marriage].</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Zainab to Masood: We once dreamt of owning a big house.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Zainab on Masood: The way he [spoke] to [my] whole entire family at Ashura in 1995 even though I made all that effort!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Bushra Abbasi, a family friend, to Zainab: You always were a woman of considerable talent.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Zainab: I’ve always been so capable.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Zainab: I’m a failure as a mother, a wife — that’s what Inzamam thinks. That’s what he’s been telling me for years.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Tamwar to Masood: We’ve had years at your attempts at cooking. You’ve always been a rotten cook.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Zainab to Syed: Your father’s always been a bit of a dreamer.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Masood: I’ve always put this family first which is more than [Syed] ever did.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Zainab to Masood: I trusted you and look where that got us.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Masood on Zainab: Bubbling under the surface all these years — the distrust, the resentment, the offhand remarks, the patronising glances.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Amira Shah: I don’t think I’ve had a genuine moment of happiness since I was ten years old.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Amira: Mum died when I was young.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Qadim Shah to Amira: When you’ve loved someone deeply and you lose them, you adopt strategies. Some people talk to the dead, leaves rooms untouched, sleep on the same side of the bed. Others push everything away. I pushed you away.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Amira on Qadim: He’s my dad. He made me who I am.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Masood to Qadim: How you managed to bring up such a kind, principled daughter is quite frankly beyond me.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Amira on Qadim: He always has been stubborn.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Big Mo, speaking in 2005: I haven't seen male flesh in a long, long time.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Kat Slater: How long's it been exactly, Nan?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Big Mo: Let's put it this way, these [long-shaped] balloons are the closest I've got in the last ten years.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Cora Cross: I’ve been on my own longer than I can remember. I’ve become quite good at it.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Eddie Moon on his son Tyler: He fell off the wall when he was six. He had his hands in a packet of crisps so his face took the brunt of it. The screams — all the neighbours came out. He was still screaming when I took him to the hospital and the nurse was stitching up his lip.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ted Hills: I had this one bloke working for me. Thick as two short planks, he was. We just built this new wall. We had to knock down another one. I told him, I said, "Knock down the wall where Tony's left his bike." In the meantime, someone's moved Tony's bike. And he knocked down the wrong wall! Cost me a packet, that did.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ted: There was this kid [Andy Baker], real troublemaker. Nicking stuff. I came close to sacking him several times.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Andy Baker's father: [Andy] was a strapping lad, always big for his age, but he was still a kid inside. He was always the baby in our house. He had his whole life ahead of him. He's dead now. Murdered.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ted on Andy: The boy was filth. Came onto Sarah. Tried to do things to my daughter. He said things to her. You should have seen the state she was in. She was only fourteen. She knew nothing. The boy molested her. She may never get over it. I'd have done anything to protect her.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Jimmy Doyle on Andy: The kid was dirt. He was scum. You should have heard him standing at the gates, telling his mates what he'd done to young Sarah. It was disgusting. I saw her afterwards. She was terrified. But that wasn't enough. He was planning to get her again and he was telling them what he was going to do to her. And he was laughing. God, that laugh. It was like hearing the devil himself.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ted on Andy: One day, he was mucking about on the scaffolding.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Jimmy on Andy: I told him to get back to work. I had a drink, more than one, but I wasn't —</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Kathy Mitchell: What happened, Jimmy?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Jimmy: He didn't stop grinning all the way up the ladder. So I followed him. When I got up there, he looked me straight in the eye and laughed again. I wanted to wipe that smile right off his ugly face. I wanted to teach him a lesson. So I slapped him. I didn't mean for him to go over the edge. That wasn't meant to happen.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Kathy on Andy's death: Were you there when it happened?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ted: Across the scaffold. Everyone else had scarpered. When I saw what was going on, I went over to try and stop it and — too late.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Kathy: So you saw the kid go over the edge?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ted: Slipped, fell, and well, he died.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Jimmy to Ted: I killed that kid and you took the blame.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Kathy: Jimmy was looking after Sarah. It's only natural Ted's going to cover for him.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ted: They called in the police, health and safety authorities, and the long and short of it was I was found to be negligent. They said I hadn't followed the proper safety procedures. They imposed a massive fine. Nobody would touch me after that. The work started to dry up, recession. Basically, it wiped us out. I still have nightmares about the kid. I should never have let it happen. There was a lot of bad feeling in the neighbourhood. The boy's parents blamed me. I didn't mind, but it weren't fair on the kids. So I decided to put it all behind us and leave.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Phil: And Jimmy came too?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ted: Well, I could hardly leave him behind.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Jimmy to Ted: You lost everything protecting me. You're the best friend I ever had.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Sarah Hills: I was in the school [swimming] team.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ted: Backstroke champion.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Tony Hills: And she swam for a club.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Sarah: We reached the semi-finals of the league, but when we had to move away ...</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ted: I just wanted somewhere where I could make a new start, give Sarah some security. [Walford] seemed like the obvious place. Where else could I go?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Tony: I didn't want to come [to Walford]. This was all your idea. I wanted to stay in Norwich.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ted: Well, we couldn't.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Tony: Back home [in Norwich], we used to go to a club, get tanked up, then hang about the canals all night under the stars.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Joe Wicks on the cinema: I used to go all the time when I was back home [in Bolton]. Used to forget about myself. Switch off, be somewhere else.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Nigel Bates: Or someone else.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Howard to Minty Peterson: You're the only bloke I know who cried at "Toy Story". Remember when we were on the market together? We were like Butch and Sundance.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ruby Allen on “Ghost”: Lost count of how many times I’ve seen this film. The first time was with Scarlett. She always had this stupid thing that our house was haunted.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Manda Best on Patrick Swayze: He never really did for me so I never [watched “Ghost”].</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Linda Carter on Patrick Swayze: He was gorgeous, weren’t he?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Nancy: His eyes were a bit too close together. Made him look kind of shifty.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Tanya: Me and Max, we used to do this mime thing to [‘Unchained Melody’ by the Righteous Brothers].</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Max Branning on Jack: He’s used to women being knocked horizontal by his looks.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Phil Mitchell: You’re the love and leave them type, are you?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Jack Branning: I’ve loved, I’ve left — I’ve even been left once or twice.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Max to his sister Suzy: You remember [Jack] boasting about what he used to do to this woman, that woman.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Jack, mid-anecdote: … So this Italian bird, we just done the business, we were about to fall asleep when she pulls out a gun. She loads it and she sticks it under her pillow. I didn’t sleep a wink. It turns out her dad was some major gangster back in Palermo.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Roxy Mitchell: You’re such a liar.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Jack: It’s true!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Michael Moon, mid-anecdote: … Her old man chased me all the way down the Mile End Road. I've still got the dressing gown!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Jack: Hang on, hang on — he changes that story every year because the last time of telling, you [Michael] were wearing the geezer’s boxer shorts!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Suzy Branning, mid-anecdote: … So I said, “With fingers like that, Pablo, you can pluck my strings anytime.”</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Joe: Me and Karen used to go swimming quite a lot. Oh, and we used to do a bit of tennis, like once a year when Wimbledon came around.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Joe: Peter taught me [the guitar]. We always had such a laugh we were together. Karen always had my mum and I had Peter.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Peter on Joe: He was always such a bright lad.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Sarah Hills on Peter: He was like a dad to [Joe].</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Lorraine Wicks: Peter decided to take the kids for a drive. It was Sunday and I wanted to have a lie in.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Lorraine to Peter: You were behind the wheel of the car because you were the one driving them to school that day. It could just as easily have been me.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Lorraine: Of course, the kids argued about who was going to sit in the front and Joe won as usual.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Joe on Karen: I was in the car with her. It was me who told her to swap places.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Lorraine: I didn't find out exactly what happened until much later. Apparently, they were on their way back when the accident happened. It was raining. It must have happened so fast. One minute, they were driving along and the next minute, the lorry in front just jackknifed. Peter skidded and hit the lorry side on. The car behind ploughed into the back of them. Peter wasn't too badly hurt, just a few broken bones, but Karen, well, she was in intensive care for three days before she died.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Joe: Me and me mum used to go praying all the time. Didn't work though.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Lorraine: I spent three days and three nights in intensive care by Karen's bed. All I could do was hold her hand and tell her how much I loved her. Have you any idea what that feels like, to watch your daughter die?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Karen Louise Wicks died July 1st 1995.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Lorraine on Karen: She was thirteen.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">David Wicks: What about Joe?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Lorraine: He walked away with hardly a scratch on him. They said it was a miracle. If they hadn't have had that row and Karen had been in the front of the car instead of the back, she'd still be alive.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Joe: Karen getting killed was a mistake. It should have been me. We changed places, that's all. I was in her seat. She shouldn't have been sitting in it. I was meant to be looking after her. It's my fault she died. It should have been me lying in that grave.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Lorraine: I tried to [explain to Joe that he wasn't to blame] at the time, but it was too difficult for both of us.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Lorraine to Peter: When Karen died, I couldn't deal with you and Joe, anything or anybody else in my life.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Peter: I should have understood that.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Lorraine: I should have noticed something was wrong [with Joe's mental state] when Karen died. I was so wrapped up in how I was feeling. I thought he was just playing up, looking for attention. I couldn't stand the thought of losing him as well so I carried on as though everything was all right.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">David: Why didn't you tell me [about Karen's death]?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Lorraine: You hadn't even sent her a birthday card in years. You think that she really thought of you as her father?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">David: Couldn't you have at least written?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Lorraine: I didn't want you back in our lives, upsetting Joe. He was disturbed enough as it was.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Joe: I stopped swimming when Karen got killed. Just didn't seem right.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Alfie Moon: A mate of mine was struck down early. Twenty-six, he was. Professional banjo player. He was on the road to stardom, met a truck coming the other way.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Danny Moon: I once ran over my girlfriend's rabbit with a moped.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Garry Hobbs: Last [motor]bike I had used to pull the birds for me. [It] had class.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Mark Fowler: British, you mean?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Garry: What else?</span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="James from London, post: 120794, member: 22"] [SIZE=5][U]1995[/U] Ronnie Mitchell: I was always more of a Blur [than Oasis] fan myself. Heather Trott: I told Shirl I’d get us tickets to the Spice Girls. We missed out because of my mum’s sciatica. Heather to Queenie: All the years I looked after you. Babe Smith: I felt sorry for Heather all those years ago, stuck in that stinking flat up from mine, that old cow Queenie screeching at her. Heather on Tina Carter: She tried to electrocute me. Shirley Carter on Tina: She got in a scrap and I bailed her out. Shirley to Tina: The last time you and I went on “a little trip” I ended up in a prison cell with a bunch of women rugby players. Tina: I was always the quietest of the three. Mick Carter: I once bought L a can of White Lightning for her birthday. Dean Wicks: How’d she take it? Mick: Not very well. No idea why. Max Branning: Tan, what do I do every year on my birthday, what do I get you? Get you a present, don’t I? Tanya: It’s tradition — you always get me something on your birthday. You’re soppy like that. Johnny Allen: You remember the kitchen door? Every year on your birthday, you'd stand up against it and we'd mark off, see how much you'd grown. Ruby Allen: I remember that. I was always trying to catch up with Scarlett. Johnny: And you did. I always said you would. Johnny: Have you ever seen me drunk? Ruby: When I was six. We all knew, Dad. You used to hide the bottles under Scarlett’s bed. She told me, said it was yours and hers little secret, and I was jealous. Ruby on Johnny: When we were younger, we used to idolise him, me and my sister - his little princesses. We thought, “What a great bloke. Everyone loves Johnny Allen, everyone.” It’s not until we grew up that we realised no-one loves him at all. Everyone hates him. They’re all scared. I was scared too. I was scared to face up to what he really was. Ruby on her parents: They really loved each other and he didn't have eyes for anyone else but her. Tina Stewart to Johnny: When we first met, you had the run in with that cousin of yours. You got angry and Tina sorted you out, didn’t she? Johnny on himself and Tina: We had an affair for ten years, sneaking and cheating around all over the place. Tina Stewart, speaking to Ruby in 2005: Me and your dad, we've been together for ten years. I known about you for so long, since you were a little girl. We never wanted to hurt you. Ruby: I’ve had it all my life, one lie after another, secrets up to here. Tina to Johnny: How many times do you think I've seen you and your wife in bed up here [in her mind]? Tina: You hid behind your wife for years, Johnny. Tina: You can't live your life putting everything in different little boxes. Johnny: That's how I've had to live my life, keeping business away from family, and family away from ... Tina: Me. Well, there was reasons for that. Ruby on her mother: I thought you loved her. Johnny: I did. Ruby: Then how could you do that to her, go behind her back, cheat on her all that time, and still pretend to love her? Johnny: I wasn't pretending. Ruby: It wasn't real. She thought you really loved her. You tricked her. You had an affair, a mistress. Mum was at home looking after you and making everything nice for us, and you were with Tina. That's pretending. That's tricking her, isn't it? How could you look her in the face? Johnny: Your mum knew. She understood. That was the way it was. She understood and she was all right about it. It was private between me and your mum. Ruby to Johnny: We've never been close, have we? We've always been strangers to each other. Johnny: Your mum was good at [being physically demonstrative]. She did that for you two girls. I'm just not that kind of person. Ruby: You seemed to manage with Scarlett. You were always laughing and joking with her. She was good fun, weren't she? Johnny: Yeah, she was. Johnny to Ruby: I was working way too hard when you were growing up. That's what men in my world do. It's our way of convincing ourselves that we're looking after you, providing for you. The truth is, we're so busy putting food in your mouths that we miss the whole thing. I used to keep a few things on my desk though, to remind me why I was working so hard. Johnny: When we bought the big house, I didn't realise how much travelling I was going to have to do. Ruby: We hardly ever saw you. Johnny: But it was worth it because your mum really loved it out there. Johnny to Ruby: Your room was really nice back at the big house. Ruby: I've been brought up to be polite when people come round the house. Ruby on where she lived: Everyone was stuck up there. Ruby on Johnny: He was big on entertaining — business, pleasure. Johnny on his wife: She wasn't interested in the business so I just got on with things. It was like two separate worlds. Suited the pair of us, really. Problem was, the longer me and your mum spent apart, the more often I ended up seeing Tina. You and Scarlett were just kids. You were the one thing that me and your mum had in common. Ruby: So you stayed together for us? Johnny: No. There was no question of us ever splitting up. Ruby: Well, it wasn't a proper marriage, was it? Johnny: It worked for us, and in the end, we became best mates. She was a brilliant mother, Ruby. I loved your mum. She loved me. We just weren't in love. Ruby: So that made it all right for you to sleep with someone else? Johnny: It wasn't the most important thing in her life, no. Nor mine, come to think of it. Family was. Tamwar to Zainab and Masood: You taught me a lot as parents, most of which I spend my life trying to ignore, but there’s one thing I can’t ignore — you taught me the value of family. Zainab: Do you remember Jalil Iqbal from when we used to visit Uncle Amir in Slough? Shabnam: The nerdy little geek with the big ears and the braces? Zainab: Come on, he was such a cute little boy. Zainab: I have relatives I’ve been writing to for decades. Do I like them? No. Shabnam on Zainab: She’s fallen out with all Dad’s family — the uncles, the cousins, the lot. Zainab: Masood always said I had an impulsive side. AJ Ahmed: What does Zainab always say when she sees me? "Very bad man, very bad influence, yadda yadda yadda.” Tamwar: Cousin Amira — didn’t she move to Leeds? Tamwar: Cousin Samina’s engagement party [was] a disaster. Uncle Waseem was in and out of the toilet on account of his prostate. One of his trips, he opens the door to find cousin Samina and her fiancee’s best man ... Zainab: Enough, Tamwar. Christian Clark on Samina: Sounds like she followed her heart, not the Koran. Syed: Cousin Samina was cast out by her family, her mosque, her entire community. She lost everything that mattered to her. Christian: Maybe she found something that mattered more. Zainab on Syed: To remain indifferent in the face of human suffering, that is not how I bought him up. Syed on Zainab: I knew Dad saved her in a fire but I didn’t know [about her first marriage]. Zainab to Masood: We once dreamt of owning a big house. Zainab on Masood: The way he [spoke] to [my] whole entire family at Ashura in 1995 even though I made all that effort! Bushra Abbasi, a family friend, to Zainab: You always were a woman of considerable talent. Zainab: I’ve always been so capable. Zainab: I’m a failure as a mother, a wife — that’s what Inzamam thinks. That’s what he’s been telling me for years. Tamwar to Masood: We’ve had years at your attempts at cooking. You’ve always been a rotten cook. Zainab to Syed: Your father’s always been a bit of a dreamer. Masood: I’ve always put this family first which is more than [Syed] ever did. Zainab to Masood: I trusted you and look where that got us. Masood on Zainab: Bubbling under the surface all these years — the distrust, the resentment, the offhand remarks, the patronising glances. Amira Shah: I don’t think I’ve had a genuine moment of happiness since I was ten years old. Amira: Mum died when I was young. Qadim Shah to Amira: When you’ve loved someone deeply and you lose them, you adopt strategies. Some people talk to the dead, leaves rooms untouched, sleep on the same side of the bed. Others push everything away. I pushed you away. Amira on Qadim: He’s my dad. He made me who I am. Masood to Qadim: How you managed to bring up such a kind, principled daughter is quite frankly beyond me. Amira on Qadim: He always has been stubborn. Big Mo, speaking in 2005: I haven't seen male flesh in a long, long time. Kat Slater: How long's it been exactly, Nan? Big Mo: Let's put it this way, these [long-shaped] balloons are the closest I've got in the last ten years. Cora Cross: I’ve been on my own longer than I can remember. I’ve become quite good at it. Eddie Moon on his son Tyler: He fell off the wall when he was six. He had his hands in a packet of crisps so his face took the brunt of it. The screams — all the neighbours came out. He was still screaming when I took him to the hospital and the nurse was stitching up his lip. Ted Hills: I had this one bloke working for me. Thick as two short planks, he was. We just built this new wall. We had to knock down another one. I told him, I said, "Knock down the wall where Tony's left his bike." In the meantime, someone's moved Tony's bike. And he knocked down the wrong wall! Cost me a packet, that did. Ted: There was this kid [Andy Baker], real troublemaker. Nicking stuff. I came close to sacking him several times. Andy Baker's father: [Andy] was a strapping lad, always big for his age, but he was still a kid inside. He was always the baby in our house. He had his whole life ahead of him. He's dead now. Murdered. Ted on Andy: The boy was filth. Came onto Sarah. Tried to do things to my daughter. He said things to her. You should have seen the state she was in. She was only fourteen. She knew nothing. The boy molested her. She may never get over it. I'd have done anything to protect her. Jimmy Doyle on Andy: The kid was dirt. He was scum. You should have heard him standing at the gates, telling his mates what he'd done to young Sarah. It was disgusting. I saw her afterwards. She was terrified. But that wasn't enough. He was planning to get her again and he was telling them what he was going to do to her. And he was laughing. God, that laugh. It was like hearing the devil himself. Ted on Andy: One day, he was mucking about on the scaffolding. Jimmy on Andy: I told him to get back to work. I had a drink, more than one, but I wasn't — Kathy Mitchell: What happened, Jimmy? Jimmy: He didn't stop grinning all the way up the ladder. So I followed him. When I got up there, he looked me straight in the eye and laughed again. I wanted to wipe that smile right off his ugly face. I wanted to teach him a lesson. So I slapped him. I didn't mean for him to go over the edge. That wasn't meant to happen. Kathy on Andy's death: Were you there when it happened? Ted: Across the scaffold. Everyone else had scarpered. When I saw what was going on, I went over to try and stop it and — too late. Kathy: So you saw the kid go over the edge? Ted: Slipped, fell, and well, he died. Jimmy to Ted: I killed that kid and you took the blame. Kathy: Jimmy was looking after Sarah. It's only natural Ted's going to cover for him. Ted: They called in the police, health and safety authorities, and the long and short of it was I was found to be negligent. They said I hadn't followed the proper safety procedures. They imposed a massive fine. Nobody would touch me after that. The work started to dry up, recession. Basically, it wiped us out. I still have nightmares about the kid. I should never have let it happen. There was a lot of bad feeling in the neighbourhood. The boy's parents blamed me. I didn't mind, but it weren't fair on the kids. So I decided to put it all behind us and leave. Phil: And Jimmy came too? Ted: Well, I could hardly leave him behind. Jimmy to Ted: You lost everything protecting me. You're the best friend I ever had. Sarah Hills: I was in the school [swimming] team. Ted: Backstroke champion. Tony Hills: And she swam for a club. Sarah: We reached the semi-finals of the league, but when we had to move away ... Ted: I just wanted somewhere where I could make a new start, give Sarah some security. [Walford] seemed like the obvious place. Where else could I go? Tony: I didn't want to come [to Walford]. This was all your idea. I wanted to stay in Norwich. Ted: Well, we couldn't. Tony: Back home [in Norwich], we used to go to a club, get tanked up, then hang about the canals all night under the stars. Joe Wicks on the cinema: I used to go all the time when I was back home [in Bolton]. Used to forget about myself. Switch off, be somewhere else. Nigel Bates: Or someone else. Howard to Minty Peterson: You're the only bloke I know who cried at "Toy Story". Remember when we were on the market together? We were like Butch and Sundance. Ruby Allen on “Ghost”: Lost count of how many times I’ve seen this film. The first time was with Scarlett. She always had this stupid thing that our house was haunted. Manda Best on Patrick Swayze: He never really did for me so I never [watched “Ghost”]. Linda Carter on Patrick Swayze: He was gorgeous, weren’t he? Nancy: His eyes were a bit too close together. Made him look kind of shifty. Tanya: Me and Max, we used to do this mime thing to [‘Unchained Melody’ by the Righteous Brothers]. Max Branning on Jack: He’s used to women being knocked horizontal by his looks. Phil Mitchell: You’re the love and leave them type, are you? Jack Branning: I’ve loved, I’ve left — I’ve even been left once or twice. Max to his sister Suzy: You remember [Jack] boasting about what he used to do to this woman, that woman. Jack, mid-anecdote: … So this Italian bird, we just done the business, we were about to fall asleep when she pulls out a gun. She loads it and she sticks it under her pillow. I didn’t sleep a wink. It turns out her dad was some major gangster back in Palermo. Roxy Mitchell: You’re such a liar. Jack: It’s true! Michael Moon, mid-anecdote: … Her old man chased me all the way down the Mile End Road. I've still got the dressing gown! Jack: Hang on, hang on — he changes that story every year because the last time of telling, you [Michael] were wearing the geezer’s boxer shorts! Suzy Branning, mid-anecdote: … So I said, “With fingers like that, Pablo, you can pluck my strings anytime.” Joe: Me and Karen used to go swimming quite a lot. Oh, and we used to do a bit of tennis, like once a year when Wimbledon came around. Joe: Peter taught me [the guitar]. We always had such a laugh we were together. Karen always had my mum and I had Peter. Peter on Joe: He was always such a bright lad. Sarah Hills on Peter: He was like a dad to [Joe]. Lorraine Wicks: Peter decided to take the kids for a drive. It was Sunday and I wanted to have a lie in. Lorraine to Peter: You were behind the wheel of the car because you were the one driving them to school that day. It could just as easily have been me. Lorraine: Of course, the kids argued about who was going to sit in the front and Joe won as usual. Joe on Karen: I was in the car with her. It was me who told her to swap places. Lorraine: I didn't find out exactly what happened until much later. Apparently, they were on their way back when the accident happened. It was raining. It must have happened so fast. One minute, they were driving along and the next minute, the lorry in front just jackknifed. Peter skidded and hit the lorry side on. The car behind ploughed into the back of them. Peter wasn't too badly hurt, just a few broken bones, but Karen, well, she was in intensive care for three days before she died. Joe: Me and me mum used to go praying all the time. Didn't work though. Lorraine: I spent three days and three nights in intensive care by Karen's bed. All I could do was hold her hand and tell her how much I loved her. Have you any idea what that feels like, to watch your daughter die? Karen Louise Wicks died July 1st 1995. Lorraine on Karen: She was thirteen. David Wicks: What about Joe? Lorraine: He walked away with hardly a scratch on him. They said it was a miracle. If they hadn't have had that row and Karen had been in the front of the car instead of the back, she'd still be alive. Joe: Karen getting killed was a mistake. It should have been me. We changed places, that's all. I was in her seat. She shouldn't have been sitting in it. I was meant to be looking after her. It's my fault she died. It should have been me lying in that grave. Lorraine: I tried to [explain to Joe that he wasn't to blame] at the time, but it was too difficult for both of us. Lorraine to Peter: When Karen died, I couldn't deal with you and Joe, anything or anybody else in my life. Peter: I should have understood that. Lorraine: I should have noticed something was wrong [with Joe's mental state] when Karen died. I was so wrapped up in how I was feeling. I thought he was just playing up, looking for attention. I couldn't stand the thought of losing him as well so I carried on as though everything was all right. David: Why didn't you tell me [about Karen's death]? Lorraine: You hadn't even sent her a birthday card in years. You think that she really thought of you as her father? David: Couldn't you have at least written? Lorraine: I didn't want you back in our lives, upsetting Joe. He was disturbed enough as it was. Joe: I stopped swimming when Karen got killed. Just didn't seem right. Alfie Moon: A mate of mine was struck down early. Twenty-six, he was. Professional banjo player. He was on the road to stardom, met a truck coming the other way. Danny Moon: I once ran over my girlfriend's rabbit with a moped. Garry Hobbs: Last [motor]bike I had used to pull the birds for me. [It] had class. Mark Fowler: British, you mean? Garry: What else?[/SIZE] [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Who played JR Ewing?
Post reply
Forums
Telly Talk Soaps
UK Soaps Forum
An Oral History 1985-2015
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
Accept
Learn more…
Top