Soap hooks Sir Peter

MATT BOWEN

TOUCH THEN GO: As the clock nears 12.30pm, Sir Peter Leitch nestles in for the latest Emmerdale episode

The Mad Butcher thought last year was great when he was knighted but it got even better when he received the ultimate accolade.

Sir Peter Leitch is now an honorary member of the Emmerdale fan club.

The long-running English television soap has a strong hold on him. MY SKY recordings save his bacon if he misses the daily 12.30pm slot on TV1.

Though catching up on it after an eight week trip overseas proved to be a challenge.

“That took a lot of watching let me tell you,” the Buckland Beach resident says.

Affairs, tears, divorce, mental instability, drink, drugs and rows make up the daily grind in the quaint Yorkshire Dales village of Emmerdale. Now and then a plane crashes or a house explodes.

Just last week someone got the wrong end of the stick and accused Gennie of burgling the vets.

“I get a lot of pleasure out of the programme,” Sir Peter says. “It’s just real life, dramas. They have their ups and downs. It just grows on me.”

The acting is top-notch too, he reckons.

The Emmerdale Club wrote to Sir Peter around the time he was knighted last year and the offer of honorary membership was “graciously accepted”.

From humble beginnings in 1990 the club now has members from Finland, Sweden, Ireland and New Zealand as well as the UK.

But it’s yet to take off here – Sir Peter accounts for half of New Zealand’s membership.

Members have access to numerous perks among Emmerdale fans including a newsletter three times a year.

The most prized of those is the members-only Emmerdale Weekend.

Irish mother and son Ralph and Chrissie O’Flaherty raved about the intimate peek behind the scenes and the chance to mingle with the stars. It left them feeling almost a part of the show.

Sir Peter’s got that in his sights too, this year or the next. Until then he’ll make do with his daily dose of Emmerdale drama.

“My dear mother-in-law who passed away recently used to love it. She watched it every day. We’d often talk about it – they had some very good storylines.

“It doesn’t have the following in New Zealand of Coronation Street because that’s at night.

“It’s during the day which makes it awkward for people to watch.”

Email jenny.godfrey@itv.com or visit www.itv.com/emmerdale to join the club.

– Manukau Courier

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http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/manukau-courier/4593802/Soap-hooks-Sir-Peter

When Aaron later confides in Chas about his meeting Flynn, she encourages him to tell Jackson.

So, grabbing the bull by the horns, Aaron tells Jackson all about it and in return, Jackson makes it clear that THEIR relationship is over and they are no longer a couple. In future they can only be friends!

Charity and Cain are still “all picture, and no sound” as Jai persuades her not to quit her job.

Leyla urges the hoop-earinged Alicia to, for goodness sake, sort things out with Justin, if only for wee Jacob, if nothing else!

Meanwhile, big ‘Aundy’ heads off to the peelers to report the twisted DS Henshall for harassment, but DC Prior is concerned that the reports will only make things far worse, until ‘Aundy’ tells her that Henshall has been pursuing Katie for weeks!

Of course, once Brenda hears that Henshall has been taken off the case, she takes matters into her own hands, ploughing her car right into Aundy’s caravan in a drunken rage! (As, of course, you do!)

However, later, as Prior goes over Carl’s statement, she is deeply troubled to discover that Henshall has omitted significant details about the night of the fire! (Sleeked slime-ball that he is!)

Still in a traumatized state, poor Lisa shudders in disgust when Lizzie invites dirty vermin Derek to have lunch with the girls, and she makes an excuse not to go.

But then she is even more horrified when Zak invites him home!

If ever a ‘melt’ needed kicked in, it is Derek’s!!

Meanwhile, Turner becomes more, and more green with jealousy about Pearl’s flirtation with Dermot!

But that’s the way the cookie crumbles honey!

Meanwhile in Weatherfield…

Fiz is really feeling the pressure, as the reality of wee Hope’s situation really starts to sink in, and there is no sign of John being discharged anytime soon!

Of course, some of us will say thanks be to goodness for that, but we don’t want to appear callous or hurtful!

BUT THEN! Fiz receives a visit from Joy Fishwick’s solicitor, to tell her that Colin was the sole beneficiary of his mother’s will!

So, is Fiz about to resort to desperate, devious measures?

Hey, this is Soapland – you BET she will!!
Also this week, Peter Barlow reaches rock bottom, and hits the bottle again, after Dr Carter tells him that the nerve damage he is suffering from may be permanent.

And things only get worse when Leanne discovers that he spent the night at Carla’s.

However, Leanne has her OWN reasons to feel guilty, and what exactly is Nick up to?

In the Windass residence Anna and Eddie are told by the social worker that the decision about their forthcoming adoption will NOW have to be totally reassessed, in the light of Gary’s recent arrest!

Over in the Rovers, the ravishing Claudia brings Marc in for “drinkey-poos dahling!” And on arrival he seems to take an immediate shine to Audrey!

Let’s all hope to goodness that he’s not another one of “them giggly-ohs”!!

Then! What a total, utter dingbat, Rawwzie Webster is!

We all know she has all the maternal skills of an amoeba BUT she really makes Kevin furious this week, when she BORROWS little half-brother Jack for a photoshoot!

Then when it is all over, she and Jason bring the WRONG baby home!

Well! She couldn’t tell the difference could she?

And with Jason’s lift going nowhere near his top floor, he knows very little about ANYTHING!

In fact there is even more trouble at the Webster’s when Sally has to referee a flaming row between Sawwfie and Sian!

Meanwhile Tracy is back in court to hear the verdict and Steve is left fearing for Amy’s future!

© UTV News

http://www.u.tv/Blogs/Julian-Simmons-Them-giggly-ohs/1c623b1b-9708-455b-9fb0-165eb9d551a0

Now WE all know that big “Aundy” IS capable of starting fires and roasting people to a cinder, BUT he didn’t start this one! However he still continues to be the focus of all the gossip in the village.

And of course we can all see what is coming from thirty thousand feet, as Jackson tries to persuade Aaron to go out and enjoy himself!

But Aaron will have none of it, as, at this moment in time, he just wants to be with Jackson. Chas tries to make him realize that he can take care of Jackson, and still have a life of his own too – after all, it’s what Jackson says he wants!

Meanwhile, the bold Pearl seems to be enjoying Dermot’s attention!

And noticing the obvious spark between Charity and Jai, the pneumatic Faye stirs up trouble between her and Cain, until Cain tells her to back off!

However, later, Cain enlists Sam’s help in taking a sledgehammer to the barn conversion.

Naturally Jai is furious when he finds out that the damage to the barn will cost twenty thousand smackers to put right! However he surprises Nikhil by REFUSING to report Cain to the police, telling him that he will handle it in his own way!

Over in the BB Val and Pollard receive a visit from social services, but Amy is absolutely nowhere to be found, having headed off to the pavilion with Victoria, AND a couple of bottles of wine stolen from the BB!

In the factory, as poor Lisa returns to work, Genie and Lizzie notice the tension between her and sleaze bag Derek! Indeed they later quiz her about what exactly is going on.

Later, her wedding anniversary with Zak is marred by talk of Derek. I’m really looking forward to the day when that lowest of the low, slimy, sleaze bag gets a real good, Dingle, going over.

Let’s hope that we don’t have to wait too long!
Meanwhile dishy David encourages Amy to get her act together and Laurel unveils the newly renovated Keepers Cottage, having roped in the villagers to redecorate it for Betty and Turner!

By the way, I notice that Betty has ditched her wig!

Of course it probably reeks of smoke after all the trauma that poor Betty went through in the fire!

I expect that she will be putting it back on once it’s had a thorough industrial cleaning and after all, the wig would have to be sent away to get that done!

Over in Weatherfield…

Meanwhile over in Weatherfield, statuesque Eileen is climbing the walls with desperation to transfer the money back into Owen’s account before he notices that it has been “nucked”!

However when he tries to make a purchase and his debit card is declined, HE IS ON TO HER!

Chris pays Billy off for burgling Janice’s flat, and sets about putting Lloyd in the frame for the crime!

Then, when Fiz returns from the hospital, she is horrified to find John cowering in the kitchen jabbering incoherently! Fiz immediately calls Dr Carter, who promptly arranges for John to be admitted to a psychiatric ward! (And let’s face it, THAT should have been done YEARS ago!)

Also this week, would you believe that Michelle and Ciaran finally admit that they love each other-but with him leaving to work on a cruise liner for three months (Boyzone Tour, and she’s eatin’ for two!) whatever will they do?

Then, throw all drips, and oxygen tubes to one side, the bold, completely cured, Tracy Barlow arrives back on the cobbles vowing revenge on Claire!

But! Will anybody reveal her whereabouts?

Meanwhile, following his arrest, and attack of claustrophobia, Gary Windass waits to hear from his CO as to weather he is wanted back in the army!

Statuesque Eileen is really terrified of what Owen might do about the nucked money, until, Kathy Kirby look-a-like, Julie points out that our Eileen has got more dirt on him, than she has on her!

For let’s face it, as we all know Owen has been scamming the taxman for years!

Kevin Webster has a prospective buyer for number 4 and he arrives to show him around the house. However is furious to find that Sally has deliberately left the whole place BOGGIN’!

And poor Fiz’s nightmare continues, when a man comes to the door looking for COLIN FISHWICK, and, as little Hope’s life hangs in the balance, she empties her whole stomach, and tells Chesney EVERYTHING!

© UTV News

http://www.u.tv/Blogs/Julian-Simmons-Feelings-running-high/6158f05a-41da-4b0d-a2f7-fa02e3c87844

The Liberal Democrats’ president Tim Farron publicly ripped apart a copy of the government’s controversial bill to sell of England’s forests at a rally in the heart of the Lake District today.

The MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale joined Labour and Conservative opponents in denouncing the plan as some 1,500 protesters cheered amid gently falling snow in Grizedale forest.

He promised to vote against the proposal in the Commons on Wednesday and nodded when John Woodcock, Labour MP for Barrow and Furness, called on ministers to “wake up and see how badly they have misjudged the issue”.

Protesters jammed narrow country lanes in the remote valley to the reach the latest of the spreading wave of demonstrations against the sale or leasing of 258,000 hectares (638,000 acres) of wild land. In spite of grey and chilly weather, familiar in the winter fells, they chanted “save our trees” and roared approval as the MPs tore up the Public Bodies bill.

Children with placards reading “Save our Roots” and “Free the trees” joined the throng in the former gardens of Grizedale Hall, a Liverpool manufacturer’s Victorian mansion, demolished in 1957. Its last role in political controversy was during the second world war, when its 40 rooms were denounced as too cushy and costly for their role as a Nazi officers’ prisoner of war camp.

Lord Clark of Windermere, a schoolboy during the war whose first job was as a Forestry Commission labourer, told the rally: “This land is ours and we need to keep it as ours. I am so pleased that so many of you have taken time out today to come and tell the the government what you think of their proposals to give away and to sell our birthright.”

Lord Clark, who served as a Labour cabinet minister before heading the Forestry Commission for a decade, said that access would be threatened by a plan which would not even save money for the hard-pressed Treasury. Even the quarter or so of the estate earmarked for charitable owners would require a subsidy approaching £55m a year, he said.

The broadcaster Eric Robson, who chairs Cumbria Tourism, warned that the potential effects on the Lake District’s lifeblood of visitors were dire.

Some 40 forests in the national park, including the huge estates of Grizedale and Whinlatter, were “absolutely crucial” to the area’s economy, he said.

“I knew we had a problem when I heard a forestry minister last week describe the place where we are today as ‘Greezedale’,” he said, to roars of approval. “This is one of the shoddiest pieces of work to come out of Whitehall for a very long time.

“It completely ignores the importance of forestry and the forestry estate for the heritage of the nation’s wellbeing. It is also a sham. It is a sham that I believe working together we can put a stop to.”

Before his speech, Woodcock sent out a quick post on Twitter: “Privilege to speak at the Grizedale rally today. Fantastic turnout. Tory-Lib Dem government have seriously misjudged this.” He then told the rally: “Governments have to govern with the consent of the people, and on this issue you are making it very clear that they simply do not have that consent.”

Protesters included Edwina Freeman from Bolton, who said: “We have two seats and a glade of trees here in memory of members of our family. The trees were planted with the idea that our future family could come and enjoy this area – but obviously if someone else takes over it’s not ours anymore.”

Martin Smyth, 41, from Barrow-in-Furness, said: “This is just the first step – things are only just getting started. They’ve got another thing coming if they think we’re going to go away.”

Mike Morton, from the new pressure group Save Lakeland Forests, which organised the rally, said: “Everyone’s here, from sports people, farmers, bird-watchers, ‘right-to-roam’ activists, families – all united behind the same cause.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/30/mps-lake-district-forest-protest