Episode 5701 (27th February 2004)

Plot
Charlie is delighted to land the council contract for Bessie Street School. He takes Deirdre a huge bouquet of flowers as a thank you and gives her a lift to work. Bev watches them leave together. Todd looks into adopting Bethany, but he's told he has to be twenty-one to adopt. Bev starts to obsess about Deirdre and Charlie sneaking around behind her back. Sunita is devastated when Maya comes to the Corner Shop flashing her engagement ring as it is Dev's grandmother's ring which he was going to give to Sunita. Imogen Stamford offers Claire a dream job starting on Monday in Florida. She won't take no for an answer and tells Claire to call her. Claire tells Ashley that she's turned Mrs Stamford down. Todd is very cold towards Karl. Sunita brings herself to congratulate Dev on his engagement. Maya's parents, Dinesh and Ann Marie Sharma come to Dev's flat to meet him. Ann Marie gives him a grilling and Dinesh warns him about the wild women in the family. Tommy is pleased to see Katy with Karl, until she tells him that Karl is gay. Bev has too much to drink. She goes to see Ken and tells him that Deirdre is having an affair with Charlie. Ken throws her out.

Regular cast

 * Charlie Stubbs - Bill Ward
 * Jason Grimshaw - Ryan Thomas
 * Sarah Platt - Tina O'Brien]
 * Todd Grimshaw - Bruno Langley
 * Dev Alahan - Jimmi Harkishin
 * Maya Sharma - Sasha Behar
 * Deirdre Rachid - Anne Kirkbride
 * Ken Barlow - William Roache
 * Betty Williams - Betty Driver
 * Shelley Unwin - Sally Lindsay
 * Ashley Peacock - Steven Arnold
 * Claire Casey - Julia Haworth
 * Bev Unwin - Susie Blake
 * Martin Platt - Sean Wilson
 * Sunita Parekh - Shobna Gulati
 * Katy Harris - Lucy-Jo Hudson
 * Tommy Harris - Thomas Craig
 * Maria Sutherland - Samia Ghadie
 * Ciaran McCarthy - Keith Duffy
 * Fred Elliott - John Savident

Guest cast

 * Imogen Stamford - Georgina Mellor
 * Karl Foster - Chris Finch
 * Ann Marie Sharma - Genevieve Allenbury
 * Dinesh Sharma - Bhasker Patel