Coronation Street: Romanian Holiday

Coronation Street: Romanian Holiday is a feature-length spin-off released exclusively to DVD on 26th October 2009. Starring David Neilson, Julie Hesmondhalgh and Katherine Kelly, it features Coronation Street characters Roy and Hayley Cropper and Becky McDonald on holiday in Romania.

Recorded on location in Romania, Romanian Holiday was written by Simon Crowther and Chris Fewtrell. It was produced and directed by Ian Bevitt.

Plot
Roy and Hayley Cropper accept an invitation to attend Frankie Baldwin's wedding to Dean Fraser in Romania and to house-sit for the couple for a week while the newlyweds are on their honeymoon. Leaving their café in Victoria Street behind, they fly out to Romania, but due to an electrical storm, their plane is late arriving and they miss the ceremony. Their mood improves however when they arrive at Frankie's luxury villa in the Transylvanian Alps.

Another couple, Glen and Verity, soon arrives. They claim to be Dean's aunt and uncle and that he asked them to house-sit too. Roy and Hayley invite them to stay for the week, although Glen and Verity prove difficult to live with as their crude, loutish behaviour clashes with that of the quieter Croppers. Roy and Hayley are eager to go sightseeing in Cluj to get away from them, but due to poor public transport they have to be driven by Glen and Verity. The couple prove to be even more difficult travelling companions, as while Roy and Hayley visit a monastery, Glen and Verity find a pub and get too drunk to drive back to the villa. Hayley has to drive despite her fear of the right-hand traffic system in Romania. Roy is outraged when Glen provokes a Hell's Angels biker, who chases them back to the villa.

Glen and Verity convince the Croppers to give them one more chance and they set off into Cluj again the next day. The group visits Bran Castle, where Glen and Verity get themselves lost, requiring Roy and Hayley to waste the day looking for them.

When they're alone, Glen and Verity talk about how to get rid of the Croppers, having been trying without success so far. They wake Roy and Hayley up at 3am to suggest they participate in a karaoke contest. At the end of his tether, Roy says that he and Hayley have to return home as their daughter Becky has gone into labour prematurely. At the airport, however, Becky shows up, having had an argument with Steve on their honeymoon and decided to surprise Roy and Hayley. Their lie exposed, the Croppers ashamedly apologize to Glen and Verity, who decide to let them stay longer.

With an exciteable Becky around, Hayley starts to unwind and goes along with Glen, Verity and Becky to the pub for the karaoke, where they sing Waterloo by Abba, while Roy stays behind and indulges in the villa's jacuzzi. Enjoying herself, Becky stays behind while the others go back to the villa. Becky makes friends with the regulars and wins a beer drinking contest before being driven home in a cart.

The group is getting along better so on their last day together they drive to the Valley of Hell. When the car breaks down in a remote location and they can't phone for help, Roy, Hayley and Becky go off to find aid. When they get back, however, the car, and its occupants, are gone. At the villa, Dean arrives, and is nonplussed about Glen and Verity being missing as he claims not to know them. They realise Dean has been duped - Glen and Verity have stolen his car and many of his and Frankie's valuables and fled. At the airport, the guilty couple discuss the success of their scheme, which they have done many times before. Verity feels bad about leaving the Croppers in the middle of nowhere and persuades Glen to phone the police to alert them. In doing so, however, he informs the police - who have already been consulted by the Croppers - of his and Verity's location, and their holdings from the villa are held by airport security. Glen and Verity run off before the police can catch them.

Cast
(In order of appearance)
 * Dean Fraser - Daymon Britton
 * Father Balthazar - George Grigore
 * Octavian - Rudy Rosenfeld
 * Roy Cropper - David Neilson
 * Hayley Cropper - Julie Hesmondhalgh
 * Eddie Windass - Steve Huison
 * Glen - John Henshaw
 * Verity - Siobhan Finneran
 * Barman - Constantin Florescu
 * Old Man - Mihai Persa
 * Biker - Eduard Opaschi
 * Tour Guide - Cristina Cioran
 * Becky McDonald - Katherine Kelly
 * Bogdan - Constantin Barbulescu
 * Teodosie - Ion Sora
 * Plainclothes Policeman - George Remes