Episode 5406 (25th December 2002)

Plot
Emily has terrible flu but insists that she's still cooking Christmas Dinner. Blanche hands out £10 notes as Christmas presents and leaves to go to Emily's for dinner. Tommy buys Angela a mobile phone for Christmas so that she can speak to her family who she hasn't been in contact with since they moved. This way they won't know where she's calling from. Audrey insists on calling at Gail's to give the children their presents. Gail refuses to let her in and she has to hand out the presents on the doorstep. Les finds out that Toyah's boyfriend is her lecturer from college. Les is disgusted. John Arnley asks Toyah to come to Bordeaux with him for a week's holiday. She accepts. Emily bumps into Audrey and Archie who have nowhere to go for dinner and kindly invites them to her house. Blanche takes offence and goes back to the Barlows. Hayley calls on the Nelsons and tells them how upset and worried she is about Roy being stuck in Paxos. Angela comforts her. Vera is upset when Terry doesn't show up for Christmas as he promised. Emily, Norris, Rita, Audrey and Archie have Christmas dinner together. Audrey tells them of her suspicions regarding Richard and how he tried to kill her. Emily tells her she shouldn't make wild accusations. The Barlows are in the middle of dinner when Tracy arrives out of the blue. She says she's left Robert for good as she found him in bed with her best mate and that she's moving back home. Norris tries to set light to the Christmas Pudding in the dark. He slips, falls and bangs his head and has to be taken to hospital in an ambulance. Richard on finding out that Emily is currently on her own calls round feigning concern as she has flu. He sits with her until she falls asleep and is about to smother her with a cushion when Rita calls round. Richard decides that Emily is the key to sorting out his financial worries and starts planning how to kill her.

Regular cast

 * Sarah Platt - Tina O’Brien
 * Gail Hillman - Helen Worth
 * Richard Hillman - Brian Capron
 * David Platt - Jack P. Shepherd
 * Audrey Roberts - Sue Nicholls
 * Archie Shuttleworth - Roy Hudd
 * Emily Bishop - Eileen Derbyshire
 * Norris Cole - Malcolm Hebden
 * Peter Barlow - Chris Gascoyne
 * Shelley Unwin - Sally Lindsay
 * Deirdre Rachid - Anne Kirkbride
 * Ken Barlow - William Roache
 * Blanche Hunt - Maggie Jones
 * Angela Nelson - Kathryn Hunt
 * Craig Nelson - Richard Fleeshman
 * Tommy Nelson - Thomas Craig
 * Katy Nelson - Lucy-Jo Hudson
 * Toyah Battersby - Georgia Taylor
 * Maria Sutherland - Samia Ghadie
 * Fiz Brown - Jennie McAlpine
 * Steve McDonald - Simon Gregson
 * Eileen Grimshaw - Sue Cleaver
 * Sunita Parekh - Shobna Gulati
 * Hayley Cropper - Julie Hesmondhalgh
 * Jack Duckworth - William Tarmey
 * Tyrone Dobbs - Alan Halsall
 * Ashley Peacock - Steven Arnold
 * Fred Elliott - John Savident
 * Les Battersby - Bruce Jones
 * Kirk Sutherland - Andrew Whyment
 * Vera Duckworth - Elizabeth Dawn
 * Rita Sullivan - Barbara Knox
 * Tracy Preston - Kate Ford
 * Dev Alahan - Jimmi Harkishin
 * Karen McDonald - Suranne Jones
 * Doreen Heavey - Prunella Gee
 * Maxine Peacock - Tracy Shaw

Guest cast

 * John Arnley - Paul Warriner