Episode 5249 (15th April 2002)

Plot
Maxine is still trying hard to be cheerful with Ashley. She asks him if he'd like to come with her to see the baby but he refuses. He tells her he needs time to think. Maxine finds that he's been looking at photos of the baby. Phil Rodgers of Weatherfield Hardware Supplies make Sally an offer of £17,000 for all her stock which she accepts. Charlie is asked to resign from her teaching post. She accepts and leaves. Miss Johnson tells Ken that he will have to cover half of Charlie's hours. The pupils think that he got Charlie sacked on purpose because he wanted the work. A boy called Aidan Critchley gives him a hard time. Fred has another go at Ashley; he can't understand why he's taking so little interest in his wife and child. Roy gets the go ahead to stage a re-enactment of a Civil War skirmish by the Weatherfield Historical Society. He decides on the Queen's Jubilee weekend and the Red Rec which he suggests to Hayley might have been called so because of the amount of blood shed there in 1642. Matt calls to see Charlie. She tells him that she's moving away to London. The radio in the hardware shop is still switched on with the volume down. The plug starts to smoulder and catches light and the shop is on fire while Martin and David are asleep in the flat above. Richard and Gail spot the fire as they return after their romantic night out.

Regular cast

 * Ashley Peacock - Steven Arnold
 * Maxine Peacock - Tracy Shaw
 * Sally Webster - Sally Whittaker
 * Eileen Grimshaw - Sue Cleaver
 * Roy Cropper - David Neilson
 * Norris Cole - Malcolm Hebden
 * Charlie Ramsden - Clare McGlinn
 * Candice Stowe - Nikki Sanderson
 * Sarah Platt - Tina O'Brien
 * Gail Platt - Helen Worth
 * Matt Ramsden - Stephen Beckett
 * Les Battersby - Bruce Jones
 * Martin Platt - Sean Wilson
 * Ken Barlow - William Roache
 * Vera Duckworth - Elizabeth Dawn
 * Blanche Hunt - Maggie Jones
 * Kevin Webster - Michael Le Vell
 * Fred Elliott - John Savident
 * Audrey Roberts - Sue Nicholls
 * Eve Elliott - Melanie Kilburn
 * Hayley Cropper - Julie Hesmondhalgh
 * David Platt - Jack P. Shepherd

Guest cast

 * Miss Johnson - Barbara Dryhurst
 * Janette Forster - Corinne Ray Coward
 * Aidan Critchley - Dean Ashton
 * Phil Rodgers - Tony Mooney