This article contains spoilers for tonight’s Coronation Street, which has not yet aired on TV but is available to watch now on ITVX.
If there is one thing that is difficult to obtain on Coronation Street, it’s a stiffy, and just as George Shuttleworth (Tony Maudsley) finally got the chance to get his hands on one, Christina Midgeley (Amy Robbins) cruelly tugged it away.
A stiffy, for those of you with your minds in the gutter, is a prestigious award offered to undertakers in Weatherfield who have been exemplary in their roles.
George has long dreamed of being presented with a stiffy, and he was overjoyed to learn that this year he had been chosen as the recipient of the lifetime achievement award for, in his words, ‘keeping it up as long as he had’.
Unfortunately, almost as soon as the high of his achievement had hit, it came crashing down again, as he read that he had supposedly turned down the award.
Confused and upset, he tried to explain that there had been a misunderstanding and he’d be honoured to accept the award, but in tonight’s episode, he was informed that the stiffy had already been presented to somebody else.
Gutted, George tried to get to the bottom of who had turned down the award on his behalf, and it didn’t take long for his suspicions to fall on Todd Grimshaw (Gareth Pierce).
Though Glenda Shuttleworth (Jodie Prenger) tried to convince him otherwise, George was almost certain that Todd was the reason he’d lost his stiffy.
As George lamented how he’d always dreamed of being able to stand in front of the mirror with a stiffy in his hands and couldn’t believe that Todd would deny him that, Christina decided it was time to come clean.
She admitted that she had been the one to decline the award, having answered the phone while George was asleep.
She insisted that she hadn’t done it deliberately, but had thought he was exhausted.
Without a word, furious George stormed off to apologise to Todd.
Surprisingly, Todd stuck up for Christina and encouraged George to hear her explanation.
When he finally bumped into her again, she explained that she really hadn’t meant to turn down the award, as she wasn’t sure quite what they were talking about on the phone as she couldn’t hear over his snoring.
With Christina clearly feeling guilty, George found it in his heart to forgive her, and the pair shared a passionate reconciliation.
