The Webster Chronicles, Part 753

Last week, Sally called Kevin "devious". She's right of course. He always was. He was always able to use passive aggression to work his wiles on Sally and it looks like he's tried it again. Did you notice that look of triumph when she said he could stay one last night? How he preyed on her emotions and they ended up in a clinch? Kevin always thinks sex solves everything. And if it doesn't, a healthy serving of guilt just might do the trick.

Even when Sally had found out about the affair and the baby when Molly died, Kevin sunk his teeth in and tried everything he could to keep Sally from throwing him out and he used the first opportunity that came along, his injury, to get his feet back under the table. Surely, she'd realize what she was missing and they'd get back together? Surely?

He keeps saying "I made a mistake" Well... yes he did but it was a very big one and yes, both of them are guilty of affairs in the past and have overlooked and/or forgiven the other for it but this one seems different, deeper. Sally knows Kevin would have left if he hadn't found out she was ill. That's probably the part that cuts the deepest. I never felt Kevin was truly in love with Molly and finding out about Sally's illness thumped him back to earth brutally but it was too little too late.

It's the thing that bugs me most about soaps, the never ending back and forth between a couple that's "meant to be". Horse hockey! When couples have gone through what they have in real life, there would be no going back. The writers say the fans want the couples to stay together so they put them back together and then break them up again because happy couples are boring to watch on television. So instead, we have endless circles of the Websters. Ken and Deirdre are another couple like that. It's almost as if they don't know what else to do with the characters on their own. If one actor isn't leaving the show, the writers will inevitably put these "star crossed" couples through their paces endlessly.

With that in mind, not because she should take him back, but because the writers will make it happen, Sally will probably take Kevin back in the end and raise Jack with him. More fool her. And him, probably.

Read a character study of Sally,  Kevin and a blog post about the loves of Sally and Kevin, Part 1 and Part 2.

Who will win the War of the Websters?

Most people seem to be enjoying the War of the Websters, shots are fired across the bow back and forth, but nobody seems to be winning any definitive battles. There are also a number of legal issues that have not been addressed.

It looked at first that Sally had the upperhand. She is the injured party, she has the moral high ground and milks it for all it's worth.

Kevin mostly seems to be scowling from the garage or a corner of the pub. He nearly pulled the mat out from under Sally by putting the house up for sale. Point to Team Kevin for that. But surely Sally would have some say in that? Surely her name must be on the deed as well? Is it legal for an estate agent to put a house up for sale when one of the two owners objects? I'm sure Sally's job contributes to the mortgage and household expenses, too.

Legalities aside (plot loopholes, anyone?), Kevin had a bit of an edge and Sally's initial attempts to put off buyers by leaving the house a tip didn't work very well. Her next attempt, having the Windasses over during a viewing was inspired. The Windasses, Eddie especially, would be off putting to the most determined buyer and he thought he was only being helpful! Point to Team Sally.

Kevin then tried to show the house to Lloyd and Cheryl who really should have known better, knowing the whole situation. Kevin only did it because he knew Sally had a new fella in the kitchen. It did scupper the date but I thought Team Sally still came out on top. She made Kevin look like a manipulative idiot in front of the neighbours and the ensuing row cause much upset to Sophie. I'd say that was another point for Team Sally.

Speaking of Jeff, I'm pretty sure Sally's just after a bit of flattery and fun and because it winds up Kevin, that can't hurt! He's probably not going to be another "love of her life" anyway. He's a bit too smooth and slick, I think.

The bickering and fighthing is down and dirty and both sides can hold their own. I think if there hadn't been a baby in the mix, it might not have felt like so bitter a betrayal and Kevin's love and custody of the baby (shouldn't that be legally signed and delivered, too? Just because Tyrone gave Kevin the baby, isn't little Jack still legally Tyrone's child?) has cut Sally to the bone. Sally's and the girls' utter rejection of the innocent babe has done the same to Kevin. Point to each, there.

There's another battle yet to come, according to the spoilers. Kevin's going to win some lottery money and hopes it will help him get Sally back but when he sees her with Jeff, decides she's not getting any of it. She finds out, of course, thanks to the wronged Tyrone and it all kicks off again. And so it should! They may not be living together but they're still married and Kevin should be providing Sally with alimony and child support at least for Sophie. There could be a case made for him not having to share the cash with her but most likely it should be taken into account with the settlement.

Speaking of which, Sally should have consulted her solicitor long since. She may have made him leave the family home, but if she's got custody of Sophie who's still a minor, she's due maintenance for her. She's also due a share of the garage, having supported him and helped with the books and administration for years. As I mentioned, she should be due half of the proceeds from the sale of the house no matter that Kevin seems to be implying that he'd get it all and she should be entitled to alimony/spousal maintenance and all of that should be recorded in a legal separation decree right from the get go. She ought to be telling Kevin to go through her solicitor if he wants to sell the house out from under her.

Will the Websters find their way back to one another? There will be an upcoming crisis when Sophie hits the breaking point and that may do the trick. Possibly that will only be a temporary measure. Personally, I hope the Websters stay apart. There's far too much that really can't be forgiven now. I don't want them to be like Ken and Deirdre, always getting back together, always having affairs and flirtations and having to forgive each other because they feel like they're stuck with each other and unwilling to make the break.

Also read, the life and loves of Sally and Kevin Webster. Here and Here 
You can read a full character study about Sally here.
You can read a full character study about Kevin here.

The many loves of Sally and Kevin Webster: Part 2

We're back for part 2 of the loves of Sally and Kevin.

The DIY shop is an albatross around Sally's neck and she sells the stock just in time for Jason to put a wrong fuse in a radio which burns the place to the ground. Between the financial pressure and the stress of being a single mum, Sally finally allows Kevin to return, more for the sake of the girls than out of actual burning love. Kevin doesn't mind. He's back where he wants to be.

Minutes after they've resumed marital duties and make plans to get remarried, Sally falls for the decorator, Alex who strips her walls right down to the old Oggie muriel! She considers running off with him (he reminds me a little of Danny!) but decides she needs her family more and confesses all to Kevin. As the relationship never did move to a sexual one, Kevin forgives her and they go through with the wedding but you know Sally really just did it for the children.

As the girls grow into teens, Sally becomes ambitious for Rosie and wants to send her to a poncy private school, Oakhill. As the fees are high, she gets a job in the car dealership owned by the parents of one of Rosie's new posh friends, the Davenports. Ah but it isn't long before Sally's knickers hit the ground when smooth Ian beckons. He more or less makes his attentions a job requirement and since Sally is happy with the resulting bonus paycheques, she eagerly agrees. It's not love by any means but it serves the purpose.
Kevin does have his suspicions and even thumps Ian at one point. After a family holiday, Sally returns to work to discover that Ian has turned his attentions to her temp replacement and when he makes her job intolerable for her, she quits. Kevin was never 100% sure of Sally's affair even though Rosie was in on her mother's secret. Personally, I think down deep Kevin knew but kept it to himself so he wouldn't lose face or his family and I think Sally knew he knew. They said no more about it.


Things went smoothly for a few years after that. Sally was the next one down again, however, when she developed a one sided crush on teacher John Stape who was helping to tutor her for some adult education classes. She was horrified when she discovered he was actually having an affair with her 16 year old minx daughter Rosie!

The most recent infidelity was, as we know, Kevin's and probably the most serious yet. Molly Dobbs, the wife of his best friend and business partner, attracted Kevin's attention. He seemed to develop a crush on her. When he admitted it to her, she pushed him back but was secretly flattered and started flirting with him for a laugh. It turned into a full blown affair and the two allegedly fell in love though I always thought it was more infatuation on Kevin's part. He was going to leave Sally but found out she had breast cancer and realized how much she really meant to him. He finished abruptly with Molly and as many times as Molly tried to get him back, he stayed fast to Sally even after she recovered. Molly found herself pregnant and the baby, named Jack, turned out to be Kevin's. Sally found out about the affair and the baby's paternity from Molly's dying lips and she chucked Kevin out.

Where do the Webster's go from here? Will they find their way back to each other? I kind of hope not. I think this should be the end of them but with these two, you never know. What is going to be the reaction of Rosie and Sophie? They adore their dad and it's going to crush them. Sally is rumoured to have at least a snog with Tyrone in the New Year but whether it will be a proper affair, is yet to be known. I'm guessing not, and it will just be a bit of comfort between two wronged friends. Time will tell.

You can read a full character study about Sally here.
You can read a full character study about Kevin here.

The many loves of Sally and Kevin Webster: Part 1

This latest and entirely unsuitable affair of Kevin's with the late Molly Dobbs is only the latest in a long line of affairs and infatuations but both Sally and Kevin. While they are in no danger of breaking the record of Ken Barlow, they've racked up a respectable number between them. They've actually cheated on each other twice each, with a couple of near misses on Sally's part. (i.e. crushes or affairs while separated but not yet divorced).

Through the years, then, these are the loves that have touched the Websters:

When we first met Kevin, he had a girlfriend called Michelle but once he met Sally, there was nobody else for him. Sally liked Kevin but had a thing for handsome Terry Duckworth at one point. They were necking in the pub once, resulting in Bet Lynch snapping "This is the Snug, not the snog!"

Still, Sally and Kevin were destined to be together and married in 1986. They were Love's Young Dream for awhile, becoming parents to baby Rosie on Christmas Eve in 1990. In 1993, Sally started minding a little boy who's dad, Joe Broughton, developed a crush on her. He even wanted her to run away with him. This was entirely one sided and Sally had no intentions of leaving Kevin, as annoying as he could be at times.

Kevin was never tempted until 1997 when Sally was in Scarborough nursing her mother. Natalie Horrocks moved in for the kill and seduced him. He fell hard and when Sally finally did find out, Kevin was out on his ear. It wasn't quite so much fun once Kevin moved in with Natalie. No more sneaking around meant no more thrills. There were temporary separations and Sally begged Kevin to come back but he and Natalie had made up by the. Not long after, Sally formed an attraction to Kevin's employee, tall and handsome Chris Collins who had recently finished with Angie Freeman. Kevin thumped him when he found out but really, it was none of his business, was it?

Alas, the ardour between Kevin and Natalie went cold and eventually Sally took Kevin back, mainly for the sake of their two girls. Sally was working for Mike Baldwin by this time. Also working for Mike was Les Battersby's tricky son, Greg Kelly. After Sally's mother died, she inherited a good size chunk of money. She refused to give it to Kevin to buy the garage outright and Greg, with pound signs in his eyes, set about wooing Sally to get his hands on the cash. Kevin threw Sally out when he discovered the affair. She moved in with Greg but had to leave the girls with Kevin.

This was an ill-fated affair to say the least. Sally used her money to set up Greg in a new business and worked in the office for him. She managed to get the girls living with them and this didn't sit well with Greg. Tempers flared and Sally ended up with a bruise when Greg lashed out at her. He convinced her it was a one-off but you know how these things work. He hit her again and she left him and moved in with Rita while the girls went back to Kevin. Greg continued to harass her and came after her one last time but she managed to escape a beating and Greg soon disappeared from Weatherfield.

Just as Greg disappeared at the end of 1998, Kevin meets Alison Wakefield, one of the factory workers. He sues Sally for divorce and intends on getting custody of the children. Sally, by this time, has met a nice young man, Danny Hargreaves, who has a stall on the market where Sally has been selling Underworld seconds. Greg Kelly makes a reappearance to terrorize Sally but she manages to bash him over the head with a chair before the police cart him off. Whew! Sally almost loses Danny to Sharon Gaskill because she had been waffling about whether to date Danny or not but she decided she did want Danny who was only making do with Sharon anyway. Danny moves in and he and Sally are all loved up. Or are they?

Alison thinks Kevin really hasn't got over Sally and leaves him but when Kevin finds her on New Year's Eve 1999, he also discovers she's pregnant and he persuades her that he really does love her and wants to marry her. On the night before he gets wed, however, he has a one night stand with Sally but it doesn't mean anything, and Sally sends him back across the road to marry Alison, which he does. Sadly, in June 2000, their tiny baby Jake is born, contracts an infection and dies. Alison is so distraught that she steals Sara Louise's baby Bethany. Bethany is recovered and Alison chucks herself in front of a lorry and dies!

Meanwhile,Sally and Danny decide to open up a shop and rent one of the new premises on Victoria Street, calling it D&S DIY. Danny isn't really happy and is out of his depth. The shop doesn't do all that well but they make plans to get married anyway. Even that isn't as smooth and romantic as it sounds. Sally delays answering Danny's proposal and when she does, Danny wants them to move away and she's reluctant to take the girls away from Kevin. There's lots of arguing  and jealousy between Danny and kevin and by the Danny finds out about Sally and Kevin's one night stand he jilts her and walks away from the whole mess leaving Sally with the shop which is a struggle to keep open with the help of Jason Grimshaw who developes a bit of a crush on a horrified Sally.

It's not too long before Sally has a new fella. On a family camping holiday where she and the girls tag along with Martin and his lot and Roy and Hayley, Sally and Martin discover that they have a mutual attraction. They embark on an affair. Well after all, they're both divorced, aren't they! Mind you, when Kevin gets whiff of it, he does what he does best, and goes after Martin with his fists. Kevin still loves Sal, you see, and never did get her out of his system.

It doesn't stop Kevin from making friends with local nurse Molly Hardcastle and eventually having a fling with her. But yet again, Molly becomes another woman that knows she can't measure up to the ghost of Sally in Kevin's heart and she's off in a taxi. Sally and Martin's relationship ends when she is not ready to let him move in with her and he takes a major wobbler.

So now Sally and Kevin are both single again. Check out Part 2 to find out the rest of the story.

Character Study: Sally Seddon Webster

In honour of Sally's birthday this week, I'm reproducing an updated character study i wrote about Sally and what makes her tick. Sally's always been a favourite character of mine even when Sally Webster has been at her most obnoxious.

Let's examine the evolution of the Coronation Street character, Sally Webster who arrived on our screens in January 1986. She was a young firecracker, gobby and brash, some might say "common". She came from a struggling family with a violent father and her family were no better than they should be, according to Hilda Ogden. She debuted with a splash, literally! She was on the street waiting for a bus when Kevin John Webster drove by and through a puddle and splashed muddy water all over her. She was furious as she was on her way to a job interview. Thus began Love's Young Dream of the 1980s.

Sally was full of spirit, tended to the bossy side and always wanted Kevin to better himself which would elevate her own status as well. Several times, she tried to get him to buy the garage, urging her lackluster husband to become his own boss. Kevin was never that keen on running the place which frustrated Sally to no end. Even then, she had aspirations above her station. Motherhood in the 1990s made the character of Sally a bit boring, immersed in motherhood and sweetness, but when Kevin was seduced by the predatory Natalie Horrocks, her claws came back out with a vengeance. Kevin was out on his ear and Natalie felt the force of Sally's wrath on the side of her face (not to mention the repairs that were necessary when Sally flooded Natalie's bathroom and printed "SLUT" in the mist on the bathroom mirror).

Sally found being a single mum was very difficult. She took Kevin back temporarily, for the sake of the girls and for security which had always been lacking in her own childhood but that didn't last long when she was drawn to the devilish and violent Greg Kelly. That affair blew up her marriage again. It took Sally awhile, and several men, to find her way inevitably back to Kevin. In my opinion, she didn't really love Kevin and I always thought she was settling for security for the children's sake though she did care about Kevin. I think the love has grown back over the years again.

So there she was, back in a marriage that really didn't mean that much to her at the time but which kept her family together. She sees herself stuck in a back street, working in a factory, husband running a small business which could have been so much more, with her own ambitions well and truly thwarted. Her fling with rich Ian Davenport was little more than prostitution to gain financial security for her family and help pay for Rosie's private school fees. Ian uses her as one in a long succession of women. When he's done with her, she's bitter and resentful, she comes crashing back to earth, having risked her family for a callous fling and it stings even more because Kevin knows down deep his wife was unfaithful but was willing to overlook it anyway.




Sally turns her ambitions to her oldest daughter, Rosie. When Rosie expressed a passing interest in being a pop star, Sally pushed her onto the stage where she was miserable. She then pushed Rosie into a posh private school and railed against Rosie dating a neighbourhood lad from a family with a somewhat shady and violent past (too much like her own). The final straw was discovering that Rosie and Craig were having sex even though they were approaching it sensibly. Sally's emotions and nerves crumbled and she took Rosie on a wild drive across the M62 en route to a boarding school. Kevin caught up and cradled his broken wife, who *still* moaned about *her* broken dreams and life in a back street, wanting more for her children than she had.

In the last few years, Sally has been working in the factory and watching her daughter make bad choice after bad choice and *still* making excuses for her! She was proud when Rosie became part owner of the factory because it meant she was making something of her life, but was crushed to find out Rosie was taken for a mug and lost all her cash. But it's not that Rosie has not given her other worries. Because of Rosie's affair with Stape, Kevin went to jail and I think that Sally became just a little more realistic where her oldest daughter's failings are concerned. Still, she'll defend her chicks to the death, even stooping to childishly paint over Fiz and John's windows when John got out of prison and moved in with Fiz.

Sally has just survived a struggle with breast cancer, cut short on screen by the real-life all too similar crisis for the actress herself! Sally Dyvenor (she's taken her husband's name professionally) is doing well and it seems Sally Webster has made a recovery as well.

She didn't know that Kevin had an affair with his best friend's wife, someone that Sally seems to take great relish in looking down on. Molly seemed to be encroaching on Sally's territory (more than she knows!) with the business and bookkeeping. Molly was pregnant and couldn't know if the baby was Tyrone's or Kevin's. Kevin finally stole the baby's dummy and had an instant DNA test that proved baby Jack was his son but he still didn't want to be with Molly and the baby.

Molly decided to leave Tyrone and on the day she was going, the tram crashed into the corner shop, trapping Molly under the rubble. Sally, who had bonded with Molly because she'd delivered baby Jack in the Dobbs' living room, crawled into the rubble and sat with Molly while the rescue workers tried to get her out. Molly's dying words to Sally revealed the affair and paternity and, believing it, Sally confronted Kevin. He admited it and she threw him out on his ear.

In spite of initial shock and objections, Sally was also able to accept her daugher Sophie's declaration that she is gay. It's still a bit of a struggle but Sally supports Sophie. Will she still do when things finally get physical between Sophie and Sian?

I've heard a lot over the years about how Sally has changed but I don't think she really has. I think her personality has progressed very logically considering where she came from and what's happened to her over her life to this point. I think Sally has always been a great character to watch evolve, even if she hasn't been a likeable person at times. Everything they have created with both Sally and Kevin has really been in line and consistent with their history. That's Coronation Street at it's best.

What's been your favourite Sally moment? Was it when she drove Rosie across the moors? Was it when she walloped Natalie on the cobbles (one of my personal favourite moments)?