“Shona doesn’t have any emotional connection to David”
BUT SHE DOESN’T RECOGNISE HER OWN FAMILY...
Shona finally returns to the Platt house this week, after several months away in a rehabilitation facility – but she makes it clear that she doesn’t want her hubby David to be there!
Shona lost her memory following the tragic shooting incident at Christmas, and has no recollection of David at all. So far, she’s wanted nothing to do with the Platts – yet when Sarah visits her this week, and begs her to come home, Shona senses her desperation, and agrees to a visit…
“Sarah comes to see her in the rehab centre and even without their history, Shona still connects to Sarah’s plight,” explains Julia Goulding, who plays Shona. “She can see how genuinely upset Sarah is about the way that David is behaving. Shona’s essence is still there; she is still a kind person and wants to help people, so she agrees with Sarah to go back and to see if anything jogs her memory.”
“WHO ARE YOU?”
It’s not just Shona’s life that has been turned upside down by her memory loss. Being unable to recall what happened is almost more bearable than the pain that David’s going through, after his wife asked him to leave her alone from now on. It’s clear David isn’t coping, and he’s been putting himself in dangerous situations just to get an adrenalin high – so when he finds out that Shona is visiting her killer son Clayton, David looks for trouble again.
“Shona’s essence is still there – she is still a kind person”
Meanwhile, as Shona heads to the prison to see her boy, she’s in for a huge surprise.
“Shona remembers him being a young teenager, so initially she doesn’t recognise him when she first sees him again,” explains Julia. “She is really excited to see what she remembers as a little boy, so when this man is presented before her, she is so confused, and doesn’t know who he is. She doesn’t think it’s Clayton, yet she succumbs very quickly, because she knows that she can’t remember. But it really is a shock when she sees him.”
“PLEASE HELP ME!”
As usual, nasty Clayton tries to manipulate the situation to his advantage – and soon tries to poison Shona’s mind against David! So will Shona fall for her son’s machinations? Or will she realise that Clayton is pulling the wool over her eyes?
“Initially she thinks she can trust him,” Julia tells us. “But as he begins to clearly show his true colours, she may change her mind...”
Meanwhile, David’s in a huge amount of trouble as he’s confronted by an angry mob of teenagers, who threaten to attack him! He only manages to escape when the cops arrive and break up the fray – but David finds himself hauled to the station to be questioned about his antics! Luckily, he’s released without charge, but Sarah is at her wits’ end when she realises what her brother’s been up to.
It’s her desperation to put a stop to his dangerous behaviour that leads Sarah to visit Shona, and beg her to give David a chance. But although Shona is sympathetic to Sarah’s plight, she’s still very wary of David.
“It’s difficult because David is a stranger telling her he’s her husband,” says Julia. “Shona knows that she’s married to him, but because she doesn’t have any emotional connection
towards him – everything that they’ve been through has gone from her memory – she is quite cold towards him. I don’t think she likes or dislikes him. She is just indifferent.”
A GLIMMER OF HOPE
Despite everything, Shona agrees to return to the Street and to her former home, on one condition – that David isn’t there at the time. David’s hurt when the key worker calls and lays down Shona’s terms, but nevertheless, he sees that it’s a step in the right direction.
Gail and Sarah greet Shona as she arrives home, yet it soon becomes clear that she’s very confused. However, when Shona instinctively remembers where the tea bags are kept, Gail takes it as a sign that her memories are still accessible.
“A lot of people keep their tea bags above the kettle –
I do that myself at home,” reasons Julia. “So there is a glimmer of hope, but I think it might just be a coincidence. It’s exciting, although let’s not get too excited just yet.”
As Gail and Sarah excitedly discuss Shona’s progress with her key worker Alice, though, none of them notice Shona slipping away into the garden – and soon she’s vanished!
So where exactly has Shona disappered to? And has her trip to No 8 succeeded in jogging her memory after all?
David is a stranger to Shona, telling her he’s her husband…”