Before Derek died he confessed that it was him, not Jim, who locked Max in the coffin when he was a child.

Have the writers forgotten that?

Looks like it.

Jim still laughed and was part of it. It was both of them.

Ah, I see. I honestly didn't recall that. My mistake.

His wife did the same a few years ago, he doesn't have much luck does he

I wonder if Derek lied and it was Jim who did it really but Derek wanted to take credit to exert authority over Max.

Jim still did it, all Derek said was that he was Jim's friend the undertaker who helped Jim

We'll never know.

Jim used to be racist but mellow when he became friend with Patrick. I'm not sure about Derek, he's still racist until his death but he get on well with Morgan (Bianca's younger son)

I had forgotten about Derek saying that too.

I thought Derek said it was his idea to do it and then Jim's friends actually did do it?

Jim was the adult in the situation and should have known better. Poor Max.

Jim wasn't even in the show when Billy died was he? Bringing up how Jim never cried was peculiar.

I think he was but had had his 1st stroke by this time I think....

Derek confessed it was his idea but Jim still actioned it and laughed afterwards.

That was the moment i lost all sympathy for Tanya. Being cheated on is horrible, i get that and especially in those circumstances but nothing, nothing warrants that response. Especially as it was something he confided in her that he had never told anybody due to the trauma. She knew that and used it. That she went back and got him makes no difference to me.

Where was this coffin laying around ?

Agreed, it was terrible. And a real 'shark jump' moment for the show in general.

Max was 13, not a little kid. As traumatic as it was, i'm sure he remembered correctly who actually physically put him in the coffin. And that has always, from the first time it was mentioned in 2006 been Jim and his friends.

The only change to the story was that Derek not only knew about it but had come up with the idea. And i don't think he was lying.

As someone, (sorcha i think) said above though, Jim was the parent and older adult (Drek will have been an adult too by then - early twenties probably) and could and should have said no.

No matter how much he mellowed in later years and maybe repented his behaviour, it can't wipe out what he did and tonight's show reflected that. Also, even when Max returned, he was much more interested in having a relationship with Bradley and the girls than Max himself.

Re Billie, yes it was after his stroke and i don't think we saw his reaction. We did however see him very upset and cry about Bradley which was also after his stroke. So if he didn't do the same for Billie, you can understand Carol resenting it.

ETA

I don't think Derek revised his opinions on race at all but was clever enough to know he could no longer be upfront about it in today's society. He turned his hatred onto. More 'legitimate' targets like Eastern Europeans who we were told he'd got into trouble with in Manchester.

Jim was friends with a funeral director who was also racist.

Me too. She also used Sean and then discarded him cruelly. From then on I loathed her. Her always acting the victim was pathetic.

Thank you

And yet Max forgave her ! Totally unbelievable really

Yep. I actually think Tanya treated Max much worse than the other way round.

No, he couldn't keep it in his trousers but frankly she should have known that from the start, she was the other woman for his first marriage after all. She then kept forgiving him so to a certain extent, if you validate behaviour, they'll keep doing it.

As horrible as infidelity is (and believe me i have been devastated in the past just with a boyfriend, i dread to think how i'd feel if my husband cheated on me) murder or torture given that she dug him back up is not a proportionate response.

I'm guessing he's not going to have a burning desire to cheat Les out of Coker & Sons anytime soon.