three years later, in april 2006, archie returns to weatherfield as mike's funeral takes place. he's carried to the church in a glass carriage pulled by two black horses. blanche and audrey are both surprised to see that archie is the undertaker. blanche embarrasses audrey by introducing keith to archie as audrey's boyfriend. keith's obvious jealousy of archie starts to irritate audrey. archie, rita, emily, norris and audrey all enjoy a good laugh over a few drinks. blanche is excited at the fact that archie is back and hopes that something will happen between them. blanche confides her feelings about archie to deirdre. blanche, archie, emily and rita are all drinking in the rovers and blanche is obviously dressed up for the occasion because archie is there. blanche decides to ask archie about their relationship however he doesn't seem to think they have one. archie asks rita to the theatre with him and she accepts. rita has her hair done in the salon before her theatre visit with archie. archie asks rita to go to chatsworth house on a day out with him. audrey is jealous of all the places archie is taking rita out to. audrey is jealous of archie and rita's relationship and is feeling fed up with keith. after having a drink with archie, audrey tells keith he is boring and she doesn't want to see him anymore. keith thinks it's down to archie and tries to confront him about it.