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Private Notes
The residents all receive some revelations about Lee through their letterboxes. Penny is offered an opportunity to appear on breakfast television - which, just before being sacked as her PR adviser, Patricia suggests that she declines. Jimmy appears in court and is granted bail - but Jackie is not impressed to hear that there are five other offences to be taken into consideration.
Revelations, confrontations, unwanted visitors and some surprising decisions all play a part in David's residents meeting.
An unscheduled breakfast television appearance of David interrupting Penny's GMTV interview causes amusement in several households. Jackie has asked Jimmy to record it on video - but he needs to sell the video recorder
to raise money to buy more drugs. Bev starts work as a cleaner at the nightclub, and someone else calling in also seems keen to employ her.
Clive’s alleged former lover arrives unexpectedly at the Crosbies’ - and, after being punched, provides conclusive evidence that he fathered her son. Bev realises she is not the only applicant for a cleaning job on the Close. Marianne is asked for a list of workers who are surplus to requirements. Rachel and Lee join Beth and Chris on an outing to New Brighton - and Rachel spots her sister and her lecturer snogging.
A probation officer visits Jimmy, and gives him some advice. After Barry uses a fifty-pound note to pay for his petrol, Simon decides that he is the devil, and must be fought and defeated. When Rosie is not successful in persuading her to allow Rachel to see Lee, Mandy is surprised that both of her daughters want to talk to her about lesbians.
The cult’s propaganda is being spread around the Close and the local school. Penny gets a job as a shop assistant, and celebrates by getting drunk in the club after Max’s leaving do. Rachel is making Beth’s life a misery, and Chris objects to being held to ransom. Carol comes to clean for the Farnhams, but leves the ironing for Patricia to do.
Mandy wonders if Beth could get a student loan to help withthe family’s cash-flow problems, but discovers that she already has one. Chris comes for tea, and is shown photographs from the family album. Ruth feels that she is becoming a burden. Jimmy is finding it hard to survive, and turns to Jackie for help.
Rosie goes to face Lee's persecutors, with dire consequences for everyone. Although Mick averts a nasty accident, he ends up needing an ambulance himself. Meanwhile, Barry gives Penny a lift to work and offers to find her somewhere to live. David tries to fight back against Simon.
Jimmy goes one step too far in his never-ending search for a fix, as both he and the television go missing when Mandy and Sinbad are invited to tea. Mick is hailed as a local hero by Carol, but Marianne is furious with him for nearly getting himself killed. Max accidentally employs Bev as a second cleaner, and the
Jackie is close to breaking point, but Barry agrees to provide a reference for Jimmy, and promises that there will still be a job at the club for him. Max plans to sack Carol - but, after hearing her sob story, he increases her pay instead. Then he discovers that Bev has a new best mate, Penny. Mandy is visited by representatives of the company that have taken over her loan.
Eddie and Rosie discover that Lee is having a tough time at school - but Mandy agrees to allow him to be friends with Rachel. As Jimmy's court appearance gets nearer, Jackie is worried but supportive. Sinbad discovers that Ruth hasn’t told him about her relatives in Australia, and Beth is meant to be babysitting at the Farnhams'. But David calls in unexpectedly, and discovers that is not all she is doing.
Jimmy is due in court for sentencing, and has to be persuaded to attend by Jackie and Sinbad. David is so determined to tell Patricia about Beth’s affair with Chris that Jean kicks him out. She does, however, throw a duvet after
him. When Penny has nobody to celebrate her birthday with except Bev, she becomes seriously depressed.
Jimmy faces a bleak future as he begins his prison sentence, and resolves not to let Jackie visit him. When both cleaners arrive at the same time, David and Max just try to keep them apart - but Patricia is ready and willing to sack the one she doesn’t want. Barry finds a much greater challenge than installing a television when he is sent round to Penny's flat.
Penny makes Barry promise not to tell anyone about her suicide attempt - but, as he is in her bathroom and she is half-dressed when Max and David arrive early in the morning, they form a quite different conclusion about what has been going on. A suspected burglar turns out to be Carl - out of the army, separated from his wife, and eager for another conquest.....
Barry moves Penny out of her new flat and into his - but there are doubts that this is to have someone there while he is in Spain. Simon and Terry try to warn clubgoers about the dangers of drinking. Eddie faces a difficult choice at work - job cuts or pay cuts - and Ruth has a telephone call from her brother
Kenny Maguire calls at the Farnhams’, and Max is shocked to discover that he has to pay protection money or risk the future of his new restaurant. Patricia finally insists that David apologises to Jean so that she will let him back into the bungalow. Carl and Mike invite Beth and Chris to a barbecue, intending to c
Eddie and Rosie are determined to save Carl and Sarah's marriage - but Sarah plans to see a solicitor, and Carl is more keen to win a bet by helping a Mo to lose weight. Can either Mo becoming trapped on a window ledge wearing nothing except a bin bag, or the prospect of Rebecca never seeing her father again, bring about a reconciliation?
While he is out, DD and Ron watch some of his video diaries. Max confides in someone about his problem with Kenny, who increases Mandy’s repayments. She tries not to discourage Sinbad from going to Australia, even though she would prefer him to stay. David overacts to Beth babysitting Thomas again, and Jean shocks him by revealing why she finds his attitude so hurtful.
Mike is shocked to discover that Ron has confiscated one of his tapes. Eddie’s mate Joey is annoyed to find that he is one of the employees recommended for redundancy. David is appalled by the story Jean tells him, and wants to cancel their anniversary party. Penny is taken aback when Barry brings another woman to his birthday barbecue, and Max is horrified to meet the restaurant’s “head of security”.
Eddie threatens an all-out strike unless Marianne can offer a suitable compromise. David tries to come to terms with Jean's past, by getting drunk and trying to burn letters Jean received from her female lover. Mandy must decide whether to declare her love for Sinbad, or lose him forever. Barry takes Max to buy a new suit, and prepares to begin his own eviction process at the Rogers' house.
Just as Sinbad is about to go to Australia, Mandy finally asks him to stay. Patricia is not impressed by Max's new look, but he is more concerned with the problem of Kenny Maguire, who reappears and offers to "insure" the restaurant for £2,000. Eddie holds a meeting to vote on whether the offer should be accepted, and Joey is furious about the result. David wants to cancel his anniversary party.
Things go from bad to worse for Eddie when he finds out what Carl’s job is. Penny visits and threatens an old friend to help Barry. Max manages to raise £2,000 for Kenny, and believes his troubles are over. But Kenny then suggests a further payment, and moves on to put the squeeze on Mandy and Sinbad. When Patricia discovers that her new wallpaper is not as unique as she thought, it’s coming right off.
Ron and Mike agree to have tests to decide who is the father of Josh. Max needs to persuade David to go to the his anniversary party, but it’s not going to end well. Barry makes Penny an offer. Sinbad and Mandy see Ruth off at the airport as she leaves, then see something that shocks Mandy on CCTV cameras outside the club.
Jackie suggests that Bev misleads Ron and Mike so that she is the only one to find out the identity of Josh's father. Barry decides to have a few strong words with Max. After getting near to a first kiss, Sinbad tries again, but Mandy is furious when he confesses that he already knew Beth was seeing other women. Jean is disappointed when David announces that they will be living separate lives from now on.
Mandy tells Beth she knows she is having a relationship with Chris. After Eddie refuses to give him a lift, Carl goes with Sarah to check out their chances of getting a council house. Barry is unsuccessful in his efforts to dislodge the cult, sustaining injuries while trying to tear down the boards from his windows. But he finds a way of leaving Kenny Maguire in no doubt that he and Max are not going to pay him protection money.
Kenny repays £2,000 to Barry, and is charged a further £100 for the concrete poured into his car - but then goes round to convince Mandy to combine all her other debts into a regular single payment to him. When David refuses to eat the meal Jean has made for him, she throws it into his lap. Beth tries to explain to her mother that she likes women, and it is not just a phase that she is going through. Sinbad visits Jimmy in prison, and encourages him to send Jackie a visiting order.
Although Mo warns Carl that she will break his legs if he breaks Sarah's heart, he arranges a date with one of his neighbours. Max tries to persuade Barry to re-think his planned methods for regaining access to his house. Simon has an invitation for Katie, giving her the opportunity to do something with her knee that she has wanted to do for a while. Mandy chooses an unfortunate time to confront Chris about Beth - during an examination one is invigilating and the other is sitting.
Bev is desperate to intercept the mail before Ron sees the letter revealing the test results, and accidentally discovers a dark secret that Ron would rather remained covered up. Rosie tries to persuade Carl that his marriage is worth saving - but he believes Sarah would be able to find a much better husband. Beth comes home, but won’t unpack until she can be sure she wants to stay.
Jacqui is on the warpath, but then turns down Carl’s offer to stay out of her life, forgives him and indicates that a knock on her door would not be unwelcome. Beth is disappointed that Chris is not as keen for her to move in as she hoped. Sarah is impressed by a council flat that has become available, but Rosie has seen better kennels. Bev opens the envelope which will reveal the identity of Josh's father.
Max is confident of evicting Simon and his cult from the Close, but Barry has some alternative plans in reserve in case he fails. Sinbad is confident that Beth will come back home in a few weeks, and wonders if Mandy would like to go on a short holiday with him. Sarah agrees to turn down the council flat on offer, but Carl doesn’t want to live anywhere with her any more. After discovering who Josh's real father is, Bev asks Jackie for advice, then rushes off to slip into something tempting.
Bev plans some serious seduction, attempting to sleep with Ron at every opportunity so that she can have his baby. Sarah is not convinced as Eddie that she and Carl can get back together. Barry takes the law into his own hands, but his attempt to dislodge the cult with the help of his gun goes disastrously wrong as he is disarmed, tied up and held prisoner behind the barricades.
Mandy visits Chris and tells her that she will report her to her bosses if she doesn't break up with Beth. Carl tries to break up with Sarah, but she insists that they keep trying, or he won't see Rebecca. Ron is finding it difficult to cope with Bev's demands in the bedroom, and dozes off at the "Trading Post" counter. Barry is suspected of having gone broke and done a runner - but he is a prisoner of Simon's cult.
Bev wants some advice about aphrodisiacs from Jackie. Chris tells Beth their relationship is over. As rumours spread that he has gone to Spain, Barry's ordeal continues, he is getting nowhere by appealing for sympathy from his old friend Terry, and there seems to be no escape for him as Simon intends to relax and take his time over his "conversion".
A tired Ron is still attempting to evade an amorous Bev, who reveals that she has stopped taking the Pill and may be pregnant already. Barry attempts to escape by tricking Caroline into untying him, but he stumbles on the stairs and falls. A desperate Max agrees to Penny forging Barry's signature on a cheque, and Beth comes back home, but Sinbad advises Mandy not to reveal her role in Chris’s decision.
Barry is conscious again, and suffering from a sore head. Simon banishes Caroline to her room to pray, and prepares to exorcise Barry's soul. Beth skips the Banks' party to go and find out why Chris ended their relationship. When
she returns, she tells Mandy that she is leaving home for good. Rachel also takes time out from the party, and sneaks Lee and a bottle of cider into the garden. Sarah warns Jacqui to keep away from her husband, and David's plans for a quiet evening go up in flames.
Simon is determined to break Barry's will and force him to sign over ownership of the house. Penny and Max continue to search for clues, but can’t understand why nothing is missing except Barry and his gun. However, Sinbad has a helpful suggestion to make. Ron attends a family celebration. After spending the night with Carl, Sarah learns some home truths and decides that he is no longer to be part of her and Rebecca‘s lives.
There is still no sign or word from Beth, and Mandy, fearing the worst, starts to ring the local hospitals. Max and David, two worried men, try to get their houses in order with Bev's help before their wives return. DD agrees that Bev can attend Mike's graduation, and Simon decides that the rest of the cult must move on, leaving him to deal with Barry alone.......
David is pleased to see the cult members leaving, but then finds out that Simon and Terry are staying. Max visits Jimmy in prison to try to find out where Barry might be, but Bev reveals to Patricia that he has disappeared. Carl is surprised to discover Sarah working at the pizza parlour, and that she doesn't want him in her life any more. Jean does her best to spoil David's card school.
Terry shaves off his beard and prepares to start a new life. Patricia wants Max to go to the police, but he is concerned that they will find out about Penny's forgery. It is Mike's graduation day, and both Bev and DD have chosen the same hat. Rachel is interrupted while entertaining Lee in her bedroom, and Barry discovers that Simon plans to make a powerful political statement by blowing the house up.
