The season of goodwill is absent in the Dobbs-Stape household as Hope refuses to go to school and Fiz refuses to live with Evelyn (and Cerberus) much longer and there is some inter-generational snapping at each other. There has to be some kind of middle ground between Fiz and Tyrone's laissez-faire parenting and Granny Evelyn's Demon Headmaster routine, surely. Anyway, Ty takes Cerberus out for a walk and mini monster Hope puts the dog on a tram to Rochdale. Been around the world and I-i-i-i can't find my greyhound! Hope and Ty attend a counselling meeting, at which Tyrone moots the idea of Hope going to a school for dog-napping children in Birmingham. I presume Fiz is going to go with?
Imran quizzes Leanne over whether she persuaded Nick to buy into the factory to defraud his ex-wife (oh Elsa, let it go!) at which Leanne walks out in a strop. Toyah "Neneh" Battersby turns up at the solictor's to berate her ex-squeeze and Imran reveals that he's in a bad mood because he's had an accusatory letter from Rosie, who cares enough to put pen to paper (wouldn't she snapchat?) about her ex-boss taking on Duncan's case, but not to turn up to her mum's trial. And thus it is that Toyah ends up hiding under the desk as Nick comes in to sack Imran from his divorce case. Meanhile, the ever interfering Shona locks Nick and Leanne in the empty cafe so that they can iron out their differences. Risky tactic; I bet Leanne can put away a shedload of bacon barms. They make it upstairs to the flat where they kiss, hanging out of a window. Erm, yay?
Boring old Robert has lots of niggling questions about the future of the turkey baster baby whereas I think Kate was expecting Mr Preston to get out the, erm, specialist magazine right there and then. They agree that they're going to keep it a secret from their respective partners, which I imagine is an excellent idea and nothing bad will happen. They get some legal advice from Adam, whose main counsel is for them to find out if they are both fertile. Later, he inadvertently reveals to Imran about the special donation and Imran confronts Kate who asks him not to tell Rana, for now.
Asha and Amy want to go to the Christmas markets with Tara's older brother who has a car. Steve is not keen on this idea and insists that they have family night instead, as per the little madam's contract. Tracy decides that Amy has her eye on someone and she further infers that this someone is Aadi and Amy to go out with him would be a good thing as it'll be the end of enforced Gilmore Girls viewings and "home"-cooked meals.
And finally, Cathy's angles for a job at the Kabin, mainly for the free mags, it seems. But instead of up-selling, Cathy persuades Evelyn to go to Freshco's to get her sweeties. So is she there in the kebab shop persuading people just to have salad? Cathy is no Mavis and Rita soon tires of her, although it doesn't seem to occur to her to draw up a rota so that they're working at different times. You'da thought an octogenarian might want to kick back and play some Bingo or go on a coach trip rather than get up at 5 a.m. to sort copies of the Gazette and Roy's Badger Monthly. Anyway, she decides to sack her but Cathy takes more shifts on at Primer Doner instead. Bring back Norris, that's what I say.
Rachel Stevenson - on twitter
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