02/03/2010

Having spent the night on the sofa, Masood is determined to smooth things over with Zainab and get back into his bed. She tells him that he should hand the stolen post in to Royal Mail but, fearing that he has lost Zainab’s trust, the last thing that Masood wants is to implicate himself in the theft.

As Carol moves the last of her boxes into Max’s house, Billy Mitchell walks by enjoying the view. A mournful Billie is plucked up by Masood, who encourages him to go out on a limb and just ask Carol out. Fed up with Max’s moping and despite Billy’s embarrassing lack of charm, Carol agrees to go out with him to the Argee Bahgee later that night. The underwhelming date takes a dramatic turn for the better when Carol sees Billy bail out the Masoods, who have managed to leave the house without their wallets.

While Lucy sits sulkily eating her breakfast, Jane plucks up the courage to ask her about the father of her baby. Lucy tells Jane that Leon is the father but seems less sure of her own father’s affection and asks Jane to tell him the ‘happy’ news.

Billie Jackson heads over to Pat’s house to find Whitney still annoyed. He apologises and, when she heads upstairs to get ready for work, he dives into the cupboard and pulls out a bag. Catching him in the act, Whitney demands that he show her the bag’s contents but she is shocked when she looks down and sees Billie’s fingers coiled around a gun. She persuades him to get rid of the weapon.

Concerned with keeping Zsa Zsa on the straight and narrow, and out from under Phil’s feet, Shirley is keen to get her enrolled in a local school. Despite Shirley’s best attempts, Zsa Zsa seems hell bent on mischief and gets on her naughty schoolgirl get-up in the hope of stirring things up with the head teacher. Trying to ensure that Zsa Zsa’s meeting with the head teacher runs without a hitch, Shirley steps in only to find out that Phil has pipped her to the post.

Patrick tells Lucas that he and Liz are going to the police. Trying to ease Liz’s mind, the pair decide to plan a distraction, but the determined mother is not so easily distracted and swears that she will not rest until she sees her son safe. Tired of listening to Lucas’ criticisms of her son’s lifestyle, Liz stands up and announces that she is going to the police immediately. Smooth as ever, Lucas manages to talk Liz around and, standing just outside the police station, he succeeds in steering her back towards home.

Zainab leaves Kamil with Masood while she heads down to the unit. Playing detective, Masood decides that a stakeout will help him get to the bottom of all this post business. As Masood gets down on his knees to offer up a desperate prayer, Jane walks in with some newly misplaced post, telling the anxious postman that she doesn’t want to see him getting into trouble at work.

Trying to find an opportune moment to drop the bomb on Ian, Jane just can’t bring herself to do it. Ian is a proud father, despite Lucy’s troubled past, and Jane fears spoiling things between the father and daughter. Perhaps, Jane suggests, it would be better if Lucy were to have an abortion.

Carol finds her son Billie in the cafe and tells him that she wants him to go back to their flat and pick up the last of his stuff. It is only when he sees a video on his phone, his former friends attacking Whitney, that he musters up some resolve. Over on the estate, Billie walks up to his old friends and tells them that they were out of order to treat Whitney that way. Letting them know that he has gotten rid of the gun, Billie walks away but the crowd know that he will be back.

Zainab eventually softens and admits that she loves watching her husband looking after their new son and, to her surprise, Masood offers to look after Kamil if she would like to start working at the unit.

As Billy prepares to say goodbye he hands Carol a card, “Good luck in your new home”, and he leaves her doorstep still tingling from the goodbye kiss. When Billy gets back to his flat, he opens his cupboard, just to make sure that the rest of the stolen post is still there.