Episode Guide

It was Alanna's 18th birthday but, amid the excitement, a card arrived from Aberdeen. Raymond confided in Eileen and decided he should give Alanna the card. Her delight at Vader's present (a hand-made photo album) soon waned when she opened the card from home. It opened up a lot of old wounds and she told Raymond that her Mum had tried to call a few times, but why hadn't she done anything to stop the abuse? She bravely decided she'd get through it, told Roisin that her foster family were on holiday so couldn't make the party, and set about getting glammed up. Archie took his Mum to the Ship for lunch but she was really grumpy, complaining that Gina wasn't what she was expecting. She made snide comments about Gina's background and told Archie how much she wanted him to have kids but how could he do that with someone of Gina' age?!

Marty showed a proud Ruth his new office, where he'd make his fortune selling holiday homes. He reckoned Gina could be a prime customer and offered her a special deal on a place in the Med. Gerry and Heather continued their kids argument and the debate threatened to end their relationship. Jo told Heather she should give Gerry a break. Eventually, she apologised to him. She wants it just to be the two of them. They kissed and made up. Alanna moaned to Zoe about the party but Zoe got really upset - Alanna should think herself lucky. Zoe would do anything to have her Mum there. Roisin spotted Eileen and Raymond being secretive and accused Eileen of still having a thing for her man, but she was assured it was all business talk.

Liz arrived in Shieldinch for her dinner with Gina and immediately bumped into Malcolm. As soon as she realised who he was she wheedled information out of him about his family, never admitting her own identity, but he wasn't impressed when he found out and told her she'd played him like an old fool. As time passed, Liz became more and more unimpressed. She could do without being welcomed into a family with a history of murder, mental illness, sibling fights and a complicated family tree. If looks could kill, Liz would've put Gina into an early grave… Hazel hated the birthday fuss and tried to stop one of Alanna's presents reaching her. In actual fact, it would've done her arch enemy a favour - it turned out to be a pair of ballet shoes from Alex to 'Daddy's little angel'. She threw them across the room and Raymond looked after the crying birthday girl.