Episode 154

Australian Air Date: 18th August 1988
UK Air Date: 14th September 1989
Writer: Cassandra Carter
Director: Peter Andrikidis

Steven’s Uncle Philip visits Summer Bay. Bobby stumbles upon some frightening information.

PHILIP MATHESON (JOHN MORRIS)
First episode. Steven’s uncle. Upcoming surgeon who visited Summer Bay to help Steven with the anniversary of his parent’s deaths. Set his sights on Stacey.
DANNY PANTUCCHI (MARIO ROSSELLO)
Boy Sally fancied and tried to kiss.

Extended Summary

Sally offers to pour Steven some milk but he says no and Carly jokes that Steven can’t let Narelle see him drinking milk.Carly is annoyed about Steven and Narelle’s relationship since she’s four years older than him.Sally points out Tom’s older than Pippa but Carly says girls mature quicker.Sally thinks Narelle is nice and pretty but Carly isn’t impressed that an eight-year-old is the only person on Steven’s side and thinks Narelle’s stood him up.Sally asks what a toy boy is and if it’s like her Ken doll.

Martin, Bobby and Narelle have counted the money they found and it’s exactly $105,000, the same amount Martin owes Lance.Narelle explains to Bobby about Martin losing more money on the horses.Martin is pleased he can pay him back even though they don’t know where the money’s from:Narelle suggests Ailsa left it behind but Martin thinks Brett gave it to him because he felt bad about having a go earlier.Bobby gets an idea and heads off to check it out, telling Martin to stay put.Narelle remembers she’s meant to be meeting Steven and hurries off too.At the mobile home, Colleen is telling Lance to get a move on with buying the store before Ailsa changes her mind but Lance would rather have Ailsa back and is also missing Martin.Bobby comes in and asks to speak to Lance in private.Colleen grumbles about bad influences so they go into the kitchen.Bobby tells Lance she knows he gave Martin the money.Lance tries to pretend otherwise but eventually admits he thought if Martin could pay him back they could be friends again and he’d rather have Martin as a friend than the money.

Narelle goes to the house and apologises to Steven for being late.Sally asks her why boys have to be older than girls to get married and Narelle says they don’t, they just have to like each other.Carly sends Sally away then tries to convince the couple they shouldn’t be together.Steven reminds her about Mr.Foley but she said she made a fool of herself and tells Narelle she’s getting a reputation as a cradle snatcher.Narelle kisses Steven, making Carly squirm, and says she’d rather be a cradle snatcher than a stuck-up tart who sells out her friends.Steven goes to get his coat as Sally comes back in reading a book entitled “Where I Came From”.Steven runs into Tom, who says Pippa’s resting upstairs and only has a few days until she gives birth.He asks if Steven’s all right, since he knows the next day will be hard.Steven says he’s going out with Narelle to take his mind off it and asks Tom not to tell the others.As they’re leaving, Steven suggests Carly look at his kissing survey since he’s heard she’s only worth five out of ten.Sally smirks at Carly.

Bobby drags Lance to the flat.Martin tries to give Lance the money but Bobby tells him it was Lance who gave it to him.She leaves them to talk and Lance tells Martin he’s got Colleen on his back all the time and no-one to be friends with.Martin agrees to being friends again and they shake hands.As they move into the store, Martin tells Lance he needs to do two things:Never lend him money and get rid of Colleen.As they try to come up with a plan, Bobby suggests they just tell the truth, since it worked for the two of them. Lance asks Martin to come along for support and asks Bobby to look after the money.Martin asks to borrow five bucks for petrol and Lance agrees.

Sally wants to look at the kissing survey to find out what it says about Danny Pantucchi.Carly recalls him as the short skinny kid in the sixth year whose brother has a gross car and tells her they need to do something about her taste in men.In the mobile home, Colleen is packing a suitcase, grumbling about Lance and Martin and saying she’s not staying where she’s not wanted.Lance feels bad and thinks she hates him but Martin says she’s his mum and that’s what they do.They head back to the flat and tell Bobby she’s earned the $5,000 reward for getting rid of Colleen.Bobby turns it down but also tells them she’s hidden the money away somewhere, since if it’s left with Lance he’ll have spent it by the end of the week, especially with Martin egging him on.She’s going to put it in a high interest bank account where he can’t touch it for five years.She leaves and Martin gets Lance a beer.

The next morning, Lance is asleep on the couch when Martin wakes him up, saying Bobby’s going for a run and they can catch her.Lance doesn’t think Bobby will spend the money but Martin disagrees.Steven and Bobby are going for their jog with Bobby noticing that Steven’s unusually subdued.They see Lance and Martin’s truck behind them so Bobby suggests they run cross country so the boys can’t follow.

Nev is working in the store when Carly and Sally come in for some milk.Nev says there’s a parcel for Pippa as well.Sally notices Danny nearby and Carly tells her to go for it.She sneaks up to Danny and kisses him on the cheek;he asks her if she’s crazy and runs off.Sally wonders what she did wrong and Carly says she’ll explain later.Sally complains everyone always says that.Lance and Martin are running through the woods, trying to catch Bobby and Steven, with Lance particularly puffed out.Martin finds some money and thinks Bobby must have dropped it until Lance points to a sign stuck on a tree saying “Tough Luck, Suckers.”

Colleen is at the bottle shop complaining to Narelle and asks her to talk to Lance.Narelle thinks he’s made up his mind and is worried about Steven who wasn’t himself the previous night, thinking he’s gone off her. A man, Philip, comes in and buys some French champagne and a bag of ice.Narelle seems quite taken with him.Philip then goes to the caravan park and chats with Tom:he is Steven’s uncle.Steven and Bobby arrive home and Steven is pleased to see Philip.Philip suggests they hang out for the day and Tom says he’ll square it with the school.Bobby wonders about Philip and Tom says he’s a doctor who’s just finished his residency.She asks him if there’s something up with Steven and Tom says he’ll tell her if he wants her to know.

Lance and Martin go back to the flat, accepting they’re not going to get the money back from Bobby. Instead, Martin begins making plans for the remaining $200,000, most of them involving turning the flat into a tacky, Hugh Heffner-style bachelor pad.

Steven and Philip are sat on the beach as Steven tells him about Tom and Pippa.Philip apologises for not being before and pours him a small cup of champagne, saying he drank it with his dad the day his mum said she’d marry him.They drink a toast to Steven’s parents.At the store, Colleen complains to Nev, saying she’s impoverished and homeless.Nev points out she has a three-bedroom semi but Colleen says that she’s spent all her life caring for others and won’t be able to survive on her own.Nev tells her they’ve put a roster together to run the store for Ailsa and suggests she helps out and maybe the new owners will keep her on. Narelle comes in and says she saw Philip on the beach with Steven.Both she and Colleen want to find out more about him.

Bobby tells Tom about what happened with Lance, Martin and the money and asks his help with investing it.Tom says he’ll call the bank about some interest-bearing bonds and Bobby goes to get the money, which she left with Nev.She heads to the McPhee caravan and finds it empty.Looking in a drawer, she finds a set of letters, including ones addressed to her and Tom.She opens up the one addressed to her.At the house, Tom has just come off the phone when Bobby comes in and asks why they didn’t tell anyone having the baby was dangerous for Pippa.Tom says Pippa insisted on taking the risk and there’s only a 10% chance of anything going wrong.Bobby asks why Pippa wrote goodbye letters to them all, which shocks Tom.She says Pippa thinks she’s going to die.