Bill’s first day at school is disastrous. Bobby confronts Greg with her suspicions that he’s having an affair.
Extended Summary
Over breakfast, Shane and Angel tell Fisher why they wanted him out of the house and he can’t believe the tactics they’ll go to just to get out of household chores. Needless to say, their confession fails to get him to hire a cleaner and Shane turns to Angel and says he knew it would be a waste of time, telling the truth. Nick finds the situation very funny and comments that only they could think their scheme would be taken seriously. Fisher reminds them to do the washing up before leaving to run an errand and says he’ll be back in plenty of time to take them to school. He goes over to the beach house to see Greg who has just got another job offer and is about to leave, so he tells him he’s got a job for him and gives him the written details. After he leaves with Sam, he senses all’s not well with Bobby but she refuses to tell him what the matter is. He returns home to sort the washing out and confides to Nick that something’s troubling Bobby, unaware, that he knows exactly what’s going on but is not at liberty to say what it is. He’s also concerned about Bill Cunningham’s first day at school and not having a member of staff able to deal with his problem, so when Nick tells him he’ll do the washing, Fisher jokes there’d be a riot if she shirk his rota duty. Over at the caravan park, Pippa finds Fin outside waiting to walk to school with Bill and when they arrive, a student is immediately attracted to him and starts chatting him up.
Greg makes a surprise visit to see Fiona and gets embarrassed when she asks about the vegetables. As she hoses down her son Toby’s dirty legs, he avoids answering the question and says they need to talk and she’s puzzled. They talk about the kiss and both agree it wasn’t meant to mean anything more than a thank-you gesture but in truth, it did. Greg then says that they should stop seeing one another because their friendship would probably lead to an affair.
Nick goes over to the Diner and jokes with Bobby about how Fisher got embarrassed when he realised he’d jump to the wrong conclusion about Shane and Angel and that it took him ten minutes to complete his first sentence. He then goes on to give her some advice about problems in relationships and uses his example with Lou, on how not to follow. She seems confused and after he leaves, she talks to Pippa in the kitchen about it and now wonders if he’s seeing someone else and Pippa is shocked. She tells Pippa about a couple of incidents where Greg came home late and Nick’s conversation has got her worried. Pippa advises her to say nothing because she has no proof and goes onto say she can’t believe he would do such a thing. Greg goes over to Fisher’s to put some shelves up and talks to Nick about what he said to Fiona. Nick reckons he’s done the right thing but Greg admits it was a hard choice. There’s trouble looming when Nick discovers Fisher has ruined one of Shane’s favourite T-shirts by washing it with a pair of black jeans. At lunch time, Shane and Angel come home and Fisher tells him the bad news and he blows a fuse but it results in Fisher agreeing to hire a cleaner. Shane and Angel are over the moon about it and momentarily forget the animosity until he starts bragging about a date he’s got with Alice Matthews and she reverts back to belittling him. Greg goes home for lunch and Bobby has a hard time keeping quiet but over the meal, she asks him if he’s seeing someone else. He’s taken aback but assures her he isn’t and they declare their love for each other, before kissing.
At school, the students have picked up on Bill’s disability and Fisher tries his best to protect him but it fails when Bill, goaded on by David to volunteer to read out to the class, causes disruption. Angel and Sarah are disgusted with David and Tug’s behaviour and have a go at them after class ends. Bill comes out in tears and tells Luke he’s not coming back. Fisher tells Luke the lesson was a disaster because the made students singled Bill out.
It ends with Fisher telling Luke if things don’t improve, he’ll have to find somewhere else for Bill…
ITV Censorship: Cuts out class laughing at Bill attempting to read out a novel.
Luke reacting in the Diner to a student talking to Tug, presumably laughing about Luke’s disability.
Avril M Harrison