Seasons & episodes

Chris suggests that he and Charity forget where they left off for once and start the day on a positive note. Charity is suspicious of Chris's turn around, but Chris admits he was over-acting yesterday. Meanwhile, Debbie visits Cain to tell him about the day trip she's planned for him, her and Charity. After some persuasion, Cain agrees to the day out. Later, Chris surprises Debbie and Charity with a trip to Eurodisney – on the exact day of Cain and Charity's trip with Debbie.

Syd is finding Scott and Chloe’s smooching a bit too stomach churning. Later, Chloe begins talking about baby Jean, and Scott misinterprets this as broodiness. But, it seems, Chloe is not thinking about motherhood yet. Rodney enlists the help of Diane to prepare a surprise 50th birthday party for Steph. He finds Steph in a surprisingly light mood considering her reflective frame of mind yesterday. Interested by Nicola’s comments about Rodney's fortunes, Steph does some fishing of her own to try and find out how much Rodney is really worth. It's still a bit tense between Chris and Charity.

Nicola tries hard to humour the newly engaged Steph and Rodney at breakfast, but even Rodney doesn’t sound confident he knows what he's got himself into. Later, Alan pulls Steph aside for a quick chat. He asks Steph why she's suddenly taken an interest in Rodney – he's worried that the marriage is a quick fix solution to Steph's mid-life doubts. She doesn’t entirely convince him otherwise. In The Woolpack, Rodney announces an engagement party in Mill Cottage tonight, and everyone's invited.

Steph takes a peek through Rodney’s bank statements and finds the confirmation she dreaded – Rodney is not the rich man about town she took him for. Meanwhile, Rodney shows Nicola the modest engagement ring he's bought. He catches Steph at lunchtime and proposes – but Steph's already getting cold feet! She tells Rodney they should wait a while and not rush into things. Rodney soon realises that Steph was only interested in his money.

Charity, Cain and Debbie arrive at their day trip destination – Almscliffe Crag. Cain begins strolling down memory lane, explaining to Debbie that this place has significance for him and Charity. It's the very spot Debbie was conceived, but the whole situation makes Charity uncomfortable. The mood lightens, however, when Debbie initiates a mud fight that covers all three of them in dirt. Is that a smile creeping onto Charity's face? It soon fades, though, when they try to leave and Cain can’t find the car keys

Terry arrives at the hotel to pick up Charity and Debbie, but is surprised to see Cain has also stayed over. Charity arrives home to see Chris – she lies about last night, telling him that Cain did not stay in the hotel with her and Debbie. Later, Chris grills Debbie about the previous night, but she doesn’t crack and tell the truth – she's too similar to her parents to be caught out so easily. But it's Terry who let's the cat out of the bag, confirming Chris's worse fears. Chris erupts at Charity, accusing her of cheating, but it's Charity who leaves, disgusted that Chris doesn’t trust her.

Shelley’s Salon merchandise and equipment arrives, much to Alan’s annoyance. He demands it be taken back, but as soon as he's gone, Steph tells the delivery man to take it round the back of The Woolpack. Thinking that the girls have returned they’re purchases, Alan feels slightly guilty and gives them one hundred pounds to go towards their business. Steph, unsurprisingly, thinks this is no more than an insult.

Locked in a cell together and with no distractions at all, Diane has the best opportunity yet to tell Louise what she's been going through all week. Diane breaks down telling Louise she can’t cope, and that she needs someone to talk to. Diane accuses Louise of being reckless and bringing on all of her problems herself. Although Diane feels sorry for Louise, she says she doesn’t know if she likes her any more, hurting Louise deeply.

Steph and Shelley hatch a plan to set up a nail bar in the B&B. They set about spreading the word throughout The Woolpack, and Laurel and Diane are among the first to make appointments. They manage to persuade Bob to come along too. Alan almost can’t believe his eyes when he returns from Hotten to find a nail bar. He tells Steph that she is taking advantage – she retorts that at least now she is living up to her father's expectations.

Zoe has suffered a tense night at hospital after Jean’s emergency operation. Watching over her baby on a ventilator she confides in Chris that she's being punished for initially giving Jean away. Meanwhile, Scott and Chloe are both worried sick about the baby's health, but as they head off to hospital Syd warns Scott to keep his paternal concerns under wraps. Zoe gets word from the doctor that her daughter is on the road to recovery having responded well to the treatment. But Zoe's relieve comes to an abrupt end when she learns of an undetected earlier injury to her baby which must have occurred in the past few weeks.

Although baby Tate is off the ventilator her family are in turmoil over the shocking revelations that Jean may have been abused. The hospital social worker begins her investigation with Zoe, who is initially un-cooperative, still in denial that they could suspect her of hurting her child. After Chloe once again pointedly denies knowledge of any earlier accident, the social worker can’t rule out the possibility that Zoe's schizophrenia could be to blame. The other residents of Home Farm don’t escape interrogation from social services. Chris is quick to point the finger of blame at young Debbie - she is a blood Dingle after all.

A distraught Zoe confides in nanny, Chloe, over the Tate solicitor's confirmation that social services could place the baby into a temporary care home, based on the current facts of the investigation. Chloe fights with her conscience as Zoe begs her to rack her brains for any incident that could explain the injuries to Jean. As Chloe begins to crack under the pressure, Zoe's mobile phone rings, distracting her from learning the important truth. Meanwhile, having been given his marching orders from best mate Syd,

Zoe is confronted with the face of Jean’s father, but she has no recollection of the conception. Chris is taking no prisoners and, convinced that Scott is a rapist, he's after blood. Scott tries to explain the true events but the situation in the hospital becomes unbearable for Zoe as she begs her brother to take her home. Back at Home Farm, Chris tries to persuade Zoe to call the police, seeking revenge for all the agony his sister has endured over the pregnancy. However Zoe doesn’t want to jump the gun before hearing what Scott has to say.

The police arrive at Home Farm to discuss the Tate’s allegations against Scott, and Chris does his best to discredit Scott by filling them in on the darker side to his past. However, after tracking down the man in question to get a statement they decide that there is no case to answer. Having already dealt with the cops Zoe turns her attentions to a visit from social services, the outcome of which leaves her in trepidation of a subsequent child protection meeting

The revelations of the past few days have left Chloe jobless, without a boyfriend and alienated so she decides to pay Zoe a visit to try to mend one of her bridges. The ex-nanny receives a frosty welcome as she launches into her apology to Zoe closely followed by a plea to refrain from mentioning the child neglect incident in any future job references. A shocked Zoe delivers a sobering speech, emphasising that she’ll do everything in her power to stop Chloe from ever working with children again.

Scott attempts to confront Chris over his unlawful eviction but the prospect of engaging in a retracted court case fighting the Tate's top class lawyers leaves Scott with a feeling of trepidation. When Scott tries to explain that he is innocent of rape Chris gets violent, throwing objects from his desk at the unwelcome guest. While the villagers gossip and pass judgement on the latest goings on, Chris continues his revenge campaign against Scott by commissioning some artwork across the garage doors.

The bad atmosphere between Charity and Chris, that has been progressively worse, mars the happy occasion of Jean’s homecoming. The situation deteriorates when a row erupts over the circumstances of Debbie leaving. While Chris embraces the fact they are alone again, Charity is suffering over her daughter's decision to leave Home Farm because of Chris. Fed up, Charity escapes to the Dingles to join them for the evening and by the time Cain returns home from The Woolpack, Charity is quite sozzled on Sam’s homebrew.

Emily is worried about Debbie’s move to the Dingle resident but is reassured when Lisa explains that Charity was not the reason. Instead she puts her mind to helping Sam grasp the high way code, using his eggs as teaching tools! Robert and Katie’s plan to get Jack onto the shearing job goes swimmingly. With Jack teaching his son some tricks of the trade it seems that their relationship is back on track after the troubles of late. Later, a BBQ at Butler's Farm causes embarrassment for Laurel after she gets the wrong end of the stick about the new shearer.

Terry advises Chris to start trusting Charity or he could make himself ill for worrying. But Chris has tunnel vision despite Terry’s assurances that it's only Cain trying to make him jealous. After dealing with his boss Terry looks for refuge in The Woolpack but is soon confronted by an angry Viv, who gives him grief over his lack of support for Scott. When Robert interrupts with news of a fire at the garage the villagers rush outside to watch the drama unfold.

It's the aftermath of the garage fire with both Terry and Scott on the warpath. When Terry bumps into Charity he's quick to let slip that the arson was on Chris’s orders. Charity is further stunned to learn that Terry stalked her and that Chris is in the process of arranging for Cain to be beaten to a pulp. Confronting Chris over his dastardly plans Charity is sickened to hear that Cain shouldn’t be able to walk again after the thugs have finished with him. Unable to locate Cain and Debbie anywhere Charity fears for their lives.

After yesterday Charity decides to try a different tactic to persuade Chris to call off the deal to beat Cain up. Fuelled by her guilty conscience she declares her love for Chris, assuring him that her concern is for Debbie, not Cain. He agrees to stop the thugs, but later reveals to Terry that it's only until he gets solid evidence that Charity and Cain are sleeping with each other. When Charity goes to pick Debbie up she takes advantage of a private moment alone with Cain to tell him that Chris has called off the assailants.

Shadrach’s been hijacking Paul the postman daily to filter out Zak’s letters home. However his master plan to win Lisa’s heart goes horribly wrong when he forges a letter in Zak's name. The strategically placed letter, declaring that Zak has found another family in Chile, is found by an excited Sam who rips it open eagerly. When he reads the contents he furiously chucks it in the pigpen leaving Lisa to forage amongst the hogs to find it! As she reads a section of the mauled letter her suspicions are immediately aroused by the dodgy handwriting and inability to spell

The Dingles action their plan to punish Shadrach for his deception. Intercepting another letter from Zak, Shadrach is horrified to learn that his brother plans to return to the village any day. Unaware that the letter is a forgery he is spooked by the threats that he's after Shadrach's blood for trying it on with Lisa. Taking the bait he packs his bags, but as he leaves Marlon appears excitedly announcing that Zak is back and wants to see him.

Elaine is suspicious when Robert runs out of petrol during her driving lesson. She rebuffs his flirtations as they abandon the car by the roadside, proceeding on foot back to the village. Meanwhile, Ronnie is driving his wagon and comes across Robert's broken down car, but thinks nothing of it presuming Elaine is at work. Feeling guilty for not giving his daughter driving lessons, Ronnie calls by at the factory to take her out. But when Eric admits she hasn’t shown up, he finally tracks her down and is furious to see she is with Robert.