Helen arrives in her office to find a letter from the Open University on her desk. The letter is for Nikki, someone Helen had been hoping to avoid speaking to. She summons the despondent inmate to her office and accuses her of taking advantage of her, reiterating the fact that her interest in her is purely professional. Nikki tries to go on the offensive but is silenced when Helen insists that one of them will have to leave Larkhall if her infatuation continues.

Shell continues to have a tough time. Most of the inmates still hold grudges for the part she played in Stubberfield’s decision to order closed visits and her reputation is in tatters. Even Denny is showing signs of losing interest and is trailing after Yvonne like a lost puppy. In need of an ego boost, Shell resorts to offering herself to Fenner. When he refuses, she threatens to do to him what she did to Lorna. He responds by cracking her head against the cell wall. Left crying and covered in blood, Shell vows revenge and begins by writing an anonymous letter to Mrs Fenner.

Nikki comes across Monica shortly after she has washed down her hoard of pills with vodka. With the help of the Julies, Nikki forces mug after mug of cold coffee down Monica’s throat and after several worrying moments, she begins to throw up. Monica is beginning to sober up when Helen arrives on the scene. She is immediately suspicious and quizzes Nikki who confirms that Monica took an overdose. Helen is furious and demands to know how Nikki could be so irresponsible as to not get a doctor. Knowing that Helen couldn’t possibly survive another scandal, Nikki admits to doing it to protect her. The next morning, Monica apologises to Nikki. She is still shaken by Monica’s actions and makes it clear that she is disappointed in her for selfishly deciding to take her own life and waste the chance of being released.

Helen has been finding Sean’s preoccupation with their upcoming wedding irritating to the extreme. As he begins to pick up on Helen’s doubts, Sean becomes more and more histrionic and demanding. Things come to a head after Monica’s appeal. Helen has arranged to meet Sean in order to help him choose a suit for the wedding, but rather than approve of his choice, she asks if they can talk in private. Sean is obstinate and refuses to leave the shop, forcing a tearful Helen to explain that she can’t marry him because she doesn’t love him.

All of G-Wing assembles around the communal television to watch reports of Monica’s appeal. The newsreader confirms her release and screams of joy echo around the wing. Monica proceeds to make a statement about the lessons that she has learnt in Larkhall, that the women there are not the monsters she thought they would be, but rather the victims of abusive men, drugs, and a system that incarcerates, bullies, and dehumanises them. They are women who need help and support, and also the reason she survived.

As the inmates celebrate, Sean arrives at the prison. In the garden, he erects a frame and hangs his now redundant wedding suit on it. Just as Helen approaches him, he sets the suit alight before calmly throwing his house keys back at her. The women gather at the window to witness the humiliating spectacle, as does Fenner. Alone in her cell after lock-up, Nikki allows herself a smile as she listens to the other women exchanging banter about Helen’s love life.

Memorable Moments

Helen – “You had no right taking advantage of me.”
Nikki – “Well put me down the block then, go on—rule forty-seven, subsection sixteen—being disrespectful to the wing governor…by kissing her.”

Hollamby – “When she was on remand, did you know this? Twenty-two pairs of shoes they found in her cell!”
Helen – “Twenty-two pairs of shoes and a shelf load of ‘Chanel’ according to her file.”

Hollamby – “Two-pounds-fifty, what do you want?”
Yvonne – “I’ll have a bottle of bolly and a ten inch vibrator please Miss.”

Shell – “You wanna be scared of me Atkins.”
Yvonne – “I don’t do scared.”

Monica – “I don’t know what to say.”
Nikki – “Well how about starting with I feel bloody ashamed of myself? Look around you Monica, look at all of these women stuck in here. They’d give anything to be in your shoes today. Look at the Julies. Julie J, she’s lost her three kids to that bastard husband. Zandra, you’ve seen the hell she’s been through—beaten up, dumped by her fiancé, what a great start for a baby. Denny, she’s had her whole life wasted; she’ll be in and out of here forever, and me Monica. Do you know what it feels like to have to face another ten years of this? But we all struggle along trying to make the best of things, and when someone like you comes along and says that they’d rather be dead than free? I’m sorry, but everyone who gets out of here gets out for all of us.”

Sean – “What do you mean you can’t marry me? Why not?”
Helen – “Because I don’t love you.”

Zandra – “Hey Julies! Know any good busting up with your boyfriend songs?”
Both Julies – “You kidding? You name it, we know it, we’ve lived it!”
Yvonne – “Yeah, but do you know the chords?”