Episode 1.10 - Love Hurts
Written by Maureen Chadwick
Produced by Brian Park
Directed by Mike Adams
Watch this episode on SeeSaw now
The Julies have decided to get a petition together, hoping to persuade Helen to reinstate open visits. Yvonne has noticed that Hollamby is irritated by Crystal’s constant guitar playing and hymn singing and comes up with an idea. Under the arcane prison rules, every inmate is allowed a guitar and so Yvonne arranges for twelve of them to be delivered to the prison. The Larkhall Gospel Tabernacle Choir is born and will keep playing – extremely badly – until the screws signs their names on the petition.
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.
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. 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.