Episode 2.2 - Shit Happens
Written by Martin Allen
Produced by Brian Park
Directed by Mike Adams
Shell continues to torment Marilyn. The disturbing anonymous phone calls to his home alarm Fenner and arouse his suspicions as to who could have access to a phone on the inside. His prime suspect is still Nikki and so he decides to search her cell on the pretext of looking for drugs. Nikki flips out and in the ensuing melee, slaps Dominic. She is dragged off to the block and informed by Helen that she will be spending a week in solitary as punishment. Nikki implies that Helen is only punishing her because she can’t handle her feelings for her. This is the final straw for Helen and she arranges for Nikki to be shipped out.
Yvonne’s husband, Charlie, sends her a bouquet of flowers that Hollamby purposefully ruins by leaving them on top of a radiator. Yvonne plans her revenge by paying maintenance man, Josh, to smuggle some lacy underwear into the prison right under Hollamby’s nose.
Lauren Atkins meets Denny’s mum, Jessie, outside the prison gates and gives her an envelope containing £200. Jessie is confused by this unexpected windfall and suspects that Denny might be in trouble. Denny explains that the money is a birthday gift from Yvonne and suggests that Jessie use it to put a deposit down on a flat for them, somewhere they can be a proper family when she’s released.
Ignorant of the fact that Nikki is being shipped out, Shell continues to taunt Marilyn, this time with concrete proof of her husband’s indiscretions. Fenner arrives in Shell’s cell for a pre-arranged encounter, unaware that his wife is listening in. Later, a furious Marilyn turns up at the prison gates and slaps Fenner before throwing a bag of clothes at him. After hearing that Nikki has been shipped out, Fenner finally puts two and two together and realises that Shell is behind it all. He searches her cell and, after discovering the phone, beats her up.
Karen takes Shell to Helen’s office where she admits to the beating, the affair, and the fact that Fenner provoked Nikki into something stupid. However, she denies making the anonymous phone calls to Marilyn. As Karen escorts Shell down to the hospital wing, Helen reaches for the phone and places an urgent call to allocations. Meanwhile, Stubberfield is all for sweeping the whole incident under the carpet, but Helen threatens to resign unless Fenner is suspended pending an inquiry into his behaviour.
An angry and confused Nikki is returned to Larkhall just as Fenner is leaving. After lock-up, Helen comes to her cell and apologises for shipping her out. Helen is unable to cope with the hypocrisy of suspending Fenner over his alleged relationship with Shell when she is “guilty of the same offence – in thought if not in deed”, and so has tendered her resignation. Nikki tries to protest but Helen’s mind is made up. To prove it, she kisses Nikki tenderly before leaving her cell.