Episode 3801 (26th July 2004)

Plot
When Charity arranges for the lawyer who helped get her out of jail to represent Sam, Lisa assures Sam that thoughts of going back to prison will soon be a bad memory. However, Lisa is not impressed when a junior partner in the law firm turns up and tells her that Charity’s lawyer doesn’t attend to small cases. The lawyer has some bad news for Sam, telling him that because he confessed to running Edna down he is looking at prison sentence because he failed to report the incident at the right time and was driving without a licence or insurance. Sam is terrified by the bad news and runs from the house. Lisa is determined that Zak must stand by his family in their hour of need and leaves Rodney in no doubt that he has to help her get him out of jail. While she is out, Sam returns home and packs his bags and tells Belle that he’s off to Chile to find his dad. As he’s about to leave, Marlon arrives and stops him from leaving home. Sam tells Marlon that he can’t go back to prison. Reluctantly, Marlon agrees to help Sam who says he could go and stay with his mum in Ireland. Curious about the secretive meeting between Tom and his sons, Sadie uses her seductive powers on Jimmy in the hope that he will tell her what’s been going on. Jimmy remains tight-lipped. Later, Matthew finds Jimmy brooding over Tom’s revelations about the future of the business and tries to reassure him that he knew nothing of Tom’s plans. Sadie joins her husband in the pub. At a low ebb, Jimmy tells his wife what happened to Paul and feeling sorry for himself tells her all about Tom’s plans for Matthew to taking over the business. Shelley is in a brighter mood and seems to have put some of her doubts about her relationship with Alan to one side. Alan, meanwhile, following his conversation in The Woolpack the day before wonders whether he is doing the right thing. Later, Shelley has the misfortune to run into Steph in the shop. When Steph makes a snide remark about Shelley spending Alan’s money again, Shelley leaves the shop. Steph goes after her and taunts her about her relationship with Alan, suggesting that food is their substitute for sex.