Faith in the Future

- Season 1

(1995)

With her son Joe having left home and her divorce behind her college art teacher Faith is looking forward to life as a single woman so she is surprised when daughter Hannah returns from a year's globe-trotting - particularly since Faith moved house without telling her. Faith goes on a date with colleague Paul but their fumbling attempts at sex are disastrous and, coming home, Faith is put out to find Hannah asleep on her bed with a platonic male friend Nick. She agrees to another date with Paul but takes relaxing pills Hannah has brought back from India and falls ...

Faith finds sharing the flat with Hannah difficult especially after she runs the car out of petrol so, to pay her way, Hannah takes a job as a life class model for Faith's married but skirt-chasing boss Gareth. She is annoyed when Nick, now the boyfriend, and his dim friend Jools find it sexual, however. Faith accepts a dinner invitation from Gareth, only to find his wife has been called away. Nothing happens but, as he takes her home and they have got through the door, he makes a play for her in front of the visiting Paul. As a result, they fall and he injures ...

Faith is prone to hot flushes and believes she has flu but it turns out to be the menopause, which causes her to behave very strangely in public and ring the Menopause Hotline. Her sudden mood swings alarm Hannah who serves her HRT tablets but Hannah is annoyed as Nick is leaving for Australia and Faith is more concerned with her condition than comforting her. Jools, who is sweet on Hannah, comes to see her but somehow Faith ends up embracing him in front of her daughter.

Paul tells Faith he has a teen-aged daughter who lives with his ex-wife and is coming to visit. After an encounter with an amorous car mechanic Faith visits Paul and mistakes his much younger date for the daughter. Annoyed that Paul has been seeing somebody else she goes on a girls' night out with Hannah and Caroline, a friend also having man trouble. Arriving home Faith is confronted by Caroline's husband, who accuses her of leading his wife astray but is rescued by the mechanic. Chaos ensues as the other women return with pizza and Jools turns up to serenade Hannah ...

Hannah gets a job but it involves dressing as a giant pink mouse to promote cheese. Out painting, Faith meets charming antique dealer Ian, who asks her out but their date goes badly and she blames Hannah, who forced her into it after she had expressed doubts. Gareth asks Faith out for a drink in the guise of coaching her for promotion but she learns from Paul that this is just a ruse for him to hit on her. She goes home annoyed at the things people will do to get by in their jobs and is pleased when Hannah tells her she has quit the cheese promotion. Jools then ...

Faith is putting on weight and resisting Hannah's attempts to put her on a diet. She suggests to Paul that she may lose a few pounds if they have sex. Hannah reluctantly goes to see Jools play with his band Whitebait and is impressed how in control the normally clumsy boy is, kissing him goodnight. However next day he comes to see her with a present of a potted plant and manages to revert to type, falling over and when Nick returns from Australia she needs help from her mother to scare Jools away.

Faith is thrilled when Hannah declares that she will be moving in with Nick and asks Paul round for sex but he is off to Newcastle for a job interview. Sympathetic work colleague Jill asks Faith to a dinner party where she is introduced to Steven, a man who rescues her from Jill's drunken husband Mike and suggests a date though Faith is put off by his being a fervent Christian. Her independence is short-lived when a tearful Hannah returns, after a girl with whom Nick was more than friends arrives from Australia. So, when Paul rings to say that he is back from ...