Moving On

- Season 5

(2013)

Married to policeman Steve with two little boys Jo is bored with her existence as a housewife and, when she accidentally shop-lifts, gets a buzz - so much so that she carries on doing it, until she is eventually caught. She spends a day at the police station before she is fined and released without a criminal record but lies to Steve that her failure to collect the children from school was because she fainted and was taken to hospital. Next day he discovers the truth but at least the situation allows her to air her dissatisfaction with her marriage and herald change ...

With his mother Shirley in long term care postman Paul is only too glad when she requests that he, his wife Lisa and two little boys leave their poky rented home to move in with Tommy, his father, in his large house. Lisa is worried as to what will happen when the parents die so Tommy agrees to sign the house over to them and assumes that Paul's older sister Theresa, a successful headmistress with her own home, will not be bothered. He is wrong as Theresa, already unhappy that she cannot have children, feels ganged up on and tells Paul that Tommy is not his real ...

Newly-qualified English teacher Amani starts work at a rough school, whose unruly pupils have no interest in learning and constantly play her up. When she hits out at them she gets reported and the stress of the job is such that it causes her hair to fall out. When the class go too far and discover her baldness she tells them she has cancer and immediately gets them on her side, also winning the praise of the headmistress for not wanting time off. Only her colleague Hugh knows the truth but when the school presents her with a cheque for a cancer charity of her choice ...

One day 14-year old Beth refuses to speak. Her father Greg, mother Lou and brother Pads are unable to get her to talk and it causes family discord. A child psychologist recommends she write down her thoughts in a book though little is accomplished. Greg believes he knows the cause of her selective mutism, having heard him on the phone to a woman with whom he is having an affair. At a family gathering Lou's sister Toni and her husband Nathan announce that they are moving to Australia and Beth recognizes Toni as the 'other woman'. This unlocks the silence and eventually...

Cab driver Andy is fed up with his stroppy ex-wife Sarah putting restrictions on his visits to their children Chloe and Jack. When he hears that they are going on holiday with 'mum's friend' he assumes she has a new partner and reacts badly, absconding with the children to take them to see his parents on the Isle of Man. On the way he learns that there is no new man in her life but a platonic female friend. However during the separation both parents realize that they are better off than many people and agree to stop fighting and work together for the children's sake.