'Dem Bones'

Heston is extremely cheerful - he tells Jimmi and Melody that he is meeting an old friend, Wolfy, later. He regales them with tales of Wolfy’s shocking antics. Melody sees how upset Heston is when he asks Lily to join him and Wolfy for a drink and she coldly declines. Heston asks Melody if she would like to join them instead. Melody can’t understand why he doesn’t want it to be just the two of them. Heston reveals he is worried his life will look dull in comparison to Wolfy’s.

Melody encourages him to go despite this. Wolfy turns out to be Lionel Mead and Heston is speechless when he realises the matron he had an affair with is Vivien. Lionel makes him promise not to tell Vivien he is in Letherbridge.

Ruth tells George she fancies her art teacher but thinks he’s out of her league. George tells her to go for it saying Michelle and Julia would so why can’t she? Ruth goes to her art class and flirts with Adam. She can barely contain her joy when she asks him out and he agrees.

Meanwhile, we flash back to 1981. Stella Dyer (16) is trying to open a sash window on a detached Victorian house. She shouts to a younger girl Lily Hassan (14) to help her, but Lily is distracted by a human skull staring out from another window. Cut to present day and the same skull is on Lily’s desk at the Mill. Melody catches Michelle in Lily’s office looking at it, and they wonder where it came from and why Lily is so attached to it. Lily catches them and tells them the skull is very old and called Bert.

Stella Dyer (42) arrives at the Mill but doesn’t have an appointment. Lily is startled when she hears Stella’s name and is trying to retreat as Vivien asks her if she can see Stella. It becomes clear the two women know each other, and Stella is reluctant to see Lily, however when she’s told there’s no one else she agrees.

Back to 1981. Stella is shouting at Lily to climb in the window. She doesn’t want to but she is more frightened of Stella than of getting caught. The room is full of dusty tomes, animal skeletons are on display and posters of human anatomy hang on the wall. Lily is mesmerised by the human skull.
During the consultation Stella is trying to big up her situation to Lily talking about her husband and kids, and has a dig at Lily for not having them.

Young Stella is pulling books off shelves looking for things to steal. Young Lily shocks them both by standing up to Stella, and as Stella lifts the skull and threatens to smash it, Lily launches herself at Stella and holds onto the skull as they struggle. The sound of footsteps stops them. Stella throws the skull in the air before she escapes out the window, and Lily chooses to catch it rather than try to escape. Agatha Dalrymple (70) comes into the room takes the skull, closes and locks the window and tells Lily to stay put.

In the surgery Stella tells Lily she has been getting stressed and wants Lily to increase her dose of Diazepam; Lily agrees.

Agatha brings in tea and introduces herself and Bert the skull to a stunned young Lily. Agatha is a retired professor and has worked as an anthropologist for 45 years. She has been looking for someone to pass all her knowledge to as she has no children of her own and has failed to find a worthy student. Lily is hooked when Agatha starts talking about Bert. Months later young Lily has spent some time with Agatha who has been teaching her all she knows. Agatha is pleased with her progress and Lily is delighted. Agatha tells Lily she knew when she met her that there was more to her than a tearaway teen. Lily gives Agatha a wooden box she made herself at school. It’s mother’s day and Lily says Agatha has done more for her than her own mother ever did. Both women are cleared deeply moved but physical contact is alien to both of them so they simply reach out and hold hands.

Young Lily surprises Agatha with a visit but Lily apologises as Stella pushes her way into the house looking for cash and jewellery. Lily steps up to confront Stella who is brandishing a sharp animal tusk at Agatha. Lily pushes her and Stella lands on the tusk. It’s sticking out of her thigh. Agatha, suffering from arthritis, talks Lily through putting a tourniquet on Stella’s leg as she phones for an ambulance. Lily manages to stop the bleeding. Agatha reveals she only knows the theory but has never saved anyone’s life like Lily just has. Agatha tells her she is a natural healer and definitely her best student ever.

Back in the present day Lily is troubled by Stella’s medical records. She goes to Stella’s house and asks for the prescription back. Stella refuses saying Lily owes her as she did six months in young offenders when she got out of hospital. Lily reveals her parents were declared unfit to look after her and she was put in care.

A slightly older Lily goes to see Agatha who is sadly dying. Agatha gives Lily back the wooden box and when she opens it Bert is inside. There is also a message written on a card, which we don’t see. Agatha dies and Lily can’t stop the tears.

Lily returns to find Stella being held against the wall by her angry teenage daughter Zoe Dyer (16). Stella has been getting the diazepam for Zoe and has been too frightened to stand up to her. Lily offers to help Stella deal with Zoe; as she reckons she owes Stella. If it wasn’t for Stella she would never have met the person who helped turn her life around. Back in her office Lily takes out Agatha’s note and we see it reads ‘look beneath the skin’.