'Worlds Apart'

At Julia’s house Ruth is doing a fantastic job of keeping Julia in the lap of luxury but soon clams up when Julia asks her to pick up some dry cleaning. Julia leaves Ruth a list of shopping and she tries to psyche herself up for it. She almost bottles out, but then Julia phones asking for her to post an urgent birthday card; Ruth is now under pressure.

She takes some deep breaths and launches herself down the street. In the High Street Ruth clearly feels the pressure but manages to just about keep her cool. Later Julia returns home and is delighted to find that Ruth has cooked dinner and is full of tales of her trip to the shops!

Heston is effusive in his praise for the new GP registrar Simon when a moping Michelle comes in. Heston is concerned and manages to prize it out of Cherry that Michelle is thinking of leaving. Heston finds Michelle, head in hands, in the nurse’s room, where she admits she’s looking for another job. Heston insists on taking her out for lunch, and puts on his best charm offensive to convince Michelle to stay, and promises her Ruth will not be returning to work.

Back at The Mill Heston approaches Julia to talk about Ruth, but he doesn’t get chance as Julia expresses doubts that he is the right person to be the new GP registrar’s supervisor. He assures her he has all the relevant qualifications, so Julia agrees and tells him he can also find a new GP associate to replace George. Then, before he can mention Ruth, Julia has dashed off home.

When Michelle later asks him what Julia said he admits he hadn’t been able to mention it but swears to Michelle that Ruth will be back over his dead body.

Meanwhile, Early morning and anxious Alice Shelby (49) is up early. She apologises to her husband Mark Shelby (50) for waking him when he is suffering jet lag and he comforts her. She suggests lunch but Mark is meeting up with some old work colleagues.

Later Alice comes to The Mill where she tells Daniel that she is considering cosmetic surgery; Daniel is concerned about her motives but gives her some information.

Alice arrives home just as Mark is leaving – suspicious about his lunch, she checks their bank statements where she sees £5000 has been withdrawn. Alice decides to go to the hotel where Mark is meeting his ‘associate’ only to find him greeting a beautiful Sudanese woman, Jahra Malong (23). Alice watches distraught from her car. Inside the hotel, Jahra is excited to be in the UK and asks Mark if he’s told his wife – it’s clear that he hasn’t.

Meanwhile Alice has returned home and packs a bag; she doesn’t know what to do and finds herself at The Mill asking for Daniel. Daniel immediately sees that she is upset as she demands HRT pills, and she tells him her husband is having an affair. When Daniel tries to calm her it has the opposite effect and she dashes off.

Mark returns home to find no sign of Alice and a voicemail message from Daniel. He heads to The Mill, and insists he’s not cheating on his wife, but Daniel doesn’t want to get involved. Mark begs him to call Alice to see if she’ll meet him, and Daniel reluctantly agrees. Alice eventually returns and Daniel leaves her and Mark to talk.

Mark admits to Alice that Jahra is someone he worked with in Africa and he brought her here to help her with fertility treatment, that’s where the money has gone. After they failed their IVF attempts many years ago this is a sore subject for Alice, and Mark apologises to Alice for all the secrecy but he did it to try and spare her feelings. He tells her that Jahra would like to meet her, Alice agrees and the two have an emotional first meeting later at the hotel.