S05E09: Snowball returns to the wing

Hedges finally tells Karen that Jim planted drugs on Yvonne – even though it also means telling all about his involvement in Jim’s pimping of Shell. Although he pleads with her not to make it official, Karen insists that Hedges sign an affidavit. Having been outwitted by Fenner plenty of times in the past, Karen decides to sit on Hedges’ statement until she accumulates enough evidence to make her case against him watertight.

Di tries to play Neil and Tony off against one another, but without success – she’s pregnant, about to become homeless and Neil’s even threatening to have her sacked. She agrees to have a termination and Neil thinks his problem is solved – but will she be able to go through with it?

Al is back on G-wing following her spell down the block, and wastes no time in taking up her old hobby of taunting Julie O’K. Already feeling rejected by Julies S and J she changes her name back to Tina – and more worryingly, is completely taken in when Jim Fenner starts to pay her some attention. Fenner of course is quick to realise that Julie O’K is isolated and vulnerable, and, as long as he plays his cards right – promising to arrange to have her moved into a single-cell on G2 for instance – he can twist her around his little finger.

Julie S is taken to hospital for her mastectomy. A supportive Karen assigns herself escort duty and allows Julie J to stay at the hospital until her best friend is taken into the operating theatre. Although she’s seen as the more dependent half of the relationship, Julie J shows hidden strength and determination, talking Julie S around when she suffers from a last minute bout of nerves and refuses to go ahead with the operation. Back at the prison, Julie J carries out Julie S’ instructions and informs the rest of the wing of her condition.

Yvonne is impressed by Hedges’ actions, but not so impressed when she realises he’s back on smack. And Yvonne’s not the only one who discovers Hedges’ guilty secret when Jim catches him shooting up in the toilets. When Fenner confronts him, Hedges tells him that he has diabetes and was injecting insulin, not heroin and that he’s kept his condition quiet because it would have prevented him from becoming a PO. Fenner checks this out with Dr Nicholson who tells him that there’s no rule against diabetics becoming POs, in fact, there is one working on one of the other wings. Fenner confronts Hedges with this information and insists that he take a drugs test. Luckily, Hedges has gone cold turkey and passes the test, something that leaves Fenner mystified and Hedges euphoric…especially when Yvonne rewards his efforts with a kiss.

Snowball is also back following the failure of her suicide attempt. With Ritchie dead and the other women determined to make her life a misery, she’s got nothing to live for – but she’s still on suicide watch and it looks like there’s no way out of her living hell.

Julie S is struggling to come to terms with the reality of her mastectomy and the prospect of a debilitating course of chemotherapy. But one thing she can always rely on is Julie J, who butchers her long hair with a sharpened phonecard to show her support.