S05E08: Tanya meets with Garry

Tanya watches as paramedics lead a sedated Paulo away from their Brazilian party – it’s clear that he had some mental issues that even she couldn’t deal with. But he was her meal ticket and the situation is even worse now that she’s discovered that her dead husband’s estate has been frozen pending a criminal investigation into his fraudulent activities. She is now broke, jobless and husbandless – how on earth is she going to keep herself in the style to which she has become accustomed?

Garry puts in a performance worthy of an Oscar when the police arrive to inform him that they have discovered Roger’s dead body in a lift shaft. Jackie meanwhile is devastated when the police arrive on her doorstep with the tragic news. At the mortuary, she is heartbroken when the police hand her Roger’s personal effects in a plastic bag. But her grief soon turns into fury when she runs into Garry – she’s sure that he had something sinister to do with her husband’s death, but how can she prove it?

Jackie fumes at home when she watches Garry don his mask of grief again at a televised conference. She can’t believe his nerve when he pays tribute to Roger’s immense talent as a football manager before duly wheeling out his replacement, Bruno. Although he’s keen to assure Garry that the two of them are on the same wavelength as far as Earls Park is concerned, Bruno’s mind is on Lucy. He’s already managed to talk her out of terminating her pregnancy and he’s desperate to show her how much he’s changed. His chance to shine arrives when Lucy rings him in a panic – she’s started to bleed. Luckily, the doctor gives her the all-clear, but the scare is enough to prove to her that she does want to keep her baby after all.

Shannon and Callum prepare to leave for Roger’s funeral and there’s an explosive moment when she warns him lay off the drink. Since finding out that Shannon was the one responsible for shopping his mother, Trisha to the press, Callum has completed his transformation into arrogant, self-obsessed thug and he lets fly at her – he won’t stand for her treating him with anything other than the utmost respect and if she doesn’t watch out, she’ll be following his mum out of the door. After the funeral, the wives rally around Jackie to show their support. Bruno meanwhile is bragging about Lucy’s pregnancy to anyone who will listen. Tremaine in particular looks very interested to hear that Lucy is eight-weeks gone. Could it be that he’s getting a bit broody himself?

In desperation, Tanya is forced to throw herself at Garry. The dirty old pervert gives her the creeps, but still, he’s not the first mouldy old fossil she’s shagged, and if five minutes of sheer hell will persuade him to buy her shares in Earls Park then so be it. As it happens, Garry is so impressed that he provides her with an easy way to double her money by embarking on a little insider dealing. However, as well as taking her for a ride, it seems that Garry really has taken her for a ride! She can’t believe it when she switches on the business news to hear that the company he urged her to invest all of her money in has just gone bust. Skint again, Tanya resolves to her revenge.

Liberty is on her way to Tokyo. A Japanese company have just offered her £500,000 to star in a 30 second stock-cube commercial – talk about easy money! Unfortunately, Liberty hasn’t paid much attention to the storyline which involves her roasting a white man in a giant cooking pot in order to feed a group of black children. Back at home, Liberty is horrified when she receives a box full of dog poo in the post complete with a note calling her a “racist bitch”. When he sees the pictures of his wife dressed up as a cannibal complete with grass skirt, Tre loses it big style. He can’t believe that she has gone against everything he believes in, but what’s really killing him is the fact that she did it for money.

Shannon throws a glitzy 19th birthday party for Callum to show how much she loves him. But cocky Callum is more interested in some tarty groupies. She tries to ignore his behaviour but hits boiling point when she discovers him shagging one of them in a store room. Determined to teach him a lesson, Shannon accepts a little pick-me-up from Liberty and filled with new-found confidence, makes a beeline for hunky Calum Best who just can’t resist her charms. Meanwhile, Jackie has some big news – she’s decided to leave Earls Park and go and live in Australia with her son Kyle. Although she and the other wives try to celebrate, Garry quickly puts a dampener on things and she and Tanya decide to make an early exit. Also on their way out of the door are Bruno and Lucy. Sent into a panic when she complains of stomach pains, he decides not to take any chances and bundles her straight off to the clinic for a scan. When she manages to get the doctor on his own, Lucy asks him if the scan will be able to show the colour of the child she is carrying!

With all of their past grievances long forgotten, Tanya and Jackie do their best to support each other. Yet still, there’s one particular item of history that Tanya can’t quite let go of and she pleads with Jackie to promise that she’ll take one particular shocking secret – the fact that her first husband, Jason, fathered baby Paddy – to the grave. Both women are reeling from the treatment they have received at the hands of Garry Ryan, and when Tanya helps Jackie to sort through Roger’s belongings, they discover a piece of vital evidence that might help them bring the perverted old monster down for good. Whether consciously or not, Roger left his Dictaphone on and managed to record everything that happened just before he met his death at the bottom of the lift shaft.

Back at the nightclub, Garry is relaxing when he receives a phone call from Tanya. He’s horrified when she plays him a segment of Roger’s tape and quickly agrees when she demands that they meet in order to discuss terms. In the bathroom, Liberty is confronted by a black woman who is disgusted that she could sell out their race in exchange for cash. Incensed when she realises that Liberty doesn’t give a shit, she decides to press the message home with the aid of a broken bottle. Meanwhile, Callum arrives back from groupie shagging to find Shannon on the dance floor and in the arms of Calum Best. He flies into a rage and tries to split them up. Before long, fists are flying and Callum catches her with a punishing right hook. As Tre steps in to Shannon’s aid, he hears Liberty screaming out his name. She’s staggering through the club towards him with her face covered in blood.

Tanya’s not stupid and refuses Garry’s initial suggestion that she meet him at his home. So he arranges to meet her at a seedy Soho strip-joint that just so happens to be owned by a friend of his. They meet in a private room at the back of the club and Tanya is surprised by the equanimity he is displaying in the midst of such a crisis. In fact, Garry is so laid back that he even suggests that they indulge in an ‘aperitif’ before discussing terms. Tanya lifts the straw to her nose and prepares to snort, unaware that Garry has a trick up his sleeve that may give her a taste of her own medicine – he’s mixed the cocaine with strychnine!