River City - 03/08/2010

Lee is left feeling vulnerable when Amber goes against his wishes and heads away for a night with Hayley. Alone with his thoughts, he contacts his mum which seems to relax him. He asks her to come and visit him in Shieldinch, wanting to show off how he’s made something of himself with a business and a house. Unfortunately, it’s not mum who arrives on his doorstep, but overbearing, bully Edward. Lee’s dad. As Edward realises Lee doesn’t own Hola, or the house, and is in fact a ‘kept man’ he ridicules his adopted son. Lee is left believing it when Edward tells him his real mother gave him up because he’s unloveable, and that’s how he and his adopted mother feel too. Edward’s bullying taps into Lee’s biggest insecurities – that he’s essentially unloveable and that Amber will eventually leave him too. We see for the first time, the reasons behind Lee’s controlling and clingy nature. When Edward threatens to sabotage his relationship with Amber, Lee finally stands up to him and kicks his dad out of his home, and his life. Amber returns home feeling stronger than ever having stood up to Lee and gone away with Hayley despite his feelings about it. But on returning home she finds Lee an emotional mess. When he begs her to promise she’ll never leave him she crumbles. Lee needs more than her reassurances though and emotionally coerces her into bed, to prove she really loves him as she says she does. It’s the day of the first radio show and Charlie’s nerves are getting the better of him. When Stella proves too controversial for local airwaves and Scott pulls the plug on her, Charlie is forced to jump in as DJ. Sadly, he can’t find his inner confidence and his broadcast is something of an embarrassment. Scott reveals that, despite his shortcomings, he wants Charlie to continue to DJ. It seems Stella clearly can’t be trusted not to turn the air blue and offend guests. Big Bob comes to Charlie’s rescue by bolstering his confidence. Charlie helps Bob to write a new song and he gains a little bit of self-confidence. Bob encourages Charlie to see that sometimes you need to put yourself out there and risk embarrassment. If you don’t try, you’ll never succeed. Charlie agrees to DJ again and Stella is given a new slot – after she promises to tone down her Howard Stern-esque approach to community radio. Scarlett is confused by Theresa’s assertion that she will leave town once she’s got enough money. Theresa promises she won’t tell Bob the truth about his parentage if Scarlett helps her achieve this goal. For the first time Scarlett glimpses a sense of genuineness in Theresa and, with little other choice, she goes hell for leather to raise the money. She takes on work for Fraser, packing up Heavenly Herbals stock from home. But she’s so focussed she fails to pay attention to Jimmy who storms off,. When he spots Bob being enthralled with Theresa in the pub, Jimmy understands why Scarlett is being so single-minded and goes home to help. Together they work through the night. It’ll take a while but they’ll make the money and get Theresa out of their hair forever.