River City - 30/06/2010

Gordon arrives at Hola bringing with him an old acquaintance of Jack's. Oscar used to be Jack's trainee, and he's now a successful hairdresser with his own chain of London salons. It's obvious from the moment the two men meet that the dislike is mutual. Oscar tries to charm Hayley into moving down to London and then directly insults Jack. Gordon then reveals that Oscar wants to invest in his salons, so he wants Just Gordon jumping with trendy customers by the following day. Later, Robbie accuses Jack of being too old to run a salon, unlike himself of course, as the pink pound is always ahead of the game. Jack broods on Robbie's comments and nothing a concerned Hayley says to Jack helps to break his mood. When Jack sees Robbie talking to a well-dressed, handsome young man he gets an idea. Hayley's instructed to cancel all the regular bookings for the following day which makes her apprehensive. The next morning Jack arrives and shows Hayley and Robbie his great idea - a special one-day discount for gay people. Hayley is horrified, recognising how terrible a plan it really is. Meanwhile Molly is at Liz's pensioners' breakfast club when she sees one of Jack's pink flyers handed out by new employee Charlie. The salon's conspicuous in its emptiness until Molly marches in, trailing a mob of pensioners, demanding hairdos using the gay discount. It all gets too much for Jack and he storms out with Hayley on his heels. They argue and Hayley blurts out that she might be better off going to London than staying at Just Gordon. Gordon and Oscar arrive to see a salon full of pensioners. Jack is humiliated. Once Oscar's left, Gordon lets rip at Jack. Hayley tries to save Jack by taking the blame but he does the right thing and admits it was his fault. That evening Jack goes to Hayley's flat to apologise for acting like an idiot. Turns out they took a lot of money so Gordon wasn't upset in the end. Jack says he's too old but Hayley tells him he's at the top of his game. She's keen to learn from him so going to London's not on her radar. As Jack goes to leave he gives her a friendly kiss, but it lasts a moment too long and they're both left stunned and confused. Things are not looking rosy for Charlie - he's got writer's block and he's struggling for money. Stella reminds him that his share of a bill needs paying and, picking up on his hesitation, asks him if he needs cash. Charlie shrugs off her concern. Later, when Jen asks him about his writing he cracks and admits he has been lying. Stella tries to help him by offering some of her stories but Charlie tells her he's not interested in any of her chat. Charlie then tries to tap Raymond for a sub but without success. Overhearing Charlie's plight, Jack offers him a job at the salon and cash to distribute some leaflets. Charlie takes the leaflets and later decides to take the job on reception. As the morning progresses Molly takes an interest in Charlie's writing but Charlie patronisingly waves her stories away. Molly decides to teach him a lesson and manages to convince him that she was a spy during the war. They adjourn to The Ship where Molly continues telling the story of her fantastic 'life story' with Charlie hanging on her every word. It's only when he goes to the bar to buy Molly a drink that Jimmy reveals the truth - she's winding him up! When Charlie confronts Molly she sets him straight - it was still a good story, and isn't that what writers do, make things up? Charlie apologies to Stella and tells her he wants to hear her life story so he can write something about it. Big Bob is a man with plan. He heads to the Deli and nervously asks Iona to form a band with him. Iona refuses, saying she's not good enough to perform. But she gets carried away with the idea of organising auditions to find Bob's 'perfect partner'. The following day Bob has to sit through some terrible auditions. Bob remains determined to work with Iona - he films the auditions as evidence that it's Iona he needs as a partner. After several duds, Bob is happily just about to give up when a girl walks in - her audition reveals real talent. Bob tells Iona that the people were terrible and feigns a lack of technical know-how to try and get out of showing her the auditions. Later at The Ship Iona tells Bob she sneakily watched the recordings. Bob is worried Iona will tell him to take on the girl. Luckily Iona didn't think she was up to much and she tells a delighted Bob that she'll sing with him until he can find someone more suitable.