Faith in the Future

- Season 2

(1996)

Paul comes round for the long-awaited night of passion so Hannah repairs to the pub where Jools introduces her to new boyfriend Gus. However, next morning Faith tells her daughter that Paul was rubbish in bed and the night was a disaster. At work, though she and Paul are civil with each other in the pub Faith gets drunk and tells Paul the truth, scaring Gus off when she returns home. She nevertheless gets a surprise when she meets Emma, one of Paul's very happy conquests. Jools meanwhile believes he is gay as girls don't fancy him but change his mind when he scores ...

Dumped by Gus Hannah is miserable and an offer to a darts match by Jools is small consolation. At college, Jill tells Faith she is leaving Mike as she thinks he is having an affair and moves in with Gareth. Faith sorts things out between them but, after her sojourn with Gareth, Jill has developed a taste for a lover and throws herself at an unsuspecting Jools. Hannah is turned down for three job applications on the grounds of being too old and is consoled by Paul. She misinterprets his paternal sympathy for something stronger and Faith catches them kissing.

Faith is surprisingly calm after seeing Paul kiss Hannah though she does suggest he pretends he is her boyfriend to persuade Hannah to move out. Come Saturday morning Faith gets an inconclusive result of a cervical smear test and is very worried but with Paul drunk, Hannah off with new boyfriend Sam and Caroline and Jools using the flat as a love nest, she gets little sympathy. Fortunately, Monday brings the all-clear and a little more understanding from those around her.

Having finished with Caroline Jools turns up to tell Hannah that he wants to be her champion, even though she is dating Sam, in whose antique shop she now works. However when Faith and Paul go out to dinner with Hannah and Sam, not only does Sam want Paul to create fake antiques for him but belittles Jools and gloats about selling him an expensive ring he could ill afford. Suddenly Hannah discovers which of the two guys is her real champion and tells Sam what she thinks of him whilst resigning.

Hannah is amused to learn that her mother has a young admirer, student Ben until he turns out to be a handsome hunk. When Faith reckons she is too old for him Hannah plays her play for Ben but is disappointed to be told that he prefers older women because of his inexperience. Paul throws Jools out after his band practice ruins a romantic evening he had planned with the younger Susie whilst Faith's son Joe turns up to announce that he has become a Young Conservative for love of a female party member. Ben's mother arrives to accuse Faith of being a seductress but ...

Hannah decides to set up as an interior designer when she decorates Jools' new flat. Faith, feeling she is wasting her life when a younger colleague is head-hunted for an American university, announces that she wants to be Hannah's business partner and persuades Jill to let them turn her bedroom into a love nest. Artistic differences between mother and daughter dissolve the partnership but Faith is pleased when Gareth asks her to escort a party of students to a painting course in France - until she learns she was his last choice.

Faith and Hannah take a group of elderly art students to a French chateau but Faith is irritated when Paul does not ring and Hannah is annoyed because Jools never stops,particularly as she and the owner's son Rene have decided they want to marry. Faith dismisses this as no more than a holiday romance until she falls for the charms of Rene's father,the handsome Gerard,though their night of passion is almost scuppered by Paul's surprise appearance.

Faith and Hannah are disappointed that their French boyfriends have not phoned so Faith turns to Paul as second best but he is not flattered. Eventually Gerard turns up but minus Rene,who has found another girlfriend. He and Faith go out for the evening with Paul and his ex-wife but Gerard sees that there is chemistry still between Paul and Faith and returns to France next day. The two teachers are about to indulge in some afternoon delight but are interrupted by Jools,performing motor-cycle stunts to try and cheer up Hannah.