Second Thoughts

- Season 2

(1992)

When Joe gets an ear-ring - and Hannah supports him against Faith - and Faith also learns that he has been truanting she feels that she has been neglecting the family to spend time with Bill, though it is Bill who eventually gets through to the boy. Faith is also angry to find out that Liza has been working with Bill - and so is Bill when he sees how she has redecorated his office.

Faith is still annoyed that Bill has yet to receive his divorce papers and she is also unhappy that Hannah keeps asking them both for lifts, so she persuades Bill to give her driving lessons. This proves to be a harrowing experience for him and there is worse to come when he learns that his sports car, driven by Faith, has been in an accident caused by another male driver.

Faith and her best friend Hilary spend a weekend at a health spa, which allows Bill, who decides that the household needs reorganizing, to devise a rota making its running more efficient. Unfortunately this lands him with all the ironing, the kids are not keen to cooperate and the dog runs off whilst he is taking out the rubbish and is returned by an irate neighbour. Then Liza turns up, wanting to stay the night after a row with her boyfriend. Bill just about manages to keep this from Faith on her return.

Bill incurs Faith's displeasure by going behind her back to sell his flat to Liza, thus cutting all ties with his previous bachelor existence. By the same token Bill is unhappy that on a visit to the kids' school it is assumed that he is Faith's husband and addressed as Mr Grayshott. Thus they both decide to vent their frustrations at the school fete.

Bill is stunned to learn that his married boss Richard loves Liza and is having an affair with her. He is also taken aback when Faith suggests they try for a baby. He starts to come round to the idea but changes his mind when Joe, who has taken a paper round to finance a school trip, falls ill and Faith has to do it for him and Hannah's end of exams party attracts police attention.

Bill's boss Richard wants him to go to work in America to launch a new, Stateside version of their magazine 'Vista' but the family is not keen to go with him. To add to Bill's problems Richard wants him to keep Liza away from his wife Marjorie at the office party. Here Bill learns that the American job was Liza's idea so he turns it down. Meanwhile Hannah gets a job at a coffee shop to be working alongside a boy she fancies but quits when she discovers that he already has a girlfriend.

With Hannah about to leave home for Liverpool University Faith wants her room to use as a studio but Joe feels he should have it. Then Bill, having collected all his belongings - including a full-size pinball machine - from Liza reckons that he needs the room for storage space. After a talk with her best friend Hilary Faith appreciates that she has been selfish and agrees to keep the room open for when Hannah comes home in the holidays.

Joe wants to learn Italian and persuades Faith to let Hannah's room to an exchange student, preferably a boy with whom he can talk football but a girl, Gina, arrives instead. She hogs the bathroom and gets stranded in Brighton, requiring a midnight dash by Bill to bring her home. Then Hannah arrives, fed up with university and wanting her old room back. Fortunately a phone call from boyfriend Kevin sends her back to Liverpool whilst Gina tells Faith and Bill how wonderful they are compared to her own parents and leaves on good terms with them.

Bill is annoyed that Richard has used him as an alibi for a weekend away with Liza but is nonetheless keen to cook a sumptuous meal for Faith's old classmate Sally and her husband David, over from Australia. There is a setback when Hannah arrives with boyfriend Kevin and other students to stay and Faith starts to panic. Bill however keeps perfectly calm - until he has a kitchen disaster just as the guests are about to turn up.

Faith is feeling neglected as Bill is having to put in extra hours at the office to cover for Richard's assignations with Liza. Furthermore Marjorie seems to think Bill is the one who is playing away. Bill brings Liza home for a confrontation with Faith but Faith is planning a sexy surprise for him and has to hide until after Liza has gone - so the two women have still yet to meet.

Annoyed that Bill is being used as an alibi Faith confronts Richard and he agrees to end the affair with Liza. Liza herself is happy to take up with rugged Australian Dennis, the previous occupant of her flat, and they stay together even though, at an office party, he accidentally reveals the affair to Marjorie, leading to a fight.

The day of Bill and Faith's wedding arrives - and there's no more time for second thoughts.