The Job Lot

- Season 3

(2015)

When Trish tells Natalie she believes she may be pregnant by the man who sold her a Welsh dresser Natalie buys her a self-testing kit but Karl wrongly assumes that it is for his girlfriend Natalie and panics. Seeing the result Trish is over-joyed to think that she is about to become a mother but has unfortunately reckoned without Angela bringing her pregnant cat to work.

Feeling that she is not yet ready to move in with Karl Natalie makes an excuse which almost leads to Karl becoming Trisha's sperm donor and results in a session with Ash, a psychologist who has become the office's new employee. Angela is inevitably unimpressed by him but he makes an impact on permanently unemployed Bryony.

Kevin, an ex-factory worker with aspirations to be a Country and Western singer, gets his benefits turned down by Karl as he refuses a Poundland job interview which would clash with a gig. As a result he takes Trish hostage and so begins a roof-top siege. Karl reluctantly agrees to act as negotiator but when he reaches the roof finds Trish has bonded with her kidnapper - that is until Karl has an accident which brands him the hero of the hour.

When the fire alarm goes off it is assumed that it is just a drill but it is a real fire started by Angela to draw attention to the inefficiency of the system. Since financing effective fire-fighting would mean cancelling the Christmas party the staff goes on strike with Karl taking advantage of the situation by trying to chat up a girl in the pub. Unfortunately she is not what she seems.

Trish is smitten by Greg, who manages another job centre and who persuades her to introduce bean-bag chairs, relaxing music and feedback forms for the clients to 'destressify' them. Unfortunately all the feedback forms are highly critical and Trish, Ash and Karl fake a burglary to destroy them. Next time Trish meets Greg she realizes that she has been duped.

On the Job Centre's twenty-fifth anniversary Natalie brings in its first manager Maggie Higgins, who amazes everybody by recalling the time when Angela was pleasant and humorous but makes the mistake of trying to report her for benefit fraud. The appearance of Trish's holiday romance, handsome Spaniard Raul, who wants to marry her despite not speaking English, prompts Karl into performing a romantic gesture - which unfortunately brings the police to the office.