Brian comes clean to Debbie, but not without trying still to keep it all secret from Jenny.

Radio Times: Debbie wants some answers.

Characters: Alice, Brian, Debbie, Jennifer

• Alice is very concerned that there is no word from Debbie since the twin’s party – her phone is still switched off. She probably just wants to be alone, says Jennifer. That’s why she’s living at the cottage. Debbie turns up cold and wet, explaining that she went for a drive and a walk to sort things out in her head. She really needs to talk to Dad – but he had to go to some meeting in Borchester and isn’t back yet, says Jenny. He may not even be back until the small hours … but Debbie wants to wait up for him.
• Brian returns, saying he’s been to a meeting. Debbie questions him closely on the details, then states she doesn’t believe him – it’s two o’ clock in the morning. He’s been with Siobhán and their son, hasn’t he? He’s been having an affair with her and that baby is his. Brian turns on her immediately, accusing her of picking up ridiculous village gossip, but Debbie persists – Simon told her weeks ago but she refused to believe him. He’s a congenital liar, says Brian. Yes, when he says he’s telling the truth, he’s lying, retorts Debbie, so it follows that when he says he’s lying, well it’s obvious, isn’t it? Maybe it’s the truth after all. She’s seen the baby too, and he looks just like Alice – the spitting image. And Siobhán inadvertently used one of Brian’s monogrammed handkerchiefs to mop up the baby’s sick at Lower Loxley this afternoon. And then she asked Elizabeth outright who was the father of Siobhán’s baby and she told the truth – isn’t it about time Brian did the same? Did he think he could get away with it forever? Brian imparts all the details to Debbie, making it clear that he thought it would be just a fling, that it wouldn’t last, how horrified he was initially about the pregnancy. But Siobhán wanted to keep the baby so he had to support her. And then he couldn’t just walk away – he was too involved, he’d fallen in love with her. Debbie cannot be convinced by Brian’s insistence that it is possible to love two women, or that he is not like Simon. Oh, no? – He is not a liar? an adulterer? Hasn’t deceived them all or lied through his teeth every day for the past year? Debbie is completely distraught by comparison with the humiliation she has gone through since finding out about Simon’s infidelity. Jenny hears her crying, comes downstairs and Brian passes it off as his fault for upsetting her about Simon. Debbie thinks his performance almost deserves a round of applause – he’s such and accomplished liar. Brian is grateful that she didn’t let on to her mother. He’ll have to tell her – and he will, first thing in the morning.