Matt gets his first payment early; Alistair declares his resolve to kick the gambling habit.

Radio Times: Alistair’s creditor comes calling.

Characters: Alistair, Brenda, Eddie, Jolene, Matt, Shula, Tom

• Eddie has no news of Ed to pass on to Jolene but he does have a present – Cheeky, a wolf-whistling gnome; it was Jolene who gave him the idea.
• It couldn’t be easier for Shula and Alistair to get a £100K mortgage, subject to survey etc. The hard part will be paying it off over the next 15 years. Shula has not forgotten that Alistair needs to pay Matt £2K by the weekend; she has already written the cheque so Matt will get the money early.
• At The Bull, Cheeky is already getting on Tom’s nerves; he’d better get used to it: Jolene likes it so much she has ordered two more. Sid is less of a fan.
• Matt is indeed surprised to get his money early but what about the other £58K. It will take a little longer; Alistair has taken out a loan on the business. Matt deduces that Shula knows. He recounts the incident with Lilian; he had to lie to keep her in the dark – which he did not like – so Shula should be more careful.
• Tom plans an early start tomorrow, 7:30, to take Gourmet Grills to the Felpersham Festival. Brenda calls in the favour: she wants Tom to serve breakfast at her dad’s Dawn Chorus Walk on Bank Holiday Monday. Now, that’s really early!
• Alistair feels that Matt was almost disappointed, perhaps because he is losing his power over Alistair earlier than planned. Shula takes the point about being nice to Lilian. Alistair recognises that he has been given another chance, which he doesn’t deserve; he will go to Gamblers Anonymous next week and no matter how difficult or how long it takes, he wants it to work.