Owen gets his marching orders and Alan takes his place in the play.

Radio Times: Sid takes matters into his own hands.

Characters: Alan, Clarrie, Helen, Kirsty, Oliver, Owen, Shula, Sid

• Before the Boxing Day meet, Oliver makes a fighting speech and encourages them all to enjoy it while they can. It hit the spot but he admits to Shula that he had been up half the night worrying about it.
• Owen was not expecting a visitor, certainly not one who barges his way in very aggressively. He protests that Sid cannot threaten him and Kathy has no evidence – does she need evidence! He will call the police if Sid lays a finger on him. He rightly asserts that Kathy would not want the police involved. Sid doesn’t need the police. He wants Owen out of the village and out of Kathy’s life, otherwise Sid will destroy everything around him and he has friends who will help. Owen agrees to go but protests that it is not fair: Kathy wanted it as much as he. That’s too much for Sid. Thump! Start packing; if Sid ever sees Owen again he cannot answer for what he might do to him.
• Owen’s unexplained absence with 15 minutes to curtain-up is a crisis for A Christmas Carol. Out front, Helen has begged Tom’s ticket; she and Kirsty await the start and are joined by Alan, there to see Amy perform. Alan however is pressed into service as Fizziwig. He turns out to be much better than Owen; his finale is a dance with Clarrie which she enjoys – compared to Owen he is Fred Astaire. Afterwards Lynda is fulsome in her praise for his last minute entry into the cast and Alan is equally generous about Lynda, who also took over at short notice.
• Alan is prepared to carry on to the other performances, if need be, but would like to learn the lines. Lynda does not know what has happened to Owen – but she intends to find out!