Carol faces her own problems this week when her husband leaves her leaving her alone with her son and things then turn a horrible twist when Carol decides to go on a diet.

Birthday blues are the least of Val's problems. Mistrust, jealousy and insecurity turn her world upside down after she confronts her male escort lover about what he gets up to with his clients.

The arrival of divorce papers send bus driver Alan's blood pressure rocketing, with the result that he fails a medical and loses his job.

Lonely teenager Jamie thinks his fortunes have changed when he makes the acquaintance of second-hand car dealer Craig. He spends his 17th-birthday money on flash clothes and a mobile phone in a desperate bid to fit in with Craig's crowd, but soon realises his new friend is a shady operator with a criminal past - can his policeman father help him cut his ties with the villain?

Despite being overweight, Rebecca Patterson is generally content with life - particularly as her job as the assistant manager at a garden centre allows her to work alongside the man she secretly adores. But the shy and retiring twentysomething's cosy world is shattered by the return of a figure from her past, who proceeds to subject her to cruel psychological tortures

Betty Simpson's already stressful life takes another twist when her childhood sweetheart joins the slimming club, prompting the return of long-suppressed feelings and revelations about a dark secret from her past.