Abi plays matchmaker to Tanya and Max

Abi plays matchmaker to Tanya and Max
Abi plays matchmaker to Tanya and Max (Image credit: BBC)

Abi is determined to help her parents get back together and she plans a romantic meal. Abi asks Dot for help with the meal, but Dot warns her that surprises have a nasty habit of backfiring. Tanya is sad when she finds a beautifully prepared table and she gently tells Abi that she and Max will sort things out in their own time. Lauren tells a disappointed Abi that Tanya and Max are better off apart. Stacey and Charlie head off to Danielle's funeral and Stacey breaks down at the grave. Stacey is angry when she spots Ronnie before the funeral and she confronts her and reveals that she knew Ronnie was Danielle's mum, but kept it to herself. Dot worries that Dotty isn't telling the truth about the fight she had with Liam and she gently questions Dotty but doesn't get anywhere. Dot invites Pat and Bianca's kids to lunch, but Pat asks Dot to bring Dotty to hers instead. The lunch is a disaster and Dot is later concerned when she finds Dotty's mobile phone... Also, Phil misses a lunch date with Shirley and she finds him passed out and smelling of booze; Chelsea accuses Theo of using her.

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.