Has Barney blown it with Carmel?

Carmel is worried that she won't be enough for Barney's rich friends at the ball he's invited her to, so she asks Mercedes along for support. But at the party Barney spills the details of his arrangement with Nana to Rob, unaware Mercedes has overheard everything. Humiliated, Carmel runs out of the club and as she tears through the village, she runs into the path of a car, driven by Jim McGinn. He scoops a dazed Carmel up in his arms and takes her home, leaving heart-broken Barney behind. Brendan is angry when Cheryl tricks him into having lunch with his Dad. Leah and Ste join them, but Brendan boils over and shouts at Leah. He goes to apologise and wins the little girl round leaving him and Ste to celebrate Christmas, knowing that in a week, Seamus will be gone for good. Mercedes is shocked when Paul Browning turns up at her door, but without a second to lose, they launch straight into a passionate snog. Also, Holly is forced to go to the McQueens while Cindy is in hospital and there's a spark between her and Bart.

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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.