An uninterested Kev lies to an attracted customer that he's marrying his girlfriend, but a drunken Frank overhears and broadcasts it to the pub.

The Gallagher family celebrate Christmas 2004, bringing mayhem and death to the Chatsworth estate.

Frank's father arrives at the Gallagher's, much to his displeasure, whilst Veronica feels threatened by Karen's presence when she begins working at the pub.

After Frank remembers to tell Kev and Veronica about a phone call, it emerges the couple are receiving a trial adoption.

The council arrange a competition in encouraging people to maintain their properties better.

As Fiona and Steve organize their wedding, his car is stolen and he's desperate to retrieve it.

Sheila asks Lip to water plants for a neighbor who's on holiday, but the place ends up burgled and he's wrongly accused and arrested.

Mandy becomes pregnant. However, as she is continually pretending to be Ian's girlfriend to hide the fact that he's gay, the Maguires threaten him with castration if he doesn't marry their girl.

To her horror, Fiona encounters someone from her school days, who's not only a social worker, but engaged to a man she slept with.

After hitting his mouth on Kash's shop door, Frank takes the advice of a nearby accident-salesman and files a claim, much to the anger of the estate residents. Meanwhile, Fiona tells Veronica that she's pregnant with Craig's child.

Debbie is set to help Marty as his court date nears, whilst Kev's sister Kelly reappears, much to the displeasure of Veronica.

Steve unexpectedly returns, but Fiona doesn't want to know. Elsewhere, Kash is running for Chatsworth's Councillor against dirty-dealing Bernie Creme, whilst Lillian's husband is killed in an accident.

After Liam denounces religion in school, Debbie has to act quick when the teachers want a home-visit.

Lip and Ian make new friends. Elsewhere, Kev's sister starts lodging at Sheila and Frank's, whilst Marty starts work as a handyman.

A heavily pregnant Mandy is knocked aside during a purse robbery at Kash's shop and gives birth to Lip's baby, but her family forbid contact. Elsewhere, Kev is given a racing tip not to be shared with anyone else.

When Carol discovers that Lillian slept with her husband years ago, she takes revenge by reporting her as a benefit cheat. Meanwhile, a lustful Carl attempts to take advantage of a complicated love triangle involving Lip.

As Kev grieves for his mother on his birthday, his wife returns after being released from prison.

The Gallagher clan are pleased when Carl starts bringing money into the household, but his mini-enterprise is at the wrath of the Maguires, just as Lip tries to maintain his relationship with Mandy.

Debbie becomes friends with a popular girl her own age, but realizes what she's been missing out on and goes on strike. Meanwhile, Frank becomes a medical guinea pig.

The day of Frank's wedding to Sheila draws near, but he begins to get cold feet when he learns the fate of her first husband, Sheldon.

As Lip turns 18, the Maguires expect more of him. Meanwhile, as the Gallaghers witness Kev and Veronica being arrested abroad for illegal baby adoption, their estranged mother Monica, returns.

Handsome,charismatic lay preacher Jesue (real name Eric) O'Toole and his busload of acolytes invade the estate,picketing 'immoral'businesses and leading the Maguires to consider violence to get rid of them,only Aidan finding romance with young disciple Grace. However Kelly and Micky have a better solution,tempting Jesus with the flesh and causing him to renounce his faith. Patty,having fallen downstairs and been genuinely invalided,does a deal with Frank to stay in his house whilst Marty Fisher,on the run from the CSA,causes discord between Kelly and Shane.

Mickey gives Mimi an ultimatum: either the new boiler goes or he does. And there's uproar in The Jockey when Frank pockets Cynthia's scratch card.

Aidan's bad behaviour has landed him in court, but it's Patty who'll decide the outcome. Cilla's abduction forces Mimi to face her past and her family, and Mickey helps Marty do up the flat

When the Maguires see CCTV footage of Marty's inept attempted robbery Shane realises the robber is using his clothes and gun and calls the police,sending Marty on the run. Kelly's affections are torn and when Shane tells her that Marty's wife and children died in a mysterious fire in Spain and the arsonist has yet to be caught she is unsure what to believe. Billy tries to get back into Mimi's good books but very nearly fails when he attempts to kill the annoying local priest who is conducting Cilla's christening.

Kelly admits her pregnancy,telling a heart-broken Shane that she no longer loves him. After doing nothing while witnessing a mugging in a park Carl finally champions old school mate,constable Simon Wexford,accused of injuring a robber,and ends up being accepted for police training. Despite her sons' efforts to scare Billy off Mimi proves her devotion to him by turning down an offer to join Paddy in Bangkok and soon Mimi has become Mrs. Billy Tutton.

Kelly moves in with Marty,asking Micky to leave. Jackson celebrates qualifying as a teacher but festivities are short-lived,due to Operation New Start,a multi-agency based crackdown on the benefit culture of the estate led by hard as nails Carmen Kenaway and her adoring assistant Daniella Feeney. Soon they are evicting dozens of residents,who take refuge at the Jockey but,since over-night stays breach its licence,Kenaway demands its closure. Having unsuccessfully tried to save himself by turning super-grass Frank is made to become a double agent,discovering that Operation New Start wants nothing less than to obliterate the estate as it is seen as an example of throwing good money after bad.

His teaching job withdrawn Jackson is in the same boat as the others as the estate risks becoming a ghost town but the residents fight back,playing 'musical houses' by taking over each others' homes and claiming squatters' rights. Kenaway responds with fire bombs but the Maguires play to her greed,kidnapping her and making her an offer she does not refuse,which makes her rich and saves the estate. Frank is reconciled with new police recruit Carl but Kelly suffers a miscarriage.

Despite an awkward interview Avril gets a job in a hospital pharmacy but Marty is concerned that Kelly,rather than grieve for her dead child,throws herself into partying. Given their age gap Mimi insists she and Billy should have an open marriage,having other sex partners. Shane takes Billy to a club whilst Mimi goes on the pull with her friend Gloria. Both pull but do not enjoy it. Patty attends a friend's funeral and hopes to make money when the deceased's son,Alan,who never knew his mother,attaches himself to her but he becomes obsessive and Patty has to let him down gently,eschewing any rewards.

Aidan feels guilty that he stood by and let Kane rape Lara,especially when Kane turns his attentions to Letitia. After letting Lara stay with him and Patty Aidan agrees to testify and Kane is arrested. Jamie is almost tricked into doing the dirty work of a discredited policeman,Brooksy,to whom he owes a favour,but Karen stops him in time and Brooksy is sent packing after trying to knife Jamie. Micky ends up with a baby instead of a debt he was sent to collect and decides to move on,becoming a single father. As he leaves he is about to come out but Mimi,already aware of his sexuality,prevents him.

Shane recruits Jackson to help him rob a cigarette delivery at a local supermarket though the plan goes wrong and they have to flee. They do however come up with a lucrative alternative,selling food discarded by the supermarket. Gloria's brother Dom,a priest suspended for his drinking and womanizing,arrives,pursued by two angry husbands whilst Carl leaves for his police training,after a less than cordial farewell with Frank,now the proud owner of Terry the terrapin. Chesney takes drastic measures to avoid being the live-in boyfriend of the buxom Lise,alias Toploader.

Avril takes matters into her own hands on discovering her colleague Callum is addicted to the pills they are dispensing and Kelly,rejecting advice from those around her,flees the estate and ends up at a drugs rave. However,after passing out she imagines a conversation with a concerned Marty and returns to him. Dom bets Karen that if he successfully beds Ruby he can have her too but Karen tells Ruby,who leads Dom on but loses him the bet. Frank nonetheless suspects that Karen is attracted to Dom.

Marty's efforts to redirect the power supply to get free electricity plunges the estate in darkness though he believes that,having had so many volts pass through him and still survived,he is chosen for something. It still fails to prevent the looters from giving him a kicking. Whilst Jamie holds a lock-in at the Jockey - where Frank loses his coat - the women gather for drinks at Mimi's. Here Gloria confesses that her parents kept Dom but put her up for adoption and,on going to the pub for more drinks,she ends up in bed with Jamie. Chesney passes out whilst demonstrating to Billy his fitness regime for protecting the shop against thieves.

Following his collapse Chesney comes out of hospital to find that his cousin Toof wants to take him back to Bradford,where he can be offered a more affluent life-style. However Chesney realises that this this will place him under the thumb of his grandfather,the shop owner,and,encouraged by Patti,decides to stay on the estate and build the shop up on his own terms. Ruby and Kelly are recruited onto Lillian's panel to recruit new girls for the brothel. They do not get on though the brothel certainly ends up with a new look. Jamie continues his affair with Gloria,who,unlike him,seems to have no guilt feelings.

When Frank tells the Maguire brothers that Manchester's former war rooms have been taken over by the NAtional Lottery and are now home to thousands of scratch cards the boys,along with Frank,Ruby and Aidan,hatch a plan to tunnel underneath the main hall and steal the cards. Unnfortunately Frank's stupidity and a general falling out among thieves leads to the tunnel collapsing and trapping them. In Jamie's absence Karen sets out to prove to Mimi that she can replace him as the collector for the family's business whilst Letitia and her friends Keisha and Heaven post a girl band video online but suffer from a hacker.

Jamie, Shane, Frank, Aidan and Ruby are trapped underground where the pressure is building and truths, lies and confessions are abound.

Frank is having a terrible nightmare - he has been sentenced to life imprisonment and subject to the taunts of a sarcastic warder. But the reality,from Frank's viewpoint,is just as horrendous. The Department of Work and Pensions has finally caught up with him and considered him fit for work. His attempts to get Patty to injure him go wrong and he ends up working for World of Burgers. Shane and Jackson set up their own still,selling hooch to the pub and Mimi bribes them to employ Billy,who turns out to be more professional than imagined until he gets the mix wrong. Avril goes into business selling tablets to Patty,which has an odd effect on her.

Frank does well at World of Burgers,becoming employee of the week and hits it off with colleagues and customers but not the sweaty manager Wesley,who makes him dress as a giant chicken to promote the place. Frank retaliates with a go-slow so Wesley promotes him to manager but,following an armed robbery by one of his acquaintances,Frank is demoted again. Karen is alarmed when her son Connor starts to draw penises on walls so Mimi,with the aid of a stolen library book,starts to give her lessons in motherhood. However,after a traumatic incident with her daughter Cilla,Mimi realises that child rearing cannot be conducted via books and that each case is different. Kelly,angry with Aiden for calling her an old prozzie, tries to teach him to respect women,ultimately becoming a surrogate mother figure for him.

Whilst working as a handyman Marty meets Brazilian Aparecita,whom he believes is a domestic slave and spends three grand belonging to Lilian to 'free' her. As a solution Lilian employs her at the brothel,where she is very happy,but Marty's misguided attempts to liberate her further only end in her arrest. Gloria is appalled when Dominic brings home Hazel,the birth mother who gave her up for adoption whilst keeping her brother. Dominic is still his mother's darling and Hazel wants them to leave together but Dominic resists though at least the two women have a brief heart to heart before Hazel departs. Billy feels he is being walked over and uses a self help hypnosis tape with strange results whilst Shane,being distracted by a phone message from wanton cousin Ruby,runs over a pedestrian in his car.

Calling himself Danny McKenzie Shane continues to befriend Ruthie,agreeing to help her choose a headstone for her dead husband Eddie. However not only does he face opposition from Ruthie's teen-aged son Sean,who masturbates in public,but is haunted by Eddie's abusive ghost. Finally,rather than admit the truth to Ruthie,he takes Kelly's advice and roughly breaks things off with her. Kelly herself and Lilian face opposition when the super-efficient Louise opens a rival brothel at knock-down prices,stealing away some of Lilian's regulars,including Frank. When Louise offers Kelly a job she takes the opportunity to spy on her rival and,having obtained the details of all of Louise's clients,uses a little blackmail to see off the opposition.

After seeing a fatal road accident Marty decides that life is fleeting and eventually proposes to Kelly,who accepts. However when he receives a letter from his supposedly dead children in Spain,he is anxious to fly out to see what has happened. He does assure Kelly that he still wants to marry her so the engagement party goes ahead without him. Karen suspects Jamie of infidelity,initially with Ruby,but,convinced she is wrong,tries to set a honey trap with Gloria. Jamie tries to cover himself by claiming that Gloria came on to him but she sees it as prudent to end the affair. Lilian has a vision in which a talking dog warns her of imminent calamity on the estate. However the dog later returns to tell her that she was unable to prevent either of the lovers' tiffs.

Mimi is now heading the PTA at the local school and twists Frank's arm into becoming the janitor so that he can pick the magic mushrooms in the adjoining field. This does allow him to finance his latest venture with the Gastric Bandits,prostitutes Sherilee and Derrilee. Following a riot on the discovery that the alleged genuine London Olympic ring awarded the estate is,due to a mix-up,a fraud, half the estate are arrested and given community service,which particularly rankles with Avril,who,after her husband's departure,has moved with Letitia into her snobbish sister Patreesha's house. Jamie discovers that Paddy was not his father and travels to Leeds to meet Kassi,his half-brother by their now deceased parent. The meeting does not go well and Jamie makes matters worse when Kassi comes to see him at the pub,throwing him out in anger. Shane,however,finds some contentment,with his new venture - a festival site - and an affair with a policewoman.

Avril reluctantly allows Patreesha to throw her a women only birthday party whilst Mimi is asked by Banbury to help out Mrs Tattersall,a once brilliant teacher,who has now lost her confidence. Helped by drink and drugs Mimi turns her into a no-nonsense ,frightening carbon copy of herself but at the party,unsuccessfully gate-crashed by Frank in drag, Mrs Tattersall admits what is really grieving her - which Mimi is able to put right. Lillian asks Kelly and Marty to retrieve a case from a left luggage locker,containing her life savings of four thousand pounds. However they discover the amount is nearer to fifty thousand and decide to keep some of it to help get them away from the estate,getting Kassi to launder it for them. Lillian is not as innocent of the bag's contents as they thought though and tells Kelly all ties between them are now severed.

Jamie wakes up in Kassi's house after a night on the town to find police hammering at the door as Kassi is accused of money-laundering and fraud and his assets confiscated. Jamie is shocked when Kassi tells him of his plan to escape to France but,when this falls,he moves Kassi,his wife and children onto the Chatsworth estate,where they are generally made welcome. Mimi,however,recalling Kassi's father,is extremely hostile. With their mortgage application refused,Kelly and Marty,now outcasts for robbing Lilian, do exit the estate whilst Shane 's bizarre affair with policewoman Randall continues.

Despite an awkward interview Avril gets a job in a hospital pharmacy but Marty is concerned that Kelly,rather than grieve for her dead child,throws herself into partying. Given their age gap Mimi insists she and Billy should have an open marriage,having other sex partners. Shane takes Billy to a club whilst Mimi goes on the pull with her friend Gloria. Both pull but do not enjoy it. Patty attends a friend's funeral and hopes to make money when the deceased's son,Alan,who never knew his mother,attaches himself to her but he becomes obsessive and Patty has to let him down gently,eschewing any rewards.

Handsome,charismatic lay preacher Jesue (real name Eric) O'Toole and his busload of acolytes invade the estate,picketing 'immoral'businesses and leading the Maguires to consider violence to get rid of them,only Aidan finding romance with young disciple Grace. However Kelly and Micky have a better solution,tempting Jesus with the flesh and causing him to renounce his faith. Patty,having fallen downstairs and been genuinely invalided,does a deal with Frank to stay in his house whilst Marty Fisher,on the run from the CSA,causes discord between Kelly and Shane.

After hitting his mouth on Kash's shop door, Frank takes the advice of a nearby accident-salesman and files a claim, much to the anger of the estate residents. Meanwhile, Fiona tells Veronica that she's pregnant with Craig's child.

Whilst working as a handyman Marty meets Brazilian Aparecita,whom he believes is a domestic slave and spends three grand belonging to Lilian to 'free' her. As a solution Lilian employs her at the brothel,where she is very happy,but Marty's misguided attempts to liberate her further only end in her arrest. Gloria is appalled when Dominic brings home Hazel,the birth mother who gave her up for adoption whilst keeping her brother. Dominic is still his mother's darling and Hazel wants them to leave together but Dominic resists though at least the two women have a brief heart to heart before Hazel departs. Billy feels he is being walked over and uses a self help hypnosis tape with strange results whilst Shane,being distracted by a phone message from wanton cousin Ruby,runs over a pedestrian in his car.

When the Maguires see CCTV footage of Marty's inept attempted robbery Shane realises the robber is using his clothes and gun and calls the police,sending Marty on the run. Kelly's affections are torn and when Shane tells her that Marty's wife and children died in a mysterious fire in Spain and the arsonist has yet to be caught she is unsure what to believe. Billy tries to get back into Mimi's good books but very nearly fails when he attempts to kill the annoying local priest who is conducting Cilla's christening.

After seeing a fatal road accident Marty decides that life is fleeting and eventually proposes to Kelly,who accepts. However when he receives a letter from his supposedly dead children in Spain,he is anxious to fly out to see what has happened. He does assure Kelly that he still wants to marry her so the engagement party goes ahead without him. Karen suspects Jamie of infidelity,initially with Ruby,but,convinced she is wrong,tries to set a honey trap with Gloria. Jamie tries to cover himself by claiming that Gloria came on to him but she sees it as prudent to end the affair. Lilian has a vision in which a talking dog warns her of imminent calamity on the estate. However the dog later returns to tell her that she was unable to prevent either of the lovers' tiffs.

As Lip turns 18, the Maguires expect more of him. Meanwhile, as the Gallaghers witness Kev and Veronica being arrested abroad for illegal baby adoption, their estranged mother Monica, returns.

Debbie becomes friends with a popular girl her own age, but realizes what she's been missing out on and goes on strike. Meanwhile, Frank becomes a medical guinea pig.

His teaching job withdrawn Jackson is in the same boat as the others as the estate risks becoming a ghost town but the residents fight back,playing 'musical houses' by taking over each others' homes and claiming squatters' rights. Kenaway responds with fire bombs but the Maguires play to her greed,kidnapping her and making her an offer she does not refuse,which makes her rich and saves the estate. Frank is reconciled with new police recruit Carl but Kelly suffers a miscarriage.

Kelly moves in with Marty,asking Micky to leave. Jackson celebrates qualifying as a teacher but festivities are short-lived,due to Operation New Start,a multi-agency based crackdown on the benefit culture of the estate led by hard as nails Carmen Kenaway and her adoring assistant Daniella Feeney. Soon they are evicting dozens of residents,who take refuge at the Jockey but,since over-night stays breach its licence,Kenaway demands its closure. Having unsuccessfully tried to save himself by turning super-grass Frank is made to become a double agent,discovering that Operation New Start wants nothing less than to obliterate the estate as it is seen as an example of throwing good money after bad.