Things ended so badly under Richard Handford that people forgot how good things were at its peak. The Beech scandal, Jim's alcoholism, Tony's fat'ac, all top quality viewing. Excluding Britanniamania, 2001 was such a poor year for the series and the writing was on the wall long before this. However, this was a real return to form. So many characters succeeded in the 98-2000 peak, but this plot put one of the cast overhaul failures front and centre as Kate Spears finally showed us what she could do beyond flirting with Chandler and whining about being underappreciated. Portraying her sexual assault trauma throughout the six episodes was superbly performed, and it was great to see Liz back one last time, and Tristan Gemmill was superb as Pete Cork - although not as superb as Michael McKell as the sinister Ferdinand. The way this wrapped up felt a bit rushed, but it goes down as the last success of the memorable Handford era before things got too soapy under Paul Marquess a few months later.
