Father Figure is the ninth episode of Series 9.
Synopsis[]
Charismatic supply teacher Frankie McGregor arrives and impresses Christine when he defends bullied Lenny Brown against gormless Darren Hughes. Obsessed with her upcoming wedding, Sue exploits Frankie to teach her class while she looks at wedding planning magazines - as he reports to Christine. However, Simon is suspicious, and with good cause, for after the new teacher has taken Lenny fishing, it is discovered that he is an impostor, the depressed brother-in-law of the real Frankie. He is arrested, but Lenny is disappointed to have lost a friend. Christine and Simon, having worked together to catch him, declare a truce, and Simon is angry with Sue for her negligence. Nikki learns that Kacey's American trip will cost more than anticipated, and organises fundraising, which Carol Barry happily joins, a visit from Olympic boxer Nicola Adams being another boost. However, Kacey's vile brother Barry Barry steals the funds.
Plot[]
A visit from boxing champion Nicola Adams restores Kacey's confidence in her own abilities. Lenny makes a friend in the new supply teacher, but panic soon ensues when it's discovered the teacher is not what he seems.
Kacey's confidence is wavering as the whole school – and now her family – get stuck into raising funds for her boxing scholarship. When Nikki arranges for Olympic gold medallist Nicola Adams to come to the school, Kacey initially balks under the pressure. A few tips from the champion soon restores Kacey's faith, but a jealous Barry Barry is soon hatching his own plans for the raised funds.
The twins Lenny and Lisa grow apart, as Lisa chooses Shaznay and her girl gang over spending time with her brother. When Frankie McGregor offers to take lonely Lenny fishing, Lenny jumps at the chance. Panic ensues at the school however, when the truth about Frankie is revealed and the pair can't be located.
New supply teacher Frankie McGregor's heavy-handed approach divides Christine and Simon, but Sue is overjoyed to find an excuse to skive while Frankie keeps her classes under control.
The episode begins as Darren chases Lenny through the school after Lenny was accidentally pushed into him, emptying his bag in the process. At the same time, new supply teacher Frankie McGregor pulls up outside and has a look at the school, and then witnesses Darren and Lenny, and intervenes to try to stop Darren, however he is spotted by Simon, who asks what's he doing. Frankie introduces himself as the new supply teacher, and Simon then tries to handle the situation, however Frankie refuses to move until Darren puts everything back into Lenny's bag.
Christine then introduces herself to Frankie and they have a chat about pupil discipline. They go into the staffroom, where Frankie is introduced to the rest of the staff, and it turns out he is covering for one of the teachers on maternity leave, meaning he would be at the school for a few months.
Nikki informs Christine that Nicola Adams is in Glasgow for a meeting and is wanting to meet Kacey that afternoon. Knowing that this is an opportunity not to miss, they plan a surprise for Kacey, and Carol helps with the fundraising to send Kacey to Miami for the boxing training camp.
As Frankie doesn't have any classes for the first few periods, Christine puts him into a class with Sue so he can get a feel of the school, and he's also asked to get feedback for Christine on how Sue handles her class.
A while later, Christine has a meeting with her deputies and talks about what they think of the new supply teacher. While she thinks he's good news and has a lot of good fundraising ideas, George thinks he's irritating and Simon isn't impressed with the way he dealt with Darren, saying his idea of discipline was more like intimidation.
Once in the class with Sue, Frankie explains to her that Christine had said he was put in to see how she was doing, and to help with the lesson. However, with Frankie being there, Sue decides to catch up on marking (and preparing her and Simon's wedding, though she didn't mention that part to Frankie) and asks Frankie to take the class on Distance and Acceleration.
Meanwhile, Carol and Nikki tell Kacey that Nicola Adams is on her way to meet her, and, feeling a bit overwhelmed, Kacey talks to Nikki and tells her that she isn't so sure about the whole thing, leading to a heated argument from the pair before Kacey storms out.
In Sue's class, The pupils get confused as to what they're being taught, as Frankie gives them the wrong answers, which raises questions about his teaching. Sue then asks him to teach the next period for her, which apparently goes off without a hitch.
Later, Frankie and Lenny have a chat about how his lack of concentration affects him in his classes, and Mr McGregor suggests they go fishing, but when he speaks to Christine, she kindly says that she thinks it's a nice idea, but as it's his first day, it wouldn't be allowed.
Frankie also mentions that Sue doesn't mind if Lenny or the other kids sink or swim due to her being preoccupied with the wedding; Christine takes note of the fact that Sue is more interested in planning her wedding than teaching.
Later on, Sue talks to Simon about what they would like on the tables at the wedding, but he immediately questions why Sue isn't teaching her class, and she tells him that Frankie is doing it, but he tells her to get back in there.
In the class, the kids still get too rowdy, as they are unsure what Frankie is trying to teach them. Sue comes back into the classroom and tells them what it is they're actually supposed to be learning.
In the corridor, Dynasty and Imogen are putting up posters for Kacey and Nicola Adams's boxing match that afternoon. Simon notices and takes a poster to show Christine, as he didn't know about it, and Christine tells him it was a last minute thing, but Simon argues it should've been mentioned at the SMT meeting earlier that morning, and tries to accuse of her of undermining him, but Christine then counter-accuses him of trying to discredit her.
At lunchtime, Frankie shows Lenny how to tie flies, with Maggie and Christine having a chat about Connor's future at the same time.
As Christine put the cage on Frankie taking him fishing, Lenny gets annoyed and starts shouting, which leads to Christine telling him off. As Frankie shows Lenny how to tie a fly, Maggie and Christine discuss how experienced he is and wonder if it would be any harm for him to take Lenny fishing, with Maggie mentioning that since Grantly died, he had been a bit lost. Christine decides to let them go, on the condition that Frankie leaves his mobile number with Sonya and tells her exactly where they're going.
Years 4, 5 and 6 then go into George's classroom, so he, Kevin and Archie Wong can teach them Mandarin in secret, as the formal version of the course was suspended due to George's lack of knowledge of the subject.
Lenny and Frankie get into the car to go fishing, being watched by Lisa who now feels bad for shunning him, and worries about him driving off with Mr McGregor. At the same time, Frankie has a think and explains to Lenny that the pier would be busy at that time of the day, so they instead head to the loch on the hill to go fishing, describing it as being peaceful, and nice and quiet.
Simon is in his office when Sue walks in, and she tells him that Frankie won't last as a teacher, since he knows nothing about science. Simon looks at the work from Sue's classes.
Meanwhile, Nikki is looking for Kacey, who hasn't been seen for a couple of hours, and she asks Dynasty if she has seen her, saying Kacey's a little overwhelmed by the visit from Nicola and the boxing camp. Dynasty then sets off to look for her.
Back in Simon's office, after having a look at the work from Frankie's class, Simon discovers the work hasn't been done right and that it's utter rubbish. He goes to Sonya's office and asks if anyone has seen Mr McGregor, with Maggie telling him that he just missed him taking Lenny away fishing, and asks her to phone the council as he doesn't believe that he's a real teacher.
Nicola Adams arrives at the school and meets Kacey, and they both get ready to hold their training match, something which a worried Kacey now really wants to do.
In the office, fears are confirmed true when it turns out the teacher who said he was Frankie McGregor can't be him, as it turns out that the real Frankie is seriously ill in a hospice and that it's been an error. Now with Lenny in potential danger, and with the match between Nicola and Kacey on, Sonya rushes in and whispers to Christine about what has happened.
Christine, Simon and George question where the impostor teacher is. The police have already checked the pier, and there was no sign of them, so George reckons that a man of his sort would go fishing at the loch. Hearing that, Simon and Christine immediately set off to find Lenny, with George remaining in charge of the school and letting the police know where they were going.
As Kacey and Nicola continue their match at the school, Christine and Simon eventually find the man and Lenny, only for Lenny to fall into the water, Simon having to jump into the water and save him from drowning, as he can't swim. After Simon rescues Lenny, Frankie tries to claim he didn't do anything wrong, but Christine berates him for abducting a pupil and impersonating a teacher. He is then arrested, with Christine heading back to the school and Simon heading with Lenny to the hospital to get him checked out.
At the school, the match with Nicola and Kacey is a success and it raised more money than they had hoped for, which is great for Kacey's camp. In Christine's office, Simon asks if they managed to find the real identity of the man, and Christine tells him that his real name is Jim Ronsley and that he is actually Frankie McGregor's brother-in-law, but as his marriage broke down, the family took him in, and he probably took the call to go into the school.
According to Lenny, all they did was fish and talk and nothing else was done, but they both agree they would have to have a serious look at supply teachers in the future. Simon also claims that if anyone should have spotted something it should've been Sue, and Christine tells him that Frankie told her she was too busy making wedding plans.
Outside, Sue is waiting for Simon and asks if Christine had mentioned if she was in trouble, but Simon is enraged at her, for all she could think about was herself and not about what happened to Lenny, and he asks about how Sue didn't notice that Ronsley wasn't a teacher, however she lies and claims that she was teaching, but Simon furiously accuses her of being negligent and tells her that thinking about the wedding made her endanger a kid's life.
Christine and George then have a chat about what happened out in the field.
Main cast[]
Staff[]
- Laurie Brett as Christine Mulgrew
- Victoria Bush as Sonya Donnegan
- Angus Deayton as George Windsor
- Georgie Glen as Audrey McFall
- Vanessa Hehir as Sue Spark
- Melanie Hill as Maggie Budgen
- Richard Mylan as Simon Lowsley
- Heather Peace as Nikki Boston
- Duncan Pow as Jim Ronsley/"Frankie McGregor" (One-off appearance)
Students[]
- Carl Au as Barry Barry
- Mark Beswick as Darren Hughes
- Christopher Chung as Archie Wong
- Rebecca Craven as Rhiannon Salt
- Brogan Ellis as Kacey Barry
- Caitlin Gillespie as Lisa Brown
- Je'Taime Morgan Hanley as Shaznay Montrose
- Tommy Knight as Kevin Chalk
- Marlene Madenge as Lula Tsibi
- Abby Mavers as Dynasty Barry
- Shane O'Meara as Connor Mulgrew
- Joe Slater as Lenny Brown
- Kirstie Steele as Imogen Mulgrew
- Kane Tomlinson-Weaver as Harley Taylor
Others[]
- Nicola Adams as herself (One-off appearance)
- Zöe Lucker as Carol Barry
