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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Marley Drama" data-source="post: 406124" data-attributes="member: 23"> Episodes 391 - 400 28 July -  26 August 1986 As Nick Black, Alan Rothwell is doing a very nice job of being frustratingly vague. His insouciant apathy to his kids’ less sociable behaviour is giving them carte blanche to wind up their new stepmother and score points over her, and it’s almost agonising to watch. This kind of emotional warfare isn’t an easy thing to transmit to the viewer, but the micro-aggressions we see - while not always the subtlest - are just enough to put us firmly in Heather’s shoes.Like Heather I live in a very calm household and would find it jarring to suddenly be confronted with noise and mess and intrusion, so watching her living this hell is a little anxiety-provoking. I’m impressed with, and at times surprised by, her poised responses. Heather has always been very direct and - when pushed - even combative. Here, though, she only asserts herself up to a point, surprising me with her choice to shrug some of these concerns off and try to take on some of Nick’s relaxed attitude. This feels almost out of character because Heather is not one for internalising her dissatisfaction. This is the woman who, just before becoming Mrs Black, had no trouble telling Harry Cross he wasn’t invited to her wedding when he tried to invite himself, and throwing him out of her house when he was ungracious in his response. But there are very few ties that bind her to her neighbour, and many which rule such assertiveness out as an option in her responses to her stepchildren.It strikes me that this powder keg of a situation is an “at home” version of challenges with which Heather has previously had to deal in her professional life: biting her tongue and being amiable in the face of aggression because she knows to make waves in these fragile relationships at this crucial point could cause untold damage. Heather’s previously suppressed or turned something of a blind eye to unhealthy situations with Roger and Tom, but never before has her sanctuary been disrupted to this degree. The emphasis on a dysfunctional home life means this is in some ways her most conventionally soapy story but, because it’s happening to Heather, it feels we’re breaking some new ground.On top of this, the series then takes the step of shifting the focus of scenes at Number Nine by sending Heather overseas as part of her new working role. For the latter episodes of this run, we see Nick, two of his children - Scott and Ruth - and Nick’s particularly sketchy acquaintance, Charlie.For the latter part of this run, the change in dynamics and the lack of ties to earlier episodes in the household mean that - on the surface at least - it’s like watching a completely new household. At this point, it’s suggested that this is how Nick was living before he met Heather, but because they’ve been integrated organically there’s nothing jarring. It’s even quite familiar. And Heather is still the key player in this, because all tension comes from the concern that she will discover the skeleton in Nick’s cupboard.The freedom brought by Heather’s absence, the passing references to the skeleton have increased. Speak about the burglary at the flat Nick still keeps, Nick and Charlie speak in a kind of telegraphese when Scott is present, meaningful looks and knowing emphases on important words mean that we are almost as much in the dark as Scott. When Nick is palpably relieved that his “video” is safe, it’s evident it’s not the video we’re talking about.While I know where this is going, it’s still fun to see how each new clue can create speculation. The more we hear, the more possibilities there are. Ruth disapproves of Charlie’s presence and warns Nick that if Heather sees him “she’ll find out”. There’s a casual intimacy between the two men - who clearly know one another well. Charlie makes himself at home, looking meaningfully at Nick as he says he intends to stay the night. And the next morning, Nick phones work to take the week off in order to spend it lounging with Charlie. Charlie also moves into the flat to which Nick apparently plans to retreat.It’s clear that Charlie is a bad influence, but it’s also heavily implied that he’s a threat to the status quo. Neither Scott nor Ruth likes Charlie and it’s apparent there’s history there.Given the evidence (and onscreen energy at times) it would be perfectly logical to suspect that Nick’s big secret is homosexuality or bisexuality (and wasn’t this originally supposed to be the case?). How this might look in light of Nick’s ex-wife Barbara now happily living with her female lover is fascinating to consider. Either way, whether it's by design or because of an abandoned plot idea (I suspect the former), it's a very nice piece of misdirection. continued…</blockquote>

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