Spoiler Guide by Rebecca Stunell, Synopsis by BBC Drama Publicity

Written by Kieran Prendiville
Directed by Paul Harrison
Produced by David Shanks
First UK Broadcast: 4th March, 2001, BBC1
Viewing Figure:

Frankie stops Vincent while he is driving home after a quick drink at Doc Ryan's. She breathalyses him and he's amazed when the test comes up positive. He assures her he was only drinking non-alcoholic beer but she insists that he come back to the station with her to give a blood test. One sample is sent to the police labs while Vincent takes the second. Vincent's indiscretion is reported in the local paper and soon everyone knows about it. When Doc Ryan tests Vincent's sample it also comes up positive. Eventually Doc Ryan realises that there was a mix up and Vincent was drinking full strength beer after all. Finally, Frankie's test comes back from the police labs and Vincent is clear by a whisker.

Siobhan is annoyed that Brendan doesn't take enough responsibility for Aisling and when he agrees to look after her he only makes matters worse. Brendan takes Aisling into school with him and is confronted by an angry Siobhan in front of his class. Brendan makes amends by taking Siobhan to dinner to celebrate Aisling's conception. While Brendan is out with Siobhan, Liam and Edso nearly come to blows over Elaine, Siobhan's niece who is babysitting.

Dooley is pleased that his future is more secure but he's uncomfortable that Vincent owns the pub. One day in Cilldargan he sees representatives from a cable company looking for a property on high ground where they can set up a satellite dish. He also notices that Louis is trying to sell an old cottage in the mountains and decides he can make some money out of it. Dooley persuades Louis to sell the property and buys it with help from Liam and Donal who received money from Quigley in episode 1. To Dooley's dismay the cable company pull out of the deal at the last moment but all is not lost because the head of the company decides to buy the cottage anyway as a holiday home.

Vincent is having other worries. Not only is Kathleen protesting about shortened confession times, the banks are eager to recoup their losses by selling Quigley's property and the priest's house is under threat. Father Mac tries to buy the priest's house for Vincent but at the last minute he finds it has gone to another buyer. When Vincent returns home, he finds out that Dooley is his new landlord having used the proceeds from the cottage to buy the property.

Typical Quotes

Memorable Lines

Continuity
The line 'it's a sin to tell a lie' is used by both Frankie and Vincent. It was also used by Peter in series one. Peter: It's a sin to tell a lie. Assumpta: Says who? Peter: Can't remember.

Ireland's most famous grotto appears again - with Frankie telling Vincent that it doesn't move.

Extra Locations
Louis' cottage. The grotto

Critical Review
This is one of BallyK's more issue-driven (pardon the pun) episodes. In this case Vincent's inadvertent drink-driving and Brendan's parenting skills. There's also the continuation of Vincent's settling in period, with Kathleen aghast at his measures to cut down sin by cutting the amount of time he's available for confession.

I also love Paul's way of getting a little leverage with Vincent - by buying the priest's house. It's also symbolic of Paul taking the 'chancer' plotlines which previously would have been Brian Quigley's scams. There's no doubt that no-one can pull off a scam quite like Quigley, but Paul Dooley learned from the best.