EPISODE 72 Rosyln escapes when the fire alarm goes off. First broadcast ... 1979 (Melbourne) ITV broadcasts: Yorkshire Mon 12 Jan 1987 23:20 ; Central Mon 5 Oct 1987 23:05 ; other regions Broadcast on Channel 5 (UK) 19 June 1997 Thurs 4:40 a.m. DVD release: volume 5 disc 2 (AUS) Duration: 00:46:55

Meg ~ Elspeth Ballantyne Lizzie ~ Sheila Florance Erica ~ Patsy King Bea ~ Val Lehman Jim ~ Gerard Maguire Doreen ~ Colette Mann Vera ~ Fiona Spence Karen ~ Peita Toppano Alice Hemmings ~ Anne Haddy Pat O'Connell ~ Monica Maughan Roslyn Coulson ~ Sigrid Thornton Chrissie Latham ~ Amanda Muggleton Rosie Hudson ~ Anne-Maree McDonald UNCREDITED Sally ~ Nanette Wallace Officer Phillip ~ Lise Rodgers OTHER CHARACTERS Man from the typewriter suppliers Written by Denise Morgan Directed by Leigh Spence

Doreen wants to know why neither Karen nor her mother told her the truth. Bea and Pat try to raise Ros's spirits by telling her about Karen's appeal: Ros replies it doesn't matter as she won't be around for very long. Lizzie reads Doreen's letter by torchlight. Erica announces that the women are not to worry if the fire alarm goes off as there will be a fire drill at some time during the say. Meg takes Rosie to maternity to help convince her that her baby has gone and tells her about her own mother, but she is annoyed to find that Chrissie is listening in. Chrissie gets sick of Meg's relentlessly optimistic tone and points out that Rosie is a junkie and so she won't get her baby back, and replies to Meg's criticisms of her own potential as a mother by telling Meg of her own experience of "family" life with an alcoholic mother and a sexually abusive father. Karen is so annoyed by Doreen's hatred of Alice that at last she tells Doreen the real reason why her mother doesn't want to get too involved. Inspired by Doreen's typed letter, Lizzie asks Erica if the women can have typing classes, but is miffed when Vera offers to teach the classes in the women's own time. Erica isn't satisfied with the slack response to the fire drill and warns that the exercise will be repeated. Vera invites Meg and Jim to her birthday party in the staff room. Karen takes Doreen to visit Alice at her home. Lizzie overhears the secretary wishing Vera a happy birthday, so the women make a fake present for Vera and leave it on the desk for the second typing class as if it has come from George Lucas - it is a sack to wear over her head for their next date . To the women's surprise, she carries on the lesson as if nothing has happened. At Roslyn's instigation, Rosie attacks Chrissie and two of the typewriters are badly damaged. Bea catches Ros about to set the fire alarm off, but she agrees to let her go ahead with an escape attempt. In the chaos that ensues, Ros gets out through the gates in the back of the van driven by the typewriter repair man. Rosie rushes to the maternity wing to save her baby, and punches Chrissie in the stomach when she thinks that Chrissie has taken Sam away. Doreen calls to see Alice at home, but she is lying down in a darkened room and does not answer the door. Vera is just about to leave her birthday spread when she hasn't had any guests when Lizzie arrives in the staff room to give her a present - a bar of soap from her buyup. Karen and Doreen find Ros waiting for them at the halfway house, saying she has nowhere else to stay. ***

Storyliners: Dave Worthington, Margaret McClusky
Script Editor: Anne Lucas

ITV regional broadcast dates:-
YTV Mon 12 Jan 1987 23.20; TVS ... ; Channel ... ; TSW ... ; Central Mon 05 Oct 1987 23.05; Thames Thu 15 Dec 1988 23.35; STV Fri 17 Feb 1989 23.05; Anglia ... ; Granada Sun 25 Sep 1988 23.45; Tyne Tees Thu 30 Nov 1989 23.15; Border ... ; HTV ... ; Grampian ... ; Ulster ...

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