The Chase (TV Series) - Series 1 (2006)

Series 1 (2006)

Episode 1 Chevin Chase veterinary practice is buzzing with excitement. The finishing touches are being made to the marquee in the garden with flowers arriving and tables being laid. Eight months pregnant Anna is directing the activity but begins to panic. Time is ticking away and her father George, the groom, is still operating on a puppy. Meanwhile in London, Sarah walks out on her cheating boyfriend David and drives up north. The church is packed to the rafters. Practice Manager Deborah is making disparaging remarks about everyone to her husband Rick, the practice Senior Partner. During a brief lull in her tirade, he slips outside for a sneaky cigarette with nurse Matt. Meanwhile fellow nurses Clare and Margaret enjoy a gossip about the guests and Sarah's imminent arrival. Sarah hasn't been home since her mum died two years ago and everyone wonders why... not least her sister Anna. Little does she know that Sarah hides a painful secret - she caught Anna's husband Tom in bed with one of the nurses, Fiona. And she hasn't been able to face any of them since. Just as Sarah enters the church, Fiona takes her seat. There's no time for trouble as the young bride Claudie, 30 years George's junior, makes her breath-taking entrance. At the wedding reception, chemistry ignites between Rick and Clare who share a brief kiss. Meanwhile, George makes a shocking announcement - he's retiring and moving to Malta with wife Claudie, leaving pregnant Anna and Sarah with a struggling business, one vet down, one vet defecting to the local opposition and a list of operations as long as their arm. George's revelation is enough to send Anna into labour. Anna and Tom race to the hospital, leaving Sarah in charge of the practice and their unruly kids. Anna gives birth to a girl who she names after her mother, Imogen. But George drops another shocking bombshell - they've re-mortgaged the house by £200,000. This leaves Sarah with no option but to muck in at the Chase. After a heated discussion, Fiona and Sarah make amends. Fiona reveals she has a son Theo from a previous failed relationship but little does Sarah know that the child is Tom's. Sarah's astonished when David turns up, begging her to come home, but she reveals she is home. Elsewhere, Tom's late on Theo's monthly payment. Fiona threatens to reveal all if he doesn't cough up soon...

Episode 2 It's Sarah's first day in the practice and just the thought of it is giving her nightmares. During the morning household scrum she puts on her battle armour to face the big day - hair, make-up, suit - looking every inch the professional. But it's a costume hiding her big secret. Practice Manager Deborah isn't very welcoming and her encounter with Sarah leaves feathers severely ruffled. Sarah's first client of the day is a border collie which needs a mammary strip - a straightforward operation but tricky without an ultrasound. Fiona has the dog prepped, but when Sarah realises that the practice doesn't even have an ultrasound she freaks and walks out, heading back to David and London. Unknown to Sarah, her sly ex appears to be entertaining another woman. Anna is furious and bombards Sarah with some hard home truths and accuses her of constantly running away. Anna drops the shocking bombshell that their mother used to run away and cheated on their father, George. Furious and cornered, Sarah finally makes her big confession, "I'm not a vet any more. I gave it up two and a half years ago. I lost my confidence. I lost a dog... the blood kept on coming." Anna is shocked into silence. At the front desk, Deborah's dealing with the angry collie owner. It's Sarah's old flame, local farmer, Adrian Huby. He's delighted to see her again, but Sarah's intent on getting back to London. On the way home, she's haunted by her memories and decides to face her inner demons. Determined to confront the past head on, she returns to the practice to operate on Adrian's collie. It's touch and go for a while but after a tense two-hour operation, the dog pulls through. Eager to make the practice a success, Sarah sells her car to pay for the ultrasound equipment. She also calls David to tell him it's over once and for all. George and Claudie's return stuns Sarah and Anna. It transpires they've been stuck in Liverpool for two days as George's passport was out of date. George confides to Sarah that he's not ready to leave Oxley. Elsewhere, a feline client forces Rick and Clare to take a step closer. Meanwhile, Tom's secret is spiralling out of control as he struggles to meet Fiona's demands. In her stalker style, Fiona confides she wants Tom to be a proper father to Theo, and that their night of passion wasn't a mistake - she chose him.

Episode 3 Still waiting for George's passport to arrive so they can go on honeymoon, Claudie is making her presence felt in the household. Both Anna and Sarah are struggling to keep their feelings towards their stepmother under control. When Claudie starts throwing their mum's belongings out, they are furious. And when George approaches Anna to suggest that she might invite Claudie to be Imogen's godmother, Anna refuses point blank. Sarah has arranged for an ultrasound demonstration and the team gather to see what this new technology can offer. They're all impressed and Sarah offers to pay for one there and then. George's unhappy about the rapid changes taking place in his practice until his daughter's remind him that, technically, he has retired. While everyone has been involved trying out the new equipment, Claudie has been babysitting with disastrous consequences, putting her on a collision course with Anna who is apoplectic with rage. The morning of Imogen's christening dawns with the usual family chaos. When Imogen is sick down her gown, George remembers that Anna's old gown is in a box amongst the things Claudie was clearing out. Dashing upstairs, Anna uncovers more than she bargained for when she opens the box and her birth certificate floats to the floor. She's stunned to discover George is not her father. When confronted, he declares he's always loved Anna like she's his own daughter. Anna demands to know who her real father is but he says that Imogen wouldn't reveal his identity. After a few drinks, Anna and George are reconciled. Fiona confesses to Anna that James isn't Theo's dad, and that she had an affair with a married man who Anna knows. Anna doesn't suspect that man is Tom. Elsewhere, sparks fly between ex-lovers Sarah and Adrian and she agrees to go to dinner with him. Meanwhile, Tom's shocked to learn that Anna knows about Fiona's fling with a married man.

Episode 4 While Anna sleeps peacefully, Tom's helping a cow give birth. After a hard night, he sneaks back at 5am little realising that he's observed by a suspicious Sarah. It's Sunday and George and Claudie are late rising, arriving for their fry-up in matching black silk dressing gowns. Eyebrows are raised. Tom's also receiving mysterious phone calls. Setting off to buy the papers he doesn't come back for almost three hours, meaning Anna has to run the kids' errands. She's worried, suspicious and angry. She tries to call and is shocked when a woman answers but quickly hangs up. Little does she realise that Tom is secretly locuming to fund his payments to an increasingly demanding Fiona. The stress of the secrecy and extreme tiredness is making Tom grouchy. Then his woes are compounded when his father Jim drops by for an unexpected visit. Tom's childhood was not a happy one as his alcoholic father abused him and he's less than overjoyed to see Jim. "You destroyed my childhood" he accuses. Jim is dying and seeks reconciliation but no amount of apologising will sway his son. Things come to a head when Tom gets his operation list confused and mistakenly castrates a prize pedigree stud dog. Its owner is far from happy and demonstrates his rage with his fists. Meanwhile, Jim is forced to stop an angry Tom from attacking Fiona. It transpires that James is also paying a monthly allowance towards Theo's upbringing. Tom demands a paternity test.

Episode 5 Margaret's late again and the staff are beginning to make rumblings against her - namely Deborah and Fiona who suggest that she should reduce her hours. Her suggestion causes ructions at the staff meeting, leaving divisions and suspicion hanging in the air. Tom tackles Fiona about her ulterior motive - trying to grab Margaret's job for herself to bring in more money. George and Claudie are practising their Maltese while they continue to wait for George's passport to arrive. Claudie is increasingly frustrated that they can't start their honeymoon. Matt's getting strange letters from the pensions department. They're writing to his gran about her pension but she died two years ago. Someone has been fraudulently drawing her pension and Matt is falling under suspicion. An investigator's sent to interview him at The Chase but she says payments have been made to an account in Malta. The spotlight falls on Claudie as her past begins to catch up with her. Secrets long hidden burst into the open leaving the family stunned and George broken-hearted. Elsewhere, Sarah has lunch with Adrian and pub grub turns into a picnic full of reminiscences. Meanwhile Rick and Clare deal with a pair of gay tortoises.

Episode 6 Deborah's in her element as the day of the practice relaunch finally arrives. She's bossing anyone in her eye line - the men delivering chairs, the man delivering plants and any unfortunate stray staff. Clare overhears Rick on the phone. It sounds like a personal call to a lady friend. She's distraught to think that by refusing to let her emotions take control and get involved with him, Rick's now found a new woman in his life. He has - Jane. But it's not what it seems. Jane is a marriage guidance counsellor. Rick has finally had enough and is determined to make Deborah face their problems. Anna suspects that Clare might be the reason for Rick and Deborah's problems. She sets about re-arranging the work schedule so that they work together less, further hurting the bemused Clare who can't work out what she's done wrong. But neither of them can guess the extent of Rick and Deborah's pain and the real reasons they've got into such a mess with each other. Meanwhile, Sarah receives a letter from David that causes great upset. Elsewhere, Margaret rescues the launch from a PR catastrophe. When the new sign is unveiled revealing the practice's new identity, all the staff can see that George's name has finally gone. His daughter's have taken full control.

Episode 7 Everyone's had a sleepless night. Sarah's being besieged by her ex-lovers. David's arrived in the middle of the night, drunk from his stag do. Meanwhile, Adrian tries a more mainstream approach. Rick and Clare have had an evening full of declarations of love and the promise of more to come, but Rick is a man of principle. He knows he must discuss things with Deborah before he makes any new commitments in his life. Clare's paranoid and hurt suspecting a one night stand. Meanwhile, Deborah's shocked when Rick asks for a divorce. Elsewhere, it's Anna's first day back in surgery. Fiona's mum, Shirley, is looking after Imogen and Theo. When Theo falls over and cracks his head, Tom rushes a frantic Fiona to hospital. Tom finally has to face up to his responsibilities to his son and his family.

Episode 8 Following Sarah's discovery that Tom is Theo's father, she's struggling to keep her emotions in check on the day that Anna and Tom renew their vows for their 10th wedding anniversary. She's desperate for Tom to confess to Anna as she can't keep the truth locked up inside any longer. Adrian wisely advises Sarah to keep her counsel. Meanwhile, Fiona faces a furious James, who's still under the illusion that he's Theo's father. Deborah and Rick try to call a truce but their emotions are almost uncontainable. Deborah's heart broken by Rick leaving her and she is suddenly very aware of the threat from Clare. Meanwhile, Matt's been seeing Montgomery's stable girl and things have been getting a bit saucy. But when the mare she's responsible for goes into labour, Montgomery's not pleased to discover that she's been sired by a gypsy pony and Matt is the person whose been taking his stable girl's mind off the job. George and Claudie arrive home with Cindy, Claudie's friend from Malta who has been helping Claudie 'manage' her money. Claudie now has to face up to returning the £10K she fraudulently claimed in pensions. Throughout the day, Tom tries to find a way to talk to Anna but there's never a good moment. Anna arrives for the ceremony looking radiant and happy. Meanwhile, Adrian asks Sarah to marry him and the police turn up wanting to speak to Claudie. When Tom's asked to read the vows she has written for him, he can't and runs off. Eventually, Anna puts two and two together - will she ever forgive him?