Tue, Sep 23, 2014
Following the party to celebrate Trish's divorce Karl is shocked to find himself waking up nude in his bed. On arriving at work he meets the new deputy manager Natalie Mason whom Trish rates but about whom Angela is typically cynical. However thanks to Natalie the whole office gets to know about his one night stand with Trish and, feeling embarrassed, he applies for a new job. Of course he fails but finds the means to get himself back with the job lot when he discovers Trish at it with his flat-mate Tom.
Mon, Nov 9, 2015
On the Job Centre's twenty-fifth anniversary Natalie brings in its first manager Maggie Higgins, who amazes everybody by recalling the time when Angela was pleasant and humorous but makes the mistake of trying to report her for benefit fraud. The appearance of Trish's holiday romance, handsome Spaniard Raul, who wants to marry her despite not speaking English, prompts Karl into performing a romantic gesture - which unfortunately brings the police to the office.
Mon, Oct 5, 2015
When Trish tells Natalie she believes she may be pregnant by the man who sold her a Welsh dresser Natalie buys her a self-testing kit but Karl wrongly assumes that it is for his girlfriend Natalie and panics. Seeing the result Trish is over-joyed to think that she is about to become a mother but has unfortunately reckoned without Angela bringing her pregnant cat to work.
Tue, Oct 28, 2014
The staff attends a mandatory Saturday morning work-shop on health and well-being with employees from the Kingstanding branch. In the exercises Karl is hoping to be paired with Natalie but ends up with irresponsible Tyler, who gets him high whilst Natalie is teamed with Trish's opposite number Denise, who is keen to poach her. Trish overhears Denise asking Natalie to be her deputy but gets locked in her office. Natalie accepts the offer because she is fond of Karl and the rules state that colleagues cannot date. However Trish escapes in time to change the rules and keep Natalie and Karl together.
Sun, Jun 9, 2013
On her birthday Trish asks Karl to be acting manager to which he reluctantly assents as Angela spitefully drops him in it when an angry claimant glues herself to her desk and the queue of job-seekers increases. Furthermore nobody takes Karl seriously when he gives Paul a warning for storing his carpets in the office. Trish confides in Karl that she is angry with her ex-husband for leaving her for a younger woman and makes him accompany her to his house,where she breaks in and reclaims her dogs. Mission accomplished they return to work and Trish's birthday party.
Tue, Oct 14, 2014
The staff are encouraged to get more people back in work and Natalie challenges Angela to hit the best target with the lazy Angela meeting her match as Trisha helps Natalie to win. Trisha also tries to set Natalie up on a date with Karl but he misses it, as he is on surveillance with George, wrongly staking out a genuinely disabled person. Next day Natalie throws herself at Karl whilst Tom, having rejected Trisha when he found she was older than she claimed, stages a demonstration to show he still loves her.
Sun, May 19, 2013
Trish panics on learning that an undercover inspector is coming to rate Brownall House. She is certain he is hard-of-hearing Alan Tucker and goes out of her way to be helpful - as well as acting as marriage guidance counsellor to a pair of notorious benefit cheats. And there is a further complication when regular claimant Graham appears to have died. In fact the inspector,a young woman,is seen by Angela,who is customarily unhelpful and disinterested so Trish ,as damage limitation,sends in the charming Karl. Unfortunately the inspector mistakes his easy manner for an attempt to flirt with her and the centre only just passes the inspection.
Tue, Sep 30, 2014
Trish aims to impress business woman Jamina McNulty who is looking for a team leader to sell her hot tubs in China. Meanwhile Karl is annoyed when hunky phone engineer Andy flirts with Natalie so he tells Andy that she is his girl-friend. All the applicants are unsuccessful due to their inability to speak Mandarin though surprisingly Andy does speak the language and gets the job. However Jamina's sexist treatment of him in the hot tub leads Trish to cancel the deal.
Tue, Oct 7, 2014
Aware that the local MP backs job opportunities for young people Natalie invites him to an unemployment initiative day when each staff member mentors a young job-seeker. Sadly most of the clients are quite disinterested except Ann-Marie, who fancies Karl and compromises him into going on a date with her whilst Angela contrives an accident to get rid of the stroppy Bryony. George, the fraud investigator, gives a seminar explaining how he works but this leads to Karl accidentally Tasering Trish and when the MP arrives she looks so dishevelled that he mistakes her for a job seeker.
Sun, May 12, 2013
When the local car plant closes overnight Brownall House is inundated with hundreds of the unemployed,Paul using the opportunity to try and sell them carpets. Flu-stricken Karl unwittingly antagonizes a woman before accepting an energy drink from investigator George,which turns out to be lethal. Trish takes a turn at the desk,discovering that Angela is using the works computer for her dating site but when she asks George to fix it he ends up causing all the building's computers to crash. As a result all applications are processed by hand and the staff must work after hours - though at least Trish has the ammunition to make Angela join them.