Bed Of Roses

Saturday, 14 June
7.30pm

Louisa (Kerry Armstrong) is about to start a new phase of her life. The shack is for sale, the auction sign's up; the minute it's sold Louisa is moving on.

Realising she has little time left to put her affairs in order, Louisa summons the courage and declares her feelings for Tibor (Geoff Morrell). She sleeps with him, but leaves wondering whether she has done the right thing. Holly (Hanna Mangan-Lawrence), for one, doesn't like him.

When Minna (Julia Blake) has an accident and is hospitalised, Louisa is shocked to find the woman she thought indestructible, is getting old. Her mother needs her. And Holly doesn't want to go back to the city. Louisa is torn. She's wanted to go back to her old life, she has the perfect job and the shack has to be sold if she is to realise her dreams.

Saturday, 07 June
7.30pm

An exhausted Louisa (Kerry Armstrong) is juggling her cleaning and photography jobs with heavy labour, as she struggles to finish the shack by herself.

Nick (Jay Laga'aia) comes to her rescue but she stupidly offends him and he retreats, leaving her alone again. When a rain storm destroys her plaster sheets Louisa finally admits defeat, sobbing as she tells Holly (Hanna Mangan-Lawrence) they'll have to sell the place unfinished. But she wasn't counting on her Rainbow's End friends, who rally in a huge working bee.

Meanwhile Minna (Julia Blake) is atypically despondent after losing her driver's licence on account of failing eyesight, and Louisa enlists her to organise an exhumation ceremony and send Meilin Chee's bones back to China.

Saturday, 31 May
7.30pm

Shonky builder Marty Mason (Frank Magree) is still the bane of Louisa (Kerry Armstrong) and Holly's (Hanna Mangan-Lawrence) life. Holly demands that Louisa sack him, but Louisa's too intimidated.

Holly confides to Sean (Tim Phillipps) that her mother is much more annoying than her father ever was. She also confesses that she's still carrying Jack's ashes and can't bear to let him go yet.

Meanwhile Louisa discovers old letters that reveal 'Mary Kelly' was actually a Chinese woman called Meilin Chee. Meilin's not the only mystery close to home - Louisa is intrigued by her enigmatic neighbour, Tibor (Geoff Morrell), whose wife died recently. His grief and aloofness are strangely attractive.

Saturday, 24 May 2008
7.30pm

Shannon Atherton (Dave Thornton) is lost, but a footy legend doesn't admit to feelings of insecurity, nor will he face the fact that he's a has-been at 24. And he's in financial trouble. Shannon's life has run off the rails and so he does what he's always done, he looks to his mother Louisa (Kerry Armstrong) to help him out.

Builder Marty Mason (Frank Magree) is renovating Louisa's shack and is chuffed to have an AFL player on his turf. As coach of the Rainbow Roos, known as the 'Road Kill' because they have been wooden spooners since 1992, Marty is hoping Shannon's influence can lift the Roos out of their malaise.

But when Louisa can't pay Marty because she decides to pay Shannon's debt, her builders walk off the job. Louisa finds herself stranded with a half-finished house and the Roos are without a much-needed mentor.

Saturday, 17 May 2008
7.30pm

Now stuck in Rainbow's End, Louisa (Kerry Armstrong) is deeply depressed and humiliated as she's forced to sell her clothes at a garage sale and search for unskilled work.
She hides her pain behind jokes for Holly's (Hanna Mangan-Lawrence) benefit. But in reality, Holly is falling apart. After inadvertently incurring the wrath of her new school mates, she slips the urn containing her dad's ashes into her backpack for comfort.
The next day the ashes fall out at school, and she's derided and ostracised. Vulnerable and fragile, she finds herself fighting off the amorous advances of local footy star Rooster McIver (Richard Davies), until she's rescued by Sean (Tim Phillipps), the sweet undertaker.

Saturday, 10 May 2008
7.30pm

When Louisa Atherton's (Kerry Armstrong) wealthy husband Jack drops dead in the arms of another woman, she thinks things can't get any worse - until she discovers that he has left her bankrupt and homeless.
Retreating into denial, Louisa is ill-equipped for the emotional fallout. Rainbow's End is the only place left for her to run to, and so she does, she runs home to her mother, Minna (Julia Blake).
Coming to recognise her estranged relationship with her mother, Louisa learns that her own daughter Holly (Hanna Mangan-Lawrence) needs a strong and supportive mother - the kind Louisa has never been. Jack's death has caused Louisa to look in the mirror, where she sees she has to face some bitter home truths - the failure of her marriage, her unpreparedness for responsibility and the alienation of her daughter.