Episode 1-Prison
Eric is stressed out and rushing around as usual after a really stressful day at work. As soon as he leaves, he needs to rush to another errand. He gets in his car and drives frantically like a madman and is caught in the rush hour. Wanting to speed things along, Eric beeps his horn aggressively and yells at everyone to "Hurry Up!" Finally, the lights go green but Eric's phone rings. He answers his phone and whizzes past without looking where he's going. Little does he know, he goes through a pedestrian crossing and knocks over a young lad. Worst of all, he's been killed so Eric is banned from driving and gets sent to prison and must stay there for some time. His kids are now currently in the care of Liz, their wayward mother and Maria, the hopeless au pair.
Things are now looking bleak for Eric, or are they? He must share a cell with the most feared man in prison, Pete. Pete asks Eric who he is (aggressively), then Eric timidly introduces himself to the intimidating man. Pete then wants to know more about him. As the conversation goes on it gets more relaxed as Eric tells him about his job/career, family, where he lives etc. The scary convict then becomes impressed with him and admits that he struggles with Literacy and Numeracy and wants Eric to assist him. Eric kindly accepts the offer and Pete accepts him as one of his gang.
It's now dinner time and they are both let out of their cell by the guard and they head for the canteen. At the table Pete introduces Eric to the other prisoners and threatens them to leave him alone otherwise he'll make them wish that they've never been born. They obey Pete and start to get to know Eric and like him like Pete. Eric then teaches them Literacy and Numeracy. Looks like prison life isn't that bad after all for Eric.
It's now the end of Eric's prison sentence and he's free to leave. This is now quite emotional for him as he's had a great time with the other prisoners and is sad to leave them. The prisoners are sad too as they say their goodbyes to each other. They tell Eric that they'll miss him, but he promises that that they'll be seeing him again.
Due to Liz's and Maria's laziness and selfishness to pick him up and take him home, Eric goes home by taxi. When he arrives, Claire and Brian are so pleased to see him that they run up and hug him. Claire says that she's so glad he's back. Eric then sees the mess of the house, so he knows what she meant when she said that. Eric then moans at Liz and Maria. Whilst Maria has passed out drunk on the sofa, Liz replies hysterically to him by screaming, shouting and crying and says that he's overreacting as usual. Eric doesn't stand for her nonsense and tells her to leave, she sighs as she reluctantly obeys him and says bye to the kids on her way out.
The next day. It's back to work for Eric but this time he must get the tube as he can't drive now. However, Eric doesn't seem to mind as he won't be stuck in traffic and have the worry of finding a place to park. More importantly, he arrives to work earlier than expected. As soon as he gets in, it becomes another usual stressful day e.g. Paul Power his boss treating him like crap, his secretary Allison being lazy and useless as usual. Fortunately, Eric's mood has changed, he seems to be taking it all in his stride and not let any of this faze him.
It's now the end of the day and Eric is happily on his way home. He's gets on the tube, but he gets off at a stop but it's not where he lives. It's by the prison. Eric did promise that he would see his former cellmates again. He's volunteered to train them up on Literacy, Numeracy, CV help, interview techniques and employability skills for when they all leave prison. When he arrives, they're all pleased to see him, and he gets the lesson started for them. Things aren't so bad for Eric after all.
If you're all wondering who's looking after his kids, they're in the care of Maria which is disastrous as she can't even look after herself but fortunately, Liz is there too to support them, so the kids are reasonably safe.