It's Steve's birthday and everyone wants to go out and get plastered - except Steve who is ill. Or at least he tells his mum and everyone else he is...

It's Steve's birthday and everyone wants to go out and get plastered - except Steve. Steve is ill in bed. Or at least he tells his mum and everyone else he is.

When Becky, Laura, Shelly and Paul can't persuade Steve to go out and celebrate, Steve stays in and - with a little help from Dan - makes very good use of his presents.

Characters introduced this episode:

Steve's mum Janet dotes on him. Steve's father left when he was young and Janet has devoted herself to her perfect son. Essentially lonely, she'll take any excuse to get out of the house and likes a good drink. She's on the lookout for Mr Right - or even just Mr Anything.

Shelly is Laura's friend from work - aged 43. She's a divorcée and a single mother. She has one son, aged eight, and does not stop talking about him. She's desperate to go out and get drunk, desperate for love or sex or a snog, or anything she can get to interrupt the tedium of her life. In short, she's trying to relive her youth through Laura, her soulmate. They're as mind-numbingly average as each other.