It's Annie's birthday and she's disappointed that news will have to be broken over Michael being let go. Nick insists on he and Elsa having a quiet night in and actually enjoying themselves. Joe breaks the news to Rachel that they will need to let Michael go at the end of October. She's furious. Alan's uneasy when Caroline shows no signs of wavering over going out with Eric. Dolly asks Archie if Sam can help out on the ice cream van again after school. She asks him to have a word with him about his bullying in the hope he'll open up to him. Frank is inspired as Chris goes over the figures and comes up with ideas for cutbacks. He begins thinking about ways they can cut back at Home Farm and suggests to Kim that they let Dolly go