Free Agents

Stephen makes Alex and Helen attend an agent's funeral in order to steal his old friend / late colleague's clients.

Alex is still homeless. Helen finds him sleeping in his car one morning. And at work Alex's day gets even worse: Stephen tells them his old friend and rival agent Charlie Renfrew has died. He wants all CMA Agents to attend the funeral as a mark of respect. And to steal Renfrew's clients.

Alex is deeply depressed that he's about to become a professional grave-robber. Helen, however, enjoys buying a new hat for the funeral - on expenses - until Alex reminds her that this will be the first funeral she's been to since Pete, her fiancé, died. Helen heads for the nearest off-licence.

Helen is still drunk that evening, having supper with Sophie - Pete's sister - and her husband Malcolm. Sophie is a chippy control-freak and competitive-griever who has never liked Helen, but in an attempt to force a connection with her dead brother's fiancé, she asks Helen to be godmother to her baby daughter. Who she's named 'Peta'. Or 'Pete' for short...

At the funeral, Alex accidentally finds himself chatting up a successful young actor, then immediately antagonises him, while Helen drunkenly confronts the vicar about the ethics of being a godmother if you don't actually believe in God. They both make a run for it...