by Johnny Glover
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Episode 75: "No Time For Soundbites" (May 19th 1998 2.00pm)

Yaxley Farcett and Fiona Morgan were sitting next to the window in 'Like Chips In The Night'. She took a sip of her coffee, stared over the rim of the cup and said, 'What about my Dad ? You don't think he killed Reg Dixon do you ?' and she laughed out loud. 'Bugger' thought Yaxley, because that's exactly what he did think. He didn't think his chances of another date with Fiona would be greatly enhanced if in their second (sober) conversation he accused her dear old Dad of first-degree murder. 'Don't be daft' exclaimed Yaxley, treading water while he thought of what to say next. 'I just wondered how he'd been lately. He must be under a lot of stress, what with the opposition to the Power station and all that'. Fiona put her cup down and said, 'Yeah, I suppose he has. He's been a bit pre occupied lately. It's been as if Mum and me haven't existed. He breezes in and breezes out again without having time to sit down for a chat'.

The reason for Cedric Morgan's air of indifference to his family wasn't just the fact that he was on the verge of selling land to a large power generating company for a small fortune but also because he had been given extra responsibility by the Prime Minister. Morgan had impressed the PM with a presentation he gave when he opened a new plant-breeding farm on the outskirts of Ealham. The farm, owned by 'FaztVeg' (Yup..), was developing a self-peeling potato. The theory was that the skin would fall off and dissolve during the boiling stage thus saving people that extra five minutes of their lives so they wouldn't miss the last bit of yesterday's 'Neighbours' that they tag onto the start of every programme. Unfortunately, to enable the potato to 'self peel' the scotch seed had to be subjected to forty-eight different processes, most of which would make Dolly the Sheep blanch.