The Price

Ruth is relishing the task of holding the fort in Julia's absence and attempts to get Simon to see patients rather than work on his research, but he refuses. She also imposes a new initiative on Karen - recording how long patients spend in each consultation - and chases Daniel for a report due in at the end of the day. Cherry is then distressed to find a mass delivery of pregnancy testing kits - Ruth thought it would be good to buy them in bulk to save money, but there isn't anywhere to store them.

Later, Ruth calls a meeting to discuss consultation times - Heston is taking too long and Zara not long enough. Ruth collars Karen later with an update to the system - can she add patient travelling time to and from the consulting rooms? Karen agrees but fakes all the results! At the end of the day, Cherry, Zara and Daniel agree to go for a drink but exclude Ruth for her behaviour that day. Ruth hears the discussion and is left hurt.

Meanwhile, Zara meets Elaine, but before she can be frosty, Elaine kills her with kindness and thanks Zara for letting her use her office. Daniel is unnerved to hear Zara and Elaine getting on like best friends.

Elsewhere, Julia is excited when her son Patrick and 7-year-old granddaughter Chloe arrive at her house. Patrick thanks Julia for looking after Chloe for a week while he treats his wife Sally to a spa holiday for her fortieth. Patrick's a little concerned about Julia's anxiety and loss of memory, but she brushes it off.

In today's story of the day, Martin talks to an unseen person about his fear of being alone and how he's never fitted in, but now he feels in control, and doesn't want to lose that feeling. Martin goes to see Simon to get him to go to a talk that afternoon with Trevor Blake, a discredited astrophysicist. Simon agrees, but when he gets there, he is horrified to find everyone dressed in sci-fi costumes, with Blake appearing to give a talk from the Intergalactic Book of Zorg.

Simon says he thinks they're mad and Blake laughs, admitting that the Zorg stuff was just a show. Despite himself, Simon finds Blake's talk about astronomy fascinating. Georgi, a friendly member of the commune, asks Simon if he's worried about his friend joining a weird UFO cult. Simon confesses that he is, and when Martin wants to stay for a while, Simon reluctantly leaves.

Later, Simon is surprised when Blake goes to see him, and offers to be a sounding board for him if he ever wants to get things straight in his head. Simon calls Martin and leaves a message on his voicemail. When he tries again, he's worried when Martin still doesn't answer.

Simon goes back to the commune, where Martin praises how they live - they could help Simon with his problems. Simon loses patience and wants to leave with Martin, who confesses that he's already a part of this and has been for two years. Martin has been trying to recruit Simon, who leaves, hurt at being betrayed.