Soon the new stationmaster arrives in the guise of Cecil Parkin (Jeffrey Holland), a stern, well spoken man. He is amazed to learn that the café is run by May (then called Blanchflower), with whom he had a passionate fling during the war before she married Jack – although we later learn that she was seeing both of them at the same time. Although Jack is in the dark as to May and Cecil's history, he takes an instant dislike to the new stationmaster. A running subplot to the series is the question of whether Gloria is actually Jack's daughter, or the result of May's fling with Cecil (although in the second series episode "Father's Day", it is generally concluded that Jack is her father). Meanwhile, at the end of the episode a newspaper article is found threatening the station with closure under the Beeching Axe, which begins the series.