End-of-season cliffhanger (Episode 696): It's a dramatic end-of-year final with numerous cliffhangers leaving lives hanging in the balance. David and Beryl look on in horror as an emotionally unbalanced Doris Hudson advances menacingly towards her baby son Robert with a pillow with intentions to smother him. Alison and James are left in peril as they race to stop Wayne from unknowingly marrying his half sister Mary but their light aircraft runs out of fuel and following a mayday call it crashes to the ground. Caroline is overpowered and locked in a cupboard at the Hamilton House by Duncan Phipps after a bungled robbery and Irene breaks the news to Fiona that she has cancer.