Al Haskey (played by Ian Midlane) meets a mother struggling to face the outside world on today's standalone episode of Doctors (1:45pm - see our TV Guide for listings)...
Al makes a home visit to check on patient, Jo McLennon (Kellie Shirley, who previously played Shirley Carter's daughter, Carly, on EastEnders).
Jo hasn't been collecting her prescriptions for antidepressants and is clearly distracted.
During Al's visit, Jo gets an alarming phonecall from the school that her 7-year-old son, Freddie attends.
Freddie left for school that morning but never arrived...
It's not long before PC Pat Dyson (Dawn Butler) arrives to lead the search for missing Freddie.
As PC Dyson starts to question the family about Freddie, there's pressure on Jo's teenage son, Conor (George Malcher), who normally looks after Freddie.
Al does some investigating and discovers the lad has been drinking and smoking weed.
Under the influence, Conor failed to wake-up in time to take Freddie to school...
When Jo's angry husband, Sean (Gavin James), arrives home early from work to join the search, he quickly points the finger of blame.
Tensions flare between the family members and Conor storms off!
When Al follows after Conor, he finds the troubled lad down by the canal.
Conor confesses that he and Freddie take this route to school... so Conor can meet his drug dealer!
Is it possible that Freddie might have walked this way on his own and accidentally fallen into the canal...
Doctors continues Monday to Thursday at 1:45pm on BBC One.
All the latest episodes are also available to stream through BBC iPlayer
