Season 8 Episode 31 Episode 355 Sky One Transmission Date: Sunday 22nd May 2005 Directed by Rob MacGillivray

Gina sees Karl for the last time As does Deano The peg! Brilliant expression (L-R) Stone, O.B, Sully, Ammo Viv

GS: Security Guard [Dave] (Andrew Dickens) In 24 hours time Harchester and West Ham will go head to head at the Millennium Stadium. Don sits in his room typing the letter that will bring Harchester down, revealing: how Dean cheated Harchester's way through the Champions League, how Lee knew when he scored against Sporting Lisbon he was locking the team in the Championship, and how if Viv had gone to Bolton, maybe Chelsea wouldn't have gotten involved not with Clyde, but Ryan! Gina visits Fletch in prison, where his bail is set at £400K. As she gets on the coach for Cardiff, Gina yells at the team how all Fletch needs is for someone to lend him £400K, and not one of his team will help him. Following a trust exercise involving drinking from a random water bottle, Viv tells Gina he and the team will call their banks so Fletch gets bail. At the Grange, Don asks the receptionist to get his parcel of letters to the team in Cardiff for tonight. Fletch is told he's been bailed by his team mates and is free. He goes straight to the club where Dean tells him the team have already left, and it was Gina who got them to cough up. Fletch is shocked and believes the team didn’t want him for their final game. Dean tells him that together they'll drive to Cardiff and watch the game, which Fletch agrees. Fletch is depressed over the team's rejection and ventures out onto the pitch before settling in the stands. Don turns up at the club and sitting in the dugout, he is spotted by Fletch who races over to reach him. Don scurries into the dressing room and hides in the showers. When Don thinks it's safe to come out, Fletch appears, throwing Don across the room. Fletch yells that if he is going down he is taking him too. Don taunts Fletch that he can't incriminate him without incriminating himself. He continues by telling Fletch if he came clean the fans would despise him and Gina would leave him. Fletch flips and lunges at Barker. The two begin a violent struggle with Don clinging onto the physio bench as Fletch pounds him from behind. When Don lets go the two go flying back into the wall, with one of the coat pegs slicing into the back of Fletch's head. Don is stunned as Fletch slumps to the floor and blood slowly leaks from the back of his head. Dean is waiting for Fletch to show, and the receptionist asks whether he would take what is Barker's package to the hotel. Dean assumes Karl must still be at the club. Right he is, as Barker is desperately trying resuscitation but nothing it seems can bring back Fletch, who is clearly dead. From outside he hears a security guard and is forced to open the door, stopping him from entering the dressing room. After sweet-talking Dave into letting him stay to reflect one last time on his managerial career at Harchester, Don begins the task of disposing of Fletch's body. The coach arrives at the Millennium Stadium for the lads to have a look around before tomorrow. Gina says she's just heard that Fletch has been released. Dean phones Fletch’s mobile, which rings out on his dead body in the dressing room, and Dean now fears Fletch has done a runner with £400K of the team’s money. Don wraps Fletch's body in a plastic sheet and then loads it into a trolley. Dean arrives at the hotel in Cardiff and has to tell the lads how Fletch never showed up. The team reaches the conclusion that Karl has run away with their money and Gina refuses to believe it, reminding the boys they are supposed to be his friends. Dean then hands out the parcel containing the letters, and asks if anyone has seen Ryan, while the man himself is upstairs with Savannah in the honeymoon suite. The lads open the letters from Barker, and Lee desperately tries to explain how Jeff was forcing him into a transfer when he scored that goal. Curtis goes for Dean after learning his involvement in the abandoned Lazio match, but they have a bigger problem on their hands with Ryan and Jaws. At the club Don switches off the electricity (and cameras) and loads Fletch's body into the boot of his car and makes a quick getaway. Outside Viv's room the lads plan to take the letter before he reads it. Frank makes an excuse about needing a new room which takes Viv away, whilst Dean gets the letter. Don places several cans of petrol alongside Fletch's body in the boot. Play-Off day arrives and Lee tells the boys Ryan didn't come in last night. The boys are shocked to discover that Viv’s letter is just an empty envelope, and are now convinced he had seen it before they saw him last night. In Harchester, Jodie finds Don asleep in his car and tells her dad if he’s going to Cardiff she'll travel with him. Jodie tells Don she can't send him to prison, but can't leave Fletch to go down either. Don reluctantly drives off with Jodie... who remains unaware that Fletch's body is in the boot! Notes: Terry Kiely’s third regular stint as Fletch ends here, although he is seen in the next episode in Barker’s boot. The Best: The look on Barker’s face when he realises the freak injury Fletch has suffered with the peg. Acted to perfection by Jon Morrison. Ammo’s purple dye job, reminiscent of Robbie Walsh in 6.9 Truth or Dare. The community art project on show at the Millennium, showing pop-art style portraits of each team member for Harchester and West Ham on either side of the wall. Quotes: Fletch, in an almost heartbreaking tone to Dean: “They’re Harchester United. So am I” Logic: When Barker tells Dave the greatest achievement of his managerial career was here beating Barca, it wasn’t at the Dragon’s Lair. It was in Barcelona at the Nou Camp (8.10 Who Ate All The Pies). Though considering he'd just caused Fletch's death and was trying to stop Dave entering and finding his body, his mistake can be overlooked! Foreshadowing: Fletch’s departure wouldn’t be the last we saw of him (10.24 Dragonslayer) so the whole thing ultimately ends up being softened. Continuity: With Don’s letter, we are treated to the various skulduggery events of the season, with Lee locking the team in the Championship (8.3 Last Exit To Harchester), Ryan deceiving Viv into believing Clyde was sleeping with Chelsea (8.8 Blame) and Dean’s involvement in the Lazio game being abandoned (8.18 The Race Card). Additional Info: Barker’s West Ham pool car (said to be Jane Hewland’s own car) may play a big part in the end of the season but it isn’t the last we see of it [9.13 Unleash Hell]. What Was The Score?: Harchester beat Preston in the first leg of the Play-Off's, with a 5-2 victory. Among the scorers Carl Caskey and Charlie Taylor. While West Ham saw off the challenge of Sunderland. Soundtrack: Apollo Four Forty: "Stealth Mass In F#m", BBG Feat. Dina Taylor: "Snappiness Original 12" Version", Dizzy Gillespie: "Menteca (The Funky Lowlives Remix)", Kinobe: "Vanishing Point", Moby: "Everloving", Pete Rodriguez: "I Like It Like That", Spandau Ballet: “I’ll Fly For You”, The Delfonics: “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time)”, The Chemical Brothers: "Suface To Air” Behind The Scenes: Fletch’s gory death was said to be a lot more bloody than what actually made the screen, with even a special Director’s Cut DVD proposed but never came to fruition. With the identity of the deceased character left unknown from the previous episode’s “Coming soon…” preview, Ryan at the hands of Jaws remained the popular theory amongst the viewers. Before the reveal in this episode however, a poster on harchester.net’s forums told of how it was going to be Fletch, which left many shocked when it turned out to be true. <<SE08 EP30 | Season 8 Main Page | SE08 EP32>>