When Wessex Tonight newsreader Keith has a heart attack, station boss Leonard (
Martin Jarvis) knows the perfect replacement - suave ladies' man Benedick (
Damian Lewis). The only trouble is, his other on-screen star Beatrice (
Sarah Parish) can't stand him, thanks to an unhappy love affair between the two years ago.
Meanwhile, Leonard's beautiful daughter Hero (
Billie Piper) is making waves as a weathergirl, not least with dashing young sports reporter Claude (
Tom Ellis). The two become an item, with Leonard's blessing. But creepy editor Don Reid (
Derek Riddell) developed a huge crush on her after the pair slept together once, and just can't leave her alone.
At a fancy dress party arranged to celebrate Benedick's arrival, Benedick and Claude both dress as knights in armour. This leads to Beatrice telling Benedick exactly what she thinks of him, believing him to be Claude! Elsewhere, Don overhears Hero admit that she only slept with him because she felt sorry for him. The party is rounded off when Claude proposes to Hero.
Back in the newsroom, the friction between Beatrice and Benedick is causing more than sparks on screen. It's becoming a problem - one that the rest of the newsroom crew decide to solve by making Beatrice and Benedick fall in love with one another. They quickly start dropping hints where the two of them can overhear.
On the night before Hero's wedding, Benedick reads a
poem to Beatrice and something nearly, but not quite, happens between them. Meanwhile, Don tricks Claude into believing that Hero has been unfaithful to him. At the wedding the next day he rejects her, wrecking the ceremony. Left in the church together, Beatrice and Benedick finally kiss - then Beatrice demands Benedick sort out Claude.
As Benedick returns to the reception hotel, a security guard takes him aside and reveals how Don had tricked Claude. Inside, he tells Claude, who is aghast. Just then, Hero rushes in and confronts Don, demanding to know why he's trying to ruin her life. Don pushes her away - as she falls, she cracks her head and passes out.
In the hospital, Hero lies in a coma, and all fear for her life. Miraculously, she finally wakes, to Claude's intense relief.
Flash forward to the future, and Claude is still waiting for Hero to take him back. Beatrice and Benedick on the other hand, are just about to get married.
