Sharon: When was the last time you were pregnant?
Tracey: Now!
— Tracey Stubbs dropping a bombshell on Sharon Theodopolopodous.
- Date First Aired: 28/07/1997
Sharon is still trying to get pregnant, to the point of creating a personal sex survey, much to the horror of Tracey. Not that Dorien is faring much better - she's once again being kicked out of the house, Marcus wanting to move his now pregnant affair in with him. Oh, and he's not giving her as much as she would like, so she's being forced to give away her stuff. However, Tracey is acting uncharacteristically moody. As they squabble, Tracey reveals a bombshell.
She's pregnant.
Despite this, however, Tracey is not quite sure it's Darryl's baby - after all, it could have been sex with another person. At the prison, Sharon is forced to tell Chris that her campaign to release him has failed, although Chris isn't bothered. Darryl on the other hand doesn't deal well with Tracey's pregnancy and breaks down.
Soon, however, Dorien realizes something - Marcus' mother doesn't know that Geraldine is Catholic, and will flip if she finds out, so she manages to get herself a nice flat. Meanwhile, Sharon figures out that Tracey's mystery affair is with someone at the pub. For a moment, it seems as if it's with a man named Big Eddie until Sharon points out that he's sterile. Unfortunately, Tracey fears that it may not have necessarily been him and it could have been with someone else at the pub, although Sharon points out that it doesn't really matter.
Tropes in this episode:
- Big Eater: Dorien makes a joke about Sharon eating more than her new annual income (which Sharon claims she could live off for five years) within a month.
- Blackmail: Dorien threatens to reveal the fact that Marcus' new love is Catholic to his mother if he doesn't give her a bigger settlement.
- Blackmail Backfire: Dorien tries to blackmail Marcus by revealing all to Geraldine so that he can give her a bigger settlement. Unfortunately for her, Geraldine was told everything and tells her to bugger off.
- Brick Joke: When Dorien enters Tracey and Sharon's house, she mixes up "bun in the oven" and "toad in the hole". Later in the scene when discussing Geraldine's latest pregnancy, she says she has a "toad in the oven".
- Continuity Nod:
- Sharon mentions Tracey's fling with Joe.
- Once again, Sharon's abortion is mentioned.Sharon: Look, there ain't a day goes by when I don't think... he'd be six now an' standin' outside the school gates with all the other mums, 'cept I ain't, Trace.
- Curse Cut Short: The show cuts away to Darryl before we hear Sharon actually say "shit".
- End of an Era: This marks the final episode to have Chris and Darryl as regular characters. Chris would go on to have guest appearances in "Can't Judge a Book" and "Blinded By Love", whilst Darryl will go on to become The Ghost until his death in "Knocking on Heaven's Door".
- Faint in Shock: Tracey, upon coming face to face with the potential father of her new baby.
- The Ghost:
- Gary Mills, Jim Quigley and Billy, who are mentioned on Sharon's sex chart.
- Mrs. Franks, Tracey and Sharon's old neighbour who misses their common talk.
- Michelle, Garth's new bird.
- Luxury Prison Suite: How Chris views his new prison, which is why he's not bothered with the fact that he isn't going to be freed. Apparently, the food is decent, the prison officers actually seem to like Chris, they get their own shower, and they have a TV room. They also have the best library that Chris has ever seen.
- Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: Tracey is pregnant, but isn't sure if the father of her new child is Darryl's. In the end, it is left ambiguous whether he is indeed the father of her new child.
- Morning Sickness:
- Dorien fears that Geraldine, who is once again pregnant, will be sick all over her carpets, although Tracey points out that it won't be her carpets anymore.
- Tracey begins puking sometime after the reveal that she's pregnant, which Sharon hears.
- Noodle Incident:
- Sharon once convinced Chris that the Archbishop of Canterbury would be speaking for him for the House of Lords and that Princess Diana would be visiting him.
- Marcus once sent a private detective to find proof of Dorien's affairs, only for Dorien to shag the detective.
- The Oldest Profession: When Dorien worries about having to be on the streets, Sharon tells her she shouldn't because there's too much competition.
- One-Night-Stand Pregnancy: Tracey's pregnancy may have came about as a result of a brief fumble with a man, a fumble so brief that she doesn't know who the father is.
- One-Shot Character: Ernie, Tiffany, Mrs. Green, Big Eddie and Reggie.
- One-Steve Limit:
- Sharon's sex chart mentions a Gary, Jim and Billy, the first was also the name of an unseen character in "Time and Tides and the latter two were One-Shot Characters from "Wipe That Smile Off Your Tape" (Jim is just a shorter version of Jimmy) and "Muesli".
- Chris talks to an Ernie in prison, which was also the name of a One-Shot Character in "Still Waters Run Deep".
- Reggie was also the name of a character in Sharon's dream in "Christmas in Dreamland".
- Preemptive "Shut Up": Tracey clamps her hand over Sharon's mouth before she can guess what Geraldine called Dorien.
- Rich Language, Poor Language: Dorien doesn't know the difference between "bun in the oven" and "toad in the hole".Dorien: Sorry, I've come without my Cockney slag phrasebook.
- Season Finale: Of Series 7.
- Shiksa Goddess: Dorien tries to pain Geraldine as one to make Marcus' mother force them apart.
- Shout-Out:
- The episode title is a reference to the 1970's American Sitcom Three's Company.
- Sharon talks about David Attenborough.
- Sharon steals a photo of Mel Gibson from Tracey's magazine.
- Sharon uses the Archbishop of Canterbury and Princess Diana to try and raise Chris' spirits.
- Speak in Unison:
- The sisters both say "No you ain't" to Dorien after she says she's lived in her current house all her life.
- The sisters both say "Let's go Sainsbury's" after they practice telling their respective spouses what they're going to tell them at visiting day.
- Story Arc: This episode sets up Tracey's pregnancy, which will be a major plot point for the rest of the series' original run.
- Take That!:
- Sharon compares Alcoholics Anonymous to Arsenal.
- Mrs. Franks has to watch EastEnders because she doesn't have any pathos or verbal abuse to listen to with Tracey and Sharon gone.
- When Tracey mentions feeling disgusted and ashamed at who she might have had her baby with, Sharon wonders if its Michael Jackson.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: Tracey is suffering from Morning Sickness, and pukes off-screen in the bathroom.
- V-Sign: Sharon tells Tracey that her getting pregnant is her sticking two fingers up to all her tries to get pregnant.
- Walking Disaster Area: Dorien accuses Tracey and Sharon of being one and blames all her bad luck on them.
- Wham Line: More like "Wham Word"; When Sharon asks Tracey when was the last time she was pregnant, Tracey responds with a single "Now".
