Andy begins volunteering at Comfort Support Line (CSL), a crisis hotline. He meets his new colleagues: manager George, gossipy Liz and uptight Joanne. Joanne advises Andy not to get personally invested in the callers, but he finds his first few calls very difficult. Later in his shift he takes a call from Chloe; a teenage girl who claims to have taken an overdose. Andy tries to tell her to call an ambulance but she asks him to sing "Shine" by Take That for her. When Andy finishes, Chloe is no longer on the line. He is very distressed and is rude to his next caller, an old lady upset about the death of her cat.
The next day, George gets angry with Liz, who has broken the rules by taking a personal call; they get into a fight. Andy tries to tell Liz about Chloe, and she tells him that she took a call from a man whose mother committed suicide last night after the death of her cat. Andy realizes that this is the old lady he spoke to, but George tells him not to blame himself. He asks Andy to help Michael, a new volunteer, with his first call. Subsequently, Chloe calls in and speaks to Michael. Andy takes over the call, yells at Chloe, and hangs up on her.
Liz is fired from CSL because of her argument with George. She holds a leaving party in the call center. During the party Chloe calls and asks for Andy. He blames her for the old lady's death, but Chloe says it's Andy's own fault and repeats what he said to the caller. Andy realizes that "Chloe" is someone who works at CSL - no one else could listen in on the calls. He stays late and goes to George's office, planning to get enough evidence to take to the police. Joanne arrives and Andy accuses her of being Chloe, but she says she just came back for her bag. Together, they discover from the CCTV footage that George has been making the calls as "Chloe". At this point, George arrives at the office, but quickly leaves when he sees Andy inside.
The next day, George is absent. During Andy's shift, George calls in as "Chloe." He says that he just wanted someone to listen to him, and he has done a "naughty thing" - he told the old lady's son where Andy works. Glen, a new volunteer who has just arrived that day, suddenly points a gun at Andy's head.
This episode contains examples of:
- Bait-and-Switch: For a minute, it appears as though George is being fired after his altercation with Liz, though it's actually Liz.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: George.
- The Calls Are Coming from Inside the House: George is Chloe, calling Andy to torment him.
- Crazy Cat Lady: The old lady who calls in to Andy.
- Cruel Twist Ending: George hires a new recruit, who is the son of the old lady. He pulls a gun on Andy..
- Drone of Dread: In between scenes, a dense collage of ringing can be heard. As the episode goes on, these get more and more droney.
- Driven to Suicide: "Chloe" pretends to be this, and the old lady really was.
- Foreshadowing: The small CCTV image at the top right shows us George's office. At the end of "Chloe"'s first call, he can be seen laying a mobile phone on his desk.
- Funny Spoon/Noodle Implements: At one point, Liz suggests that a caller use a spoon to fix their problem, though we don't hear what they need the spoon for.
- Gossipy Hens: Liz.
- He Who Fights Monsters: George apparently went insane from the stress of years of helping others with their problems.
- Jaywalking Will Ruin Your Life: Andy's offhand but nasty comment about it being "only a cat" leads to the old lady's suicide and his apparent murder.
- Jerkass Has a Point: While there was probably a nicer way to say it, George was not the least bit wrong to admonish Liz for using the phone to make personal calls when their job is to stop people from killing themselves!
- Leave the Camera Running: The episode is told entirely through CCTV footage. There are four screens, and you can always see them, even when nothing important is happening.
- Mood Whiplash: Right after the final shot of Glen pointing a gun at Andy's head, the credits roll with the upbeat "Shine" playing over them.
- My God, What Have I Done?: How Andy reacts when told that the old lady committed suicide.
- Not the First Victim: Andy says that George's prank calls go back for years and drove at least one call monitor to severe mental illness.
- Potty Emergency: During an especially long call, Andy pees into a cup.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Joanne.
- Two Aliases, One Character: Chloe is George.
- Vocal Dissonance: Despite being middle-aged and male, George can very convincingly disguise his voice to sound like a 16-year-old girl. Applies by extension to Reece Shearsmith, who
states he did "Chloe's" voice himself. - You Killed My Mother: George tells the devastated son of the dead Crazy Cat Lady where Andy works; and he shows up at the office with a gun...
