SoapWeekly: Abigail refuses to go to her counselling session in Home & Away

Soap highlights for the coming week from Neighbours and Home and Away…

Vera is insulted when it is suggested she could move into an old people’s home

Tormented by the sound of Heath’s voice echoing through the Kennedy House, Holly summons Yaz for comfort. Soothing Holly with reassuring words and alcohol, Yaz urges Holly to talk it out, extracting from her a quasi-confession about wanting Heath dead, while she surreptitiously records it on her phone. The next day, Nicolette is charmed by acts of romance and hints at an expanded future from Yaz, not realising Yaz’s good mood is partly due to her private belief that she will now be able to avenge her brother’s death.

Happy with her new septum piercing, Sadie asks Byron if he thinks a Madonna or Medusa stud would look better as an accompaniment. Unwilling to reveal he’s not a huge fan of the first one, Byron is quietly relieved when Paul, seeing Sadie for the first time since acquiring her new face-furniture, demands she remove it before her next shift.

Leo is doing his best to remain calm in the face of Krista’s continued attention on Sebastian, but he can’t help feeling like the third wheel. This feeling is intensified when Krista asks Nicolette if Seb could have a job at Harold’s, leaving Leo to wonder how much longer Seb will be in their orbit. Later, when Leo finds Krista and Seb in an intimate situation, his insecurities come flooding in.

After Paul’s shocking realisation about Terese’s backstabbing, he’s desperate for an explanation. When the couple can’t see eye to eye, they both rely on Jane to play mediator. Will they be able to create a fresh start, or is history repeating already?

Yaz returns from the outback, but with no new information to persuade the police to go after Holly – she’s beginning to reach the end of her tether. Nicolette invites her over for brunch to meet Isla, but when Yaz finds Holly, with Counsellor Rhonda’s advice in mind, burning photos of the men who haunt her – Eden, Heath – Yaz can barely contain her rage, and bails on her brunch with Nicolette at the last minute. Already in a fluster, Yaz returns to her room to find Heath’s ashes have been delivered. The shock tips her over the edge, sending her into a rage as she starts smashing things to give vent to her inconsolable loss.

When Vera arrives home from, yet another unsuccessful share house interview, Sadie, Byron, and Max offer her other options, but Vera is picky and insists none of the houses suit her needs. It becomes apparent that despite Vera’s insistence she wants to move on, this going to be trickier than anticipated. The gang are stumped until a new idea forms – what Vera is looking for might be Eirini Rising! The trio try to sell Vera on all the positives of Eirini, but Vera is insulted they’d even suggest her moving into an old people’s home.

Amazon Prime, Monday to Thursday from 7.30am

Theo snaps when Leah tries to get intel out of him about Justin.

Still taking space away from Leah after the Claudia incident, Justin meets up with Theo outside. Theo refuses to get involved, insisting that they talk it out. At the same time, Leah gets a tarot reading from Marilyn, who pulls an Eight of Wands: the card of communication. The message is clear – it’s time for Leah and Justin to talk. They’re off to a rocky start; Leah gives Justin an earful for running off to the motel, and Justin is frustrated that his wife won’t understand his side no matter what. Will they ever see eye to eye?

A woman named Jane from LegalAid arrives with Perri’s file – his new lawyer. Perri tries to explain his side of the story, recounting the details one after another – but on paper, the facts aren’t looking good. What’s more, Jane seems pretty green – and Tane lets his frustration about that be known. Jane informs Tane that Perri’s hearing will be in the morning. Rose is furious with Tane, accusing him of obstructing justice. Tane defends his actions, trying to argue Perri’s innocence, but Rose isn’t listening.

Cash and Mackenzie meet up to make the transferal of Salt’s ownership official. Cash signs a few papers, shakes her hand, and it’s done. He looks around at his sister’s restaurant wistfully; it was a hard choice to let go, but deep down, Cash knows he did the right thing.

Justin and Leah have been talking in circles over dinner for hours. Justin lays it out on the table: they’ve both been denying it, but clearly, there’s trust issues both ways. This revelation scares both of them.

Abigail refuses to go to her counselling session, but Eden is just as stubborn. She tells her sister that she doesn’t have to go to Tim if she doesn’t want to – but they’re not going anywhere. Abigail sits it out in the car, expecting to win the mental battle, but she caves quickly; Eden is driving her insane. Abigail gets out of the car and storms towards Tim. The session starts. Abigail has her walls up at first – her desire to seriously get clean this time wins over. Abigail confides in Tim about the deep loneliness she feels at uni, amongst her peers; but more than that, through her entire childhood, first being abandoned by her father, and then Eden. Tim tells Abigail he can help her, but she’s going to have to commit to the process.

It’s the day of Bree’s medical tribunal, and she’s secretly terrified. Unfortunately, she runs into Levi as he’s on his way out after making his statement; she’s wounded and resentful. These feelings come out in full force when the hearing begins. What starts off as earnest attempts to use the facts of what happened that day to defend herself turn into attacks on Levi’s character. Bree claims that Levi is an egotist who swooped in and endangered Alf’s life – and this isn’t the first time he’s done this.

Levi is furious that Bree betrayed him to save her own skin – and then had the nerve to shake his hand and pretend she hadn’t just sold him out. Before the two of them can escalate an already heated conversation, Remi intervenes.

Home and Away airs 1:45pm on Channel 5, Monday to Friday and at 6pm on 5STAR with first-look screenings of the following edition at 6:30 pm. The series also streams on My5.

River City is on a break until February, catch up with previous episodes on the iPlayer