Season 3 - Episode Guide

After Liam denounces religion in school, Debbie has to act quick when the teachers request a home visit. She tells them that Liam has cancer and the news spreads around Chatsworth. Realising how serious Debbie's actions are, the Gallagher kids, along with Karen, Kev and Veronica, must go along with the charade, as preparations for a fund raising day organised by Jez get underway. However, the situation also forces Frank to confront his failings as a father, so he endures on a drink and drugs binge, with devastating results. Back at the Gallaghers', Monica and Norma return, and events finally come to a head at Liamday, the fund raising event. Meanwhile, Kev attends evening classes, but when his teacher tries to seduce him, Kev finds himself unable to resist her. Unable to fight temptation, Kev turns to Karen for help. However, she quickly uses his situation to have a little fun herself. Elsewhere, Marty is determined to raise a depressed Sue's spirits.

Lip begins a hotel scam with his new friend, Jack, to make some easy money. He also uses his new friendship to get closer to Jack's sister. He may live to regret introducing him to the Gallaghers, however, when Ian begins an affair with Jack. However, Ian soon learns that Jack is not as straightforward as he seems when a violent robbery leaves Kash hospitalised. Determined to deal with Jack, Ian's attempt to convince Lip of his friend's dark side tears the Gallagher boys apart, with all roads leading to a violent showdown between the three boys at The Jockey's karaoke night. Meanwhile, Frank spots an opportunity to make money when Kelly, Kev's ex-junkie sister, arrives in Chatsworth looking for a place to stay. Kelly's numerous lovers reignites the spark in Frank and Sheila's sex life. However, Frank soon discovers that Kelly is a prostitute. Elsewhere, Debbie is annoyed that Sue is living at the Gallaghers without paying her way, so Marty becomes a handyman, soon finding himself in a compromising position with Lillian.

A heavily pregnant Mandy is knocked over during a robbery at Kash's shop and gives birth to Lip's daughter, Katie, but the Maguires forbid contact. Eager to ally himself with Mandy's parents, Paddy (Sean Gilder) and Mimi Maguire (Tina Malone), Lip enlists Ian's help to find the robber responsible for the theft of a Maguire family heirloom. Will an encounter with an elderly person in a glory hole, a tortured deaf boy and a stand-off on a multi-storey car park clear the path for Lip and his new daughter? Meanwhile, Kev is given a racing tip not to be shared with anybody. Unlucky for him, Veronica tells Carol and she spreads the word around Chatsworth. Elsewhere, Sheila goes on strike as a skivvy when Frank forgets her birthday, sending him on a quest to find money to pay for a birthday present, while Sue attempts to fool Debbie into thinking she is not living at the Gallaghers so that she doesn't have to pay her way.

When Carol discovers that Lillian slept with her husband, Brendan, years previously, she reports her for benefit fraud, and benefit officers swarm the estate. This causes a public outcry as half of Chatsworth are claiming. Frank impersonates Lillian's husband in order to protect his benefits, which upsets Sheila. Can Frank win her back by making the big commitment: marriage? Meanwhile, Carl falls for Lip's latest girlfriend, Emily, and poses as her brother in order to fool Social Services. However, his paranoia goes into overdrive when he becomes convinced Lip and Mandy are having an affair, leading to a confrontation between them and an angry stepfather with a baseball bat. Elsewhere, Tony is having trouble with women, so Sheila steps in to help him.

It's Kev's birthday, but he is in no mood to celebrate when he discovers his mother has committed suicide. Worse still, he is reunited with his violent, alcoholic ex-wife, Roxy (Jill Halfpenny), at the funeral, and she and Veronica end up fighting in The Jockey. When Veronica finds Kev in bed with Roxy the next morning, she refuses to believe his plea of innocence and makes plans to leave Chatsworth. However, Veronica's departure may be the least of Kev's worries when he discovers he may have fathered a child with Roxy. Meanwhile, Lip gets his first taste of fatherhood when baby Katie is left in his care for the weekend. Meanwhile, Carol begins dating a nudist.

The Gallaghers are pleased when Carl starts bringing money into the household, but Lip is horrified to discover his brother's mini-enterprise is dealing drugs for the Maguires, and when someone informs the police and Mandy finds herself behind bars, Mimi and her son Shane Maguire (Nicky Evans) launch a manhunt for Carl. It falls on Lip and Ian to uncover the real traitor, save their brother from a savage beating, and save Mandy from a prison stretch. Will Lip and Mandy finally confront their feelings for each other before it's too late? Meanwhile, Sheila becomes convinced Karen is a lesbian and invites her and Jez (Lindsey Dawson) to dinner, so Frank decides to play Karen at her own games.

Marty discovers Sue is deep in debt and takes a great bargain to help his girlfriend, enduring the wrath of Carol. When an old face delivers a shocking secret, Sue runs from her troubles, and Marty reverts to his old ways. Meanwhile, Frank becomes a medical guinea pig and is left devastated when he discovers the drugs he has been taking leave him unable to get drunk, unearthing a new, realistic side of himself, which threatens his relationship with Sheila. Elsewhere, Debbie falls in with a crowd of people her own age, and, realising what she has been missing out on, quits her job of running the Gallagher household, leaving Lip, Ian and hapless Carl in charge, while Kev is forced to confront his fear of flying when Veronica plans a holiday abroad.

The day of Frank's wedding to Sheila draws near, but he begins to get cold feet when she confesses to murdering an abusive previous husband, Sheldon. Kev and Veronica are forced to intervene when it looks like the wedding could be called off. Frank must decide whether he loves Sheila enough to deal with her dark secrets, and it's a race against time for him when Sheila decides to confess to the police. Meanwhile, Lip is determined not to end up like his father when he forgets to meet Mandy and Katie after a night out, forcing him to make a huge commitment to them both. Elsewhere, Debbie uses a schoolboy crush to her advantage.