Capital City

Hudson buys £45 worth of giant Amazon snail for his nephew. Max has paranoid chills over a menacing black American he thinks is an SEC investigator. Wendy quits as Head Trader, lured upstairs to create new markets for James and Peter; she is replaced by the brusque, hard-nosed Lee Wolfe-appointee Sylvia Roux Teng. Michelle finds the perfect flat and Declan takes her for an aerodrome spin in her restored beloved 911. Sirrka sees Hudson's escaped Acoccatina Maginata in an alcoholic haze, convincing her to go to AA, meets fellow traveller Yolande, who introduces her to H and lesbian experimentation. Jimmy is finally fired for falsifying his position for eight weeks. To Max's relief the huge black mysterious American turns out to be a photographer who does a major shoot on the dealers for Shane Longman PR.

Max is using astrology to predict deals and outcomes, to varying effect; while Sirrka's quest for affection and contact leads to high-class hooking, until she meets a pair of tricks she doesn't want to handle; Michelle wants out of her hotel suite and into a proper home; Max's astrology seems to work on major projections, and Hannah has a birthday.

Max conceives a scheme at the dentist to lift Shane Longman's profile by using an installation artist "like Christo" to wrap Dover Cliff in parachute silk; Hudson deals with an errant pigeon at home; Information Systems manager Hannah has husband trouble; Jimmy is moving further off the deep end handling a major Dutch State Loans issue; and the computers crash.

Michelle takes Declan swimming in an attempt to cure his aqua~diving phobia, while she considers a marriage offer from old flame Bruno; Alex puts the house up for sale under Hudson's nose; Sirrka gets blotto and clocks a rival after their deal went sour; Declan's roof leaks and he drives Michelle and Bruno around after her licence is revoked again for speeding; Max's converted-church apartment suffers a power failure for thanksgiving dinner, while Hudson improvises lighting and Max arranges a vast luxury Chinese takeaway, courtesy of Max's experience in Beijing. Bruno solves Sirrka's deal with a scheme based on German regional elections matching the Bonds with the right client.