Sister Rita to the Rescue

The second series begins with an insight into Sister Rita's softer side as she's surprised and touched by the huge response from the previous series. Not one to rest on her laurels, she is soon back to business, coming to the aid of a young single mum who needs some basic furniture for her home, and helping a woman desperate to get a job after a two year search.

Not content with launching the allotment, Sister Rita takes her ambition to new heights when she decides to transform the row of empty shops next to the food bank. But not everyone is convinced that even she can pull off a project of this scale. We also meet Donna and Kevin, regulars at the Lalley Centre, who discover that volunteering at the allotment sparks a love of gardening that could lead to new opportunities. And the first crop is given out at the food bank, much to the delight of Sister Rita.

With two enormous projects on the go - regenerating the row of shops next to the food bank and setting up the community allotment - Sister Rita launches a a cookery course to ensure that people using the food bank learn to cook healthy meals. She also helps to transform the life of Adrian, a man living with severe depression since the death of his father.

When Sister Rita meets a retired fork lift truck driver offering free training for some of the people in her area searching for jobs, it creates a life-changing opportunity for one of her own volunteers. The impact of Sister Rita's work outside her own community is recognised when she's asked to officially open a food bank in Edinburgh. But the nun goes on the war path when she hears rumours that produce from the food bank is being sold at a local market, and is forced to introduce a new system to stop anyone taking advantage. And as Sister Rita takes some of the regular visitors to the Lalley centre on a day trip to the seaside, for some of them, it's the first time that they've ever seen the sea.

After the successes of an unusually busy summer, Sister Rita decides to give the allotment a grand opening, holding a harvest festival on the grounds. Sister Rita invites the great and the good of Collyhurst to celebrate what the community has achieved. Meanwhile, the nun galvanises a team of volunteers to transform the exterior of the shops she hopes to revitalise, getting rid of the graffiti and planting new shrubs as she waits on tenterhooks to see if the council will approve her plans.