Established co-anchor Helen Neville is sick of playing second fiddle to her colleague Geoff Walters and demands more as she and reporter Dale cover the Challenger Space Shuttle launch.

The newsroom prepares for the return of Halley's Comet. Geoff asks Noeline to help with a speech for his 60th birthday, and Helen is failing to cover up her fragile mental health.

The newsroom gets a tip-off about Lindy Chamberlain's case. Dale and Helen rush to Darwin with a crew to try and get the first interview.

Dale is asked to report on the announcement of a royal wedding, but plans go out of the window when a bomb detonates outside Melbourne Police HQ.

Helen gets the green light for an interview with an HIV-positive mother and gives the assignment to Dale, but things go horribly wrong in the edit suite, leading to angry protests.

Dale visits Helen's house to attempt a reconciliation, but finds his belongings on the doorstep. After a frosty few days of avoiding each other, work forces them back together.

July 1987: As the country prepares for a vital general election, Dale, Helen and their colleagues at the News at Six have the pressure of up to six hours of unbroken air time. Show more

The country is rocked by an unprecedented mass shooting in Clifton Hill in Melbourne. The team rush to get footage onto air - but their judgement is called into question.

As the global financial crisis mounts, Helen is plunged into freefall when a gossip journalist threatens an exposé about her troubled past. Show more

The hype is building for 1988 bicentenary. As Geoff covers the First Fleet re-enactment for the rival network, it is interrupted by an Indigenous Australian activist. Show more

News is approached by Geoff's daughter Kay with the offer of an exclusive, but Helen is shocked at the depth of Kay's desperation. Show more

As the team prepare for the biggest event of the year, Australia Day 1988, personal and professional dilemmas abound. Helen prepares for a job in the US, and Dale faces a crisis. Show more