kids. Diane returns in the New Year, along with her niece Lily. Diane starts acting suspiciously and Lily suspects she is having an affair. It is revealed that she is in contact with Finn and he asks Diane to help with his parole. Tony is furious when he discovers this and confronts her. Diane gets James to help Finn with his parole but James is secretly trying to keep Finn in prison as he is John Paul's partner. Finn attacks James and is denied parole. Lily discovers that Diane was the one that broke up Scott's family after finding a jewellery box that Scott's dad gave her. Diane is devastated when Scott is rushed to hospital after being found unconscious. She and Mercedes search through Scott's video camera to find clues and are horrified when they realise Scott tried to commit suicide. Diane angrily confronts Scott and calls him selfish before storming out. Scott discharges himself from hospital and tries to carry on as normal but breaks down and admits to Diane how unhappy he is. With the support of his family, Scott returns to hospital. Diane is furious when Tony confesses to kissing his ex Mandy Richardson (Sarah Jayne Dunn) and furiously slaps her, warning her to stay away from her family. In an award-winning episode, focusing on three mothers, three daughters, headmistress Sally St. Claire (Annie Wallace) is suspicious that one of three girls Lily, Peri Lomax (Ruby O Donnell) and Yasmine Maalik (Haeisha Mistry) are self harming. She calls Diane, Leela Lomax (Kirsty Leigh Porter) and Misbah Maalik (Harvey Virdi) to the school to discuss the situation. They refuse to believe that there daughters might be self harming. Peri tells Sally that the article is fictional, unaware that all three girls are self harming. Diane is relieved that Lily is okay after an explosion at the school occurs. She heads to the Osbornes to tell Frankie Osborne (Helen Pearson) and finds her collapsed on the floor. She breaks the news to the Osbornes that Frankie is dead. Peri reveals that her, Yasmine and Lily have been self harming and Tony and Diane confront Lily over this and tell her that she needs help but she denies it. Lily later opens up to them and agrees to stop but secretly self harms behind closed doors. In December 2017, Diane is shocked when she finds out that Lily is