Irene struggles to cope.

Home and Away’s Irene Roberts falls off the wagon next week as she struggles to cope with the truth about Bronte Langford.

Irene is about to have her world turned upside-down as she discovers that Bronte has been conning her for several weeks.

This week’s episodes on Channel 5 see Bronte finally caught out, as her plans spiral badly out of control following Dana Matheson’s kidnap.

In follow-on scenes next week, Irene harshly blames herself for the Bronte fiasco as she regrets ever trusting her.

Irene pushes away her loved ones in her time of need, snubbing Leah Patterson’s suggestion that she should take some time off work.

John Palmer also gets short shrift when he declares that Irene is only guilty of caring for someone when she thought they were in need.

When it all gets too much for Irene, she returns home with a bottle of whisky.

After mulling over whether to drink it or not, Irene calls a drug and alcohol support line and begs for some help.

The next morning, John turns up at Irene’s place to check on her as she hasn’t arrived for work.

Irene reacts badly to John’s fussing, insisting that she merely slept in and there’s nothing to worry about.

John offers to cook Irene breakfast before she heads into the Diner, but his kind gestures continue to do more harm than good as Irene gets upset.

When Irene makes a private call to the support line again, it’s revealed that she resisted the urge to drink the night before.

Sadly, this resolve doesn’t last for long as Irene soon turns back to the whisky bottle and helps herself to multiple glasses of booze. How long will it take for her friends to realise that something is wrong?