ross was a member of the alcoholics anonymous group which peter barlow (chris gascoyne) joined. the first time peter attended the group, ross's graphic stories upset peter and made him leave early. peter began attending meetings on a more regular basis, and invited his family. when ross proceeded to tell another long story, blanche hunt (maggie jones) told him to stop feeling sorry for himself. this led to finger-pointing and confessions from the rest of the barlow family. before they stormed out, ken barlow (william roache) offered some words of comfort to ross.