Beer of the Week: (not a paid advertisement)
Men Behaving Badly Indeed:
Written by: Simon Nye
Directed by: Martin Dennis
Original airdate: March 14, 1997
Synopsis:
Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue makes a surprise visit, but Gary and Tony fail to recognise her.
Stag Night:
Written by: Simon Nye
Directed by: Martin Dennis
Original airdate: November 6, 1997
Synopsis:
As they lay in bed, Dorothy asks Gary if he slept with someone while she was away and she eventually deduces that he did. She drops it and suggests they get married and show everyone they are serious about each other and stop looking around for something better. Gary then proposes properly using a condom as a ring.
Gary and Tony check out wedding night lingerie while using pillows to cover their arousal. They then talk about the stag night and what Gary expects for it. Meanwhile, Dorothy expresses regret that she isn’t marrying someone else. Tony arrives to chat and tells them that he’s arranging Gary’s stag night, wondering if Dorothy has anything she doesn’t want Gary to be a part of. He asks Deb about how school is going and she calls him out on trying to steal her underwear. She then tells Tony he is looking pathetic due to him not having a job and not doing anything with his life.
Gary has difficulty finding people to come to his stag night and ends up inviting George to join them.
Tony starts inflating a birthing pool, having taken a job Dorothy told him about being an agent for home births. He over inflates it as Gary comes home from work so they can head out for the stag night, running into Dorothy and Deborah going out for her hen night.
The next morning Gary wakes up to see a woman redressing in front of him and believes he slept with her, asking Tony to not tell Dorothy. He reveals to Gary that he actually paid for her to sleep with him. They talk about it but Gary can’t remember much of what happened. As she leaves, Gary sees a man leaving as well from upstairs. He goes to see Dorothy who reveals that she slept with someone, and he says he did the same as well but didn’t let her sleep in their bed, showing his commitment. They leave, angry.
Tony gives a demonstration of the birthing pool to a woman that Deborah suggested to him for a home birth. As they talk, the woman starts going into labor.
At work, George appears stunned and in shock after the events of the stag night. Gray confides in Anthea that George is right though, that everything is seedy, cheap and dirty, and that he wants to move away from that and have a relationship life George has.
Back at home, Tony reveals to Deborah that the baby was born and that the woman might name it after him or Bilbo. She expresses being impressed by him and then kisses him deeply. They suddenly start talking about Gray and Dorothy but they end up kissing again. Deborah says that she can't go further until Gary and Deborah work things out and they both push them together to talk. As Gary and Dorothy talk they start making out but Deborah is concerned about their friends as they go out to find Gary and Dorothy starting to get it on and so they rush back to the bedroom.
Later Gary and Tony play in the birthing pool and Tony says he and Deborah are taking things slowly as they fart and talk about changing their names.
Chat on the sofa:
Sally Anne was Race Davies is a character actress who appears in this episode, but is uncredited in the next episode.
Claire Perkins was Deborah’s friend. She was a lead in The Outlaws (seven strangers from different walks of life forced together to complete a community payback sentence in Bristol). She was also in an audio drama called Doctor Who: Redacted starring Jodie Whittaker (three women don't know who the Doctor is, or if aliens are real, but soon find themselves caught in a supernatural conspiracy as they learn that everyone who's ever met the Doctor is disappearing and being forgotten); it also starred Anjli Mohindra (Rani from The Sarah Jane Adventures), Ingrid Oliver as Petronella Osgood, and Alexander Armstrong (Mr. Smith and Reg in The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe), and Madame Vastra appears played by a different actress. She was also in a Big Finish series about the Fugitive Doctor.
Ethel Merman was an American singer and actress. Known for her distinctive, powerful voice, and her leading roles in musical theater, she has been called "the undisputed First Lady of the musical comedy stage." She performed on Broadway in Anything Goes, Annie Get Your Gun, Gypsy, and Hello, Dolly! She is also known for her film roles in Anything Goes (1936), Call Me Madam (1953), There's No Business Like Show Business (1954), and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963).
Whistle Down the Wind is a 1961 British crime drama film directed by Bryan Forbes and starring Hayley Mills, Bernard Lee and Alan Bates. It was adapted by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall from the 1958 novel of the same name by Hayley Mills’s mother, Mary Hayley Bell (when an injured wife murderer takes refuge on a remote Lancashire farm, the owner's three children mistakenly believe him to be the Second Coming of Christ.)
Happy Eater was a chain of restaurants in England and Wales, founded to compete with the Little Chef chain, but was purchased by its parent company, Trusthouse Forte, in 1986. In 1996, Granada purchased Trusthouse Forte, which led to a streamlining programme converting all Happy Eater sites to the Little Chef brand, with some larger sites also having Burger King franchises introduced to them.
Juliette Binoche: actress, the English patient. 1996
Wedding:
Written by: Simon Nye
Directed by: Martin Dennis
Original airdate: November 13, 1997
Synopsis:
Tony and Gary practice their speeches for the wedding but Gary has second thoughts, not having had enough experience with women. Tony tries to pep him up and encourage him but the conversation devolves to movie lines they would say as they die. Tony reveals that he and Deborah have been doing well taking it slow, finally being allowed to put his hand on top of her bottom at the movies.
Tony visits the girls and while he starts to try and get with Deborah in the shower, she compliments him on having become so much more mature. Dorothy expresses her own regret about the wedding and Gary, because her family and friends have refused to come since she is marrying him.
Clive shows up at the courthouse to video tape them getting married and captures the day, from them showing up two hours early for the ceremony, to going to the Crown early and seeing Ken’s minimalist wedding decorations, to greeting family and friends. Gary starts panicking about not having slept with enough women again and Anthea tries to talk him down from the ledge to no avail.
As Gary attempts to leave he runs into Dorothy and they talk about how marriage is scary before heading back inside. Tony and Deborah go to get the wedding cake at the house but they start kissing. He asks why she always turns him down so much, and she says she just really had a problem with the things he said and did and decided if Dorothy was going to give Gary a try at marriage, she should give Tony a try as well. They grab the dog shaped wedding cake but start kissing again. Deborah stops him, promising they’ll get back to it later and he makes her sign a paper to cement it. They grab the dog shaped wedding cake and leave for the ceremony.
When it comes time to say their vows, the officiant starts to faint and the ceremony is paused as they try to find another registrar so they head back to the Crown for the reception first. Tony tries to give his speech but drops his notes in the beer making it difficult to read. Clive passes out from too much drink and Gary gives his speech, complimenting her on their relationship, but Deborah reveals that they can't find another registrar for today but to just keep having a great time. Afterwards, Gary calls her out on the registrar lie and they both seem happy they are not getting married just yet.
Tony reads the note that Deborah signed with a false name but she pulls him in for a kiss anyway as Gary and Dorothy drive off. Tony asks why Ken didn’t decorate the car but he says they did, as George and Anthea drive up in their car, which is the car Ken accidentally decorated. Back at home, Deborah asks if they should head into bed and he says he doesn’t want to, before laughing and saying he was joking, trying to give her a taste of her own medicine. Laughing they head into the bedroom but Gary calls to interrupt them, leaving Tony to quickly toss the phone into the fridge before returning to bed.
Chat on the sofa:
Clive was played by Simon Nye himself.
The Bill is a British police procedural television series, broadcast on ITV from 16 October 1984 until 31 August 2010.
Otis the Aardvark is a puppet of an aardvark that was a presenter on Children's BBC on British television. Otis mainly presented the afternoon links on BBC One alongside the main CBBC presenters. Otis is said to have obtained his name from the OTIS lift in the CBBC building at BBC Television Centre. Dave Chapman was the puppeteer from 1994–99.
Rolo, referring to the roll-styled chocolates, is a brand of chocolates with a caramel inside. First manufactured in Norwich, Norfolk, in the United Kingdom by Mackintosh's in 1937, followed by Rowntree's after the takeover in 1969, they are now made by Nestlé except in the United States, where production has been licensed to the Hershey Company. A long-running British advertising slogan for the brand was "Do you love anyone enough to give them your last Rolo?"
Betty Boothroyd (Baroness Boothroyd), was a British politician who served as a member of Parliament (MP) for West Bromwich and West Bromwich West from 1973 to 2000. A member of the Labour Party, she served as Speaker of the House of Commons from 1992 to 2000. She was previously a Deputy Speaker from 1987 to 1992. She was the first and as of 2025, the only woman to serve as Speaker. Boothroyd later sat in the House of Lords as, in accordance with tradition, a crossbench peer.
Jealousy:
Written by: Simon Nye
Directed by: Martin Dennis
Original airdate: November 20, 1997
Synopsis:
As Deborah reads a magazine, Tony stares at her lovingly. Meanwhile, Dorothy sits in a chair, looking grumpy, while Gary comes in grumpy as well, with both stating they’re glad they didn’t get married last week.
Deb and Tony snuggle together with great abandon, disgusting Gary and Dorothy. Dorothy complains about Gary’s smoking and crushes his cigarettes while Gary breaks a pair of sunglasses that turn out to be his. Later she crushes another pack of cigarettes and Gary breaks a watch that once again, proves to be his.
Despite their obvious issues, they decide to go on their honeymoon trip anyway with Deborah and Tony in tow. The owner of the caravan where they will be staying, Mr. Wady, is not much help. The gang tries to give Gary advice about giving up smoking and he decides to give them up. While Gary and Deborah go to ask the owner for some milk, Tony asks Dorothy how to tell if a woman is faking an orgasm but she isn’t really helpful, telling him to ask Deborah.
As they try to sleep, Gary and Dorothy regrettably have to listen to the sounds of Deborah and Tony having sex. The next day, Gary and Dorothy walk about the grounds while Deborah and Tony talk about sex, with Tony trying to get the truth out of her about faking orgasms. But they’re interrupted by Gary and Dorothy returning. They meet some people camping nearby, Jim and Tony 2, who invites them to go fishing but Tony answers for Deborah, refusing and Dorothy saying she and Gary were going to spend time together, despite Gary telling her to go off swimming with them. An annoyed Deborah and Dorothy head out for a walk.
Later Gary tries to make cigarettes and rescue his ketchup covered ones, while Tony, Deborah, and Dorothy walk around.
Late that night while Tony and Debrah go at it, Tony hears Deborah moan Jim. She tells him she didn’t say Jim, but then she starts poking fun at him by saying Jim specifically.
As rain pours down, Gary runs out and tries to break into the owner's house to get his pack of cigarettes. The owner finds him and sells him a pack for 50 quid, and then charges 20 pounds for matches which Gary reluctantly pays. When he leaves he discovers he was sold an empty pack.
The next morning Gary tries sucking on a pencil like a cigarette, leading the girls to tell him to just go buy some. Jim and Tony 2 invite them to fish again and Debrah wants to go but Tony says they have plans. She gets further upset and tells him she won't tell him if she faked her orgasms or not. Dorothy is still upset at Gary’s suggestion she go swimming with the guys as well.
Tony talks with Mr. Wady, annoying him, and using his binoculars, sees Dorothy swimming with Tony 2, Gary trying to drive to get cigarettes and crashing into a tree, and Deborah fishing with Jim, and hugging him. He gets in Wady’s tractor and drives it over the neighbors tent and rips up the yard. He then uses his binoculars and sees Gary choking Tony 2 and then discovers that it wasn’t Deborah with Jim but two other similar looking people. Both Jim and Deborah show up and glare at him.
Jim was Alisdair Simpson and appeared in a Big Finish UNIT series, A River Song series, and the Monthly Adventures.
Chat on the sofa:
Tony 2 was played by Hugo Speer and is a currently working actor. He was a main cast member in Britannia (in 43 AD, the Roman Army returns to crush the Celtic heart of Britannia), Stone (police procedural audio drama), Bedlam (drama and supernatural chills in this series centered around a haunted insane asylum-turned-apartment building), Echo Beach (the lives of former lovers Daniel and Susan are complicated by teen angst, family loyalties, and tested friendships), Hearts and Bones (this slice-of-life ensemble drama follows a group of twenty- and thirty-something friends from Coventry who all move to London), and The Musketeers (set on the streets of 17th-century Paris, "The Musketeers" gives a contemporary take on the classic story about a group of highly trained soldiers and bodyguards assigned to protect King and country.) Most recently the lead in London Kills (murder police procedural).
The idea that Victorian art critic John Ruskin was repulsed by his wife's pubic hair is a widely circulated anecdote, but it's based on speculation rather than confirmed evidence. While the story suggests he was shocked by the reality of the female body after only seeing idealized classical art, the "certain circumstances" he mentioned during their annulment proceedings could refer to other things. He stated that "her person was not formed to excite passion," but this does not definitively point to pubic hair as the sole reason.
The saying "red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning" is a weather proverb that suggests a red sunrise indicates a storm is likely to follow later in the day. This is because a red morning sky means a high-pressure system (associated with good weather) has already moved east, and a low-pressure system (associated with bad weather) is approaching from the west.
The saying "Ne'er cast a clout 'til May be out" means to not shed your warm clothing until after the month of May has passed. The proverb warns that cold weather can return even as spring begins.
Bury St. Edmunds: The prominent "smell" in Bury St Edmunds is a sweet, sickly smell from the nearby sugar beet factory that has been a feature of the town for years. Additionally, residents have recently reported a separate, foul "eggy" smell from a local landfill that causes issues like flies and makes it difficult to open windows.
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