Babie lato

The trio come across a man intending to ’end it all’ because of problems with his wife. Meanwhile, Auntie Wainwright has a special horse-riding promotion, which leads to several characters getting into a pickle. This was the first episode to be broadcast in 16:9 ’widescreen’ format.

The trio meet a man who claims to be a direct descendant of Robin Hood. This episode marks the first appearance of Keith Clifford as Billy Hardcastle.

Howard is late for a date with Marina causing her to end her ’friendship’ with him, give up on men and throw away her Tom Cruise pictures, the trio suggest making Marina jealous, they ’borrow’ Edie’s car from Wesley and driven by Howard, Barry and Smiler end up in the back dressed as ladies...this seems to have the desired effect and Howard and Marina are reunited after he returns her Tom Cruise pictures which Compo had rescued from the bin.

Everyone seems to have taken up rollerskating, it starts with a sales drive by Auntie Wainwright with the slogan ’It’s never too late to skate’ which consists of Smiler giving out flyers on roller skates!..meanwhile Barry wants to be more assertive to attain promotion at work, Compo, Clegg and Truly take him under their wings which leads to Barry acquiring a blooded nose!...the only way to explain his nose predicament to Glenda is for all the lads to don rollerskates which of course leads to disaster, but gives Barry a reason for having a bloody nose.

On another sales drive, Auntie Wainwright sends Smiler out selling door to door with two rather heavy suitcases. The handle comes off one of the cases and it drops on his foot causing him to end up with his foot in plaster, along come Compo, Clegg, Truly and Wesley, who offers to make his wheelchair ’bump proof’...meanwhile Barry is still seeking promotion at work and Glenda has a word with his boss. Edie manages to get a local traffic warden to drive her round in her car while she does some errands.

Compo, Clegg, Truly and Wesley meet a man with an earthquake detector and Barry spends the episode with his arm in a sling.

Compo tries to resurrect the ancient art of Thumpy Dub. Auntie Wainwright sells Truly a broken lawn mower. Marina buys two vanilla slices from Ivy in the cafe, who is the other one for?..Glenda is relieved when Barry prefers an éclair, but Pearl isn’t so happy when Howard has vanilla slice crumbs around his mouth.

Howard is suspicious when Pearl suddenly starts looking glamourous and very happy, he is so concerned he sends Compo to meet Marina to tell her he can’t make it for their rendezvous and then recruits Clegg, Truly and Wesley to follow Pearl with him to see what she is up to. Meanwhile Barry goes missing after leaving for a jog, Glenda recruits Edie, Ivy, and Nora to help look for him unaware that Auntie Wainwright has recruited him to help her and Smiler collect some furniture.

Compo, Clegg and Truly meet a man who wants to solve the mystery of the phantom number 14 bus, meanwhile Smiler has to deliver some furniture to the notorious Cooper Street. Pearl makes Howard sell off his collection of glue and Compo also ponders that great question... Has Nora Batty got a tattoo?

Clegg tackles his ironing and ends up ironing for Howard too after he falls into a river. Smiler gets tiddly on two very small glasses of Auntie Wainwright’s homemade wine, and Barry takes up dog walking and ends up with a kiss from Marina and a telling-off from Glenda.