George i Mildred

George is not happy. Not only has Oscar the budgie died but Mildred has donated all his gardening magazines to the vicar for the local church jumble sale,on the basis that George never does any gardening. What she has failed to realise is that only the top few are about gardening, the rest are girlie mags, so George has to retrieve them before the vicar finds out.

The Ropers ’celebrate’ their twenty-fourth wedding anniversary with an exchange of gifts. George gives Mildred a carriage clock, which is very nice and only cost him ten quid. However, when the Fourmiles return from holiday to discover that they have been burgled and the police arrive it looks as if the clock was among the stolen items.

Initially opposed to George’s idea of taking in a lodger to make more money,Mildred changes her mind when the charming salesman Edward Rogers turns up to rent their back bedroom. Edward is everything George is not, charming, cultured and dead keen to help Mildred with all those little jobs George can’t be bothered with. George gets jealous - though ultimately his worries are proved to be unfounded.

Despite the final notice George has forgotten to pay the electricity bill and a man is sent round to the Ropers to cut off their supply. This would be bad enough at the best of times but the visit coincides with Mildred’s efforts to impress Ethel and Humphrey with a gourmet dinner party.

Mildred wants a holiday in Majorca but George, who can’t speak Majorcan, feels they should stick to familiar Blackpool. If the Ropers travel with the Conservative Association to Majorca they can get discount and so they apply to join the local Tories. However the trip turns out to be already fully booked so they go to Blackpool, only to find everywhere full due to a Labour party Conference.

Mildred decides to have a spring clean and turf out some of Geoege’s clutter,including his gas mask. She discovers several letters he has written to a woman named Dorothy and fears that he has been unfaithful - though it turns out that they are unsent fan letters to a film actress. Jeffrey decides that the world is over-populated and goes for a vasectomy.

Jeffrey is directing the neighbourhood’s Christmas pantomime - ’Cinderella’ - and Mildred is only too happy to be playing one of the Ugly Sisters. Unfortunately on the opening night she loses her voice and is unable to go on stage so,inevitably, George is called upon to replace her.