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- 864000.0
- Carol would like some money to go to London to search for the father she hasn't seen in 5 years. Suddenly the £50 prize money for a beauty contest held at the biscuit factory where she works seems irresistible. With Sandra's help and her boyfriend Paul's encouragement, she tries a series of increasingly unsuccessful beauty treatments before deciding not to enter the contest after all—and gets a beautiful surprise. (en)
- Beryl is with new boyfriend Robert in Sefton Park. He asks her to spend the night with him before he has to return to London in the morning. Beryl seeks Sandra's advice, telling her he's cultured--'likes books and paintings and old buildings.' Sandra tells her to go--'After all, you've got nothing to lose.' 'Cheeky cow,' says Beryl, but she decides to spend the night with Robert—but things go wrong when Robert disappears to buy some alcohol. . (en)
- Beryl and Sandra are back together, bruised by what life has offered them and refusing to admit to middle age. (en)
- Carol has a new boyfriend but neither Sandra or Carol's family think much of him. (en)
- Sandra and Carol decide to try their hand at market trading in order to buy something for their mothers. (en)
- Sandra becomes a vegetarian and joins an animal-rights march through the streets of Liverpool. She meets a good-looking man there called Bill and stays out with him until the small hours of the night, to the annoyance of her boyfriend Paul who was waiting in his car outside her flat to see what time she finally got home. The snag: Bill is a former boyfriend of Carol's and when he calls round to the flat Sandra realises her and Carol both fancy the same man... (en)
- Sandra only has one serious flatmate applicant: the brash, common Carol , who Sandra doesn't really take to—until her mum phones after another row with Sandra's dad and announces she plans to move in with Sandra herself! Suddenly Carol looks a lot better... (en)
- Derek and Sandra are now married and have moved to their own house. But the clinic isn't doing very well. Carol, who is back living with her parents, suggests they let a room to help out. (en)
- Sandra has taken to feeding the local pigeons while out sunbathing, to the annoyance of the flats' residents. They finally call the council in to place cages on the roof to trap and remove the 'vermin'. Sandra, upset, sets some of them free, keeping one poorly specimen in a parrot cage in her flat until it gets better. Carol isn't happy, rows with her , and temporarily goes back to her parents. Sandra ends up trapped on the roof when someone takes her ladder away; she has to be rescued by the local police, who warn her not to interfere with the pigeons anymore. (en)
- Beryl and Sandra have both invited their mothers over for Mothering Sunday, but will they get on? And will they like their presents—plastic flowers and a lorgnette? (en)
- Suave Derek moves into the house and excites Beryl's and Sandra's interest. They waste no time introducing themselves and when they learn that he spends his weekends in Llandudno, at his parents' guest house, they separately decide to follow him there. Carol Cleveland appears. (en)
- Sandra wants to go to London for the weekend, and convinces Beryl to go too—after all, their boyfriends Robert and Paul are there. When they arrive, Sandra gets a bright spacious room opposite Paul but Beryl gets a poky room at the top of the hotel. 'By the time I leave here I'll be on nodding terms with B.E.A.', she tells Sandra. She can't make contact with Robert, and Paul disapproves of the amount of cleavage Sandra has on show—so it's not the girls' dream weekend. the girls were hoping for. (en)
- Carol meets Sandra's mum who tells her about her latest marital problems and the nice new man she has recently met at a local hotel. That night the girls head to the hotel to stop Sandra's mum doing anything she may regret later. They finally succeed in disrupting the whole evening—only to discover that the "mystery man" was Sandra's dad. (en)
- Sandra's actress friend Victoria visits. She likes their 'so beautifully tatty' place, but her demands get on Beryl's nerves. Christopher Timothy and Joe Gladwin appear in this episode. (en)
- Beryl and Sandra leave their 'grotty bedsit' and move to Beech View, "a highly desirable residence". They go to 'O'Connor's Tavern' to hear poets reading their poetry—including Roger McGough , and Sandra's favourite, Neville Kane . Back at their flat, neighbour Mrs. Knowsley asks Sandra to sign a petition to evict an "undesirable character". Beryl doesn't approve: "I'm surprised at you signing it Sand, you're usually so kind and considerate...we've signed a petition to get a fella we don't even know out of his flat"--and Sandra is dismayed when the target of the petition turns out to be Neville Kane. . (en)
- Beryl's sister Gloria calls round to invite Beryl and Sandra to be godmothers to her new baby girl. But Beryl threatens to not even attend the service because it will be at an Anglican church and "the Hennesseys have always driven on the Catholic side of the road." Later, the girls are looking after the baby when the Anglican vicar (John Quayle) calls round and seems to take a fancy to Sandra, much to Beryl's amusement. Indecision as to the baby's name right up to the moment of christening brings a timid Beryl into the church after all to declare that the baby should be named 'Beryl' after her. (en)
- The girls are fed up of having to visit the launderette each week because they have no washing machine. Carol's brother Lucien calls round to announce that their Uncle Billy has died and Carol may be due some money in the will. Sandra is excited when a new washing machine is delivered to the house whilst she is spending some time there with boyfriend Paul --but Carol has only inherited £2, so they have to sell the washing machine to Carol's mother, who got the lion's share of the will... (en)
- First Christmas Themed Special. (en)
- Beryl declares that she's a "fella-a-day" girl; meanwhile, Sandra's smitten with a new guy, Paul, until he doesn't ring her as he had promised. Robert phones Beryl—up from London he wants them to rendezvous in David's flat . When a very pregnant, depressed Gloria turns up, Beryl puts her with Sandra so they can cheer each other up. But still unable to leave the flat, Beryl invites Robert over. Then her mother arrives. (en)
- Sandra gets promoted, becoming Beryl's supervisor. Beryl receives elocution lessons from Mrs. Duval , but this gets her into trouble when a posh customer believes she's making fun of her. Robert Raglan appears in this episode. (en)
- Sandra's brother Derek arrives from Australia. He's a keep-fit fanatic and soon takes Beryl out for a morning jog around the local park, where talk turns to love as the pair share their latest relationship woes. Meanwhile Sandra and her parents become concerned when they find Derek's Australian marriage certificate and attempt to warn Beryl not to become too involved with him. In the end, Derek receives a cable from his wife telling him she does love him, and Beryl receives a phone call from her boyfriend Robert in London. (en)
- Sandra has a premonition that death is imminent. (en)
- Second Christmas-themed special. (en)
- Third Christmas-themed special. (en)
- Not everything is running smoothly in the build-up to Beryl's wedding to Robert : the carnations have turned up a day early; there's a stork on the wedding cake; the dog's run off with the ham; and the only presents she's received so far are a sexy pink nightie from Sandra and 6 steam irons. Then there's the mystery woman who keeps ringing up for Robert—and has written him an important-looking letter. When the girls visit this woman, they notice that she is pregnant! There's a poignant moment as Beryl says goodbye to the girls' flat for the last-ever time, as she is staying at her mum's house on the night before the wedding. Next morning, true to the theme of the wedding so far, kids let down the tyres of the wedding limousines so the girls and their parents have to resort to using a double-decker bus and a removal van to get to the church in time. At the altar Robert finally opens the mystery letter and reveals to an excited Beryl that it contains honeymoon tickets for two to Majorca. (en)
- Carol is too much in love to notice that her new man might be trying to change her. (en)
- When Sandra's mother went into hospital Sandra had passionate nights with Rex in her home, but now Mrs Hutchinson is back, Sandra's life quickly reverts to normal. For Beryl there is some comfort when she gets a call from Gwyn, her runaway son; and Mrs Hennesey turns to God for her lottery numbers. (en)
- Beryl discovers that she needs glasses and the receptionist tells her they'll be ready on Saturday—the day Robert will arrive for a week in Liverpool after several weeks away. Beryl worries that he won't like her in glasses; besides, her face can't be covered with things--'it's too small.' (en)
- Sandra has bought a cut-glass sugar bowl with money given to her by Paul. When Beryl points out "we dip our spoons straight in the bag", Sandra tells her she hopes the bowl will become part of a home she'll share with Paul and wonders about taking him to Hunts Cross to visit her parents, "a happily-married couple"--would he find the idea of marriage more attractive then? But just then the "happily-married couple" in question show up at the flat—talking about getting a divorce. What's the problem? 'I'm married to it,' says Mrs Hutchinson. (en)
- Sandra is depressed over a misunderstanding with boyfriend Peter and Beryl, worried that she might do something stupid, tries to help. (en)
- Beryl and Sandra are at Hunts Cross Rugby Club: Sandra's there because of Rupert. Beryl's not too impressed--"the fellas are more interested in beer and rugby than girls" and thinks footballers would be a better bet. Sandra gets picked to represent the rugby club in the Miss Hot Pants 1972 Competition. Snatches of "Beg, Steal, or Borrow" and "Save It" can be heard in this episode. (en)
- Beryl urges Sandra to spend a week with Rex while her mother is in hospital. Meanwhile, Gwyn goes on the run. (en)
- Beryl and Sandra are looking forward to a free Saturday when Mrs Hutchinson telephones, asking Sandra to look after her grandad in their house in Hunts Cross while Mr and Mrs Hutchinson go to visit Aunt Dorothy. Damaris Hayman appears in this episode. (en)
- Sandra and Beryl agree to look after another tenant's cat while he visits his parents for the weekend. Also: Sandra reads Bertrand Russell's Sceptical Essays and vows to be 'considerate and understanding and ready to serve humanity', but the effort to be Good Samaritans makes life awkward. (en)
- Just as Sandra brings home a stray dog, Mr Barrett tells Beryl that the landlord is about to make an inspection—and animals are against the rules. (en)
- In this episode, The girls receive a visit from Carol's pregnant cousin Aveline , Which brings up the issues of men, babies...and marriage. (en)
- The recently reunited friends have a furious row about their mothers after Beryl's noise disturbs Sandra's fantasy about her beloved Rex. Beryl decides to move out of Sandra's house. Is this the end of the two women's friendship? (en)
- Life is looking up for Sandra as she gets a new job as a kennelmaid and a marriage proposal from boyfriend Paul . Beryl however is feeling down on her luck as everything she touches seems to go wrong and she realises her flat-sharing days with single girl Sandra may be numbered. A visit to Beryl's mum puts doubts in Sandra's mind as to the realities of married life and that night she phones Paul to say she's not ready for marriage just yet. Seconds later however Beryl's boyfriend Robert rings up with a surprise... (en)
- When a mugger gives her a stolen handbag, Sandra is thrust into the limelight when onlookers think that she wrestled it from him. (en)
- The women find themselves arguing, blame their cramped conditions, and try moving to a bigger property in Allerton. But when they find they need a third flatmate to make the rent, they end up back in Huskisson Street. Ken Platt, Nicholas Smith, Patricia Shakesby and Veronica Doran all appear in this episode. (en)
- Robert must come up from London to propose to Beryl in person. Excitedly they set the venue as the local Apollo Greek restaurant that night. For the rest of the day Sandra helps Beryl look at engagement rings and choose a new dress. She even offers marital advice . Sandra's boyfriend Paul attempts a proposal of his own again, but Sandra chooses to wear the ring on her right hand as a "friendship ring". Meanwhile, disaster strikes in the restaurant toilets when both Beryl's new dress and her old clothes are stolen while she is changing. Robert gets drunker and drunker as he awaits her arrival; finally she appears in a spare Greek waiter's costume. When they finally meet, Robert proposes and Beryl accepts. But when the Greek singer gives the bride-to-be a congratulatory kiss, Robert starts a fight and ends the night in a police cell while the girls compare their new rings back at their flat. (en)
- In an effort to cheer themselves up, Sandra and Beryl go out on the town. (en)
- Beryl's persistent oversleeping leads to the girls getting sacked from their hand-cream-factory jobs. After looking for new jobs, the pair decide to take "a holiday with pay" working as labourers on a small farm in Caerphilly, Wales. Unsurprisingly this work isn't ideal for the girls, as they struggle to milk Myfanwy the Cow on their first day. The last straw comes when the farmer asks them to kill Henrietta the Hen for their evening meal. Managing to fool him with some frozen chicken from the local shop, the girls pack their bags and head for home, with two new feathered pets in tow – Henrietta and her sister Gwynneth. (en)
- Robert is sleeping on Beryl and Sandra's settee for the week before his wedding, now that he has found a job in Liverpool. This is fine until Sandra agrees to do a favour for Mrs. Sayers and offers a home for the weekend to Skip, a large St. Bernard, who takes up residence on the settee. So Robert gets to share Beryl's room. 'I know how we'll calm you down. We'll give you a sleeping pill', says Sandra. But Mrs Hutchinson and Beryl's mother hear about Robert's whereabouts and show up with Father O'Leary . (en)
- Beryl's sister Gloria is having second thoughts about marrying Ernie Titlark ; "It didn't work for you, why should it work for me?" she asks her mother. "Because I married a slob." "How do you know Ernie isn't a slob?" asks her father . "Well, they're all slobs—but you've got to marry them to find out," her mother replies. Carla Lane said she "always liked writing weddings because they're really funny, aren't they?--and ridiculous, let's face it." In the BBC programme Comedy Connections producer Sydney Lotterby had said, "we weren't even allowed to talk about the pill—which is quite ridiculous, I mean, it was happening, but there we are." In fact, it's mentioned in this episode: Sandra says 'Remember your mum when Gloria got engaged, "Oh, my daughter! my innocent little daughter!"' Beryl: 'Yeah, and there was our Gloria scoffin' her pill with her elevenses.' (en)
- Secrets rise to the surface when Beryl and Sandra settle down with a bottle of wine. (en)
- Sandra and Carol take tranquillisers to cope with "Nervous exhaustion". (en)
- The girls are planning a holiday—Beryl wants Blackpool, Sandra fancies pony-trekking in the Pennines. Meanwhile, Sandra's parents have temporarily separated, and when the girls pop round to Sandra's late one evening, Mum has a gentleman caller, bearing flowers! But the new man in her life turns out to be a thief, the ice melts between Sandra's parents when they encounter each other at the girls' flat and the girls decide on Blackpool for themselves and give their Pennines holiday to Sandra's parents as a second honeymoon. (en)
- Beryl is depressed because she's feeling old and none of her romances seem to last longer than a week, so she visits the doctor's surgery and is given some tranquilisers. With St Valentine's Day approaching, Sandra and her workmates hatch a plan to make Beryl feel better by sending her many Valentine's cards. The next morning, Beryl also receives in the post a single red rose with an anonymous invitation to the local Italian restaurant that evening. Sandra has to convince Beryl to go, but later finds out it was actually a joke played on Beryl by one of the factory workers. However, at the restaurant Beryl does meet a good-looking man; unfortunately all the tranquilisers she's been taking interfere with their date. Keith Chegwin makes a 10-second appearance as a schoolboy in the doctor's waiting room. (en)
- Beryl and Sandra are out of work—on the dole. The landlord's agent, Mr. Hockle , is checking the inventory, and their month in advance is due a week Saturday. The girls need money and get down to the Labour Exchange to sign on. Sandra thinks this is begging, and tries to go incognito, but the sanguine Beryl meets her Uncle Dermot , Cousin Hughey and Uncle Jack . The Hennesseys' loud behaviour leads to a scuffle in the queue. John Ringham and Norman Shelley also appear in this episode, which was one of the six Seddon/Pursall-written episodes of Series 3. (en)
- Spending an evening with the boss's son Aubrey , Sandra's worried about Beryl; it's nearly midnight and she's not back from a tandem bicycle-ride with her boyfriend Johnny . When Beryl finally arrives, worn out from a trip to Rhyl and back, she decides she wants them to buy the second-hand car they've been talking about and Aubrey says he'll teach them to drive. (en)
- Sandra is with Joe when Beryl returns from an Everton match with her Uncle Dermot and a couple of other Everton fans and they argue with Liverpool-fan Joe, who is also captain of the works team at Blandings Cosmetics. The girls go to watch a match—in which Joe scores an own-goal and his team loses 7–0. Angered at Beryl's mockery of his performance, he challenges her to do better as captain of an all-woman team from the packing department. Beryl accepts the challenge and the team is trained by Uncle Dermot . This is one of the Seddon-Pursall episodes, and one that is most open to sexism charges. Nerys Hughes: "I remember a football match. The shorts were terribly short and also there was a girl with huge breasts who was so big-breasted that she fell over. And that's a 'man-joke', isn't it? It wasn't Carla". Carla Lane herself commented later: "Oh God...that [writing arrangement] nearly killed me. Yeh, I mean, what can I say? They wrote like fellas." Bill Kenwright, a lifelong supporter and future chairman of Everton F.C., played a Liverpool F.C. supporter in this episode. (en)
- Beryl and Sandra join a demonstration to save a tree, but Beryl is taken aback when Sandra assumes the role of revolutionary leader and sends the peaceful demonstrators into battle. (en)
- Beryl receives a pet hamster, Thingy, for her birthday. When the pregnant Thingy goes missing, the girls hunt for her, even chasing after the dustbin-men on their weekly rounds in the streets outside the flat. Thingy eventually turns up as Beryl's surprise birthday party begins—she has made a nest for herself and her newborn litter in the hat that is Beryl's birthday gift from Sandra's mother . (en)
- The girls have been seeing their respective boyfriends for the weekend. Beryl is slowly getting used to her "unlucky" red engagement ring, but then loses it while making Sandra a trifle. There follows a mad rush to the local hospital—involving Sandra's parents, Sandra's boyfriend, and Beryl's mum—as Sandra has swallowed the ring in a mouthful of trifle. They all wait together at the hospital while the doctor removes the ring from Sandra's oesophagus. The episode ends with Beryl heading for London on the train so boyfriend Robert can put the ring on her finger again—and mistakenly ending up on the train to Glasgow. (en)
- Sandra thinks she's in love with Danny and wants Beryl to be out of the way when he's around. Beryl tries going to the cinema, then decides to take pity on fellow tenant Gerry and visits him, which makes Gerry think she fancies him. Meanwhile, Danny seems interested in just one thing . (en)
- Beryl and Robert's wedding is a week away and the girls and their mums are talking of wedding plans when Robert phones with more good news: he's been promoted to area manager at work and will be moving back to Liverpool to live. But that night, after Sandra describes Robert as "Ugly Handsome," Beryl dreams of a wedding where Robert puts handcuffs on her at the altar instead of a ring; she wakes up with cold feet about the marriage and goes AWOL. When Paul hears that Sandra's alone in the flat, he immediately rushes round to move his belongings in! Sandra tries to dissuade him and coaxes him to help her scour the streets of Liverpool searching for Beryl. While they're out, Robert arrives on the London train with a bad back; he's resting back at the girls' flat when a rainswept Beryl eventually arrives home again...but in what state of mind? (en)
- Beryl shows Sandra slides of her days with a boyfriend, Roy, before he left again to sea—Beryl and Roy outside Lewis's, Beryl and Roy by the Mersey Funnel, Beryl and Roy on the New Brighton ferry—and the final one: Beryl at the dock gates with Frank, a man she'd met right after waving goodbye to Roy and with whom she has arranged a meeting for the next Sunday! Back at work at Blandings Cosmetics, Jim Royle , a shop steward, knowing the Hennessey family's strong Labour tradition, asks Beryl to speak at a mass meeting calling for strike action—on that same Sunday. . (en)
- Sandra eagerly reads her horoscope in her weekly magazine Young and Lovely, as soon as it's delivered by the paperboy , who seems to have taken a shine to her. When her horoscope tells her green will be her lucky colour, she'll be caught by a handsome stranger, and a marriage proposal may be in the air, Sandra heads out to the shops all dressed in green. After unsuccessfully making eyes at several men on the streets of Liverpool, all she manages to buy is a 'hope chest'--a large bottom-drawer-style chest in which to store her future household linens. Later she deliberately gets caught shoplifting just to meet the good-looking store detective—and receives a shy proposal from her young paperboy as he delivers her next issue of 'Young and Lovely'. (en)
- When Sandra realizes that Carol is hurt by Sandra seeing Bill, she decides to break it off. But Carol later has a change of heart and sets the pair up on a blind date at the local bistro. Unfortunately, Bill reveals he was only pretending to be vegetarian; he actually has a job driving cattle to the slaughterhouse. When Sandra, hurt, rushes home, she discovers that Carol has lined up a date with Sandra's own previous boyfriend . (en)
- The morning after a party at their flat, the girls need to redecorate their bedroom. Beryl invites round a former schoolmate who is now a decorator, and he does the job for free in the misguided anticipation of romance once the work is over. Meanwhile, Sandra's posh new man is involved in the local hunt and the girls go riding to try to impress him, but Sandra's horse leads her right into a large pond! This happens to be the last straw for the stable owner, who decides to sell the unpredictable horse to the catfood factory. Concerned, Beryl and Sandra buy the horse themselves and end up selling him to a farmer for a profit, some of which they spend cooking a luxurious meal for Beryl's decorator friend to thank him for his time and work. (en)
- Just as Sandra goes vegetarian and starts collecting for the RSPCA, her mother asks her to look after the family's pet parrot, Napoleon, 'just for a couple of days', but Beryl isn't happy—she doesn't want psittacosis. When the phone rings, it's a wrong-number call: a suicidal man trying to reach the Samaritans; but Beryl, who answered, is concerned and invites him round for a chat. Felix Bowness appears. (en)
- The girls decide to decorate the flat, but their furniture is stolen from the hallway. (en)
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