At Peggy’s party Tom pokes fun at a bemused Leonie.

Radio Times: It is Peggy’s birthday, and there is an uninvited guest.

Characters: Brenda, Brian, James, Jennifer, Leonie, Lilian, Peggy, Tom

• It’s Peggy’s birthday bash and James has turned up with his ‘nurse’: Leonie has invited herself. Matt is ‘too busy’ to come. Tom and Brenda turn up with a typical Tom-style present: the first prototype of his Christmas hamper, since it was Peggy’s idea. Brenda is so surprised that Matt is too busy to come that she nearly lets the cat out of the bag. As Lilian later explains to Jennifer, it was Leonie’s presence that led Matt to cry off; nevertheless Lilian thinks, if he really loved her, Matt would have made the effort; he needs Lilian but that’s not the same as love.
• James annoys Brian by referring to his pet project as a mega-dairy, not to mention his predictions that the bottom will soon drop out of the milk market, most Chinese being lactose intolerant. Then he annoys Brenda by asking, in the most patronising way, about her family and their forthcoming addition. Leonie weighs in with more crass remarks on the same subject.
• Brenda and Tom get their own back by comparing Leonie to a character in the film “Misery”; this irritates James and goes over Leonie’s head.
• In their post-mortem, Brian and Jennifer express benevolent amusement over Tom’s enthusiastic promotion of his business ventures. James, on the other hand, is a waste of space and Leonie beyond the pale. They agree that Lilian has a nightmare on her hands with those two – and not just with them, adds Jennifer.