Illness hits the rehearsal schedule, but David is not convinced.

Radio Times: Eddie and Clarrie vie for supremacy.

Characters: Brenda, Clarrie, David, Eddie, Lynda, Mike, Roy

• Lynda’s panto rehearsal is fraught; Mike is still too ill to come, Kenton claims to be ill, and Eddie keeps trying to persuade Lynda to let him read Dame Trot’s part. Clarrie takes her role as half the cow seriously, but Eddie is uncooperative as the other half.
• Mike is battling both flu and builders’ dust. His cough is worse, and he’s very short of breath. Both Brenda and Roy are concerned about him. Roy insists that he should spend Christmas in Birmingham, with Hayley’s family, and Mike appears to agree; he hasn’t the strength to argue.
• David is convinced that Kenton is skiving rehearsals, and calls round to shout his thoughts through the letterbox. Kenton fails to respond, but Eddie catches David redhanded. He asks David how he intends to celebrate his 20th wedding anniversary, with a loaded warning not to catch cold.