2000

S1.E1 ∙ Episode #1.1

Sat, Jan 15, 2000

Alcoholic widower Ray Wilson lives on a council estate with his market trader sons Dougie and Jason,bored older daughter Dilly,vain middle daughter Jo and Poppy,a schoolgirl,who is keen for home tuition,which involves Colin,a social worker with a sartorial secret. Poppy needs money to go on a school trip to France and Richard,who is stalking Jo and spends hours outside the house gazing at her,thinks he can get into Jo's good books by selling his van to finance the trip. However Dougie has already got a loan - from a loan shark - and in the event the chances of Poppy going to France look very dim.

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S1.E2 ∙ Episode #1.2

Sat, Jan 22, 2000

Poppy is anxious to impress her new school-friend,middle-class Zoe,and panics when Zoe asks to visit,fearing that Ray's drunken state will embarrass her. Efforts to get him to go out fail as he decides he wants to be a good father and passes out on the couch. Meanwhile Dougie and Jason set up as dog-walkers,rescuing a neglected dog from its cruel owner,but a house full of the animals wrecks Poppy's plans for her evening whilst Ray thinks he is hallucinating when he sees them,causing Zoe to term him an 'Alcy'. And so Poppy puts family loyalty in front of her desire to impress her friend.

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S1.E3 ∙ Episode #1.3

Sat, Jan 29, 2000

Having read that a local former boxer has made a fortune from writing his memoirs and selling them for the film rights Dougie hopes that he can jog Ray's memory to give an account of his own days in the ring though sadly years of drink have dulled Ray's brain and he can remember nothing. at the same time Poppy is given a mechanical baby to mind as a warning against unwanted pregnancies but the family gets attached to it and it reminds Ray of Dougie's birth and sets in motion his memories of his fighting days. However they are so boring Dougie wishes he had never bothered.

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S1.E4 ∙ Episode #1.4

Sat, Feb 05, 2000

Ray sobers up and apologizes to the children for his drunkenness - as he does for three days every year on the anniversary of his wife's death. The Wilsons are due to go to the crematorium to pay their respects but then they are told by family friend Vera that Jo is not Ray's daughter,giving her the excuse to go to the speedway instead. Back at the house Ray is in angry mood until Vera's husband arrives to claim that what they were told was a lie - though he and Jo seem to have exactly the same mannerisms.

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S1.E5 ∙ Episode #1.5

Sat, Feb 12, 2000

When Colin announces that he is to be the subject of TV documentary 'Social Workers at Work' and the family will be featured the Wilsons are all excited - except for Poppy,who refuses to appear,locking herself in her room and causing Colin to be caught on camera being very asocial,leading to his breakdown. The Wilsons cannot believe it when Dilly claims to have a boyfriend,poetry-writing ex-convict Gary but he is real enough. He is also two-timing her,leading the family to take their revenge on him.

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S1.E6 ∙ Episode #1.6

Sat, Feb 19, 2000

Dougie gets a job as a security guard at a supermarket but is sacked after allowing single mothers to help themselves to food and becomes a traffic warden. Jo is also sacked after giving a customer a severe hair-cut but makes amends by giving her a glamorous wig,which makes her very attractive to other men,prompting her to get Jo's job back. Unfortunately her violent husband is not happy and goes to beat up Dougie,though the single mothers come to Dougie's rescue. And Jason,struck dumb when he saw his mother die,speaks for the first time in years,prompting Ray to give up the drink.

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