British Men Behaving Badly

Two early thirties best friends live together while having completely different personalities. While their girlfriends try to help them take on more responsibilities the boys seldom respond well and usually end up drinking together.

Genre: Comedy

Cast:Martin Clunes , Caroline Quentin , Leslie Ash , Neil Morrissey , Ian Lindsay , Valerie Minifie , Dave Atkins , John Thomson , Harry Enfield , Robin Kermode , Amanda Drew , Richard Strange , Peter Doran , Dido Miles , Cristina Avery , Race Davies , Simon Nye , Deborah Sheridan-Taylor

1Season 2

S2.E1 ∙ Gary and Tony

Tue, Sep 8, 1992

Dermot has moved out of the flat, so Gary starts searching for a new flatmate.

2Season 2

S2.E2 ∙ Rent Boy

Tue, Sep 15, 1992

Gary is worried that Tony might be gay. Tony exaggerates his German skills to impress Deborah.

3Season 2

S2.E3 ∙ How to Dump Your Girlfriend

Tue, Sep 22, 1992

Tony tries to figure out the best way to break up with Pat in order to have "credibility" to make a move on Deborah, who has a fever that gives Tony the perfect chance to take care of her. Gary tries to organize cleaning duties in the house, but slightly overdoes it by putting a full year planner on the wall - which does not sit well with Deborah.

4Season 2

S2.E4 ∙ Troublesome Twelve Inch

Tue, Sep 29, 1992

Gary slightly overdoes the security precautions when sending George and Anthea to withdraw some money in full riot gear. He also learns from Tony that some of his vinyl records might be worth a lot of money and actually finds a valuable one and sells it. Except that it actually belonged to Dorothy... Tony gets a "this works every time" tip on how to sweep Deborah off her feet from Les. Then he goes on a date with Deborah.

5Season 2

S2.E5 ∙ Going Nowhere

Tue, Oct 6, 1992

Tony has bought a van and an electric blanket and he intends to use them. Gary gets stuck in a lift with Deborah and hopes nobody rescues them.

6Season 2

S2.E6 ∙ People Behaving Irritatingly

Tue, Oct 13, 1992

Tony's childish brother John and his irritating girlfriend Mandy come to visit and they soon outstay their welcome - running up phone bills abroad, making noisy love and scratching Gary's favourite record, which leads to his telling them a few home truths. However when it is discovered that Mandy's father owns a villa in Spain and, due to a cancellation, a free holiday for four could be on offer Gary is politeness itself. On the couple's last night at the flat everybody bites their tongue in response to the pair's crass comments. They need not to have bothered - the villa got booked to somebody else so the holiday was never to be.

1Season 3

S3.E1 ∙ Lovers

Fri, Jul 1, 1994

Gary feels inadequate when he learns that not only Tony - but even George - has had more sex partners than he has but in the pub quiz he tells Dorothy he has had fifty. She is not convinced so he raids Tony's box of photos of old flames to convince her but is found out. Tony tries to get in with Deborah when he learns that her boyfriend has dumped her but his efforts to impress by diving off the high board at the swimming pool go horribly awry.

2Season 3

S3.E2 ∙ Bed

Fri, Jul 8, 1994

On a wild and stormy night Deborah cannot sleep because of the sound of the broken garden fence flapping so Tony goes out to mend it. He soothes Deborah's anxieties and even gets to kiss her but is interrupted by the sound of the fence flapping again. Gary meanwhile goes to an all night chemist when Dorothy has indigestion but has left his money behind so he makes up a concoction of his own before being sent out again.

3Season 3

S3.E3 ∙ Casualties

Fri, Jul 15, 1994

Bored, depressed and out of work, Deborah decides to sell her flat and go travelling in Asia. Gary and Tony are horrified and try to change her mind by foul means. But the smooth estate agent selling her flat seems to have a better tactic.

4Season 3

S3.E4 ∙ Weekend

Fri, Jul 22, 1994

Dorothy and Gary go for a romantic weekend at a country hotel and get on famously - until they write down and swap their idea of the perfect sexual fantasy. Jealous that Deborah is going out with Ray Tony, now working as a barman at Les's seedy pub, doctors Ray's drink when he comes in with Deborah, ensuring that he is sick and the couple do not get to sleep with each other. Deborah is not amused when she learns the truth.

5Season 3

S3.E5 ∙ Cleaning Lady

Fri, Jul 29, 1994

When Dorothy complains that the flat is a mess Gary hires attractive Portuguese Elena, who has a boyfriend back home but is still pursued by Gary. Tony loses his job at the pub to Les's brother but, in order to make Deborah jealous, pretends that Elena is his girlfriend. Deborah sees through the deception and when Dorothy arrives home unexpectedly to find Gary trying to romance Elena he has to think quickly - like claiming that she is the cleaner's twin sister.

6Season 3

S3.E6 ∙ Marriage

Fri, Aug 5, 1994

Gary takes Dorothy for a meal and, after a few drinks, proposes marriage to her - which she accepts. Next day he is mortified and does his best to think of excuses to duck out of the proposal. Of course Dorothy knew all along that he was insincere - she just wanted to see him suffer. Tony plants a bugging device in a plant he gives to Deborah and listens in on his conversations with Ray. When Ray slags him off he rushes upstairs and breaks the door down, unaware that Deborah has already given Ray the push.

1Season 4

S4.E1 ∙ Babies

Thu, May 25, 1995

Gary has a dream in which he and Dorothy are at the altar, both pregnant. After initial repulsion he starts to warm to the idea of being a father, buying a huge cuddly rabbit, but after seeing the contents of his brief-case Dorothy decides he is too immature to father her children. Tony is given the key to Deborah's flat to let in the boiler repair man but reads her diary and upsets orange juice into her knicker drawer, necessitating a trip to the laundrette and - after all the colours have run - fabricating a burglary though Deborah does not buy it.

2Season 4

S4.E2 ∙ Infidelity

Thu, Jun 1, 1995

Tony annoys Deborah with his lack of attention span whilst they are watching television, leading to her declaring that she is fond of him but cannot date him because of his immaturity. To impress that he can be responsible he takes to doing voluntary work in an old folks' home - only to find that Deborah has another boyfriend. Gary becomes suspicious meanwhile that Dorothy is seeing somebody else and shadows her, using a number of not very convincing disguises.

3Season 4

S4.E3 ∙ Pornography

Thu, Jun 8, 1995

Dumped by Dorothy for her new boyfriend Jamie Gary is extremely depressed and the noisy love-making of Tony and his girlfriend Jill does not help. When Deborah and her new man invite Dorothy and Jamie to dinner Gary tries to counter with a party of his own but nobody turns up and the food is the left-overs from the pub. Drunk and desperate Gary crashes the party upstairs, making a fool of himself, and has to be rescued by Tony - though, since Jill has left him because he will not throw out his girlie magazines - Tony ends up getting even drunker with Gary.

4Season 4

S4.E4 ∙ Three Girlfriends

Thu, Jun 22, 1995

Whilst Gary wallows in the self pity of being dumped by Dorothy Tony has three girls on the go and has to work out a system to stop them meeting. For Father's Day Tony arranges for Gary's dad to visit but they do not get on and the visit is a disaster. Dad also interferes with Gary's effort to find a 'Plus One' to accompany him to Dorothy's engagement party to Jamie but ends up dateless. However Dorothy turns up to comfort him, having split up with Jamie.

5Season 4

S4.E5 ∙ Drunk

Thu, Jun 29, 1995

To celebrate getting back together again with Gary Dorothy cooks a meal but first Gary and Tony repair to the pub where landlord Les invites them to sample his guest ales. Inevitably the pair get very drunk and, when they return home, find that they have been locked out. Gary breaks in and crawls into bed with an unimpressed Dorothy but Tony ends up in the shed.

6Season 4

S4.E6 ∙ In Bed with Dorothy

Thu, Jul 6, 1995

Dorothy is having bed rest after having her appendix taken out but Gary's nursing skills leave much to be desired as he pretends the appendix is a moustache and races around the flat in her wheelchair. Dorothy gets revenge by pretending Gary has killed her. Tony finds he needs to wear glasses but, after everybody has laughed at him, opts for contact lenses instead. They still blur his vision though, especially when Gary offers him the appendix claiming it is a pickled chilli.

7Season 4

S4.E7 ∙ Playing Away

Thu, Jul 13, 1995

Whilst Gary and Deborah are both away for the weekend Dorothy and Tony are left alone together. Tony gets tooth-ache and, having a fear of dentists, attempts his own extraction by tying the tooth to the door and pulling it shut. After Dorothy has brought him a pain-killer they somehow end up in bed together. Unfortunately Gary returns early and surprises them.

1Season 5

S5.E1 ∙ Hair

Thu, Jun 20, 1996

Gary and Dorothy are back together whilst Tony is busking his way around Europe and seems likely to stay there so Dorothy moves her things into the flat. Then Tony returns, complete with a bushy beard, though he trims it down to a moustache to try and look sophisticated for - an unimpressed - Deborah. Gary now has a quandary. His best friend and his lover are in the flat but is it big enough for the three of them?

2Season 5

S5.E2 ∙ The Good Pub Guide

Thu, Jun 27, 1996

Dorothy and Tony are both living at the flat but Tony interrupts Gary and Dorothy in bed to inform them that Les, the seedy landlord of their local, the Crown, has been ousted, and the pub is being refurbished. In protest the men try other pubs but end up back at the Crown, whose new landlord Ken only got the job through nepotism. However, angry that she is having to do all the housework, Dorothy goes to the Crown and shows Gary up with a display of blokeishness that gets them both barred. Tony meanwhile makes crude attempts to win over Deborah, who is into astrology, by drawing his birth chart and claiming that sex with him is in the stars.

3Season 5

S5.E3 ∙ Cowardice

Thu, Jul 4, 1996

Stuck in a traffic jam Gary forces Dorothy to sound the horn but leaves her to face the violent driver this has offended. To prove he is not a coward he arranges for a stooge to meet him at the pub so he can impress Dorothy by hitting him. He certainly floors a rude and insulting man, though this was not the stooge in question. Tony, now working at the pub, is intrigued when Deborah's friend Judy comes to stay and suspects that they are Lesbians. Deborah plays along.

4Season 5

S5.E4 ∙ Your Mate v Your Bird

Thu, Jul 11, 1996

Tony is now working at the Crown and risking blood poisoning with his home-made tattoo, 'Deborah, I Love You', which he carves into his leg, but shortening it to just 'Deb' due to the pain. Dorothy is fed up with him so he moves into the pub but Gary misses his drinking pal so much that he brings in a life size dummy of him. Eventually matters resolve themselves when Tony moves back and Dorothy moves in with Deborah.

5Season 5

S5.E5 ∙ Cardigan

Thu, Jul 18, 1996

Gary is feeling middle-aged. Not only is he dressing like George but Anthea mistakes him for their older colleague. He decides to prove his youth by going to a rave but, after getting lost, he eventually throws up on arrival. Deborah is now a mature student and is befriended by the very young Adam, of whom Tony is insanely jealous, though she declines to have sex with both of them. Tony and Gary ultimately agree that the only way to act their age is to dance very badly in the Crown.

6Season 5

S5.E6 ∙ Rich and Fat

Thu, Jul 25, 1996

Tony discovers that Gary has been hoarding a large nest egg in the flat and tells everybody they know, including George and Anthea, who demand a pay rise. Dorothy makes him donate a cheque worth £5,000 to the hospital but he attempts to Tippex out the noughts whilst she is asleep and, when this fails, reports his cheque-book and credit card as stolen. To make things up he buys her jewellery - though this turns out to be rather cheaper than it looks. Tony meanwhile takes drastic steps to lose weight when Deborah comments that he is getting chubby.

7Season 5

S5.E7 ∙ Home Made Sauna

Thu, Aug 1, 1996

When Dorothy and Deborah go away for the weekend Tony builds a sauna in the she - or a shedna, as he terms it. The lads meet two attractive girls who are staying next door and invite them to a barbecue, followed by a session in the shedna. Whilst Tony fails to get anywhere with the happily married Paula Gary is seduced by Carol, though he later feels unusually guilty, believing he has done Dorothy wrong. Tony finally persuades Deborah to try the shedna but it blows up before they can use it.

1Season 6

S6.E1 ∙ Stag Night

Thu, Nov 6, 1997

After Gary has proposed to Dorothy, with a condom as a ring, they embark on their stag and hen nights. Gary is shocked to find that next day he has woken up to a young woman - paid for by Tony - but Dorothy has also entertained a man friend and they argue. Tony gets a job helping a woman give birth at home in a birthing pool and does so well Deborah kisses him. He wants more but Deborah believes it more important to reconcile the rowing Gary and Dorothy, only to find the couple indulging in some passion on the sofa.

2Season 6

S6.E2 ∙ Wedding

Thu, Nov 13, 1997

Gary and Dorothy's wedding day has arrived and the relatives turn up for the occasion but, as everybody arrives at the registry office two hours early, they head off for the pub. Later they discover that the ceremony cannot take place as the registrar has fallen ill and no replacement can be found. This is no great hardship for the happy couple who decide that they are content with the current arrangement and go on the honeymoon anyway. And Tony, after a six year wait, finally gets to have sex with Deborah.

3Season 6

S6.E3 ∙ Jealousy

Thu, Nov 20, 1997

The two couples go on a camping weekend but whilst Deborah and Tony are in love Dorothy and Gary are decidedly short with each other, a situation not helped because Dorothy has forced Gary to give up smoking. Tony becomes jealous when two fellow campers try to be friendly, while Gary is more than happy for Dorothy to spend time with the young men.

4Season 6

S6.E4 ∙ Watching TV

Thu, Nov 27, 1997

Deborah, Dorothy and Gary are trying to watch 'Star Trek' but are irritated by Tony's silly comments so they contrive to get him out of the room by getting him to dress as Braveheart and play Hide and Seek whilst they reminisce on old television shows and their theme tunes. Gary has ordered pizzas on the basis they are free if the delivery takes over forty five minutes so that when the delivery boy arrives he tries to hide to make up the time but is forced to pay. The quartet then eat their pizzas and carry on watching 'Star Trek'.

5Season 6

S6.E5 ∙ Ten

Thu, Dec 4, 1997

Jonathan, Dorothy's ten year old nephew, comes to stay and Gary and Tony find themselves taking advice from him. Tony, whilst envying Deborah the fact that she has made love in dangerous places, tries to impress her mother but tries too hard and annoys her, leading to him shouting at her. Dorothy takes a reluctant Gary to see a relationship counsellor but he is more interested in the pretty student sitting in on the interview. They do make a compromise however by taking the counsellor's advice and pretending to be on a first date.

6Season 6

S6.E6 ∙ Sofa

Thu, Dec 11, 1997

Tony wakes up to find that he has bought a snake from a man in a pub but cannot get rid of it. Deborah and Dorothy meanwhile put pressure on Gary to get rid of his uncomfortable old sofa, causing him to reminisce on how he first came by it and the women he tried - and failed - to seduce on it, Dorothy being his first major success. Whilst Deborah and Dorothy sit down on the posh new sofa Gary and Tony take the old one, and the snake, and set it down on the Cerne Abbas Giant where they take great delight in acting childishly.

7Season 6

S6.E7 ∙ Jingle B***s!

Thu, Dec 25, 1997

Interspersed with fantasy scenes of a glorious traditional Christmas in which the two couples are waited on by George and Anthea comes the reality in which Gary shuts the door and carol-singers, nobody gets the present they want and, although Gary offers to cook the turkey, he forgets to turn the oven on. When he finally gets it right he gets so drunk he passes out and the meat is burned to a crisp. Deborah meanwhile tells Tony she thinks they should split up because he is so childish. Feeling guilty she follows him to the pub where Ken has created a bizarre crib but the guilt disappears when she sees Tony cavorting with a stripper. Eventually she forgives him and the two couples have an ersatz Christmas, thanks to last minute shopping at the all-night garage.

1Season 7

S7.E1 ∙ Performance

Fri, Dec 25, 1998

Tony has moved in with Deborah but is in her bad books after pushing her too eagerly on a swing lands her in hospital. However she relents and, on discharge, acts as a Gary substitute for Tony's late night chats. Dorothy and Gary are trying for a baby but he has impotency problems, a fact of which Tony informs everybody in the pub. He tries magazines and videos but, at the end of the day, following a karaoke session with Tony, settles for talking dirty and just getting on with it.

2Season 7

S7.E2 ∙ Gary in Love

Sat, Dec 26, 1998

Gary is attending a security conference in Worthing and invites the others along - though they all end up sharing a cramped hotel room. On the first night the lads steal a huge ornamental fish which they hide in the room and have to keep bribing the chambermaid to keep quiet about it After Dorothy has told her she is pregnant Deborah is horrified to see Gary kissing Wendy, another delegate with whom he has fallen in love and asks Tony to do something to break them up. Tony's answer is to date Wendy though they are caught by Gary, which leads to a fight on the crazy golf course and Gary realising where his heart really lies - with Dorothy.

3Season 7

S7.E3 ∙ Delivery

Mon, Dec 28, 1998

Tony, sporting a moustache and glasses, is now a postman and takes the job very seriously - too seriously for Deborah, who misses the old stupid Tony and no longer finds him sexy. After a word from Dorothy, however, the old Tony returns. Gary's office closes and, unlike George and Anthea, he has no other job to go to. Whilst he is having a farewell drink in the pub with them he gets the call to say that Dorothy is about to give birth. He rushes home but accidentally knocks out the midwife and, as he is drunk, is no help when it comes to delivery. Fortunately Deborah is on hand to bring his baby daughter into the world. Later the quartet - and baby - sit on the sofa to look to the future.