Plot[]
Leonard Swindley is facing staffing problems at Dobson and Hawks during the holiday season and one particular area of concern is the greengrocer section on foods. Enjoying his lunch in the local park one day he meets Jacob Elijah Burgess, known to all as Jeb, who can ill-afford any of life's luxuries on an old-age pension and sneaks onto the park's boating lake to avoid paying. When Jeb mentions that he is a retired greengrocer Swindley sees an opportunity and employs him as a holiday relief. What he doesn't know though is that Jeb has a Robin Hood complex and gives liberal amounts of goods away to pensioners like himself while charging extravagant sums to richer customers. Maths is not his strong point however and when Mr Hammond, who is standing in as relief for Mr Parbold, discovers that huge amounts of stock have moved but only ₤6.10s are in the till, he orders Jeb to be sacked. The old man feels betrayed by Swindley who makes it up to him by a present - a year's season ticket to the boating lake.
Cast[]
Regular cast[]
- Leonard Swindley - Arthur Lowe
- Mrs. Edgeley - Betty Driver
Guest cast[]
- Jacob Elijah Burgess - Mervyn Johns
- Mr. Hammond - Raymond Young
- Woman Customer - Margaret Boyd
- 1st Old Man Customer - George Betton
- 2nd Old Man Customer - Jack Woolgar
Notes[]
- The character of Jeb (again played by Mervyn Johns) reappears in the second season episode The Gaolbirds.
- This episode was transmitted at 9.10pm on 14th July by Grampian Television and on Thursday 15th July at 7.00pm by both Scottish Television and Border Television. Along with the rest of the series, the episode was not transmitted by Westward Television, Channel Television or the Teledu Cymru service of Television Wales and the West.
- Viewing Figures: First UK broadcast - 5,250,000 homes (16th place).
Commercial releases[]
This episode was included in Network DVD collection Pardon the Expression - The Complete First Series, released on 4th May, 2009.