Plot[]
Mr. Parbold is told by Head Office that his branch of Dobson and Hawks is one and a third head overstaffed and he happily delegates the task of correcting this to Leonard Swindley. Keen to avoid getting rid of the last person to join the company – namely himself – he takes up Miss Sinclair's suggestion to "early retire" the elderly and lazy cleaner Ada Hadfield. But he has not reckoned on the fact that Ada looks on her work as her social life and is so bitterly upset at her dismissal that the counter staff, led by a militant Pam Plummer, goes on strike. The situation is solved by a suggestion from Mrs Edgeley: Swindley employs Ada as his own cleaner, although she prefers to be called his "housekeeper" and wants a pound a week more than she gets at the store.
Cast[]
Regular cast[]
- Leonard Swindley - Arthur Lowe
- Miss Sinclair - Joy Stewart
- Mr. Parbold - Paul Dawkins
- Mrs Edgeley - Betty Driver
Guest cast[]
- Woman Customer - Elsie Woodhouse
- Pam Plummer - Barbara Young
- Mavis Foster - Holly Doone
- Ada Hadfield - Betty Hardy
- Hilda Norton - Helen Fraser
Notes[]
- This episode was transmitted at 9.10pm on 16th June by both Tyne Tees Television and Grampian Television and on Thursday 2nd September at 7.00pm by both Scottish Television and Border Television (after they had transmitted the rest of the season). 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 - 6,120,000 homes (6th place).
Commercial releases[]
This episode was included in Network DVD collection Pardon the Expression - The Complete First Series, released on 4th May, 2009.