Parents

When Jenny Pope, husband Nick and children Sam and Becky arrive from London to stay with Jenny's parents Len and Alma in Kettering, it's supposed to be a short visit. However, Jenny has some shocking news that means they'll be there for longer than expected. Following a "fighty" altercation with a colleague, Jenny's been fired from her management job, and, with self-styled entrepreneur Nick contributing diddley squat to the family finances, the Popes soon find themselves with no savings and their house repossessed. The clan are left with no other choice but to leave London and shack up with Jenny's mum and dad.

Jenny has reached a new low after failing to find work, so Alma decides to cheer her daughter up with a surprise visit from one of her London pals. Alma's best intentions backfire though when the person Nick suggests turns out to be more of a foe than a friend: the snobbish, shallow Isabelle Hopkins. Jenny is understandably horrified then when she returns home to discover not only Isabelle but her even nastier wine-dealer husband Richard and their wildchild daughter Milly. Every cloud has a silver lining, though, and Becky points out that Isabelle has a job to offer - will Jenny sacrifice her family's honour for a chance to return to her old life?

Feelings of resentment towards Alma flood back when Jenny stumbles upon her old diary and, in a fit of 'teenage rebellion', she smokes a 25-year-old cigarette found inside. It's a move she comes to regret when Alma finds the half-puffed fag in the garden and presumes it was Becky's, a presumption a panicked Jenny does nothing to dispel. Elsewhere, Nick finally has the first test batch of his X-Celsior energy drink, but, sadly, his preferred 'lab rat', Len, isn't playing ball. And Nick's day only gets worse when he takes a sneak peak at Jenny's diary. Mistaking it for a modern-day memoir, he discovers his wife is "in love with Luke Goss" and presumes she's having an affair.

Valentine's Day brings out the best and worst in the Pope-Miller household. Alma is a big fan of the occasion, gets up at the crack of dawn to smother her grandchildren with love and is dismayed to find that Jenny has awoken even earlier and smuggled them out of the house. Her ire is raised even further when Len's Valentine's offering is an old Christmas card and a fixed cupboard, and she insists he raise his game. For his part, Nick is busy creating the ultimate card, but Jenny is preoccupied by the fact their old house is being auctioned off that day. So much so that, in a moment of madness, she attends the auction. Oh, and bids...

A poorly Jenny visits the local surgery and walks out with a job interview for practice manager. When she informs the family, they are confronted with the possibility that the Popes may be moving into their own place. While Becky is delighted and immediately makes appointments to view the best properties Kettering has to offer, the others aren't so enthusiastic - especially Nick, who can't get his head around life without Len. Speaking of Len, he and Alma embark on a plan to fill the gap with new recruits. Jenny needs to get the job first, though, and she's got competition in Mary, the surgery receptionist who rules the doctor with an iron fist and is close to the interviewer - suspiciously so.