When Billy comes home from work, he finds his family - including Barbara - have been through his belongings ( actually, they are not his. They've been stolen from other people ) and is not happy about it, so he decides to go and live somewhere else. He dreams of living in a Hugh Hefner-type batchelor pad, replete with scantily-clad girls, but instead he gets 'Miss Duggins' ( Thora Hird ) and her tatty bed-sit. Furthermore, she has strict rules and regulations, making Billy is no better off than he was before...
Quite a few sitcoms have featured a plot in which a major character moves to a new address only to find things not as they expected. Thora Hird gives this episode a lift; with her owl-like spectacles and habit of adopting posh accents in mixed company, she is a prototype for 'Ivy Unsworth', her character in 'In Loving Memory'.
Interestingly, this is one of the few 'Billy Liar' episodes to feature Ambrosia, the mythical country in which Billy is King.
Funniest moment - Grandma wonders if Duggins might be related to Alderman Duggins, a former lover of hers. "He owes me a new garter!", she exclaims, before attempting to see if Miss Duggins might be wearing one., much to the latter's obvious embarassment.
Quite a few sitcoms have featured a plot in which a major character moves to a new address only to find things not as they expected. Thora Hird gives this episode a lift; with her owl-like spectacles and habit of adopting posh accents in mixed company, she is a prototype for 'Ivy Unsworth', her character in 'In Loving Memory'.
Interestingly, this is one of the few 'Billy Liar' episodes to feature Ambrosia, the mythical country in which Billy is King.
Funniest moment - Grandma wonders if Duggins might be related to Alderman Duggins, a former lover of hers. "He owes me a new garter!", she exclaims, before attempting to see if Miss Duggins might be wearing one., much to the latter's obvious embarassment.