Shelley is reunited with his oldest friend, Ned, whom he asks to be best man at his forthcoming wedding. Ned, unfortunately, is a 'Jack The Lad' type who loves to drink, smoke, and make love. Fran dislikes him intensely, and openly says so.
After getting involved in a pub fight, Ned is hospitalised. However, the porter keeps him supplied with cigarettes and beer ( which he keeps under the bed ). Ned is keen to be best man, as he has read somewhere that traditionally the best man gets off with the bridesmaid. Shelley replies that it is not obligatory, purely optional.
Ned makes an unusual request of Shelley. Scared of a urine test, he asks his friend to provide the required sample...
Despite being the fifth episode, this was actually transmitted after the sixth - 'Elders & Betters'. Presumably the production team felt it to be a weak episode. If so, they were dead right.
There's no 'Mrs.H' for one thing, instead we get David Pugh giving a shockingly bad performance as 'Ned'. Clad in denim, permanently smoking, drinking and ogling women, Pugh looks and sounds ridiculous, the epitome of the sad forty-old who still dresses and talks as though he were seventeen ( also known as 'the Jeremy Clarkson syndrome' ). Why anyone in their right mind would want such an unreliable character as Ned as a best man is a mystery ( although Shelley confesses to Fran that he hopes Ned - a staunch socialist - will annoy his prospective Tory voting father-in-law ).
Whenever Pugh speaks ( and he gives several mini-speeches ), I found my attention wondering to more important matters such as what to have for supper.
There aren't many laughs to be had here, but I did get a chuckle out of Shelley asking Ned where to go to fill the sample bottle.
After getting involved in a pub fight, Ned is hospitalised. However, the porter keeps him supplied with cigarettes and beer ( which he keeps under the bed ). Ned is keen to be best man, as he has read somewhere that traditionally the best man gets off with the bridesmaid. Shelley replies that it is not obligatory, purely optional.
Ned makes an unusual request of Shelley. Scared of a urine test, he asks his friend to provide the required sample...
Despite being the fifth episode, this was actually transmitted after the sixth - 'Elders & Betters'. Presumably the production team felt it to be a weak episode. If so, they were dead right.
There's no 'Mrs.H' for one thing, instead we get David Pugh giving a shockingly bad performance as 'Ned'. Clad in denim, permanently smoking, drinking and ogling women, Pugh looks and sounds ridiculous, the epitome of the sad forty-old who still dresses and talks as though he were seventeen ( also known as 'the Jeremy Clarkson syndrome' ). Why anyone in their right mind would want such an unreliable character as Ned as a best man is a mystery ( although Shelley confesses to Fran that he hopes Ned - a staunch socialist - will annoy his prospective Tory voting father-in-law ).
Whenever Pugh speaks ( and he gives several mini-speeches ), I found my attention wondering to more important matters such as what to have for supper.
There aren't many laughs to be had here, but I did get a chuckle out of Shelley asking Ned where to go to fill the sample bottle.