He starts a cross-time romance with landlady of the Royal Oak pub Phoebe Bamford while living his regular life in the 1990s with his wife Yvonne.
Ron is able to replicate items that Gary needs to get by in the past, such as period money and ration cards, whilst he also helps him present cover stories to Yvonne, although he performs the latter unwillingly.
In the programme's finale, Gary prevents an assassination attempt on future prime minister, Clement Attlee, which leads to the time portal closing, leaving him stuck in the 1940s.
He encounters his father, who promptly faints after witnessing the birth, and is given his newborn self – triggering the time portal to reopen, and completing the paradox.
Gary also finds Yvonne had him declared dead and gave birth to their daughter Ellie, born after the time portal closed and has never met her father.
Throughout the series, Yvonne is led to believe that Gary is travelling about the country searching out antiques for his memorabilia shop when he is actually making numerous trips back to the 1940s via a time portal he accidentally stumbled across.
She eventually starts her own enormously successful natural beauty aids business, though it does little to lessen her sense of insecurity about Gary, who always seems to be absent and uncommitted to her needs.
Phoebe Sparrow (née Elward; previously Bamford) (Dervla Kirwan series one to three, Elizabeth Carling four to six) is a 1940s barmaid who becomes one of Gary's wives.
She is married to a serving British soldier (Donald Bamford, who appears in two episodes) though she reveals to Gary that it is a loveless marriage made for convenience only.
Phoebe is initially impressed by what she perceives as Gary's glamorous lifestyle and stories of America, though she eventually tires of his excuses and does not accept the gifts as readily.
However, when the second series begins, Gary's modern day best friend and confidant Ron Wheatcroft persuades him to go back in time to invest some money so that they will be rich in the 1990s.
Phoebe's father has died in an air raid, and her husband has been imprisoned in a POW camp; during this time, Gary provides emotional support for her.
He is also forced to sell his business (though he remains at the company as an employee, working for Mrs. Flanagan (Pippa Haywood[2]) who has a cameo appearance).
Born in 1901, Reg Deadman (Christopher Ettridge) is a simple-minded East End policeman and close friend to Phoebe and her father, Eric.
Reg is a regular patron of the Royal Oak and is eventually employed by Phoebe to help her run the pub when her father dies.
This relative is shown to be much smarter than Reg, adorned with mutton chops, and aggressively yet cynically on the trail of Jack the Ripper.