List of Dinnerladies episodes

[2] The programme depicts the day-to-day lives of staff in the canteen of a factory in Manchester, and the developing relationship between Brenda Furlong (Wood) and canteen manager Tony Martin (Andrew Dunn), as well as their colleagues: prudish Dolly Bellfield (Thelma Barlow) and her friend Jean (Anne Reid), snarky Twinkle (Maxine Peake), ditzy Anita (Shobna Gulati) and maintenance man Stan Meadowcroft (Duncan Preston).

New Human Resources manager Philippa Moorcroft tries to rope everyone in to a group Scottish country dancing session, without much success.

[3][15] The dinnerladies are very excited about an impending royal visit, though they are not impressed to find out that they have been allocated Prince James, The Duke of Danby, with the exception of Stan, who met him thirty years earlier at Catterick Garrison army base.

Meanwhile, a TV researcher visits the canteen to see whether the dinner ladies would make good docu-soap material, but Tony is worried about them filming his cancer treatment.

Stan has had trouble with his father, Dolly and Jean bicker continuously, Anita is convinced her new haircut makes her look like Fatima Whitbread, and Twinkle thinks she is pregnant.

Dolly and Jean are not impressed with their husbands' flirtatious and ignorant behaviour; Anita gets very drunk at the party and makes a fool of herself, while Twinkle and her friend Tiffany are unimpressed by the older workers' dancing.

With Tony off work having chemotherapy for his cancer, obnoxious temporary manager Nicola Bodeux gives the staff a hard time, resulting in Dolly, Jean, Anita and Twinkle walking out.

Meanwhile, an anonymous bunch of flowers sent to Bren provokes rumours of a secret lover (they are actually from Stan to thank her for helping his father), and Anita's continual stories about her new boyfriend bore the others.

Jean talks about her "handsome" new boyfriend but when he arrives to pick her up, Philippa panics and calls the police, thinking he is the escaped convict.

[4][15] Tony and Bren's developing relationship is the subject of a bet between the dinnerladies and the Planning department: if they "get it on" before Christmas, the canteen staff win £50.

[4][15] After revealing that she was married (but separated), Bren begins to doubt her relationship with Tony, and his secretive actions eventually make her decide to dump him and resign from the canteen.

However, just as she is about to tell him this, he reveals a huge surprise birthday party for her, and the pair fly up to Scotland to spend Christmas with his friends.

While Dolly is very taken with her, Christine's backhanded compliments and paranormal beliefs, combined with her dreadful personal hygiene and flatulence problem, leave her very unpopular with the others, especially Stan.

Meanwhile, Bren stands up to a social worker over Petula's living arrangements, Norman develops a fear of bread, and Stan worries about his sexual prowess with Jean.

Bren discovers that she has been accepted as a contestant on the quiz show Totally Trivial (hosted by Henry Kelly) where she could win the money after Jean applied on her behalf.

[4][15] Bren leaves the canteen for the Totally Trivial studios (after being given various drugs to help her relax) and plans to stop at the hospital to visit her mother on the way.