As in the former series, affluent single woman Caroline Wheatley (Diana Weston), raising her son with the help of her mother Laura West (Honor Blackman), hires a housekeeper, and a man called Charlie Burrows (Joe McGann) applies for the job.

[2] Down on his luck, former footballer Charlie Burrows moves from a deprived area of London to leafy Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire to make a better life for his teenage daughter Joanna, by taking a job as housekeeper for well-off advertising executive Caroline Wheatley.

Soon the two become friends, Caroline's son Tom comes to see Charlie as a father figure, and Joanna enjoys having a female influence in her life following the premature death of her mother.

For years they lead the viewer on a "will-they-won't-they" chase that lasts until the end of the sixth series when the pair marry.

[3] The Upper Hand was first released on VHS format in the United Kingdom, where three volumes containing various episodes were made available from Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment.