About this season
Ben Harper is a moderately successful family man and dentist. He is also undergoing a mid-life crisis and trying to cope with the bizarre reality of raising teenage children. His wife Susan seems quite happy, enjoys her job as a London tour guide, however at home her ability to find her way around a cookbook or pantry is less successful. Their three children Nick, Janey, and Michael are as different as chalk and cheese. Nick (19) is on his gap year, but doesn't get much further than the sofa or job centre, Janey is as sharp as a tack and 16 going on 25, while Michael is a very bright, computer-nerdish 12 year old who is just discovering girls.
Episodes (13)
1. Fitting Punishment
Aired 21 March 2003 • 30 min
Susan is looking forward to the birth of her first grandchild, but not to being a grandmother. Meanwhile, Nick wants to move back in and a new arrival at Ben's surgery has quite an impact.
2. They Shoot Harpers, Don't They?
Aired 28 March 2003 • 30 min
Susan decides that she and Ben should take dance lessons, but they soon find it takes more than two to tango. Meanwhile, Michael decides to concentrate on his studies, but can he stop thinking about girls?
3. The Great Escape
Aired 4 April 2003 • 30 min
Normally, nobody in the Harper family would willingly set foot in Nick's flat, but when Susan's mother comes to stay, it suddenly seems more attractive.
4. Return of the Prodigal Prat
Aired 11 April 2003 • 30 min
When the local newspaper accidentally lists Ben in the obituaries, he takes it as an opportunity to do absolutely nothing. Meanwhile, Susan wants to convert Nick's old room to a nursery, but Nick isn't having any of it.
5. Owed to Susan
Aired 18 April 2003 • 30 min
After the Harpers' marriage is threatened by Susan's discovery that the love poem Ben wrote to woo her was not an original, he goes to great lengths to make it up to her.
6. Deliverance
Aired 25 April 2003 • 30 min
Janey's baby is due and Susan insists on traveling to Manchester for the birth; it's a journey that throws up several blasts from the past.
7. Blind Justice
Aired 2 May 2003 • 30 min
Susan gets hysterical blindness after seeing Michael in bed with a girl. Meanwhile, Ben is on dreaded jury duty and is hassled by an annoying busybody fellow juror, and Nick becomes a wrapping artist.
8. Friday the 31st
Aired 9 May 2003 • 30 min
Susan decides to enter enthusiastically into the spirit of trick or treat for the neighbourhood children, which Ben tries to ignore until the spirits get to him.
9. Sitting Targets
Aired 16 May 2003 • 30 min
Susan decides that Ben should spend more time with Michael in case he turns into another Nick, and Janey leaves the grandparents to babysit Kenzo.
10. Loco Parentis
Aired 23 May 2003 • 30 min
Ben and Susan have to go back to school for parenting classes as a result of Michael playing truant.
11. Canary Cage
Aired 30 May 2003 • 30 min
The Harpers get a free holiday to Lanzarote, and even though Ben loses his luggage, he is happy enough to use his brand new digital camera as much as possible.
12. May the Best Man Win
Aired 6 June 2003 • 30 min
Abi's father asks Ben to be his best man; this turns out to have been a bad move, as he hands over the running of the bachelor night to Nick.
13. It's a Window Filled Life
Aired 13 June 2003 • 30 min
After coming into contact with an infectious disease from Peru, the whole Harper household is placed under quarantine by Susan. How long will it be till they all drive each other mad?