About this season
You're Only Young Twice is a British sitcom produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV. Created and written by Michael Ashton and Pam Valentine, the programme ran for four series from 1977 to 1981, with a total of 31 episodes. At the Paradise Lodge retirement home, Flora Petty and her sidekick Cissie Lupin attempt to thwart the long-suffering staff, led by Miss Milton. The duo are occasionally assisted by former theatrical artiste Dolly Love and the haughty Mildred Fanshaw.
Episodes (8)
1. The Box Number
Aired 5 June 1978 • 30 min
Cissie places an innocent advert in the paper, requesting somebody with whom she can swap crochet patterns, but the ambiguous wording attracts a mountain of unsavoury replies, leading Flora to believe her friend is in danger from a stalker. She sets a trap for him, and although his intentions are honourable, it gives Flora the idea of placing an ad of her own.
2. The Windfall
Aired 12 June 1978 • 30 min
A tipsy Cissie returns from her uncle Bert's funeral with a shoebox containing a £10,000 inheritance. Greedy Flora is of course only too happy to help her spend the money, to her own advantage. Unfortunately, nobody has told her that the notes are counterfeit.
3. The Commercial
Aired 19 June 1978 • 30 min
On the strength of one of her old films being shown on television, Dolly is offered a part in a bread commercial, but when the director arrives, he feels she is too glamorous to play a homely grandmother. Flora is naturally happy to step forward to take over, but it's Cissie who lands the role.
4. The White Elephant
Aired 26 June 1978 • 30 min
Having been banned from most of the local shops, Flora returns from Peabody's — and a traumatic visit to the cinema — with a new model elephant for her collection. However, she suddenly realises that she has forgotten to pay, and enlists the other ladies' help to disguise themselves in an effort to return it.
5. The Foundling
Aired 3 July 1978 • 30 min
Flora is disturbed late at night by a baby's crying, and when she discovers the child left on the doorstep, it falls on the ladies of Paradise Lodge to care for him, or her.
6. The Deputy
Aired 10 July 1978 • 30 min
Miss Milton is incapacitated after an accident with a ladder, so Paradise Lodge is placed in the hands of a disciplinarian former sergeant major whose rigid rules cause Flora to lead a rooftop protest.
7. The Spring Fayre
Aired 17 July 1978 • 30 min
The church's Spring Fayre is approaching, but Flora has fallen out with the vicar's wife, who consequently bans her from attending. However, Flora blackmails organiser Miss Milton into letting her run the tea stall — usually the prerogative of the vicar's wife. When the prize draw is announced, it would somehow seem that Flora has indeed won, thanks to a little crafty manipulation, but the ticket has gone missing, and Flora must rely on Cissie to recover it.
8. The Operation
Aired 24 July 1978 • 30 min
Flora feels unwell, but, being banned from surgery, sends Cissie to describe the symptoms, and learns that she has a grumbling appendix. Admitted for an operation, she annoys everybody on her ward, but when Cissie takes a call from hospital, it would supposedly seem that Flora is no more.