In Loving Memory

- Season 3

(1982)

When Ivy and Billy attend the music hall a short-sighted knife thrower inadvertently provides them with their latest body when he accidentally skewers his shrewish wife. Billy finds romance with showgirl Vera Venables and intends to marry her but Ivy knows it would never work and joins Vera in disabusing him.

When Billy injures himself Ivy tries to drive the hearse herself but ends up in bed after having an accident. Believing that she is dying she urges Billy to get married but the girl he chooses to elope with, Cynthia, turns out to already be somebody else's wife.

Billy is shocked to see his aunt at the cinema with married undertaker Mr Sutton, who feels left out as his wife is obsessed with playing bowls. When Mrs Sutton finds out she throws her husband out of the house and he ends up at Ivy's so in order to get the couple back together again Ivy proposes an unusual game of bowls - with Mr Sutton as the prize.

Ivy writes an article for The Undertakers' Journal in the hopes of winning a five guinea prize. It concerns another disastrous funeral where the hearse fell apart after crashing into a farmyard and the coffin and mourners had to be taken to the churchyard on a motor cycle and side-car. However, having finished it, Ivy reckons that it will be too bizarre to be believed and tears it up.

Ivy and Billy drive to Bridlington to collect a client's remains and enjoy a day at the seaside. Then Billy decides to use the coffin as a canoe but it springs a leak and Ivy fears that he has drowned. She holds a lavish memorial service which is very well-attended, including by Billy himself, who has not drowned but has spent the last few days with a young lady.

Ivy and Billy find a baby, Eric, in their backyard and look after him but he goes missing when his grandfather, disapproving of his daughter's unmarried status, steals the child from them. In their efforts to get Eric back to his mother Ivy and Billy get arrested though fortunately the mother comes to court to clear them - leaving Billy feeling somewhat broody.

Whilst the reverend Chadwick is trying to persuade her to get Billy to stop drinking and attend his services Ivy gets locked in the chapel overnight with him and next morning their rescuers think the worst. As a result Ivy is expelled from the chapel and considers selling up again - until the offer of a lucrative funeral comes in.

The festive season is anything but for Ivy and Billy who find themselves in competition with the rival Pardoe family. However when a local dignitary dies it affords them the opportunity for a happy Christmas as well as partaking in the local glee club choir.