Manchild

- Season 1

(2002)

Terry thinks that he has cracked the meaning of life - sexy and solvent at 50 years of age. He keeps himself fit with the latest craze (Thai kick boxing). His friends - James, Patrick and Gary - are the same age and in the same salary bracket. With the exception of Gary, who is desperately clinging to the idea that marriage - even after 26 years - can be as exciting as his friends' exploits, they hang out in trendy bars and hope to impress the girls with time-honored seduction techniques (money, champagne and charm).

James asks for Patrick's advice when he decides to invest some of his savings in a collectible painting. Patrick is reluctant to help, but swayed when the others persuade him to give his art advice in exchange for a look at the results of James' corrective surgery - designed to solve his problems in the bedroom. Terry meanwhile encounters generation gap issues with his young girlfriend, Sonja. He performs an intricate series of morning ablutions - shaving, flossing, and slapping on after-shave - before returning to bed and pretending to wake up with his 25-year-old ...

Terry wows his dance class with his salsa moves, reacting to the intense chemistry between him and the salsa teacher, Sylvia, as Patrick kills time in a fishing and shooting tackle shop. Hypnotized by Camilla, the rosy girl serving him, Patrick eventually leaves the shop with a pair of state-of-the-art waders. On a night out, Terry, Patrick, Gary and James follow Patrick to a lap-dancing club. While Terry and Patrick play it cool, James looks embarrassed and Gary gets completely carried away. He has a private dance from a beautiful Asian girl, Gitta, and is instantly ...

Terry, Patrick, James and Gary sit in the front row at London Fashion Week, pretending to admire the clothes but really ogling the models. Sonja gives Terry a flirty wave from the catwalk before being whisked away by the show's organizer, Justin. Terry is shocked that his son is actually working for a living but completely blown away by the news that Justin got the job through Christine's new boyfriend, the designer of the moment, Armando da Guerra. Feeling inexplicably jealous, Terry pays Christine a visit and is mortified to find his ex-wife looking fantastic and ...

Terry, bound up with the preparations for his daughter's wedding, is taken aback when first Christine asks him if she can bring Armando and then Justin asks if he can take Sonja. Patrick goes missing and Terry and James formulate a hard-nosed plan to track him down, involving police contacts and private detectives. Gary puts a stop to it, telling them that Patrick will come back in his own time. Patrick is actually sitting miserably on the banks of his river, trying to ignore the advice being offered to him by the aged Scottish ghillie. The ghillie's ruminations on ...

When they all meet for brunch at a sushi bar, Gary bemoans the loss of his beloved fry-up while Patrick tucks in and announces his intention to breed. To the horror of his friends, he joins a hi-tech dating agency and trawls through a number of videos for mail-order brides, deciding that he wants a brown one. Meanwhile, Gary suggests to Cheryl that they make some changes in their love life, to spice things up a bit. He is no match for Cheryl, however, who logs onto the Internet to search for a "swinging" couple in their area, and he begs her to drop the subject. The ...

Terry, kitted out in camouflage gear, takes aim at a state-of-the-art virtual quarry, set up for him at an exclusive rifle range. Distracted by his constant commentary on man's innate need to kill, Terry misses wildly, humiliating himself in front of his macho instructor. James, meanwhile, is suffering a different form of murderous intent, as his expensive oven is being slowly torn apart by a mouse. He sets a trap - and a webcam - for the squatting rodent. The friends all set off for a weekend of male bonding in the country, planning to 'kill things' - despite the ...