The Liver Birds

- Season 4

(1974)

It's Beryl's birthday, and Sandra is planning a surprise party for her. Among her presents she gets a hamster in the post from Robert. Only Beryl hates 'rodents', or at least she does until she finds out that the hamster is pregnant. She also has a massive goldfish bowl, a far too big knitted jumper, and a strange blue hat from Mrs Hutchinson. They then discover that Thingy has gone missing so the race is on to find it.

Sandra's brother is coming to visit her from Australia. She hasn't seen him for 8 years and is getting quite excited. Sandra thinks that Beryl should start seeing him as it will stop her 'moping about Robert'. Beryl's a bit shocked though when he invites her jogging with him...at 6 in the morning! As the two of them get closer, there are shocks all round when Mrs Hutchinson finds a marriage certificate.

Sandra is on cloud nine with her new boyfriend Paul (he makes her tingle). After he gives her money to buy herself a present, she opts for a cut-glass sugar bowl to prepare herself for when he proposes. Whilst in the bath, Sandra wonders if it would help Paul decide if he were to see a 'happily-married' couple, so decides to take him to her parents house for tea. Before she even gets out of the bath though, her 'happily married parents' turn up at the flat arguing. They announce that they are going to get divorced.

Beryl and Sandra travel to London for a weekend away with their boyfriends. They get to stay in a large, swish hotel, however whilst Sandra is put in a big, comfortable room directly opposite to the one occupied by Paul, Beryl gets separated from the others and given a room at the very top, with no light, no water, and no heat! After dressing up for a posh meal out, Paul and Sandra get into a big argument over the amount of bosom on display by her low cut dress.

Following an eye test Beryl is told that she will need to wear glasses and that she can pick them up on Saturday. By coincidence this is the day when she is meeting boyfriend Robert, who is coming up from London. Vanity takes hold and Beryl decides against letting Robert see her in her glasses, so Sandra and Paul decide to both wear glasses to make her feel more comfortable, only with disastrous consequences.

The girls have one week off and only £25. Sandra's parents have parted, her dad is in a bedsit - she needs a holiday somewhere. With Jamaica out of the question, they decide to go pony trekking across the Pennines, but first they need to sort out Sandra's parents. Arriving at Sandra's mothers though, they see a strange man arriving with some flowers!

After sleeping in and being late for work yet again, Beryl's boss gets fed up and sacks her. For good measure, he also sacks Sandra. During the hunt for work, Sandra fancies the vacancy for 2 farm hands in Caerphilly, Wales. She doesn't mention in the application form that her and Beryl aren't men, so the farmer gets a bit of a shock. They bungle along, until they are asked to kill Henrietta the chicken for dinner!

Hard up for cash, Sandra gets a job in a local dog kennels. Beryl meanwhile has trouble at the laundrette, and becomes the main cleaner around the flat, constantly interrupting Sandra and Paul when they try to be all romantic, and ruining all Sandra's clothes. Beryl thinks she's a failure. A phone call to Robert though, freaks her out when a woman answers. Sandra then makes matters even worse when she declares that Paul has proposed. With everyone around her getting divorced though, how does she tell Paul that she actually doesn't want to marry him? Beryl then gets a ...

Beryl is really happy, and has been singing the Wedding March ever since Robert proposed to her. The kitchen is a mess though, and Sandra would rather have her freedom. Robert is coming up from London, and has arranged to meet Beryl at the posh Apollo. Beryl asks Sandra for help in buying a ring, and a dress, she wants a 'solitaire with two stones'! While in the restaurant toilet getting changed into her posh dress though, a woman pinches all her things, clothes and all, leaving her in just her bra, panties and heels!

Beryl seems to be having trouble with her ring. First it gets attached to Robert while they are saying goodbye at the train station. Then the morning it arrives back in the post, she leaves it in Sandra's trifle dish and she swallows it. Both panicked, Sandra is rushed to hospital, with parents and Paul in tow.

Beryl has news from Robert that he has been made an Area Manager in Liverpool, so they can get married earlier. Not rushing things too much, they've arranged the date for 'a week tomorrow'! Beryl's mother though, needs to know lots of personal details of Robert when she finds out he's an agnostic! After having a big chat with Sandra, Beryl has a nightmare about the wedding, so runs off scared. All Paul can do to help though, is move his things into the flat in Beryl's place, much to Sandra's horror. Sandra and Paul try and search for her before having to meet Robert ...

Beryl is making her own wedding dress, but has to be careful as Robert is staying with her and Sandra for the week. They then get another visitor, as the lady from the kennels phones and asks Sandra if she'll look after Skip the dog for the weekend. Unfortunately he's a big lump, and just sleeps on the sofa - Robert's bed. There's more trouble when the girls' mothers discover that he's staying there!

Beryl and Sandra are both getting sad. It's Beryl's last day in the flat before her big wedding day. Sandra gives her a wedding present early, it's sexy pink underwear. Then a strange woman phones twice looking for Robert, and she won't say what it's in reference to. They track her down though, and she turns out to be pregnant. On the big day, some street urchins let the tires of the wedding cars down, and everyone has to go to the wedding partly on the bus, and then hitching a lift in a lorry.