Simon and Samantha arrive home from a summer holiday to find that their housekeeper has got married and moved away. But she has left some help - her sister Isobel. Simon decides to give her a trial period. She does not make a good impression as she is shy and quiet. When she tries to liven up, she only suceeds in smashing crockery.She overhears them talking about the fact that they are not impressed by her. She then decides to impress them with her tidying and fried cooking. But this only seems to make Simon more angry with her. He decides she must be sacked and return to Scotland.
Samantha learns that Isobel is dreading to go back to Scotland and tries to persuade Simon to let her stay. When Isobel learns that she was to be sacked, she becomes distressed. Simon then offers her a further month's trial as long as she takes cooking lessons and stops tidying up.
Samantha wants to learn about her mother and asks Simon to describe her. But he finds it difficult. He only remembers her having one fault - that she used to use his toothbrush. He is also under a lot of strain because he needs a loan to tide over a difficult business patch. He suggests she go to Derek and Nell but he warns them before not to tell about the incident with Harry. But Isobel has heard of Harry and slips it out to Samantha about him.Both Derek and Nell try hard not to mention Harry to Samantha whilst describing her mother, but Samantha asks about him and they have no choice but to tell her to go to Simon. He then tells her Harry's story - that he was engaged to Ruth before Simon was and after a bitter argument they had fought and Simon had won.
After that, Simon had promised Ruth he would never use violence and that he would bring up any children they had to abhor violence. Samantha then promises never to watch violence on TV - and also that she will stop secretly using hi
Simon is tied up at work and asks Nell to take his turn to be the crossing guard at Samantha's school. She agrees. Simon and Derek have a meeting with a Sales Director who will give them more work, called Drover. He's a heavy drinking man and says he will only offer them the contract if they promise to include his girlfriend in the budget. They have no choice but to accept.Later that day they receive a phone call informing them that Nell has been knocked down by a car and is in hospital. They all rush to her side where they find that her injuries are minimal. They also discover that the driver of the car is in hospital too. It is Drover. He threatens to sue Nell for causing the accident. But Simon warns him that they have the evidence that he was drinking and driving. Drover is then made to give them the contract without having to include payments to his girlfriend. Simon is then so guilty about sending Nell out on the road that he returns to the school as a Lollipop man - to the amuse
Simon has a new girlfriend Annie, and decides not to tell Samantha if she stays the night because she is too young to understand adult emotions. Derek turns up at the doorstep one evening and announces he has left Muriel and his children. Simon offers to let him spend the night but says that he shouldn't tell Samantha because she is too young and innocent to understand.The next day Derek is miserable and wants to go back to Muriel. Both Liz and Nell try to patch things up between them with no success. Samantha then asks Derek if he can take her to his house so that she can finish some homework with his daughter Anabelle. Rather than tell Samantha the truth about his problems with his wife he takes her to his house.
Samantha returns home later that evening to tell Simon that Derek and Muriel are back together. She tells him how she guessed the situation and she and Anabelle plotted to get Muriel and Derek to talk. Simon understands that his daughter is more grown up than he thought and
Simon needs to renew a contract with Eyecatchers' biggest existing client, Britannia Biscuits. If he can he will be able to buy Samantha a computer for her birthday. Simon decides to make a video of his agency's previous successes and show this to the Marketing Chief, Portland MacIntyre, who happens to be a very attractive lady.When the meeting comes to show Portland the video, the messenger has brought the wrong tape and they end up showing a sex tape. Portland is disgusted and says she wants a company that does research. Simon then asks Portland out to dinner. He decides to do some research on her. Whilst at her favourite restaurant, Simon accidentally drops the piece of cardboard that has Portland's research written on it. Simon explains that he had done the research to show that his company is efficient in this area. Portland explains that she was going to renew the contract again because their costs are much lower than those of larger agencies. Simon then tells Samantha that he wi
Simon needs a loan to expand his business and decides to get a bank manager's opinion. Meanwhile, Fergus comes to see Derek to ask if he can borrow the Eyecatchers office for the afternoon. He has just recently got engaged to Anthea and she wants to see his office so she can ask her father to help Fergus out financially in his business. But Fergus' own office is shabby and Anthea will not be impressed. Derek agrees to lend Fergus the office and pretend to be his assistant.
When Anthea comes to view the office she is impressed, but not by Derek - she wants Fergus to fire him. Nell then walks in and Anthea presumes she is the cleaning lady. Then Samantha walks in and Anthea believes her to be Fergus' daughter. She is angry with him for not telling her he has a daughter. Simon walks in with the bank manager just as Anthea is breaking off her engagement to Fergus. The bank manager is amused but decides to give Simon the loan anyway.
Simon meets an attractive woman called Helen. She tells him that she is frustrated with her home because of all her noisy children. Simon offers her an invitation to spend the evening at his house knowing that Samantha is away - so Helen will be out of the way of the children. Derek is surprised when he hears that Simon has denied Samantha's existance just to spend the evening with Helen.After much interrogation Derek tells Nell what Simon is doing. In a rage she goes to his house to meet Helen, who greets her warmly and mentions the high regard that Simon feels for her. Touched, Nell decides to leave without mentioning Samantha. However, Samantha is missing Simon in Paris and decides to telephone him. Simon has to confess to Helen that he has a 14 year old daughter. Helen then confesses that her hair-raising account of the children in her house was just a fabrication to persuade Simon to ask her out.
After being beaten by Simon at squash, Derek decides to lay on a bet with Fergus that Simon will beat him when they play squash. He bets his wife's car against Fergus' sports car. When he learns that Fergus is a county standard squash player, he instantly tries to break off the bet. But he's then told by Fergus' girlfriend that Fergus is not that good. So the bet remains. When Simon hears of the bet he determines to play his very best so Derek's wife will not lose her car. Samantha turns up at the match and screams her Dad on, and he wins.Fergus and Derek then learn that both Samantha and Fergus's daughter are trying out for the same audition. They decide to bet both cars again on the chance that one of the girls will get the lead. Derek is sure to win again. But then when Samantha turns up for the audition she has lost her voice due to the screaming she had been doing earlier - she cannot possibly succeed in the audition.
Simon receives a visitor called Mr Broclebank who wants Simon's agency to help him in his charity work. Simon refuses. Nell walks into the office to discover that Mr Brocklebank is her long-lost love whom she met during the war. She rushes out, too scared to talk to him. When Samantha hears about Nell's romance she decides to matchmake and invites Mr Brocklebank back to the office where Nell will be alone.When Nell and he meet their friendship is revived. They go to the local wine bar where Simon is told by a friend that Mr Brocklebank owns a large cosmetic company which could set him up with valuable contacts. Simon is then pleased for the relationship. However, Nell learns that Mr Brocklebank is happily married and decides not to see him again.
Simon's housekeeper Isobel is luckier in her romance: Liz has offered to introduce her to a boy called Joe, and although Isobel has initial misgivings because Joe is black, she quickly decides that he is most attractive and charming.
Samantha's new schoolfriend Gemma has a single mother, and they decide to set their two parents up in the hope that they will begin a relationship and eventually get married. They plot to get both parents to the zoo to meet each other. When they do, they are instantly attracted and start to form a relationship. Laura is a painter and offers to paint a portrait of Simon.After long quiet sittings, Simon believes that they understand each other perfectly. She finishes the painting on her own and reveals it to Simon when it is finished. It is an abstract painting and shows Simon as a haggard character floundering in a sea of money and using humour as a mask. Simon does not like the interpretation of his personality and Laura is offended that he does not like her work. The romance breaks up. Simon is worried that Samantha will be upset about the break-up, but when he tells her she explains that she and Gemma are no longer friends anyway.
Derek hears that a VAT inspector is coming to the office to inspect the company's books. Derek tries to get hold of Simon to help him deal with the inspector. But Simon has been rushed to hospital with appendicitis. He has to be operated on, which scares him into saying he is fine, but the doctor is keen to operate. Nell, Isobel, Samantha and Derek visit him in hospital, determined not to worry him with the problems at work. But they find it hard to keep their anxiety concealed.When the VAT inspector arrives he tells Derek not to give any excuses for the books.
Derek goes off to see Simon in hospital but faints when he sees him receiving an injection. Samantha comes to the office to discover that the Inspector has found a discrepency in the books. Samantha discovers he has calculated it wrong and, in fact, it is much greater. Derek is in despair to hear Samantha apparently adding up a VAT debt of thousands of pounds. Then he discovers that the discrepency is in the company's favour - t
Simon arrives home late one evening, bringing with him a 19-year old Jennifer Whitsun-Burnish. She was drunk when Simon found her on the street and has brought her home to sleep in his bed whilst he sleeps on the couch. The next morning Simon has to go to work early and leaves Samantha to discover Jennifer in her father's bed. Embarrassed, Jenny blurts out that she is Simon's fiancee. Samantha tells Nell who phones Jenny's parents to tell them the news. Simon returns from work to find that Nell has invited his supposed future parents-in-law to meet him.Jenny apologizes to Simon and admits she only said she was engaged to hide her embarrassment.
She then explains that her boyfriend Jerry is coming to the house because she told him that Simon had treated her badly in order to make him jealous. She explains that she wants to marry Jerry but he won't propose. When Jerry comes to the house Simon tells him he will lose Jenny if he doesn't propose. So Jenny and Jerry get engaged while Simon r
Samantha is suffering from stress and needs a holiday, but Simon cannot afford to take her. He then receives an offer from a client to pay for Simon and his family to go away to Greece if he supplies some tapes for their company. Simon agrees and he decides to take Nell and Pinky, Samantha and the local doctor Ernestine.But when they arrive at the airport they discover that the companny has gone bust and their tickets are worthless. Simon fears that he will not get paid for his tapes although Nell assures him that she never gave them the tapes because she had been warned off by Pinky. They than all decide to stay in a country cottage that Percy owns and enjoy a country holiday rather than a Greek holiday.