dinnerladies
Complete Collection cover
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Victoria Wood
Starring	Victoria Wood Julie Walters Thelma Barlow Andrew Dunn Shobna Gulati Celia Imrie Maxine Peake Duncan Preston Anne Reid
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	16
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC
Original run	12 November 1998 – 27 January 2000

dinnerladies was a British sitcom written and co-produced by and starring Victoria Wood. It ran on BBC One for 16 episodes from 1998 to 2000. Image File history File links Dinnerladies_Box_Set_Cover. ... This article or section seems to contain too many examples (or of a poor quality) for an encyclopedia entry. ... Victoria Wood OBE is a BAFTA award winning English comedian, actor, singer and writer born 19 May 1953 in Prestwich Village, Greater Manchester . ... Victoria Wood OBE is a BAFTA award winning English comedian, actor, singer and writer born 19 May 1953 in Prestwich Village, Greater Manchester . ... Julia Mary Walters, OBE (born February 22, 1950) is an English Golden Globe-winning actress. ... Thelma Barlow (born June 19, 1929 in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire) is an British television actress and writer, most famous for her role as Mavis Wilton in the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street. ... Andrew Dunn (b. ... Shobna Gulati is an English actress, writer and dancer of Indian origin. ... Celie Imrie (born 15 July 1952 in Guildford England) is a British actress. ... Maxine Peake Maxine Peake born in 1974) is an English actress from in Westhoughton, in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. ... Duncan Preston (born in Bradford, Yorkshire) is a English actor best known for his appearances in television productions written by Victoria Wood. ... Anne Reid (born 28 May 1935) is an accomplished British actress with a lengthy career on TV, stage and film. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, which is usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion. ... is the 316th day of the year (317th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 27th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Victoria Wood OBE is a BAFTA award winning English comedian, actor, singer and writer born 19 May 1953 in Prestwich Village, Greater Manchester . ... BBC One is the primary television channel of the BBC, and the first in the United Kingdom. ...

Plot

The show is set entirely in the canteen of HWD Components, a fictional factory in Manchester, featuring the caterers and regular customers as the main characters. The inner lives and social interactions of the mostly female, mostly middle-aged characters are vividly and amusingly depicted. This article is about the City of Manchester in England. ...

As with much of Victoria Wood's work, there is also a counterpoint of sadder themes, including deaths in the families of two of the main characters, a painful divorce, one of the characters living with cancer, and a long-running on-off relationship involving a great deal of heartache for the pair involved.

Production

Involving only one set throughout its run (with the exception of a quiz show set and hospital set - both seen only on a television screen in the last two episodes), dinnerladies was entirely filmed at BBC Television Centre in front of a live studio audience. Other locations such as characters' homes and other parts of the factory are only referred to in conversation. The jokes are generally delivered at a fast pace with dialogue usually only pausing to allow the audience's laughter to settle. BBC Television Centre (sometimes abbreviated TVC or TC) in London is home to much of BBC television output and, since 1998, almost all of the corporations national TV and radio news output by BBC News. ...

Uniquely, for a sitcom, each episode was filmed twice in front of two separate audiences, once on a Friday and again on a Saturday. This gave cast members two attempts to perfect a scene and, if necessary, the opportunity to correct mistakes without having to repeat a joke to the same audience.^[1]

Cast

• Brenda (Bren) Furlong (Victoria Wood) - The deputy manager of the canteen, and arguably the most ordinary of the characters. She had an unhappy childhood as her mother had her taken into care, and had an unhappy marriage to an alcoholic of whom she was frightened. She is very good at solving her colleagues' problems but often doubts her ability to overcome her own hardships. Several times in the first series it is hinted that she has feelings for Tony, though nothing comes of this until halfway through the second series.
• Tony Martin (Andrew Dunn) - The canteen manager, whose battle against cancer is a running storyline in the first series, prompting him in the second to want to do more with his life than simply running a canteen. Though he talks, and thinks, about women a lot, he has very little luck with them. He is attracted to Bren, but is too shy to reveal this to her for a long time.
• Dolly Bellfield (Thelma Barlow) - Something of a social climber, Dolly is the cattiest of the dinnerladies, always having a bitchy remark to make about those around her. Prim and prudish, she frequently snaps at people that they ought to moderate their language, and frowns on Twinkle's sexual shenanigans. She is also always concerned with her weight, has scales at work and is always on a diet. She has been married for thirty years and hopes to move to the nearby upmarket suburb of Mobberley after her retirement. Her constant regret is that her son lives with a marine biologist called Marcus (the audience are left to draw their own conclusions as to the living arrangements).
• Jean (Anne Reid) - Dolly's best friend, Jean is very often the stooge for her mordant remarks. Jean is somewhat unhappily married at the start of the series (with a grown-up daughter, Lisa), and in the second series her husband leaves her for his dental hygienist. After getting over the shock, and rediscovering self-confidence that she'd forgotten she ever had, she has a fling with a security guard (Barry "the love muscle") before settling down with Stan. She should wear her glasses for reading, but never does.
• Twinkle (Maxine Peake) - The youngest member of the team, she turns up late every day, does as little work as possible and tries unsuccessfully to borrow cigarettes from Tony. No matter how sarcastic she may be, however, it is clear that she regards the other members of staff as good friends, particularly Bren, to whom she turns for help on several occasions. She lives with her wheelchair-bound mother, for whom she acts as carer, and spends her evenings getting drunk and falling into skips. She loses a lot of weight between series.
• Anita (Shobna Gulati) - Pleasant, but rather dim, Anita is a kind and loyal friend to her colleagues, empathising with them and often helping them to solve their problems without even realising it. She becomes pregnant in the second series and, terrified of the implications, leaves the baby on the fire escape on Millennium Eve, with a note asking Bren to look after him. However, she realises that she must face the consequences of her actions and returns to take the baby back.
• Stan Meadowcroft (Duncan Preston) - Stan is the uptight handyman of the factory, who lives with his father. He spends his days cleaning bins and grumbling. After his father's death he decides to get his life going again, embarking on a brief relationship with a nurse before dating, and ultimately proposing to, his colleague Jean.
• Petula Gordino (Julie Walters) - Bren's selfish and manipulative mother, who had Bren taken into care as a child because she was cramping her style. She sometimes seems to forget that Bren is her daughter. Whenever she pays Bren a visit, it's usually because she wants money or a favour. She lives in a fantasy world (and in a caravan) where she is a close friend (and usually a lover) of the rich and famous. It is revealed in the final episode that her real name is also Brenda Furlong.
• Philippa Moorcroft (Celia Imrie) - The scatty and disorganised manager of the Human Resources department, having apparently landed the job because she was having an affair with the factory manager, Mr Michael, to whom she refers as Mikey. Her well-meaning attempts to relieve the dinner ladies' stress or help them in their personal lives generally have the opposite effect. In the second series she decides to break up with Mr Michael, and, having spent days planning how to do so to the smallest detail, she is furious when he dumps her first. She later begins a relationship with a colleague, Tom. Philippa is the only character in the series who comes from the south of England.
• Jane (Sue Devaney) - A member of the planning department, she had only a minor role in the first series, usually ordering the toast round for meetings. In the second series, she played a much more major part, having an ongoing wager with the canteen staff that Bren and Tony would or would not manage to have sex by Christmas Day. She has a drunken snog herself with Tony whilst on holiday in Marbella.

Victoria Wood OBE is a BAFTA award winning English comedian, actor, singer and writer born 19 May 1953 in Prestwich Village, Greater Manchester . ... Andrew Dunn (b. ... Thelma Barlow (born June 19, 1929 in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire) is an British television actress and writer, most famous for her role as Mavis Wilton in the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street. ... Mobberley is a semi-rural village and civil parish in Cheshire. ... Anne Reid (born 28 May 1935) is an accomplished British actress with a lengthy career on TV, stage and film. ... Maxine Peake Maxine Peake born in 1974) is an English actress from in Westhoughton, in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. ... Shobna Gulati is an English actress, writer and dancer of Indian origin. ... Duncan Preston (born in Bradford, Yorkshire) is a English actor best known for his appearances in television productions written by Victoria Wood. ... Julia Mary Walters, OBE (born February 22, 1950) is an English Golden Globe-winning actress. ... Celie Imrie (born 15 July 1952 in Guildford England) is a British actress. ... Sue Devaney (born 2 July 1967 in Ashton-under-Lyne) is a English actress. ...

Minor characters

• Norman (Andrew Livingston/Adrian Hood)and Big Glenda (Sue Cleaver) bread suppliers. Norman is a work shy agoraphobic and bigamist and Glenda seems to overtake Norman's duties when his agoraphobia is plaguing him. She was undergoing 'bladder' surgery, the nature of which is never directly mentioned (apart from a comment that it was to correct 'a bit hanging down'), though Tony often jokes that she is a transsexual and once likened her to Desperate Dan.
• Connie (Dora Bryan) - Jean's mother, a tracksuit wearing nymphomaniac who flirted shamelessly with Tony at the canteen worker's tea-party for the mothers.
• Enid (Dame Thora Hird) - Dolly's mother, wheel-chair bound and lacks a sense of humour. Has a sour view on everything (such as her daughters weight gain during puberty) "she had the biggest bottom on Whitefield" and dislikes southerners.
• Jim (Eric Sykes) - Stan's father, with whom he lived until series two when he died. He was a Desert Rat in World War II and various anecdotes are made about this throughout the show, such as his life being saved by a mess-tin and saving a man's life with a tablespoon.
• Peggy - Jean's sister, appears to collect Jean during her breakdown during her divorce.
• Mr Michael - Member of staff of HWD Components but his position is never mentioned although it is hinted he is a manager or even CEO. He hasn't actually been seen doing any work and was in a relationship with Philippa (the reason she moved up to Manchester). A fan of trad jazz, sexual intercourse and jigsaws.
• Babs from Urmston (Kate Robbins) - Petula's guest to the factory's Christmas Party and Tony's blind date in series one. She's very slow, dimwitted and has the tendency to repeatedly tell people that she's from Urmston. She is very knowledgeable in catering appliances, which piqued Stan's interest at the Christmas Party. She made a brief appearance in series two after witnessing Petula's caravan exploding due to a faulty gas connection Petula made with a pair of tights. After Petula recovered from being flung into the car wash, Babs was sent to the factory on a request for Brenda's holiday money.
• Malcolm - An inflatable mannequin of a man usually dressed in a suit, Malcolm was owned by Anita, who sat him in the passenger seat of her car while driving to discourage thieves. She often talked for him and used him as a decoration for the Christmas party. Tony once remarked that, compared to Anita, he provided fairly interesting conversation.

Sue Cleaver is a British actress. ... Statue of Desperate Dan in Dundee, Scotland city centre Desperate Dan is a wild west character in the British comic The Dandy. ... Dora Bryan (born Dora Mary Broadbent on February 7, 1924) is a British actress, a household name with a huge list of films to her credit. ... Dame Thora Hird (May 28, 1911 - March 15, 2003) was a veteran British actress born in the Lancashire seaside town of Morecambe. ... Eric Sykes in the Sykes TV series (DVD) The Plank (DVD cover) Eric Sykes, CBE (born May 4, 1923 in Oldham, Lancashire) is a British comedic writer and actor. ... Composed of regular British Army units, the famous Desert Rats division was originally formed as the Mobile Division or Mobile Force (Egypt) and was one of two training commands used by the British before World War II to develop armoured warfare techniques. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Trad jazz, short for traditional jazz is a music genre popular in Britain and Australia from the 1940s onward through the 1950s and which still has enthusiasts today. ... Kate Robbins is a Liverpudlian actress and impressionist. ... Urmston is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, in Greater Manchester, England. ...

Episodes

dinnerladies ran for two series. The first series (6 episodes) ran in 1998 from November 12 to December 17, and the second (10 episodes) from November 25, 1999 to January 27, 2000. Both series were shown on BBC1. Reruns air on UKTV Gold. is the 316th day of the year (317th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... December 17 is the 351st day of the year (352nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 329th day of the year (330th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 27th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... BBC One (or BBC1 as it was formerly styled) is the oldest United Kingdom, and indeed, the world. ... UKTV Gold, (previously known as UK Gold until March 8, 2004), is a British television channel that shows mainly classic BBC entertainment programmes. ...

Series 1

dinnerladies Series 1 DVD release

1. Monday - A typical Monday in the canteen. Jean is frantically preparing for her daughter's wedding — though she needn't bother, as we learn at the end that her daughter has had an attack of nerves at the prospect of a glitzy wedding and has already tied the knot. Bren and Dolly discuss the weekend's television offerings in great detail. Twinkle arrives late again. New Human Resources manageress Phillippa Moorcroft tries to rope everyone in to a group Scottish country dancing session, without much success. And Tony tries to keep everyone focused on actually making some food.
2. Royals - The dinner ladies are very excited about an impending royal visit, though they aren't impressed to find out that they've been allocated His Royal Highness Prince James, The Duke of Danby, as they've never heard of him, with the exception of Stan who had met him 30-odd years before at Catterick Garrison army base. There are lots of rehearsals to ensure everything goes smoothly but of course things go anything but. Twinkle finds she's unable to string a sentence together because of nerves, while Anita's (Shobna Gulati) mouth runs away with her on the topic of nipples. Dolly and Jean compete with each other to perform the best curtsy, and Bren receives a most unexpected proposition from the Duke...
3. Scandal - Bren is horrified when her flatulent mother Petula moves into the factory car park with her 16-year-old fiancé Clint. Sheelagh, Clint's mother, is also less than happy about the arrangements and forms a picket line around the factory with the national press. As the factory deliverymen gradually stop visiting for fear of the mob outside, Anita unexpectedly has the good idea of an impromptu Oprah Winfrey-style talk show to sort the matter out. Meanwhile, a TV researcher visits the canteen to assess whether the dinner ladies would make good docu-soap material.
4. Moods - Tony and Bren arrive early to the canteen in much better moods than usual. Unfortunately, everyone else is in a bad temper. Stan's had trouble with his father, Dolly and Jean bicker continuously, Anita is convinced her new haircut makes her look like Fatima Whitbread (and isn't happy about it) and Twinkle thinks she's pregnant. Phillippa suggests having a "Bring Your Mother To Work" day to cheer everyone up, though sarcastic Enid (Dolly's mother) and nymphomaniac Connie (Jean's mother) do little to raise the workers' spirits. And that's before Bren's mother has even arrived...
5. Party - A merger with a Japanese company means that the factory's Christmas Party has an Oriental theme to it. Tony and Bren plan to attend as a couple but Petula throws a spanner in the works by inviting herself along as Bren's dinner partner. Anita gets very drunk at the party and makes a fool of herself, while Twinkle and her friend Tiffany are unimpressed by the older workers' dancing. Petula flings herself at every man in sight, including Jean's husband Keith. Bren and Tony try to salvage what was meant to be their night together, but first they have to fend off the respective advances of Stan and Jean — can they finally get together?
6. Nightshift - An unexpected order comes in, prompting the factory manager to ask all the staff, including the dinnerladies, to work a 24 hour shift. With Tony off work having chemotherapy for his cancer, obnoxious temporary manager Nicola Bodeux ("B-O-D-E-U-X") gives the staff a hard time, resulting in Dolly, Jean, Anita and Twinkle walking out. Realising her constant failure to connect with people, Nicola herself then resigns and decides to become a lighthouse keeper. Bren prepares for the impossible task of manning the canteen single-handedly all night - will anyone come back to help her out?

Image File history File links Dinnerladies_1. ... Image File history File links Dinnerladies_1. ... This article is about human resources, as it applies to business, labor, and economies. ... Scottish country dancing at the 2005 Skagit Valley Highland Games in Mount Vernon, Washington Scottish country dancing or SCD is a form of social dance involving groups of mixed couples of dancers tracing progressive patterns according to a predetermined choreography. ... Map sources for Catterick Garrison at grid reference SE2497 Catterick Garrison is a major Army base located in North Yorkshire in England. ... Shobna Gulati is an English actress, writer and dancer of Indian origin. ... Oprah Winfrey, (born January 29, 1954) is a multiple-Emmy Award winning host of The Oprah Winfrey Show, the highest rated talk show in television history. ... Fatima Whitbread is a Turkish Cypriot originated British ex-athlete, a javelin thrower who won the World Championship in 1987. ... Christmas is an annual holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus. ... Chemotherapy is the use of chemical substances to treat disease. ... Cancer is a class of diseases or disorders characterized by uncontrolled division of cells and the ability of these to spread, either by direct growth into adjacent tissue through invasion, or by implantation into distant sites by metastasis (where cancer cells are transported through the bloodstream or lymphatic system). ... A HDR image of a traditional lighthouse For other uses, see Lighthouse (disambiguation). ...

Series 2

dinnerladies Series 2 DVD release

Each episode of series 2 was set on a specific date, to help put the progress of the various running storylines into perspective. The dates shown are the dates the episodes were set - not when they were broadcast Image File history File links DinnerladiesPromo. ... Image File history File links DinnerladiesPromo. ...

1. Catering (April 9, 1999) - Gormless work experience girl Sigourney has trouble finding the canteen — in fact, she has trouble doing almost anything! When the decorators arrive a day early they cause a lot of trouble by accidentally trapping Glenda, the bread lady with the bladder trouble, behind a fifteen-foot ladder. It's then a race against time to free her before she has an accident of her own. Meanwhile, the dinner ladies debate the possibility of conceiving a baby in the queue at Homebase. Near the end of the program, 'Jayne from Planning' arrives and suggests Glenda 'wets herself, it's easier', Dolly suggests a game they should play and the episode ends with blindfolded Jayne being hit over the head with a tin tray whilst listening to belly-dancing music.
2. Trouble (June 21, 1999) - It may be the first day of summer, but there's trouble afoot at the factory after Jean's philandering husband Keith leaves her for his dental hygienist, Bronwen, prompting Jean to pick fights with whoever's in her path. Meanwhile, an anonymous bunch of flowers sent to Bren provokes rumours of a secret lover (in fact they're from Stan as a thank-you for helping his father when he was ill), and Anita's continual stories about new boyfriend Pedder bore the others almost to tears. Tony invites Bren on holiday with him and some friends. Bren's elderly mother claims to be pregnant (by Leonardo DiCaprio)!
3. Holidays (August 5, 1999) - Everyone's very excited about their holidays — Bren and Tony are going to Marbella and Dolly's going on a luxury cruise. Petula's caravan blows up, prompting her to ask Bren for her holiday money to fix it up. Although her workmates tell her she should keep the money and tell selfish Petula she'll have to find the cash elsewhere, the death of Stan's father, and his subsequent wish that he could have the chance back to do good deeds for his dad, Bren decides to let Petula have the money. Meanwhile, Dolly and Anita discuss breast implants and biryanis. Jean did not appear in this episode as she was staying with her sister to get over depression.
4. Fog (November 1, 1999) - The dinner ladies are dismayed to hear that the November fog has allowed a convicted murderer to escape from Strangeways prison just a few miles away. The National Blood Service comes to encourage people to donate — Bren's secret fear of needles means she feels faint whenever they are mentioned, causing her colleagues to speculate that she might be pregnant. Jean harps on about her handsome new boyfriend but when he arrives to pick her up, Phillippa panics and calls the police, thinking he is the escaped convict. In the confusion, the real fugitive manages to escape again — he was in fact disguised as one of the nurses taking blood, explaining why she seemed so inept when receiving Dolly's donation. Phillippa tries to pluck up courage to leave Mr Michael and is furious when he dumps her just before she gets round to it.
5. Gamble (December 21, 1999) - Tony and Bren's developing relationship is the subject of a bet between the dinner ladies and the Planning Department — if they get together before Christmas the canteen staff win fifty pounds. They cause controversy when they turn up late together the next day, though in fact this is due to a late-night hospital appointment for Tony. Meanwhile, Phillippa looks forward to having sex at Christmas for the first time, Dolly searches for novelty hot-water bottles and Anita's awful taste in Christmas presents appals the rest of the team. When Tony and Bren finally have their first kiss a most unexpected visitor arrives to really kill the mood!
6. Christmas (December 23, 1999) - After revealing that she was married (but separated) at the end of the previous episode, Bren begins to doubt her relationship with Tony, and his secretive actions throughout this episode eventually make her decide to dump Tony and resign from the canteen. However, just as she is about to tell him this, he reveals a huge surprise birthday party for her (Christmas Eve is Bren's birthday), and the pair fly up to Scotland to spend Christmas with friends of Tony's. The other caterers also receive presents out of their Bran Tub (Stan receives two cheap watches, Tony is given bacon by Twinkle and Twinkle receives a china horse from Dolly which was given to hear by Jean previously). Meanwhile Phillippa has a crush on a co-worker and Anita mysteriously leaves before the party with a mumbled excuse...
7. Minnellium (December 31, 1999) - Phillippa is organising the company's "no-expense-spared, once-in-a-lifetime" Millennium Meal, but riots in the city centre and the closure of the fly-over prevent her from attending herself. Jean's estranged husband arrives and seems to want a reconciliation, but it turns out all he wants is the wallpaper table. Jean later goes home with Stan. Tony and Bren are trying to settle into their relationship, but the shock discovery of a baby on the fire escape leaves Bren feeling miserable, particularly when she discovers an anonymous note asking her to look after the child. The dinner ladies discuss who the mother could be and eventually decide Twinkle is most likely. Just before midnight, however, Anita returns to the canteen in tears to reclaim her son.
8. Christine (January 10, 2000) - With Anita away on maternity leave, new girl Christine joins the team. Whilst Dolly is very taken with her, Christine's back-handed compliments and outright insults, combined with her dreadful personal hygiene, leave her very unpopular with the others. Twinkle manages to score the impotent Tony some Viagra, but Christine mistakes the tablets for Dolly's sweeteners and puts them in her teacup. Horrified and (somewhat irrationally) fearing for her life ('It'll bounce back and head straight for my heart wont it?! I'll die of a heart attack! It'll be like a Land Rover going top speed into a cul-de-sac!'), Dolly turns against Christine, who flees in the canteen in tears and doesn't return. Meanwhile a social worker visits Bren to discuss Petula's living arrangements, and Stan worries about his sexual prowess as Jean pushes him to take their relationship to the next level.
9. Gravy (February 7, 2000) - All the staff are considering moving on in their lives. Tony and Bren consider moving to Scotland to run a Bed and Breakfast, while Twinkle applies to become a Lap dancer and Dolly makes plans to move to Mobberly. Even Phillippa announces that she's thinking of leaving the firm. A self clear system is introduced to the canteen that proves difficult to maintain. Petula meanwhile arrives in an ambulance and announces she has only has 3 weeks left to live. After admitting it to Phillippa Tony finally tells Bren he loves her. Tony and Bren start making finacial calculations for their move to Scotland and quickly realise they don't have enough money. Shortly afterwards Bren discovers that she has been accepted as a contestant on a TV Trivia show, Totally Trivial with a top prize of £10,000, this comes as a bit of a shock as it was Jean who originally applied on Bren's behalf. On the show Bren gets through to the final round with her chosen topic of film and is invited to come back to play for the grand prize. The new uniforms arrive and are universally hated by the staff.
10. Toast (February 29, 2000) - Bren leaves the canteen for the Totally Trivial studios and plans to stop at the hospital to visit her mother on the way. Stan waits all afternoon for his skip collection. The remaining staff tune in to watch Bren to find she does not appear at the studios. Bren shuffles throught the door with a large rubbish bag and a video cassette and informs the staff that Petula died whilst she was visiting. They play her living will on the video player, whilst this is happening, Dolly throws the rubbish bag in the skip (which has still not been picked up). During the living will, Petula tells them that there is money in the rubbish bag, Dolly is horrified when Stan says that the skip lorry will already have been. Whilst they contemplate, Phillipa tells Bren the canteen will be closing and turned into office space. They then hear the skip lorry arrive and Stan realises his unreliable watch he received out of the bran tub told him the wrong time. They jump in the skip and retrieve the bag, which contains a newspaper clipping which, to Dolly's horror, says that the Rubber and Bondage scene in Mobberly is on the increase. Also in the bag is tens of thousands of pounds which Bren gives out to the rest of the gang.

is the 99th day of the year (100th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 172nd day of the year (173rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar). ... For other uses, see Summer (disambiguation). ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... is the 217th day of the year (218th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar). ... Location of Marbella Municipality Málaga Government  - Mayor Without Mayor Area  - City 114. ... November 1 is the 305th day of the year (306th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 60 days remaining. ... Year 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar). ... HM Prison Manchester is a British prison. ... The National Blood Service is the organisation for England and North Wales which collects blood (and other tissue) tests, process’s, and supplies all the hospitals in England and North Wales. ... December 21 is the 355th day of the year (356th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar). ... December 23 is the 357th day of the year (358th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 365th day of the year (366th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar). ... January 10 is the 10th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... // ... is the 38th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... February 29th, or bissextile day, is the 60th day of a leap year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 306 days remaining. ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Running Jokes

There are a number of running jokes in the series. The running gag is a popular hallmark of comic and serious forms of entertainment. ...

• Norman (the bread man) comments that "I'm agoraphobic - I fell off a diving board in Guernsey", which is quoted in almost every episode.
• Twinkle refers to Tony's witticisms with a sarcastic "Ha Ha..." followed by a one of a number of quips ("Ha ha, I'm nearly laughing", "Ha ha, Hale and Pace", "Ha ha, straight to video" among others).
• Stan invariably reacts to any provocation with "My dad was a Desert Rat", and names an everyday task that his father had been forced to perform in a highly improbable way using Army equipment (for example, "He made toast for 34 fighting men with a radiator grill and a flamethrower!")
• Whenever Tony escapes to the fire escape for a cigarette, the girls respond to the draught from the open fire door with a chorus of "Shut the door!" He often responds to uncomfortable situations (such as Twinkle revealing that she may be pregnant, or Anita commenting that, after the birth of her baby, she "got away with just one little haemorrhoid") by smiling (with glazed eyes) and stating "I'm just having a fag!"
• Petula frequently mentions some (usually far-fetched) event and asks if Bren remembers, before interjecting "Oh no, you weren't there". The only exception to this is when she comments that "I had a baby once, do you remember, Bren? Oh, yes, it was you!"
• In most episodes Dolly will mention some (occasionally relevant) piece of trivia, always explaining that "it was in the Daily Mail".
• Bren will occasionally try and think of a word, but confuse it with another (very loosely) related word: "It's a bit of a...um...not 'unicycle', 'dilemma'!" or "What are those things like cucumbers...suffragettes!"
• Jean frequently makes mistakes while reading, due to the fact that she refuses to wear her glasses, to comic effect - Jean: "£20 million cutlet centre to open. I didn't realise they were so popular." Bren (reading over Jean's shoulder): "OUTLET centre!" Another one was "On Holiday with her husband Olive" when she does not have glasses on to read, and then notices it says Clive.

Gareth Hale (left) and Norman Pace Hale and Pace are a British Comedy duo who have starred in several TV sketch series. ... A film that is released direct-to-video (also straight-to-video) is one which has been released to the public on home video formats first rather than first being released in movie theaters. ... The 7th Armoured Division (known as the Desert Rats) of the British Army was the most famous unit of its type in British service during World War II. It was a regular division in the Middle East, designated the Mobile Division at first, renamed the Armoured Division (Egypt) in September... Two unlit filtered cigarettes. ... The Daily Mail is a British newspaper and the oldest tabloid, first published in 1896. ...

Theme music

The show's theme music was composed by Victoria Wood. While it is usually played without lyrics, at the end of the episodes Minnellium and Toast vocals, also by Wood, were included:

Minnellium

Getting up, getting out, getting on, getting going,
Wears away at the dreams that you hold in your heart,
All the scared little choices you make without knowing,
Take away from the thing that you had at the start.

Chorus:

Day by day, drops of water wear the stone away,
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday...

Toast

All the dreams that you had when it all lay before you,
All the plans that you made, all the things you would do,
All the schemes that you knew time would bring to fruition,
Did they happen? Not so far, at least not to you.

(Chorus as for Minnellium)

Crew

• Victoria Wood - Writer/Producer
• Geoff Posner - Director/Producer

Guest stars include: Victoria Wood OBE is a BAFTA award winning English comedian, actor, singer and writer born 19 May 1953 in Prestwich Village, Greater Manchester . ...

• Bernard Wrigley
• Christopher Greet
• Eric Sykes
• Thora Hird
• Dora Bryan
• Lynda Baron

Bernard Wrigley is a singer, actor and comedian from Bolton, England. ... Christopher (Chris) Greet was a hugely popular announcer and presenter of radio programs with Radio Ceylon, the oldest radio station in South Asia. ... Eric Sykes in the Sykes TV series (DVD) The Plank (DVD cover) Eric Sykes, CBE (born May 4, 1923 in Oldham, Lancashire) is a British comedic writer and actor. ... Dame Thora Hird (May 28, 1911 - March 15, 2003) was a veteran British actress born in the Lancashire seaside town of Morecambe. ... Dora Bryan (born Dora Mary Broadbent on February 7, 1924) is a British actress, a household name with a huge list of films to her credit. ... Lynda Baron with Ronnie Barker and David Jason in Open All Hours Lynda Baron (born 24 March 1942 in Urmston, Manchester, Lancashire) is an English actress. ...

Notes and references

1. ^ Rees, Jasper. Dinner ladies is served. Retrieved on 2006-12-11.

Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays full 2006 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... December 11 is the 345th day of the year (346th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Dinnerladies

• Fan Site
• BBC Comedy Guide for dinnerladies
• British TV Comedy Guide for dinnerladies
• British Sitcom Guide for dinnerladies

Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Wikiquote is a sister project of Wikipedia, using the same MediaWiki software. ...