Episode Guide (Series 4)
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1: You're Driving Me Crazy (3 Mar 97)
Gary is feeling the pressures of impending fatherhood ... twice over! Yvonne is once again trying to persuade Gary to give up the shop and get a "proper" job. Phoebe has banned sex until after the baby is born.
Ron suggests that Gary could boost his income by bringing back antique watches from 1942 and selling them in 1997. Gary goes back to wartime London and puts an advert in the Times, offering to buy old watches.
Yvonne announces that she's arranged an interview for Gary with the Korean company she works for.
Gary arranges to meet a potential watch supplier in the Royal Oak. He doesn't know that the man is a "fence" who is under surveillance by the police. A team of plainclothes policemen follow the suspect to the Royal Oak. Reg Deadman ruins the operation when he recognises and greets the Inspector in charge of the surveillance operation. The watch seller runs off with the police chasing him. Gary, however, manages to retain the antique watch he'd agreed to buy.
Written by:
Laurence Marks & Maurice Gran
2: In The Mood (10 Mar 97)
Ron thinks that Stella is having an affair. Yvonne is planning a business trip to Korea. Phoebe is suffering from mood swings. Gary's 5-year-old nephew Arthur is coming to stay for the weekend.
On the Saturday morning, Yvonne starts feeling nauseous, so she sends little Arthur to the shop so that Gary can look after him. When little Arthur disappears, Gary thinks that he's gone back to 1942, so he goes back to look for the little lad. Meanwhile, a dirty little urchin has wandered into the Royal Oak and Phoebe has taken pity on him and provided him with a bath and some food. Gary thinks the urchin is little Arthur and tries, unsuccessfully, to return him to 1997.
Returning home, Gary discovers that little Arthur has been found and returned to Yvonne. She announces that she's decided to have a night off and leaves Gary to babysit little Arthur.
Written by:
Sam Lawrence
3: Out Of Town (17 Mar 97)
Yvonne is off to Korea for a fortnight on business. She wants Gary to be at home every evening while she's away, to take her phone calls. Meanwhile, Phoebe wants Gary to take her away on holiday. Gary talks Ron into moving in for the week and telling Yvonne that Gary has laryngitis, so he can pretend to relay messages directly from Gary to Yvonne.
Matters become even more complicated when Gary's father arrives unannounced, saying that he's come to London for a philatelic event and that he'll be staying with Gary.
Gary tries to talk Phoebe into postponing the holiday. Initially, she's determined to go but she eventually agrees to go the following week. Then Gary gets a phone call fromYvonne telling him that she's decided to come home early. He has to persuade Phoebe to change their holiday plans again.
Gary's father is delighted when Gary brings him a book of wartime stamps - some of them are, apparently, worth several thousand pounds.
While Gary's away, Ron oversleeps and misses Yvonne's phone calls. She's so annoyed that she leaves a message on the answerphone saying she'll be staying an extra week.
Written by:
Sam Lawrence
4: And Mother Came Too (24 Mar 97)
Ron goes home unexpectedly and finds Stella having sex with her lover. Ron attacks him with a cricket bat and gets arrested for assault.
Phoebe tells Gary that her husband Donald has been killed in Egypt. Donald's mother, Dolly, has come to stay at the Royal Oak. Gary and Phoebe make wedding plans.
Gary visits Ron in a police cell. Ron is waiting to appear in court charged with assault. He has to share a cell with a transvestite.
Gary arrives back at the Royal Oak to find Phoebe having tea with the vicar, who has come round to talk about a memorial service for Donald. Gary thinks they are talking about the wedding and makes a bit of a fool of himself.
Back in 1997, Ron is appearing in court. Gary, who is supposed to be providing Ron's bail money, arrives late and discovers that he's forgotten his wallet. He has to go back to 1942 to collect it. He walks straight into the middle of a major row between Phoebe and Dolly. Phoebe decides that she and Gary should get married as soon as possible.
When he returns to 1997, he finds that Ron has been released. Stella has persuaded her boyfriend to drop the assault charges on condition that Ron agrees to a divorce.
Written by:
Gary Lawson & John Phelps
5: The Leaving Of Liverpool (8 Apr 97)
Yvonne is still in Korea and Ron is still living in the Sparrow home. Phoebe is going to Liverpool to see her grandmother and she asks Gary to go with her. Ron tells Gary about his grandfather, Albert Wheatcroft, who saved a child from a burning building in 1942.
Gary and Phoebe arrive in Liverpool. That evening, they take Phoebe's grandmother out for a drink and Gary bumps into Ron's grandfather. Albert Wheatcroft is a lowlife crook who steals Gary's wallet and vanishes. The police catch him and he's locked up awaiting trial. This means that he won't be able to save the child.
Gary's worried that he may have changed history. Next morning, he travels back to London and returns to 1997. When he reaches home, he finds that Yvonne doesn't know him. She's married to someone else. Ron Wheatcroft is now the local priest.
Gary returns to wartime Liverpool and resolves to undo the damage he's caused. He gets Albert Wheatcroft released from custody. Later, they find themselves outside the burning building. Albert refuses to go in, so Gary rescues the trapped child. Albert takes the child from Gary when he comes out. Everyone thinks that Albert did the rescuing, so history is 'corrected'. When Gary returns to 1997, he finds everything exactly as it should be.
Also appearing:
Carmel McSharry (Phoebe's grandmother)
Ken Cope (Pub landlord)
Written by:
Geoff Rowley
6: How Long Has This Been Going On? (15 Apr 97)
Yvonne is due back from her business trip to Korea. Gary wonders how he'll explain the fact that Ron is still living in the Sparrow household.
Gary takes Phoebe to the cinema to see "Mrs Miniver". Phoebe tells Gary that she wishes he could be more "debonair"
Reg tells Gary that Margie's husband Jack has been knocking her about. Gary suggests that Reg leaves his wife Minnie and sets up home with Margie and little Frankie.
Ron has arranged for a "sex surrogate" to come and help him improve his sexual technique.
Gary gets a phone call telling him that Yvonne has been rushed to hospital. She became ill on the plane home and had a miscarriage. Gary goes to see her in hospital. Her mother Helen also arrives to see her. Helen goes back to the Sparrow house and Ron mistakes her for his "sex surrogate".
Returning to 1942, Gary discovers that he's in the doghouse because he'd promised to go with Phoebe to see a doctor. Margie has left her husband,Jack. Later, Jack comes to the Royal Oak and mistakes Gary for Reg Deadman. He's about to attack Gary when Reg comes in and knocks him out with his truncheon.
Written by:
Laurence Marks & Maurice Gran
7: Easy Living (22 Apr 97)
Ron has bought himself an expensive new flat and he's spending money like there's no tomorrow. Yvonne has left her job. Gary is in the doghouse with Phoebe again because he's missed an appointment with the vicar and he still hasn't sorted out a best man. She thinks that he's leaving all of the wedding arrangements to her. Reg is worried that his new sargeant will find out that he's "living in sin" with someone else's wife.
Phoebe arranges another meeting with the vicar for the following Saturday. Gary tells Yvonne that he has to be at the shop so that he can do some stocktaking. Yvonne insists on coming along to help. Gary manages to sneak away so that he can keep his appointment with the vicar. Reg Deadman's new sargeant comes into the Royal Oak. Gary tells him that Reg is really guarding Margie, who's been put under house arrest by the Secret Service.
Written by:
Geoff Rowley
8: Come Fly With Me (29 Apr 97)
Ron and Reg are both busy organising two separate stag nights for Gary. Yvonne has decided to start a business selling alternative medicines and cosmetics.
A group of Canadian pilots are drinking in the Royal Oak. Gary gets talking to them and has too much to drink. He wakes up in a Lancaster bomber over the English Channel. The pilot tells him that the plane has been shot up on a bombing raid and he's about to ditch in the Channel. The plane crash lands and Gary and the pilot end up in a liferaft. Eventually, they get picked up by a British submarine.
Gary gets back home and goes to bed. Yvonne switches the alarm off before she leaves next morning, so that Gary oversleeps.
Written by:
Sam Lawrence
9: Heartaches (6 May 97)
It's the day of Gary and Phoebe's wedding. Gary has overslept. He rushes back to 1942 but doesn't arrive in time for the wedding. When he goes round to the Royal Oak, Reg tells him that Phoebe has gone away and doesn't want to see him.
Back in 1997, Ron suggests that perhaps Gary missed the wedding because he didn't really want to marry Phoebe. Yvonne decides that Feng Shui might help improve their lives.
Gary goes back and confronts Phoebe. Gary tells her why he missed the wedding but she won't believe him. She thinks that he just got cold feet. He finally persuades her to give him another chance.
The morning of the rearranged wedding arrives and this time Gary arrives on time but Phoebe doesn't appear. Gary finds her sitting outside in the churchyard. She tells him that she's got cold feet this time. Gary talks her into going into the church and they are finally married.
Written by:
Paul Makin
10: Careless Talk ... (13 May 97)
Phoebe is nagging Gary because he keeps disappearing and there's work to do at the Royal Oak. Reg Deadman volunteers to decorate the nursery.
Yvonne's friend Kate has come to stay with the Sparrows. Ron takes a fancy to her. He refuses to provide Gary with any more wartime currency unless Gary helps to fix him up with a date. Gary arranges for Ron to be alone with Kate. Ron gets nervous and tells her all about Gary's time-travelling exploits in a desperate attempt to impress her. Kate tells Yvonne and, at first, they think it's a joke.
Later, they decide to hide in Gary's shop to see if he does actually "time travel". Gary arrives, goes out of the back door and disappears. They follow him out. He appears from a hiding place and manages to convince them that the story which Ron told Kate was a "wind up". Kate agrees to a date with Ron.
Gary takes Phoebe shopping at Harrods. The shop assistant upsets Phoebe by making her feel inferior. Then Gary bribes him to grovel and make a fuss of Phoebe, so that she feels important.
Written by:
Gary Lawson & John Phelps
11: The Bells Are Ringing (20 May 97)
Phoebe's baby is due and she doesn't want Gary to be at the birth. She says that he's driving her mad "fussing her about".
Yvonne and her new business partner, Clive Le Zouche, are about to launch a range of "natural" cosmetics. She tells Gary that she's invested all of their savings in the new venture.
The midwife comes to see Phoebe and Reg offers her a drink. She over-indulges and passes out. Phoebe goes into labour and Margie has to deliver the baby. Gary gets to be present at the birth after all.
Ron is looking after Gary's shop. He's just discovered that he's about to go bankrupt, so he's 'drowning his sorrows'. Yvonne comes in and tells him that it looks as if her new partner, Clive, has disappeared with all of her money. Ron and Yvonne get drunk together.
(Presumably Clive turned up again, since he's still being referred to as Yvonne's business partner in Series 5.)
Gary and Phoebe have a baby son. They decide to call him Michael.
Written by:
Paul Makin