Vic Spanner (Kenneth Cope) gets an ear bashing from his mum (Renée Houston)

      W.C. Boggs and Son have manufactured fine toilet ware since 1870, which is surprising considering the constant striking at the factory; Vic Spanner, the union representative, brings the workforce out at the slightest change in day-to-day procedures, such as the scrapping of drinking tea outside official breaks. When Vic broaches the subject with Lewis Boggs, the boss’s son, who’s still green when it comes to dealing with the union, he declines to discuss the matter, resulting in a meeting to consider yet another walk-out. No one, save Vic, is interested, though, until they’re reminded that the local football team are at home that afternoon.

      Meanwhile, upstairs, chief designer Charles Coote, managing director William Boggs and others watch with interest as Miss Withering, Mr Boggs’s secretary, tests out a new toilet’s durability. Another topic on the agenda is the making of bidets: while Lewis wants the firm to start manufacturing them to keep up with the times, his father isn’t convinced.

      Production at the factory grinds to a halt, though, when the latest strike takes effect. Sid Plummer returns home for the afternoon and is confronted with a pile of dirty dishes and a wife who spends all day chatting to her budgie, while Vic Spanner is berated by his loudmouthed mother, claiming he’s just like his late father; he ends up with a meagre lunch while Charles Coote, who lodges at the house, is dished up his favourite meal. Nothing seems to be going right for Vic when, en route to the football match, he spots Myrtle, the love of his life, getting into Lewis Boggs’s sports car, and in a rush to follow her ends up losing his trousers.

      Back at Sid Plummer’s house, he discovers, to the benefit of his wallet, that the pet budgie, Joey, who hasn’t tweeted a word since they bought him, has the knack of picking winners at horse racing; before placing the biggest bet of his life, Sid tests the bird on yesterday’s race meetings and he comes up trumps every time. Sid soon pockets a fortune, much to his bookmaker’s disgust, enabling him to help out his employer, Mr Boggs, when it’s revealed the company is in financial straits, a gesture eventually repaid with the offer of a place on the board, which Sid is reluctant to accept because he regards himself as a shop-floor worker.

      The next strike, over the fitting of a new style tap to the bidets Lewis eventually persuades his father to make, is called by Vic, but a surprise return to work the following day isn’t a sign of everyone’s eagerness to get back to the shop-floor, more because it’s the firm’s outing to Brighton. Everyone decides to enjoy the annual jolly, even Mr Boggs Senior who realises what he’s been missing is a good old booze-up. A jolly time is had by all, especially Lewis Boggs, who’s delighted when he eventually wins over Myrtle Plummer by producing a special marriage licence.

      Lewis (Richard O’Callaghan) talks tough with Bernie (Bernard Bresslaw)

      Back home, when Mr Coote, whose relationship with Agatha Spanner has blossomed, tells her they won’t be able to marry because the strikes have brought the company to its knees, action is called for; summoning the help of other frustrated wives, Agatha and the women march to the picket line and bring the strike to an abrupt end; everything now seems rosy until Bernie Hulke tells Vic there is no loo roll in the toilet, but even the militant Vic Spanner has turned over a new leaf and dips into his own pocket to buy a new packet.

      ARMY OFFICER

      Played by Cyril Raymond

      Seen in Regardless struggling to squeeze by Sam Twist in the corridor of the Scotland-bound train. Twist, who’s en route to the Forth Bridge in a parody of The 39 Steps, asks if he’s got some special orders for him, annoying the officer in the process.

      ARNALL, JULIA

      Role:

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