Season 1, Episode 1 - The Best Man
Linda, the hospital nurse, is marrying Len Cosgrove, the local police constable. Doctor Arthur Gilder is giving her away and his son, Doctor Tom Gilder, has travelled from Manchester to be Len's best man. Jean Bradshaw is maid of honour. However, in true TV wedding style not everything goes perfectly and there's always something else going on.
In this episode Arthur swindles Tom into moving back to the village by pretending to retire because he can't cope. He gets Phyllis to help him by getting her to talk to Deborah, to persuade Deborah that there will be plenty for her to do in Ormston.
Guest starring in this episode is Roger Lloyd-Pack (well known as Trigger in Only fools . . .) as Norman Pendleton, the local handyman. At the beginning of the episode he falls off a ladder which masks his real illness of a stroke. Meanwhile, Wilf Bradshaw and his daughter Jean are trying to sell a job lot of dodgy coffins to Reverend Brewer.
Len has his stag night; it's not exactly the quiet affair everybody promised it would be. He was stripped and wrapped in flags for his stag night with a nearly married sign hiding his privates.
On the day of the wedding Norman had a stroke and forgot the train valve necessary to fix the train, so the train carrying wedding guests got stranded on the way from Rattenbury to Ormston. Eddie was sent to guide people from the train to the village as fixing the train would be impossible. Eddie and Helen meet and are star struck with each other.
The train breaking down and Arthurs "retirement" makes Linda not want to marry Len; she thinks it's an omen. She gets snappy at Jean. Arthur makes her apologise, Jean forgives her and then Arthur persuades her to marry Len.
The uncle of the groom is bad tempered and frightened of water as he can't swim. Deborah has to carry him out of the stream. Then to get past the last field on the shortcut they have to get past a bull. Deborah does bull management and gets them past. They enter the church just when the vicar is asking if anybody knows any reason why Len and Linda can't marry.
The news that Arthur is retiring goes round church and becomes perspiring and then expiring which makes everybody think he's ill.
As the wedding was delayed the funeral arrives before the photos are taken. For the last photo Norman collapses from a stroke.
It's village tradition to run a race after a wedding and Arthur runs the race to squash the rumours about his health. Just before the race starts Tom talks to Deborah about moving to Ormston, she agrees to think about it if he wins the race. Arthur overhears so even though he wanted to win, and cheated to that effect, he slows down a little at the end to let Tom win. While Tom is being carried into the pub he looks back and Deborah nods, she'll move.