My Family - 9 ª Season

For Christmas Ben gets Susan a present from the store where Alfie works as one of Santa's elves - a vacuum cleaner. Having been told this is unromantic he buys a necklace and is annoyed to find he could have got it for half price in the sale if he had waited a day. The family decide to get a picture of Ben and Susan on their wedding day put on mugs and other household items as a romantic souvenir, but, due to a mix-up at the factory, a rather saucier one of them on their honeymoon night is displayed instead.

Though not invited Ben tags along with his kids and Alfie to take part in the local pub quiz where Alfie notices that a member of another team seems to be cheating. Ben is ready to have it out with him, especially when the man turns out to be the school bully who used to make young Ben's life a misery. However circumstances conspire to put the bully in a different light.

Michael applies to join MI5 and Janey starts dating an older man, James, who nonetheless is rich and successful and the kind of son-in-law that Ben would be quite happy to welcome to the fold. However, when he is seen kissing another woman, is he the real deal?

Whilst Janey lands herself in hot water by fabricating a Swedish girl-friend for a depressed Roger, Susan is visited by an old friend Margot, who is going through a divorce and wants to borrow a man to make her husband Phil, who is seeing someone, jealous. Inevitably she borrows Ben and they go out to the restaurant where Phil is - succeeding in annoying him. Next morning Ben wakes up the worse for drink. Has he really slept with Margot?

When Michael admits to going to see a therapist but will not tell his parents why, they are intrigued as to the reason. Could it be that his apparently talking to himself has something to do with it? They decide to get into the therapist's office to look at the files. Alfie finds himself in the unusual position of having not one but two possible girl-friends moving in with him.