him. Vanessa Hadaway as Stephanie Carpenter, Ruth and Tony Carpenter's teenage daughter, who attends a very exclusive boarding school. Although both her parents love her, she often ends up a pawn in their power games, with both trying to buy her affection with expensive gifts. Seen as spoilt by the staff, Stephanie's attitude improves somewhat when she gets some tough but genuine love from her grandmother. Dora Bryan (series 1) then Pauline Letts (series 2 and 3) as Mrs Carpenter Senior, Tony's Mum. Proudly working class and an ardent supporter of the Labour Party, she thinks Tony has forgotten his roots. She and Ruth share a mutual dislike. Fiona Mollison as Jane Webster (Series 2–3), from nearby Cobham, the mother of Stephanie's school friend Marina. She becomes a new love interest for Tony and is liked by his staff, with Mrs Wembley even allowing her to call her "Fiona". Recurring Jenny Lee as Mrs Purvis, Stephanie's headmistress William Lucas as Sir Douglas Hoyle, Mrs Wembley's suitor Bunny May as Barry, office manager of Tony Carpenter's car hire business Paul Weakley as the singing gardener John Harding as Stephen, Ruth's on-off boyfriend and a solicitor Music The open titles are accompanied by the 1st movement of the Handel concerti grossi Op.6 No.11 in A major – a classical instrumental piece, played by the Guildhall String Ensemble. However, the closing credits are accompanied by Dennis Waterman's rendition of the series' custom theme tune. This continues a pattern from Minder, New Tricks and Stay Lucky, shows in which he also starred and sang the theme tune. Reception The series performed reasonably well, pulling in decent viewing figures and receiving generally good reaction from the public. Release Series 1 - transmitted BBC1 4 September – 16 October 1990 Series 2 - transmitted BBC1 6 September – 11 October 1991 Series 3 - transmitted BBC1 28 September – 2 November 1992 DVD editions of the individual series, and as a Box Set, are available. In popular culture Mrs. Wembley's catch-phrase, "Just the One", in particular, became associated with the series and entered common British lexicon for a time. Episodes Series 1 (1990) Series 2 (1991) Series 3 (1992) See also Joking Apart, another sitcom about the failure of a marriage References External links 1990 British television series debuts 1992 British television series endings 1990s British sitcoms BBC television sitcoms English-language television shows Television shows set