Still Open All Hours

It's Christmas in the nation's favourite corner shop, but some of Granville's most important customers have plans to leave town. Not only is Madge planning to take his beloved Mavis away for a Christmas break but is Mr Newbold also thinking of doing a runner, leaving Granville at the mercy of Mrs Featherstone's amorous advances. Granville has to use some of his craftiest wiles to persuade everyone not to travel at Christmas. After all, as well as wanting to stay close to Mavis, he's also got to shift a large number of distinctly wonky Christmas Crackers.

Granville has a new idea for growing the business - he's offering fitness classes. But can he really turn Gastric into a greyhound, and is that the right way to Madge's flinty heart? At the other end of the scale, Mr Newbold believes he has hit on the perfect way to repel the attentions Mrs Featherstone - all he needs is a completely new image. But do even worse perils than the black widow lie in wait for the new look Newbold? Meanwhile, Leroy is keen to take out a librarian, but she's refusing to give him a date, and Granville has a range of experimental Wi-Fi underpants to shift, but are his customers really ready for that level of digital connectivity?

Mr Newbold shuts himself in his house to avoid Mrs Featherstone. Granville decides that his terrified neighbour might be more open to the widow's advances if he thought she had an exciting past - so decides to invent one. Eric and Cyril take up tandem cycling, Mavis shows an interest in Victorian cheese slicers, and Leroy's latest task involves dressing up as a banana.

Granville encourages Gastric to express his artistic side in a local art competition, but he throws himself into self-expression more enthusiastically than anyone could have predicted. Meanwhile Granville has bought a large collection of mystery tins. Unfortunately Leroy and Granville are still none the wiser on the contents after they've opened one. Now they face the ultimate challenge - how can you sell something when you have absolutely no idea what it is?

Madge is thinking of leaving the area and telling Mavis she has to go with her, so Granville has to come up with a reason to keep the woman of his dreams from moving away. There's also a little problem of how to shift a load of jars of crabapple jelly so sour it could strip teeth. To make matters worse, Granville's best customers Eric and Cyril have taken a vow against ever being conned again. Meanwhile, Mrs Featherstone has made Mr Newbold a lunch offer he can't refuse.

Granville and Gastric plan to persuade Madge and Mavis to stay by treating them to a romantic evening in a fancy restaurant. However, it involves spending a little more money than the shopkeeper is comfortable with. Eric and Cyril try to make their wives jealous, while Leroy worries about the prospect of introducing Beth to his father.

Granville goes to Scarborough to conduct some business, and hopes to catch up with Mavis while he is in town - but is unable to spend some time alone together without Madge getting in the way. Back at home, Leroy is excited to be left in charge of the shop, but soon finds himself with an unconscious customer on the floor.