The BEST episodes of dinnerladies
Every episode of dinnerladies ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of dinnerladies!
Dinnerladies chronicles the antics of a group of workers in a canteen in the north of England. Bren tries to maintain a semblance of order in amongst the chaos, while dealing with the canteen supervisor, slightly sex-obsessed cancer sufferer Tony. Dolly and Jean are the bickering menopausal older women, always at odds but best friends beneath it all. Then there's thick-as-two-short-planks Anita, and the terminally uninterested Twinkle, more concerned with having a good time than anything else. Making up the motley crew are military man handyman Stan, all rules and regulations, and ditzy Philippa, who never seems to get anything right.
#1 - Scandal
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/26/1998
Bren's mum, Petula, brings shame on the factory when she acquires a new boyfriend.
#2 - Fog
Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 12/16/1999
Monday 1st November 1999: Tony's holiday photo, the visiting blood donor unit and an escaped prisoner are all contributing factors to Bren's bad day.
#3 - Christmas
Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 12/24/1999
Thursday 23rd December 1999: Bren's past has caught up with her and it looks as though she and Tony are off the menu as far as romance is concerned, causing her to contemplate handing her notice in.
#4 - Toast
Season 2 - Episode 10 - Aired 1/27/2000
Tuesday 29th February 2000: Tony and Bren's future is riding on her success on Totally Trivial. Yet while she prepares for her big moment, Stan and the girls receive bad news regarding the canteen.
#5 - Royals
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 11/19/1998
There is excitement in the canteen when news of a royal visit to the factory comes through. Nobody's very sure who's coming - Princess Anne doesn't do factories, Prince Edward does theatres - but they're all getting into a flap. When it turns out it's someone called the Duke of Danby, nobody has heard of him, save for Stan, who met him at Catterick years ago. Everyone throws themselves into role play and preparations: Twinkle has to be warned not to say they serve ""arseholes on toast"" and Anita is worried about her nipples popping up. Tony is adamant that the royals aren't speaking to the girls - God help the Duke if he does. When they eventually turn up, Twinkle's struck dumb, Anita says the wrong thing and Stan's devastated that the Duke doesn't remember him. Meanwhile, all the Duke wants is a bit of sex with poor Bren.
#6 - Moods
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 12/3/1998
Twinkle has something weighing on her mind. In fact, everyone seems to be in a bad mood at the moment, so Philippa attempts to cheer everyone up by breaking the routine.
#7 - Party
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 12/10/1998
Everyone is looking forward to this year's Christmas party, which has a Japanese theme.
#8 - Catering
Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 11/25/1999
Friday 9th April 1999: The canteen is being painted over the weekend. But when the decorators arrive early, Bren has to cope with all manner of inconvenience.
#9 - Gamble
Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 12/23/1999
Tuesday 21st December 1999: It's nearly Christmas and all Bren's festivities are currently amounting to are three Carry On films and some spaghetti hoops. Meanwhile, the other ladies indulge in a bit of a flutter, and Stan has a bone to pick with Philippa.
#10 - Holidays
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 12/9/1999
Thursday 5th August 1999: Bren is excited by the prospect of going to Marbella with Tony. Meanwhile, Stan and Petula have less reason to be joyful.
#11 - Christine
Season 2 - Episode 8 - Aired 1/13/2000
Monday 10th January 2000: Anita's replacement, the terminally flatulent Christine, proves a hit with Dolly but falls foul of the other ladies.
#12 - Gravy
Season 2 - Episode 9 - Aired 1/20/2000
Monday 7th February 2000: The new self-clear system does not find favour with Bren, Petula delivers some shocking news, and Tony is making plans.
#13 - Nightshift
Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 12/17/1998
While Tony is in hospital having treatment, the staff are forced to suffer his formidable replacement.
#14 - Monday
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 11/12/1998
On an otherwise typical Monday morning, Bren's canteen is thrown into crisis when Norman the bread man fails to deliver the granary torpedoes. Should she sign the docket or not? Meanwhile, Jean is preoccupied with planning her daughter's wedding and finding the entertainment. Bren's mother Petula drops in with some ideas, but they're probably not quite right. Tony has to go to the hospital to see how his cancer's going. In the midst of this, Anita's in floods of tears (it's her period), Twinkle can't spell minestrone, and nobody's put out the gravy. New Human Resources person Philippa makes her presence felt, bugging everyone to try some group activities. Scottish country dancing anyone?
#15 - Trouble
Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 12/2/1999
Monday 21st June 1999: A bad atmosphere hangs over the canteen as Jean is in a foul mood following her husband Keith's decision to leave her for a Welsh dental hygienist.
#16 - Minnellium
Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 12/30/1999
Friday 31st December 1999: Philippa is getting in a flap over the factory's millennium dinner and transporting all the staff and equipment to the venue on time. But the discovery of something on the fire escape diverts everyone's attention.