Comedy Playhouse - Season 16

When BBC TV weatherman Bill Onion is fired, getting back on television is much harder than he expects. Maybe best friend Jez can help? Jez knows Nigel Harrington, a TV executive at Channel 4. The problem is that Jez's wife-to-be, Selina, is systematically 'culling' all of Jez's friends and is none too keen on Bill. It's imperative Bill doesn't offend Selina in order to have schmooze time with big-shot Harrington.

Comedy set around the antics of Jimmy Miller and his ragtag family of mountain rescue volunteers. When the naive and enthusiastic Conor reports for his first day as a volunteer, Jimmy, the shambolic old rescue hand, takes it upon himself to teach Conor the ways of the hills.

Conor's education begins in the pub, where he is introduced to the small mountain community of Jules, Bill, and Bernie. No-nonsense barmaid Jules runs the pub, the Busted Femur; Bill spends every living hour looking after dogs, and his social skills have suffered as a result; and Bernie is head of operations, happy to the point of delirium in her work.

When the actual mountain rescuing begins, things go from bad to worse, and then to even worse than that.

Gary has been defrauding the dole office for ten years. Faced with criminal prosecution, he decides to join a religious order to save himself from a long stretch of hardship and abstinence. However, it turns out monastic life is a lot like prison but with more praying.

Rudley Abbey is a monastery under threat with only four monks remaining, so the abbot welcomes their new recruit - much to the annoyance of his deputy, Brother Francis. This could be Gary's chance to learn about himself, take some responsibility and bring some meaning to his life.

Gary causes an expensive accident and is forced to raise money for the monastery, by increasingly unorthodox means. In the meantime, Brother Francis is forced to take measures to control his anger.