Excuse

S1 E5: Miranda has spent most of her life avoiding being set up by her mother Penny (Patricia Hodge), who seems to revel in throwing literary themed parties to find Miranda a suitor. After deciding that it would be easier for all concerned if she and Gary (Tom Ellis) were just friends, old school pal Tilly (Sally Phillips) sets her up on a blind date with an army doctor friend, ‘Dreamboat Charlie’ (Adrian Scarborough). The date doesn’t go quite to plan and so Penny again insists on throwing a Pride and Prejudice party to introduce Miranda to a suitable man. Miranda it seems is notoriously bad at coming up with excuses but when she sees a photo of her intended date he’s so bad the only option left is to lie and to ‘come out’ to her mother to try and stop her matchmaking.