Bob & Rose

The first episode introduces the two characters. Bob is a secondary school English teacher by day and by night he goes to the gay clubs on Canal Street, Manchester, and has casual encounters. Rose is an office supervisor in her mid thirties, stuck in a stale relationship with a laddish boyfriend (Andy) who she no longer finds interesting. She still lives with her mother and her mum's new boyfriend since moving in with Andy horrifies Rose. On a night out, Rose finds herself dumped on the wrong side of town by a creepy taxi driver while Bob discovers his latest male date is cheating on a live-in boyfriend and Bob walks out of the date's home.

Bob takes Rose to a Canal Street club to meet some of his gay friends, some of whom he has slept with. This makes Rose slightly jealous. When the evening ends she visits her boyfriend on his night shift and gives him a food parcel and chats with him, possibly out of guilt for deceiving him.

Rose's mother suspects there is another man on the scene and sees her plans to get her daughter settled down and out of the house in jeopardy.

She quickly motivates Andy to clean up and redecorate his place to make it (and him) a more appealing prospect. As soon as Rose visits she is unimpressed; sensing the hand of her mother behind everything she quickly gets angry. Rose asks Bob to take her away and they get the train to Blackpool. Kissing on the train the tension boils over and they make love in the train bathroom. Afterwards Bob doesn't know how to handle the situation and when Rose offers to get off the train and write the trip off as a bad idea he agrees. Meanwhile, Bob’s friend Holly (who clearly loves him) is curious about Rose and learning she works in admin for a big car repair facility smashes her own windscreen just to get a look at her "rival".

Bob goes to visit his middle aged parents who are involved in local gay rights activities and are unimpressed with Bob’s casual attitude towards their efforts. His mother chides his lack of fighting spirit by labelling him gay-esque or gay-lite.

Rose has given in to the pressure and agreed to move in with Andy despite her misgivings. As she arrives at his flat, Andy comes down to greet her but she drives off very quickly and meets Bob.

Episode three opens with Rose on her break at work, talking with her colleague over coffee. Her ex-boyfriend Andy arrives and he and Rose exchange possessions. Rose explains that she felt that their relationship had run its course and that she thinks that a split was best for both of them. He is upset and asks whether there was anyone else in her life. Rose replies that there is not.

While leaving their school, Bob tells colleague Holly that he is going out for dinner with Rose that evening. Holly dashes home and on the pretence of forgetting her booking, rings round local restaurants until she finds the one that Bob has booked. Holly then invites her baffled father out to dinner at the same restaurant. Rose's spurned boyfriend Andy calls round to her mother's house looking for her, and is told where she has gone. He turns up at the restaurant and amid some embarrassment, words are exchanged and Andy ends up punching Bob. Andy storms off, clearly upset and Rose goes after him.

At Andy' flat, she tries to explain what had happened when she met Bob, but he does not want to know. Having nothing else to say, she leaves. She is fed up with everyone's behaviour and it appears that Bob and Rose have split up.

Bob and Rose have returned to single life and once again, return to their normal haunts and friends. Bob is back in Canal Street with his gay friends and Rose is out with her single workmates and both groups spend the nights in separate nightclubs. Both Bob and Rose are standing alone in their nightclubs, separately considering their lifestyles and both voice their dis-satisfaction with the shallowness of their situations. Having had enough of their evening, they both leave and are walking along various streets, when they un-expectantly run into each other. They both return to Bob's house and hugging and kissing, come in through the door of the house.

Bob and Rose decide to make their relationship public and they meet each other's circle of friends. This leads to some awkwardness on both sides. Bob's friends are baffled at his sudden change of habits, but are generally supportive of his new partner. Rose's friends are impressed with Bob and do not know at this time that Bob is gay - Rose has remained silent on the matter.

Bob takes Rose to meet his parents, but they arrive at his parents house while Bob's mother is busy organising her protest group against homophobia prior to a demonstration. While all are busy, Bob describes the difficulties he had explaining his sexuality to his parents and their response to his news - particularly from his father. Bob loses his nerve to tell his parents about Rose and he and Rose decide to leave.

Rose visits Bob's friend and colleague Holly about Bob, while Bob visits his friend (and former boyfriend) Karl and discusses his future. He is becoming wary of becoming too involved, but admits he is besotted with Rose. Karl warns Bob about leading Rose on and where it is leading and Bob admits it worries him.

Rose takes Bob to her mothers house and they start to look for evidence of the financial problems of Rose's boyfriend Trevor. In the attic, they find some magazines of a James Bond fanzine and laugh at the content. Bob promises to look up the fanzine on the internet. Later, Bob and Rose go out to dinner with Rose's mother and her boyfriend, leading to conversation about James Bond and homosexuality that annoys Trevor. Rose is amused at Bob's teasing and joins in. Outside the restaurant, Rose confesses her love for Bob.

Bob arrive late at his parents house and tells his parents about Rose and his feelings for her. He is unsure of himself and awkward telling them that he has a girlfriend. He struggles to explain that he is gay but fancies Rose and wants the relationship with her to work. During the conversation, he realises his own parents are having problems with their own relationship.

After being on the news for blocking the bus route with his mother during the protest, everyone is now aware of Bob and Rose's relationship and his sexuality. Rose's colleague pokes fun at her calling her boyfriend "Bobby Both Ways" and asks if he takes her shopping all the time. Later Bob and his mother plead "guilty and proud" in court and receive a minor fine, celebrating later in the pub with Rose and Holly. Holly is left out of the conversation between the two love birds and is . At a dinner with her mother and her boyfriend, Rose picks a fight with Trevor over his old school casual homophobia making everyone very uncomfortable. Holly attempts to meet up with an old boyfriend releasing her whole life has been on hold while she moons over Bob. It doesn't go well and the friend, Gary is more interested in the football game on in the pub. Bob's parents continue to argue and grow apart, with Bob's father expressing disgust at his wife's public embarrassment. Increasingly suspicious of Trevor's finances, Rose searches her mother's house looking for evidence of his financial problems, where they discover an unauthorised James Bond magazine edited by Trevor. Bob e-mails an old uber-nerd friend of his asking if he knows anything about Trevor and his Bond fanzine. Bob's mother leaves the family home and moves into her son's house, while his father meanwhile is outwardly happy his overly controlling wife has finally decided to give him some peace. Holly reaches out to Bob's old boyfriend Carl, who is actually ambivalent about Bob's relationship with Rose, but Holly hatches a plan to split them up. The day of the wedding arrives and as Rose's mother is having her hair done, Bob arrives with the dirt on Trevor from his friend. Rose tells her mother about Trevor stupidly using copyrighted photos for his magazine without permission and being sued for £30,000 by MGM. Her mother doesn't believe her, but Rose begs her to phone the bank to see if her money is still in the joint account. Her mother refuses and attacks Rose for trying to drive a wedge between her and Trevor. In the Register Office, the bride to have a change of heart and grabs her daughter's phone to check on the account which has been picked clean by Trevor leaving £32.The wedding is off amid acrimony.

Bob tells Rose he got drunk with Carl at his place. Holly under the guise of friendship with Rose continues to plant doubts in her mind about what actually happened. Holly feeling guilty for what she has done goes to Carl in a Canal Street club and asks if he really slept with Bob. He tells her Bob wanted it but he stopped it. Holly knows this is lies as he's "never turned down a shag in his life." Bob and Rose break up due to Rose's suspicions about his suspected relationship with Carl despite Bob's denials. Bob's parents announce they are splitting up permanently and Bob is angry, chastising them and telling them the dating scene is depressing and monotonous and nothing ever works out. His parents both leave determined to reconcile their differences. Bob and Rose return to where they were at the beginning of the story, both going out with friends looking for the man of their dreams. Both of them are clearly unhappy with their old lives despite putting a brave face on the situation. Coming from going out with Rose and her friends Holly meets Bob on Canal Street where they spy a confused pupil from the school in the bar. Holly advises Bob to help the boy, Bob still depressed says "no-one was there to help me". Holly arranges to meet Rose and confesses that she lied to Rose about the relationship. She tells Rose that she had been in love with Bob since university and when he finally fell in love with a woman and it wasn't her. Later Holly and Bob sit on a bench spotting hot men together until she points out Rose sitting on another bench. Sensing a cruel set up, Bob gets up to leave but Holly slaps him around the face and forces him to stay put. Rose whistles a jaunty tune smiling and the couple walk into each other's arms. Sometime later, Bob and Rose try and convince Holly to attend dinner at their home. Holly however has clubbing plans with the girls.