June 7th, 2002 -- These notes are from Mary Lynn Travers, who I thank so much for allowing me to post them. Mary Lynn took the responsibility of acting as the liaison between the BBC and the group that attended the taping(s).

The BBC and DLT were nice enough to give us production seats, which meant third row, dead center. We could not have asked for better seats. And everyone in the cast, except for Harry was present. I believe it is only the second episode where Stephen & Penny and Rocky have been in the same episode, but not the same scene.

We were shown several scenes from season 8, and some scenes from Season 9 episode 1. One was when Harry tells Sandy he is accepting a job as a Royal Canadian Mountie in Canada, the other is where Alistair proposes to Judy in front of Jean and Lionel.

After Bobby Bragg (the warm up guy) introduced Jenny, Moira and Philip, Geoffrey came out and he was all excited about England beating Argentina in the World Cup! You could tell he was really into the sport. He thanked people for showing up to the taping rather than being in the pubs celebrating.

Geoffrey asked everyone if they had seen the game and David Beckham's goal. Then he joked that the ATGB crew were a little worried about tonight's audience. "If we had lost, the audience wouldn't have a lot to laugh about."

Then, Geoffrey said that they have someone in their cast that's as talented as David Beckham, she knows how to run the field, but when it comes to lines, well, she mixes those up pretty well. She's our little captain..."Judi Dench."

Judi came out, thanked the audience for coming, and told us that "we really need you tonight. Thank you so much for coming."

I have to say, all the cast looked just wonderful. Moira Brooker has lost a good deal of weight, and Moyra Fraser's new hairdo is very nice.

The sets set up from left to right were, the front hall, the living room, the country house living room, and Jean's kitchen. (Behind Jean's kitchen was the pub)

I'm trying to remember everything...so please forgive me if it's NOT spot on. This is the best I can do.

SCENE 1 begins with with Jean opening the door to a man who is holding 2 naked mannequins. This puzzles Jean.

Jean: "John - what is this?"

John: "You did offer to mind these while the charity shop is being renovated."

Jean :"Did I?"

John: Yes..you did.

Jean and John carry the mannequins into the livingroom. They place them on the sofa. Jean looks perplexed by these mannequins.

Jean:"John...did I have a glass of wine when I said I'd watch these?"

John: "Actually...three glasses" (audience laugh)

Jean: "Oh...then I guess I got what I deserved."

SCENE 2 opens in the pub. Allistair and Lionel walk into the pub to talk about the wedding plans. (HINT - while they are doing this scene - the props dept guys are staying on the livingroom set. The mannequins are bing placed on the livingroom floor, upright, and look to be having a chat. This threw me until I realized why in the next scene.) While Allistair and Lionel talk about the wedding, where Lionel will be walking Judy down the aisle, Allistair faints dead away. Lionel jumps up to assist Allistair, but Eirwen, the floor manager, calls cut because beside Philip's head in the shot is an X on the floor for the camera. Geoffrey does NOT break character., he is showing no emotion at all. Philip takes it in stride and they pick up the scene from a different angle so Philip doesn't have to faint again. The scene continues with a bus driver offering assistance, but Allistair insists he doesn't need it. He tells Lionel its happened before. It's panic attacks about the wedding. Lionel shakes his head. End of scene.

SCENE 3 - While the mannequins are set up, Dame Judi pops onto the set and tries to squeeze between them. It's very funny. She is laughing at herself as well. When one of the mannequins fall onto her backside, she says "Uh...excuse me?!"

She pushes the mannequin back, and to keep it from falling, she grabs it around the chest area and cups one of the breasts. Judi looks embarrased, but comes up with a great line.. "Oh...I'm ever so sorry madam." This causes a great laugh and the stagehands finally come out and help Judi out.

Anyway - Jean is marking the floor around the mannequins when Lionel walks in holding a suit for the wedding. He tries to suppress his glee at finding Jean in this position. She looks like she's been caught.

Lionel: "What on earth are you doing?"

Jean: "I'm measuring to see how many people I can fit in here for the wedding reception."

Lionel: "You did that when we got married. I helped you."

Jean: "No, you were no help. All Judy and Sandy did was muck about. I thought this would be easier...and quieter."

Jean asks Lionel to see his suit. When she asks him to put on his top hat, he takes it out and puts it on the mannequin. He asks the mannequins if they took the tube or a cab to get to their home. Jean tells him he's silly. He reminds her of what she's just been doing. At this point, Sandy comes in and sits down while Jean is measuring the floor. Judy walks into the room and asks if she can speak privately to Jean. Lionel says "I think I will go have a scotch." (I found this odd since Lionel had just come from a pub in the prior scene.)

Sandy leaves hurriedly, and Judy sits down to talk to Jean. They had to reshoot this scene because Moira stepped on Jenny's retreat line. They reshot the scene, and Judy goes on to tell Jean that she's like to be married in Rocky's country house. Jean looks disillusioned. She wanted to have Judy and Allistair's wedding in her home. Of course, she tells Judy that she can have her wedding anywhere she likes.

Judy: "You haven't been making any plans for it anyway."

Jean: "Oh...no...no." (Judith looks at the mannequins, and the cut paper next to Jean)

Judy: "What is all this?" (Jean sinks into the couch and lays on the paper.)

Jean: (lying):"Oh....this is something Lionel's been working on." (Huge laugh from the audience)

SCENE 4 - This is an location scene. Lionel and Jean are in the car driving to the country house in Hampshire. Jean is wearing a very pretty long light blue linen shirt that a few women in the audience really like. While they are driving, Lionel knows how hurt Jean is that Judith wants the wedding in the country. They talk about it, and at the end, Lionel tells Jean that she'll need to buy a new hat. Jean's reaction is one that Lionel knows well. She is up to something.....

SCENE 5 - The country house living room. Judith is sitting in the chair, on the left, by the window. Jean and Lionel are on the sofa. Rocky walks in with Allistair and tells him that they will turn this wedding into a grand party. Allistair is flitting about...talking about the wedding plans...having fireworks, the London Symphony Orchestra., etc., etc. Judith looks horrified at the ideas he is coming up with. Jean looks smug, because she knows that sooner or later, Judith is going to want Jean to save her from this three ring circus. Since Lionel is the only one who knows about Allistair's panic attacks., and being fearful for his health, he tells interrupts Allistair and tells him to sit down. Allistair, like a little puppy, obeys Lionel, and sits on the armchair beside Judith. Both Jean and Judith find Lionel's commanding Allistair to sit down a bit odd. Rocky yells for Mrs. Bale.....by calling her a "barmy old bat."

Now...during this whole scene, Philip Bretherton has screwed up his line twice, and Janet Henfrey is about to make 4-5 mistakes...in a row. At one point, Judi feels so bad for Janet, that she reaches over and pats her hand. During about the fourth retake, Philip says very loudly...."This house is haunted!" This makes everyone laugh to break the tension, and the rest of the scene with Mrs. Bale is finished. When her part ends, Bobby Bragg announces her name, and Janet Henfrey waves to the audiences and flaps her apron, which I think was actually a tea towel that had the emblem of the English World Cup Football team on it. Very with the times, Mrs. Bale.

Lol comes into the room to offer Judy and Allistair congratulations...but instead says "My condolences." They all look perplexed, and Lol says "Oh...that's not the right word....then he offers his "felicitations." and stutters when he says it. (loud laugh from the audience)

SCENE 7 - Location shoot in Rocky's conservatory. Jean and Lionel are standing out there. Jean asks Lionel about Madge. Lionel tells her that Madge will miss the wedding because she is off on an expedition in Egypt. Jean asks Lionel why Rocky didn't go with her. Lionel replies: "He didn't think it was right to have one old fossil digging up other old fossils." Jean reminds Lionel that they are becoming fossils. They sit down and Lionel tells Jean that he knows she's still not happy about the plans for Judith's wedding. It is turning into something of a circus. Judith walks out and asks Lionel and Jean if she can sit down. She wishes that Allistair and Rocky wouldn't get so worked up about the wedding. She doesn't want all the pomp and circumstance. She wants a nice, quiet, country wedding. Jean tells Judith not to worry, Lionel will have a talk with Allistair. Lionel looks shocked and defeated. He knows Jean is going to put him right in the middle of this. Judith beams, and thanks Lionel by kissing him. As she happily leaves the conservatory, Lionel looks at Jean, shaking his head.

SCENE 8 - In the country living room, Lionel and Allistair are talking about the wedding. Lionel watches Allistair getting hyper and orders Allistair to sit down, again. Allistair does, but wants to know why Lionel keeps doing this. Lionel reminds him of his panic attacks. Allistair says "Shhhh!" So Lionel leans in close to Allistair to whisper it...then realizes how uncomfortable he is this close to Allistair...and sits back. He tells him point blank that Judith doesn't want fireworks, the LSO, or 5000 people at her wedding. Alistair finally realizes that Judith should get the wedding of her dreams and says..

Allistair: "I only want Judy to have the nothing she has always dreamed of." (Laugh from audience )Allistair makes a face at Lionel like 'what did I just say?'

Lionel looks at the Allistair, trying to understand what he just said.

Allistair shrugs and says that a smaller wedding will be better for him because he won't have a panic attack when he sees Lionel walking Judith down the aisle.

Alistair:" I will be calm. When I turn to see Judy looking so beautiful..I know that.."

AND he faints dead away on the couch! Lionel jumps up walks over to him and holds his look of concern. About 15 secs goes by, and Geoffrey leans down to Philip like he is about to kiss him. They both laugh. Sydney wants to do the scene again because he thinks part of Philip's flop was out of shot. They do the scene again, and Philip flop's perfectly. (His faints are really well done!) This time, as Lionel stands over Allistair, Geoffrey cocks his arm back like he is going to punch Philip, and Philip does the same to him. The scene is cleared, Philip gets up, and Geoffrey puts his arm around Philip. Its quite clear that Geoffrey really is fond of Philp and vice versa.

SCENE 9 - After we leave The country home, we are now back in Jean's living room, where Sandy is trying to keep her cool with Penny.

Sandy is sitting in the chair by the fireplace, pouring tea for Stephen and Penny. Penny is sitting in Lionel's chair. Stephen is sitting between the two naked female mannequins on the couch. He has his arms around them, looking very content. He tells Sandy that he feels like he is back in his frat house at college. He tells her that when he was in college, he used to go out with lots of pretty girls, and that Sandy is just as pretty as those college girls. Penny is disgusted by his behavior, and also by the fact that he keeps turning around the conversation.

Then Penny starts to grill Sandy about Harry. She tells Penny that he is going to Canada. Penny asks her if Harry invited her to go, and she tells Penny no. Penny then starts to feel bad for Sandy and says "Poor Sandy.." Stephen tells Sandy that Harry must not have a brain in his head if he didn't invite her to go with him. Sandy feels reassured by Stephen's words, until Penny asks her if she wanted him to ask her. I do forget her response...but it elicits another "Poor Sandy.." from Penny. As Sandy is about to tell Penny a thing or two, Lionel and Jean enter.

Sandy (looking relieved) :"They're home!!"

Jean and Lionel see Penny and Stephen, and Jean says..

Jean: (Not thrilled) "Oh...what a lovely surprise."

They chat about Judith's wedding, which Penny announces they can't go to. Stephen tells them since he is getting an OBE for Dentristy...Penny thinks that they will now become popular and will have too many invitations to society parties. When Penny talks about the "investiture" ceremony, Eirwen, the floor manager stops the scene. Apparently, Sydney Lotterby didn't like the way she said the word, because she struggled with the pronounciation. Moyra Fraser apologizes, and they try to continue with the scene. As the scene ends, one of the best outtakes occurs. Jean asks Lionel and Stephen to take the naked mannequins out of the livingroom. Lionel hauls one up, but Stephen picks his up like he is carrying her in his arms. He says it's been a long time since he's carried a woman like this.

Penny: "Do all men become latent perverts?!" (Huge laugh - the scene is still rolling, and Ms. Fraser sticks her tongue out at Judi - - which makes Judi laugh loudly) Moyra then realizes that her antics were part of the scene....and she apologizes. They have to do it all over again! After a brief technical mistake, they have to do it again. Judi gets up briefly, leans over Moyra and whispers something in her ear. Moyra gets the giggles. This lasts for about 10 secs, and then they finish the scene with Penny's pervert line again. (Moyra delivers it in another way, which makes the audience laugh even louder. I think you will be quite surprised by Moyra's new haircut. And Aunt Penny's tacky jewelry is no where to be seen.)

SCENE 10 - This is a scene in the kitchen. Jean is standing by the countertop preparing dinner. She pats butter on top of pork chops, again.

Lionel walks into the room with a tray of empty tea cups.

Lionel: (sarcastically) Oh...isn't it a shame that Penny and Stephen couldn't stay for dinner?"

Jean: "Yes...I'm all broken up about it."

They have a conversation about the wedding, and Jean wants to know why Lionel kept ordering Allistair to sit down. Jean moves over to the sink to wipe her hands, and accidentally pushes the sink and dishwasher about a foot forward. No one notices and Judi does NOT stop the scene. Judith walks into the room and tells Jean that she needs to talk about the wedding. Jean asks what's wrong. As Judith talks about Allistairs "flights of flancy"....she stops. Moira apologizes for saying "flights of flancy." Judi proudly announces that it's okay, did you see what I did? I moved the entire kitchen counter forward!"

The audience laughs because no one noticed. Sydney checks the tape, and indeed, Judi did move the entire counter forward, so they have to do the entire scene over. The continuity person comes up to Judi and fixes Jean's dishtowel just right so that it will match the last shot.

They start again and Judith tells Jean that she still wants to have her wedding in the country, but that she needs Jean's assistance. She wants her mother to help her have a nice country wedding. And now, Alistair has to go to a Harley St. consultant because he has a problem with his toe. As Judith leaves, Sandy walks into the kitchen and tells Judith that she's ready to leave for their night out. Jean looks over at Lionel as if to says that she knows Lionel is keeping Allistairs "toe" problem a secret. Judith leaves and as Sandy follows, Jean calls her back into the kitchen.

Jean:Sandy, have their been any....calls? Sandy: You mean did Harry call?

Jean: No...no...I mean any calls in general.

Sandy says no and leaves the kitchen.

Lionel tells Jean that he doesn't want her to start interferring in everyone's lives again. Jean tells him that she wants everyone to be as happy as they are, and she doesn't care if it is butting in. She also reminds Lionel that he is butting in by keeping Allistair's "thumb" problem a secret."

Judi looks stunned...and everything is quiet for about 2 seconds. The audience knows it is a "toe" problem. Geoffrey tries to stay in character, but can't and he breaks up laughing. Judi is having fits of giggles, and now so is the audience. Judi apologizes and says that she really thought she had the line. Geoffrey says "No you didn't...and announces to everyone that Judi hasn't gotten that line right all week!"

Judi then defends herself. "No...no..you did it on purpose!" Judi looks out to the audience and pleads..."You all can't see behind the counter, but Geoffers has his hand in his pocket except for his thumb, and during that line, he was wagging his thumb at me under the counter!" Geoffrey shakes his head...but he know's he's been caught, and they all have a good laugh and the scene ends with Jean's reference to Allistair's toe problem and the hope that he doesn't faint from the pain of it at the wedding. Lionel at first is surprised to hear Jean say this...but then he smiles devishly at the thought of Alistair doing just that.

SCENE 11 - This is a location shot on Addison Ave., in front of the Type for You office. You won't know it, but for small group of us who went to the taping, before we went to the BBC, we visited Jean's home (which is now being renovated and has scaffolding all outside of it)Lionel's apartment and Type for You, which is now the Addison Ave Vet Clinic. The Prestige Imports Awning is in back of Allistair). Since Type for You is so close to Jean's home, it makes you wonder why she took all those cabs. It's literally 1 block away!! Anyway - - - Alistair is walking down the street and sees a street "busker" playing the violin. He gets very emotional over the musical piece. He puts a £20 note in his violin case. He get into his car and starts crying when he listens to the music.

SCENE 12 - Jean and Lionel are eating dinner. Jean ignores Lionel and is writing things down on paper. Lionel tells her that it is very rude to write at the dinner table. Jean apologizes, but says she's just making a preliminary list of guests for Judith's wedding. Lionel asks her if she intends to tell Judith and Allistair about her guest list. She tells him it's just a preliminary thing and he asks her what name she's just written down. She tells him it's Harry.

Lionel: Oh...well isn't that a coincidence?

Jean: Why?

Lionel: Well...Sandy will also be at the wedding.

Jean: Lionel...don't be sarcastic!

(There was a technical mistake here, so they do the scene over. Judi has been eating a little of the food while they reset the camera angles.)As the scene continues, the doorbell rings. Jean asks him to get the door since she is busy writing. Lionel does so grudingly. He makes a comment about how nobody eats dinner at dinner time anymore.

SCENE 13 - Lionel and Alistair are in the livingroom. Alistair hopes he hasn't interrupted Lionel's dinner. Lionel lies and says no, of course not, they were finished. Allistair tells Lionel that this new drug the doctor has put him on makes him emotional. He tells him about the street musician incident where he cried over the music. It was so moving. Allistair starts to tear up. Lionel feels uneasy, but tells Allistair that he'll be fine. Jean walks in and says Hello to Allistair. He asks her what she's been doing. She says they were just eating dinner and she was writing out a "preliminary" guest list for the wedding. Allistair starts to cry. Lionel, you lied to me to protect my feelings. And Jean, my special lady...you were writing out a guest list for my wedding. Oh..it's so beautiful!!" Allistair collapses into Jean's arms, crying. Jean looks over at Lionel, confused. He just shrugs and looks away.

I hope I have not given too much away.

I have to say a very humble thank you to the BBC and DLT Entertainment for their generosity,and their kindness. We all felt so honored to be there. And it was very nice of Bobby Bragg to mention to everyone in the middle of the taping their were 8 Americans in the audience. I look forward to the next episode!

June 7th, 2002 -- These notes are courtesy of Maree Wilson, a native of Wales and huge Geoffrey Palmer fan and a wonderful contributor to my website.

I had always planned to go to the June 14th taping way in advance. I really wanted to meet some dedicated fans of ATGB from over the pond, but when I had the chance (thanks to Mary Lynn Travers) to go to the June 7th taping it was an offer I simply couldn’t refuse!!.

It was a 4 hour journey from my home in West Wales to London and surprise surprise the train arrived on time. I was staying at the same hotel as Mary Lynn so it was great to meet her.

Mary Lynn, Joan Street (ATGB Locations site) her husband Chris, Joni & Daryl from Ventura & I went around Holland Park to see Jean & Lionel's house, Type for you (which is a vets) & Lionel's flat. They are all in very close proximity and as Mary Lynn said -- it's strange they didn’t meet before! Lionel & Jean's house at the moment is under renovation!

We then went to White City tube stop where we met up with Mary Lynn’s friend Helen and Sara, eventually, as she had only just got off the plane [and] she was little confused. There was a great queue to go into the studios but I discovered that at least three other shows were being recorded that night.

I was really looking forward to this. I had never been anywhere near a TV studios in my life, as we were ushered into Studio 8. we had seats in the center row 3! GREAT! From left to right the sets were as follows: the hall, Lionel & Jean's living room, Rocky's living room, & L&J's kitchen. Bobby Bragg introduced Jenny, Philip, Moira, [and] then Geoffrey, who took the mike. He was really excited about England's beating Argentina in the world cup and then introduced Judi as the David Beckham of ATGB our own little captain.

I have to say that I thought that everyone looked great and Geoffrey very tanned -- he had just celebrated his 75th birthday on June 4th.

I didn’t take any notes, I just let the whole thing wash over me. Mary Lynn's account is excellent -- what a memory!!. Basically the plot is Judi & Alistair are finally getting married and that Judith wants a country wedding, Alistair is suffering panic attacks! This was a really funny episode as Philip was wonderful. It was great to see all the cast -- Penny & Stephen, Rocky, Mrs Bale & Lol.

There were a few flubs, my favourite was when Judi moved the entire kitchen counter forward. The audience didn’t really notice but it was funny to see the prop guys putting it back together again. Also when Alistair was trying to hide the panic attacks by saying he was going to the doctors for a toe problem, but Judi says thumb. Geoffrey tells the audience that Judi had not got that lie right all week, but it transpires that Geoffers was wagging his thumb under the counter! It was great fun.

In all the taping took about 2 hours, of course being used to going to the theatre, it was strange to see the very stop/start nature of a TV recording, and I think that this must be a difficult form of acting and everyone has to stay in character while so much is going on around them.

Bobby Bragg was an excellent host and he did mention that there were 8 Americans in the audience, I didn’t mind being an honorary American that evening or next week!.