Series 3, episode 3, originally transmitted on ITV on 18th November 1983.

Laura pushes Mike to host a dinner party. The idea comes to her while reading a recipes book and she decides to cook something extraordinary. Mike is reluctant, but he consents to make her happy.

They draw up a guest list: they aim to invite four people but get stuck on the first two: Laura's sister Helen and her husband Phil. Laura calls her work colleague Jill. Jill doesn't recognise Laura at first, and Laura is forced to describe her appearance before Jill accepts the invite for herself and her husband.

Laura consults her sister about the menu; Helen recommends not preparing anything too difficult. Laura decides on a casserole.

On the night of the party, Laura grows increasingly stressed , dusting every inch of the house and writing a long list of what needs to be replaced in the flat. When she comes back from shopping she finds an ambulance outside her home. Mike tells her that Charlie, his assistant, has been taken ill. Laura and Mike end up spending the afternoon in the waiting room of the hospital.

Back home, they rush to prepare dinner, but the four guests arrive too soon and all at once. With Laura in the kitchen, the conversation is halting, and Mike struggles in finding anything to talk about but the traffic. Everything seems to fall apart when Laura joins the guests to announce dinner will be ready in two hours, while Mike has to go and buy drinks at the nearest off-licence.

As Charlie's condition worsens, Laura and Mike are called by the hospital and leave their guests to enjoy the meal and drinks. They spend the rest of the evening in the hospital anxiously waiting for news of Charlie. At around midnight a nurse tells them he is stable. Exhausted, Laura and Mike return home to find their guests having great fun around their table: the dinner party has been a great success and the food lovely.