In 1972 Manchester, three girls are window shopping at the George Best Boutique. Three boys stand opposite them and decide which girl they want to take out. Geoffrey Scrimshaw unwittingly ends up with Beryl Battersby, as he gets last choice. A slow, mutual admiration begins between the two of them. Their parents try to use trendy terms but are mocked because they are a decade behind. When Geoffrey is with his male friends, they boast about non-existent conquests.
The young couple have differing opinions on the permissive society: Geoffrey wants to be a part of it, but Beryl wants to wait until marriage.[2]
On his first meeting with her mother, they sit quietly in the living room, drinking tea and eating sardine sandwiches. They cuddle in front of the electric fire after a game of Scrabble. It is going too slowly and they split up.
On his way to meet his parents, to watch Fiddler on the Roof for his mother's birthday, Geoffrey meets Veronica and goes off with her instead. They go to a strip bar and Veronica asks him back to her flat. However, when Veronica goes out of the room, her little brother Jeremy appears. The young boy gives Geoffrey a very technical description of "how to make a baby."
Beryl and Geoffrey meet again at a house party and try to ignore each other. Both try to be "trendy" in their chat up techniques. On the stairs, Edith expounds the values of Women's Lib. Smoking a joint, she takes off her bra and tells Geoffrey to burn it. Beryl storms off and goes to help wash the dishes in the kitchen with Geoffrey's nerdy friend.
Beryl phones him to say she does not want to ever see him again and that she will be at the school jumble sale the next day. He shows up and invites her to a football match to watch Huddersfield play. The relationship still fails to gel. They go the rooftop of Hotel Piccadilly and discuss communication and happiness. They decide they don't like each other.
Meanwhile, Sandra is pregnant and planning to get married. Beryl is seated next to Geoffrey at the reception meal. Splitting up brings them closer together. He discusses going to a "match" and she wrongly assumes he is going to a football match, but it is off-season (he meant cricket). He tracks her down to the empty football stadium and they sit and discuss relationships. Time jumps to them sitting in the same seats in a crowded stadium, with Beryl looking adoringly at him.
The picture freezes and the caption "Not really the End" appears.
^ abChapman, J. (2022). The Money Behind the Screen: A History of British Film Finance, 1945-1985. Edinburgh University Press p 357. Income is distributor's receipts, combined domestic and international, as at 31 Dec 1978.
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