Adam has crashed his car and Ben and Russell have not spoken to each other in almost a year. In a cafe Ria meets charming businessman Leonard Dutton, who makes her feel good about herself. After a second, accidental meeting he suggests they go back to the cafe again next day. Ria arrives but feels guilty and leaves before Leonard turns up.
One reason that makes Ria feel less than good about herself is that she is a bad cook. She has to use emotional blackmail to get the family to eat her apple sponge but her latest culinary disaster at least gets Ben and Russell speaking to each other. She meets Leonard again but is not keen to see him on a regular basis.
Ria feels stifled at home and would like to get a job but Ben is not supportive. He got angry when he discovered the boys busking. Leonard is arrested for speeding,having given Ria a lift when her car broke down. He loses his licence and Ria applies to be his driver but the job goes to the discreet and worldly Thomas.
Leonard leaves a note on the windscreen of Ria's car,suggesting they have lunch together. Unfortunately the car is being used by her sons,who are puzzled by the note and it never reaches her. Leonard tries again to contact Ria but without success. Ria finally confronts Ben and accuses him of not being spontaneous,so he drags her off to go camping in a tent.
Russell feels very strongly that a sculpture The Lovers, being exhibited locally, should not be sold to an American millionaire. After another row with Leonard, Ria joins Russell at the gallery where they chain themselves to the statue in protest, attracting the press. Whilst Ben is annoyed that the papers got his age wrong Ria gets a call from Leonard to say he has bought The Lovers to ensure it stays in England.
Adam has had a poodle perm and has taken to wearing a crash helmet around the house so that Ben does not find out. However Ben has been told by a male patient that,in order to keep a wife on her toes,he should be unpredictable,so he stays out until midnight,annoying Ria. Ria goes to chat with Leonard,admitting that she wishes that her life was ordered. She sees him as one of its complications and wonders if he'll 'have to go'.
Adam's girlfriend Annie declares that he is boring and leaves him,causing him to be very depressed. Ria meets Leonard jogging in a park and he tells her that the best way to vent frustration is to shout at a tree. Adam leaves home and Ria sees Leonard go into a restaurant with Annie. Is he the older man for whom she dumped Adam? When Adam comes home having crashed his car Ria goes out - to shout at a tree.
Out in the country with an apathetic Ben Ria is upset by seeing a fox-hunt and decides to organize an anti-hunting protest the following Saturday afternoon. She is so preoccupied that the boys have to cook lunch. Come Saturday afternoon she stages a very poorly attended protest and is told by a huntsman that the hunt actually took place that morning.
After getting chest pains Ben gets it into his head that he is having a heart attack and worries Ria by talking about what will happen after he's gone. However the doctor tells him that basically he just needs to adopt a healthier life-style. Ria is then surprised to find both Leonard AND Ben jogging in the park.
After the boys have annoyed new neighbour Mr. Conrad, Ria goes to church to rail at God about her static life and finds Mrs. Conrad is there. After almost running over a dog,Ria goes to see the doctor,who tells her to take things easy as she has nervous exhaustion. Mrs. Conrad is at the surgery too and Ria accuses her of spying on her but Mrs. Conrad explains that both visits were down to her seeking comfort for her inability to bear children.
On her way home from her Keep Fit class Ria is offered a lift by Thomas and Leonard,the latter being very poorly so Ria goes home to make a Get Well Soon card for him but has qualms about delivering it. Eventually she visits and finds he has pleurisy. Back home she decides to try and arrange a romantic evening in front of the fire with Ben.
Susanna, a woman the Parkinsons met on holiday,comes to stay and Ria collects her at the station. On the way home Ria goes into a shop and Leonard,seeing the car,comes over. He meets Susanna. Back home all the menfolk dance attendance on Susanna,who loves the attention. Ria hates her. Leonard phones and suggests he takes Ria for a weekend in Birmingham but she declines,suggesting he takes Susanna instead - which he does.
Leonard calls and suggests he meet Ria at the cafe where they first met. Here he tells her that he hopes to get back with his wife so this is their last day together. Despite her qualms over having an affair,Ria is still knocked sideways by the news. In the evening Ben takes her out for a meal but she refuses to go into the cafe where she met Leonard and they go to one down the road instead.
The thought of cooking for Christmas frightens Ria though she is cheered to meet Leonard again,though they have a row. Back home this preys on her mind and she burns the pizza and freaks out at the thought of her wasted opportunities - though the boys try to listen. On Christmas Eve Leonard rings and they meet in the park to wish each other a happy Christmas. Christmas Day begins well with offers of help from the family but Ria feels wistful when she hears the musical Christmas card that Leonard has sent anonymously.
Adam has a job as a long-distance lorry driver. He has to take a load of timber to London, deliver it and pick up another load to drive to Scotland. Russell goes with him for the ride. Ben comments on how peaceful the house is without the boys but Ria finds the silence unnerving - like an empty cage. Leonard rings - his wife has gone again and he'll meet Ria in the park next day but in the meantime Ben takes her to London. A radio newsflash announces long delays on the road to London after a lorry carrying timber shed its load.
Ruby the housekeeper starts shoplifting. Ria helps her cure the habit.
As Leonard celebrates getting his licence back Ria struggles to emulate a television cook's recipe. The boys come in and Russell announces that his girl-friend Jeanie is pregnant so they are getting married. Ben takes the news well and a meeting is organized with Jeanie and her parents though only she turns up,gives Ben a note for Russell and leaves. The family assume she is not pregnant after all. In fact she wants the baby but not marriage.
Adam gets the sack. Ria accidentally plays a taped conversation between Russell and Jeannie which confirms Jeannie's pregnancy. Ria becomes preoccupied with her sons' troubles and makes mistakes whilst out shopping. Leonard crashes his car and re-hires Thomas - he smiles to himself as he takes a photo of Ria out of his desk. Ria tries to get the boys to confide in her but with little success. She then tells her troubles to Ben but he's taken sleeping pills and is sound asleep.
It's Ria's birthday and Ben takes her to London,dropping her off and arranging to meet her later. Leonard follows all the way to London and books a room next to Ria's in the hotel,which flusters her. She agrees to an afternoon of sight-seeing with him but will go no further. He looks wistfully on as she eventually greets Ben.
Whilst the boys build a fall-out shelter - which annoys Ben when he falls in the hole - Ria meets up with an old friend,Kathleen,an American on her third marriage and she is no more faithful to this husband than the others. She is amazed that Ria and Leonard have not had sex and asks Ria to pretend to her husband Tony that they have been together whilst she is with her lover. Tony turns up and catches Ria on the hop - she is hesitant and when Kathleen returns she rows with her,unaware that Adam is listening. He finds out about Leonard but is happy to keep his mother's...
Ben is off to a conference in the South of France and Leonard is off to New York. They both want Ria to see them off at six in the morning. Fortunately an airport strike comes to her aid. Ben sets out by car and Ria goes to Leonard's flat after his flight is postponed. After several interruptions she finally stays the night. Next day the boys tell her she looks good and happy but she wells up as she sees Leonard's plane fly overhead.
Leonard is back from New York and Ria has received a letter from him but before she can read it Ruby comes in so she hides the letter in a magazine. Adam goes off with the magazine and swaps it for one of his friend Guy's. The magazine gets left in the park and Ria raises eyebrows in her efforts to find it. Eventually Adam gets the letter back for her. Ben reads it but it is quite innocuous and Ben assumes it was written by an old school friend.
Six months have elapsed and Ria meets Leonard in the park. They hug, he says he loves her and wants to carry on with her. Meanwhile Ben is having lunch with a widowed friend Amanda. She seems to harbour similar thoughts towards Ben as Leonard does for Ria. Back home Ria cooks up another disastrous dessert but the family rally to support her and Ben says he is taking her to Paris for lunch.
Ben and Ria return from Paris to find the boys have had a party and somebody has left a tin of pot lying around. Ben blames Ria for being too liberal with their sons. She goes to the park. There is no Leonard,who is tearing up her photo as he sees their relationship will go nowhere,but she meets a pregnant Jeannie who envies her her secure marriage. Back home Ben makes the boys promise never to smoke pot again but to Ria it's just what she needs to help her relax.
The boys have the opportunity to buy a window cleaning business but Ria is still depressed and goes to church for guidance. When she comes out she finds Leonard has put his diary in her car . She phones him but a woman answers.Russell learns that he is a father. Ria now feels very old,appreciating that she is a grandmother,but Ben is unusually understanding towards her.
Russell visits Jeannie but feels depressed because she only wanted his sperm and wants the baby but not him. Ria is also depressed after yet another unsatisfactory meeting with Leonard. Ruby, who has been chatted up, is the only person pleased about anything. Leonard rings Ria but Ben answers. He says nothing but next day he catches a butterfly and lets it go, telling it to look after its mate.
Whilst the boys are happy to meet randy housewives on their window round, Ria is feeling old, needing her glasses to read the menu at lunch with a friend. Again she splits with Leonard, this time observed by Ben. She confides everything in Adam, who tells her Ben is lucky to have such a faithful wife. Meanwhile Ben takes a call from Amanda, who has returned from Spain.
Ben resists Amanda's advances and takes her back to the station. Jeannie tells Russell she wants him in their baby's life after all. Ria is feeling frustrated,unaware that Ben has given Amanda the brush-off and feeling taken for granted. She packs her bags ready to leave but when she sees Leonard in the park she cannot go through with it. She senses that Ben loves her after all and returns to him.
Wendy Craig looks back on her experiences working on Butterflies.
Having reached 60, Ria wonders what life would have been like, if she had done things differently.
Writer Carla lane talks about her memories of Butterflies.
