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Private Notes
It is late August and Britain is in holiday mode. We meet the Barry-Powers blended family in Cardiff, where mum Louise is juggling the demands of five children and cooking multiple meals to keep the peace; the Evans family in Birmingham, where single mother Sue and her grown-up daughter Ginny are a double act to 10-year-old Gabriel; the Harrars in Staffordshire, who are passionate about their Punjabi recipes with a twist; and London flatsharers and serial daters Matt, Dave and Xanthi, who launch into a low-carb, muscle-building regime after overindulging on a holiday abroad.
In Gloucester, the Garbutt family are enjoying a staycation, while Devonshire pensioners Marylyn and Wilfred are packing enough sandwiches to last their holiday to Wales. In Suffolk, the aristocratic Mitchell-Cotts family is coming up with imaginative ways to rustle up meals for a family of eight on a very tight budget, and in Buckinghamshire, the Gales are facing up to their 19-year-old son flying the nest.
It is the start of September and, with the summer holidays over, Britain prepares to head back to work and school. In the Gale household, 18-year-old son Robson is leaving home to study mechanics in Norfolk. Parents Simon and Sue have also decided to go on a relationship course in Amsterdam, leaving their remaining children Phoebe and Murray home alone with a bottle of tequila.
The Barry-Powers in Cardiff face an uphill battle to get eight-year-old Cerys back to school. Meanwhile in Suffolk, Hamish Mitchell Cotts is rushed off his feet trying to get his six children fed, watered and out the door. At the Garbutt's in Cheltenham, Lucy knocks up an after-school lamb stew from kitchen leftovers, and at the Harrar's in Staffordshire, husband Amar creates a post-work chana masala with fried Indian breads. Pensioners Marylyn and Wilfred Bradshaw throw caution to the wind and indulge in a sherry trifle at lunchtime, while single mother Sue Evans in Birmingham is on a detox to prepare for an upcoming date. There are more relationship dramas in London as the Clapham boys have been on new dates, and it looks like things could be getting serious for Xanthi...
It's mid-September and, across the country, households have settled into their regular routines, but for some, it's time to celebrate.
In Cheltenham, Alasdair and Lucy Garbutt try to enjoy a kid-free romantic wedding anniversary dinner. In Devon, Marylyn and Wilfred Bradshaw's son comes to visit to celebrate the 51st anniversary of their engagement.
In Cardiff, the Barry Powers celebrate dad Lee's 45th with a vast array of finger food, and in Birmingham, party food at Gabriel Evans's 10th birthday leads mum Sue astray from her no-carb diet.
For other families it's just a relief to make it through another working week. Hamish and Merlyn Mitchell Cotts struggle to keep order at the dinner table when a German exchange student comes to stay. The Clapham boys discuss politics and the Bible over a low-fat lasagne. Simon and Sue Gale return from fine-tuning their marriage at a couples retreat in Amsterdam, and at the Harrars in Staffordshire, the family delicately try to curb dad Amar's addiction to kitchen gadgets over lunch.
