Tracey: 'Alf an 'our I queued at that checkout, then one o' me carrier bags split, I got a parkin' ticket an' a flat tyre that I 'ad to change in the pourin' rain, an' on top o' that I got ragin' PMT!
Dorien: So the last thing you want to hear is that Garth's leaving home?
— Dorien Green angering Tracey Stubbs as revenge for losing her chance to rent Sharon's flat.
- Date First Aired: 30/10/1994
An estate agent has come to Dorien's house, and he's looking at her home for a couple who likes the location they live at, meaning that Dorien may be moving to The Grange. During this conversation, Sharon reveals that she has a flat (well, more of a storage room) up above the cafe, and Dorien thus decides she's going to rent it, although she is beaten to the punch by Garth.
Garth soon moves in, and Sharon finds that his girlfriend, Kate, considers Garth to be gay. She orders him to tell the truth, or he'll be kicked out, which he proceeds to do, leading to a romantic relationship. Soon, the couple who wanted to buy Dorien's house decide not to ahead after all. However, they're now interested in the sisters' house. Darryl wants to not only move to the country but doesn't want to bring Sharon with them. Sharon thus throws Garth out so that she can have the flat for herself and she is forced to leave. Oh, and she reveals that Garth tricked Kate deliberately to get her to live with him, leading to the break-up of their relationship.
Soon, the couple have a look around the place. However, it turns out that Dorien recognises the man as an affair he had called Dominic and the deal is off when his wife, Angela, believes that he's moving to be with her. Soon, Tracey invites Sharon back to Dalentrace.
Tropes in this episode:
- Affectionate Nickname: Dominic calls Dorien "Dodo" when he sees her.
- Apology Gift: Dorien tries to give perfume to Tracey for screwing up her house sale.Tracey: What is it?Dorien: A peace offering.Tracey: Is it worth three-quarters of £1,000,000?Dorien: Well, of course it isn't.Tracey: Then stick it, coz that's what you cost me.
- Big "WHAT?!":
- Tracey's response when she learns that if Sharon gets stopped by the police, Sharon intends to give out her name.
- Both Kate and Tracey's response to finding out that Garth pretended to be gay so that Kate could move in with him.
- Bird-Poop Gag: Sharon parks Dorien's car under a tree and forgets to close the sunroof, causing sparrows to crap inside the car.
- Brief Accent Imitation: Sharon uses a West Country accent when mocking Dorien for her pokey home decorating skills.
- Continuity Nod: Sharon still hasn't passed her driving test.
- Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Angela slaps Dominic when she thinks he was trying to move to Chigwell to be closer to Dorien.
- Feathered Fiend: Sharon mentions crapped on by sparrows when she forgot to close the sunroof.Sharon: I know I should've closed the sunroof, but... I didn't realise sparrows had that good an aim.
- Get Out!: Tracey tells Dorien to get out after she ruins the house sale for her.
- The Ghost: Mention is made of an estate agent showing Dominic and Angela the houses in Chigwell, although they are not seen on-screen.
- Horrible Housing:
- Garth and Kate's new housing is quite filthy and grimy and that's not accounting for the dripping tap and the lack of a working boiler. When Sharon moves in for a while, she eventually can't take it, describing it as a tip, and lets Garth have it, claiming that it will be fine as students love squalor.
- Tracey tells Darryl about how Auntie Sylvie's flat had a damp patch in every room, whilst Darryl was thankful for dry patches in his house. And that's not getting into the rats they had.Tracey: No, you never 'ad rats. Apart from ya mother.
- Interrupted Intimacy: Angela once caught Dorien and Dominic in the middle of having sex.
- Just Friends: Garth lies to Sharon and Dorien that he and Kate are only friends, not realising he's pretending to be gay.
- "L" Is for "Dyslexia": Sharon writes "disabbled" when she means "disabled".
- Mistaken for Gay: Garth tricks Kate into thinking that he's gay to get him to live with her.
- My Beloved Smother: Tracey keeps trying to check if Garth's okay and offering to do stuff for him, even though he's nearly twenty now and in catering college.Tracey: Settled in all right?Garth: Fine, Mum.Tracey: Hope you're looking after yourself properly.Garth: Yes, Mum.Tracey: Got enough clean underwear?Garth: Oh, for Heaven's sake!Sharon: Trace, he's not a baby!Tracey: He'll always be my baby! Bet you're not eatin' properly. Got you some chicken an' some bacon.
- Obfuscating Disability: Sharon intends to pretend to be a disabled driver to hide the fact that she's not qualified to drive. Of course, the fact that she's misspelled it as "disabbled" isn't really going to help, although she hopes that it will convince the police that she's disabled mentally as well.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: Tracey tells Darryl the only rat he had in his house was his mum, Olive.
- One-Shot Character: Kate, Dominic and Angela.
- One-Steve Limit:
- This episode gives us our fourth Dominic, after two separate unseen characters in "Thirty Something" and "Cuckoo" and a One-Shot Character in "Appreciation Society".
- There's also his wife Angela, who shares a name with a voice-only character from "First Time Caller".
- One-Word Title: The title of the episode is "Moving".
- Percussive Maintenance: Sharon's idea of fixing the boiler is to give it a good kick.Garth: So you'll get a plumber in, then?Sharon: Nah, I'll give it a kick. Always worked wi' Chris!
- Portmanteau: Darryl suggests calling his and Tracey's new house "Tracendal", which much like their last house ("Dalentrace") is both of their names together.
- Precision F-Strike: Dorien calls Angela a tasteless bitch, a term which Tracey also uses when talking about her.
- Really Gets Around: Dorien has had so many affairs that now she wants her own place for it.Dorien: I simply must find my own little love nest to rent. I've been trying to find somewhere to go with my new man Brian, he's a relapsed born again Christian, an' I suddenly realised that I had been to all the hotels at least half a dozen times. I mean it is becoming embarrassing. Half of them mention me by name in their fire instructions.
- Shout-Out: Sharon calls Garth and Kate "Hansel and Gretel".
- Status Quo Is God: Dorien, Garth and Tracey all try separately to move somewhere else and Sharon is kicked out of Dalentrace. While Garth stays in Sharon's flat, the girls all remain in their old homes by the end of the episode.
- Take That!: Sharon remarks that Quick Cabs thinks that they can charge what they like just like British Rail do.
- Time to Move: Tracey considers the idea of selling the house and moving to the countryside, much to the horror of Sharon when she realises that she'll be practically be kicked out. However, the move ends up being cancelled by the end of the episode thanks to Dorien.
- Vehicular Sabotage: When Dorien tells Sharon she can use her car, Sharon asks if the brakes are dodgy.
- Verbal Backspace: Garth has to pretend like he hasn't been looking forward to hooking up with Kate for ages:Garth: Brilliant! I mean... really?
- With Friends Like These...: While Dorien's snark is purely banter, Sharon admits she means every word of it.Sharon: Well, two minutes ago, we was callin' each other names.Dorien: Oh, that was just banter. I didn't mean it.Sharon: (Beat) I did.
- You Dirty Rat!: Darryl claims he used to have sewer rats in his garden.
- "You!" Exclamation: Angela squeaks out a shrill one when she catches Dorien in the same room as Dominic.
