Miss Jones and Son is a 1970s sitcom created by Thames Television. It focuses on Elizabeth Jones (Paula Wilcox) who has recently given birth to a baby named Roland in the wake of a break-up with her previous love Alan. Elizabeth must now navigate the complicated life of a single mother, including baptisms, love, her social life, and disappointed parents. Helping out is her neighbour Geoffrey (Christopher Beeny), who can always be on hand if she needs someone to help with her latest scheme, such as pretending to be her husband.
Series 2 provides a bit of a Retool - Geoffrey moves out of his flat and the show takes on a more romantic bent, focusing on Elizabeth's slowly developing relationship with widower David (David Saville).
Tropes in this series:
- Abusive Parents: Downplayed, as her parents are otherwise cordial, but Desmond and Mary do make it clear to Elizabeth how embarrassed they are that she's an unmarried mother.
- Alliterative Name: Tom Tucker, Rose's husband.
- All Love Is Unrequited: Between Geoffrey and Elizabeth - in "More Fish in the Sea", Geoffrey admits that he did have feelings for Elizabeth, but knew that he simply wasn't her type so didn't make any advances on her. Ironically, the fact that Elizabeth had set up what clearly looks like a Romantic Candlelit Dinner for him implied that she was beginning to fall for him, but by then, he had gotten engaged to Ruth.
- All There in the Script: Inverted - Elizabeth's parents are named Desmond and Mary, but are only referred to as "Mum" and "Dad" in the credits. It's especially strange in this case seeing that baby Roland is at least partially named for his grandfather.
- Ancestral Name: Elizabeth's parents, Mary and Desmond, had been hoping that Elizabeth would name her child after her father. Elizabeth does not appreciate it however, thinking that its shortened version of "Des" would not be suitable. She does make a compromise however, providing it as a middle name instead.
- Babysitting Episode:
- In "For What We Are Not About To Receive", Elizabeth is forced to babysit some babies thanks to some Ambiguous Syntax (she wanted to be babysat, but several unmarried mothers misunderstood it as her wanting to babysit). This causes issues when the Health Visitor arrives and, mistaking her identity, Elizabeth tears her a new one.
- "Jobs for the Girls" has Elizabeth start a babysitting business with her friend Rose Tucker. Unfortunately, the noise of the babies make it hard for Elizabeth's new neighbor David and the fact that it isn't officially registered gathers attention. Whilst the ending suggests that Elizabeth will continue with this, its not mentioned in the remaining two episodes.
- Birds of a Feather: Both of Elizabeth's romantic interests are single parents with children much like her - Matthew was on the brink of a divorce (until he reconciled with his wife) and had a baby daughter, whilst David is a widower with an 11-year-old daughter. Additionally, David has a creative job at home, much like Elizabeth.
- British Brevity: Only 12 episodes, spanning across 2 series, were ever made.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Desmond, Elizabeth's father, disappears without explanation in Series 2.
- Closet Shuffle: If the opening sequence is to be believed, Elizabeth met Alan whilst hiding in a cupboard attempting to hide her semi-nudity.
- Divorce Is Temporary: When Matthew is first introduced in "And Father Came Too", he has been separated from his wife for a while and almost divorced. After the implication that he and Elizabeth will become a romantic pairing, "More Fish in the Sea" reveals that he had a heartwarming reunion with his wife off-screen, ending his relationship with Elizabeth in the process.
- Embarrassing Last Name: Geoffrey has both this and an Embarrassing Middle Name according to "Baptism Under Fire". His middle name is "Eustace", which is ridiculous enough that Elizabeth struggles to hold in her laughter, and his last name is "Cuthbert", which provokes even more laughter from Elizabeth. He's rather ashamed of them.
- Fake Relationship:
- In "From Here to Maternity", Elizabeth's former long-term partner Alan has arrived, but Elizabeth doesn't want him to know that she has a child under the belief that he would feel obligated to marry her. As such, she passes Geoffrey off as her husband. "A Kid For Three Fathers" also shows some tension when Geoffrey is asked once to pretend to be Elizabeth's husband for a family member of hers, leading to her having to ask for Peter. Peter however is busy, leading to Elizabeth having to go to some lengths.
- In "Will You Be My Wife?", Sam, an upstairs neighbour, asks Elizabeth to pretend to be his wife for an important office function. Unfortunately, things are complicated when Elizabeth brings up her son during the function.
- Foreign Remake: Received one in the form of Miss Winslow and Son, which lasted for a single 6-episode series. The major difference between the original and the remake is the introduction of a recurring boss character.
- Handsome Lech: John, the boss who Elizabeth has an interview with in "Baby Talk", seems more interested in charming her than in her work as an illustrator, much to her discomfort.
- Happily Ever After: By the end of the series, Elizabeth has gotten into a romantic relationship with David and they are seen sharing several kisses, even if it isn't wedding bells for them yet.
- Happy Ending Override: "And Father Came Too", the final episode of Series 1, has Elizabeth hit it off with a soon-to-be-divorced man named Matthew, and it was suggested that they were destined for a romantic future. Come Series 2 and we find that Matthew has reconciled with his wife off-screen, breaking up his previous relationship with Elizabeth in the process.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: After a conversation with her old boyfriend in "Baptism Under Fire", where he reveals that he's expecting a child and is intending of naming it after her, Elizabeth is so shocked that she asks of Tom Tucker some of his whisky.
- "Near and Dear" Baby Naming:
- At first, Elizabeth is unsure of what to call her new child. However, she is reunited with an old acquaintance called Roland, which she hits off after having previously disliked him. By the end, she has decided to name the child after him and asks Roland to be his godfather. This is before her neighbor Geoffrey manages to pass himself off as her husband when her previous love arrives, at which point Elizabeth is impressed enough to name the child after him as well. By the name he's officially christened, he's gained the name "Alan", after his father, adding a hint of Ancestral Name to it as well.
- In "Baptism Under Fire", Elizabeth gets a call from her old boyfriend Alan, who is now expecting a child with his wife. He reveals that if it's a girl, he plans to name the child "Elizabeth" after her.
- New Baby Episode: "From Here to Maternity" begins with Elizabeth giving birth to Roland and dealing with the consequences, including telling her parents and how the child came to have its name.
- One-Steve Limit: There are two characters called Roland, with one having been named for the other. It might be the reason why the younger one is usually known as Roly.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Elizabeth's baby has the full first name of Roland, but everyone just calls him Roly.
- Overly Long Name: Roland gradually adds more and more names between his birth and his christening, ending with the final name of Roland Desmond Geoffrey Alan Jones.
- Parent-Preferred Suitor: Elizabeth's parents were hoping that she would get married to Roland Wellington, as he had a good position with the Building Society. Elizabeth however does not like Roland, although she does warm up to him enough to name her child after him (helps that by this point, Roland had found a new love).
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: "From Here to Maternity" is a play on From Here to Eternity.
- Put on a Bus: After being a main character throughout Series 1, Geoffrey moves out to be with his fiancee Ruth in the middle of the Series 2 episode "A Theme in Two Flats" and is never seen again.
- Romancing the Widow: In Series 2, Elizabeth begins to fall in love with the widower David.
- Satellite Family Member: It's Elizabeth giving birth to Roly which helps establish her reputation as a single mother and helps form many plots involving baby-minding, but being a baby, Roly himself gets little characterization.
- Struggling Single Mother: Elizabeth has given birth to a child, but her partner has abandoned her. The comedic element of the show thus comes from her attempts to raise a child on her own, mainly involving hiding her child from her friends, the fact that she can only do freelance work, and her lack of a social life without anyone to look after Roland.
- Town Contest Episode: In "And Father Came Too", Geoffrey encourages Elizabeth to enter her baby in the Bonny Baby Foods Contest set in town to win £20. Roly wins, but it conspires that the contest was actually open for girls only, with Geoffrey not realising this, leading Elizabeth to make a speech on providing equal opportunities for all genders.
