Anthony Head Credits

My Family

Television guest star appearance (UK)

Series summary: Sitcom about the Harper family: Ben, Susan, their three children and Ben’s cousin Abi.

Role: Richard Harper
Episode: 4.12 - May the Best Man Win
Original air date: June 6, 2003
Network: BBC1
Availability: Currently available on DVD

Summary of Anthony Head's storyline: Ben Harper, who is a dentist, arrives at work to be informed that Richard Harper, Abi's father, called and will be stopping by. Ben downs some mouthwash for the alcohol and tries to leave before Richard arrives. Of course, as he opens the door, Richard is right there. They hug in greeting and then Ben pats his chest and asks for his wallet back. Richard jokes that he just wanted to show he still has "it". Ben says he knows he has and asks for "it" back. Richard hands over Ben's cell phone. Roger, Ben's fellow dentist who has a crush on Abi, welcomes Richard with a huge hug and introduces himself as Abi's destiny. Ben makes comments about Richard being an absentee father and Richard tries to defend himself, but eventually admits Ben has a point. It's also revealed that Richard has been married three times and is now planning to marry again. Although Richard claims it will be the first time "in [his] heart." Richard then asks Ben to be his best man, calling him the only Harper with a head on his shoulders.

At home, Ben tells his wife about this and is actually excited to be best man, as he has never been one before. Susan is worried about Abi's reaction to the news that her father is marrying again. Susan and Ben tell Abi the news and she reacts as they expected, running up the stairs yelling that she hates her father. Later Ben is writing his best man speech and is trying to come up with a nice word for 'pillock'. His oldest son, Nick, offers to help him with the stag night, having just that moment decided to start a party planning business. Ben declines, but his own plans for a stag night are boring at best. He eventually agrees to let Nick help him plan it.

Abi tells Susan that she went to school with Richard's fiancée and, in fact, she is three years younger than Abi. They decide to boycott the wedding. Susan tries to convince Ben to cancel the stag night but he refuses.

The stag night arrives and it is a pitiful party. There is no food, music or booze. Richard expresses his unhappiness with it and Ben assures him more is to come. Ben calls Nick and demands to know what happened to the money he gave him for the party. Nick assures him it was well spent on the stripper - who is not there. Nick promises Ben he will take care of it. Ben stops Richard from leaving. Richard says this is the worst stag party he's ever had - including the one in prison. Ben gets him to sit back down and then asks the assembled guests to share their memories of the guest of honor. One of them asks if this isn't a pipe smoker's convention. When told no, most of the guests leave. The remaining guests, from a list provided by Abi, include Richard's barber, carpet layer and urologist.

At home, Abi and Susan are getting drunk together. Nick rushes in to announce that the strip club sent the cake to the party without the stripper. Nick tries to talking Abi into doing it but she refuses to jump out of a cake at her own father's stag party. Nick next asks his brother Michael to do it. Susan is annoyed that he would ask a teenage boy before asking a mature woman and Nick looks at her with a big grin.

Back at the party, Ben is doing bird imitations. Nick arrives but asks him to stall a bit longer. Ben introduces the Menagerie of Rubber, which Richard thinks is more like it until he finds out that it’s Roger making balloon animals. Richard pounds his head on the table in frustration. Two men arrive and when Richard sees them, he tries to run. They demand their money or they are taking his car back. Meanwhile, the cake arrives, but Susan is telling Nick on the cell phone that she has changed her mind. Ben gets on the phone, not knowing it's his wife and pleads with her to jump out saying he is the worst best man ever. She agrees and jumps out, yelling "Surprise". Turns out her cake was delivered to the pipe smoker's convention. At the stag party, a man wearing lederhosen and smoking a pipe jumps out of their cake. Richard runs out the door, to escape the two men after him, telling Ben he'll see him at the wedding. 

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