In the fourth series, Susan is looking forward to the birth of her first grandchild, but dreading being a grandmother. Nick is getting fed up with living in his ghastly flat and trying to think of a way to move back into the family home. The gap between Michael's IQ and the rest of the family's seems to be increasing, but so is his libido. And Abi is still Abi, only more so! As for perennially put-upon Ben, what with a new arrival causing chaos in the surgery, being forced to take tango lessons and being officially declared dead, life is just one long major-league cirsis.

In the tenth series, in the second episode ("The Son'll Come Out") Michael comes out as gay to his parents, first to his father after coming home drunk then later to his mother. He then tells them that he has been in a relationship with a guy for some time, a 25 year old solicitor called Scott Marsh, who later moves into the Harper residence, though he is later seen in gay clubs picking up guys and giving out his number, suggesting that he and Scott have broken up, but they later get back together. These comprise of a nine-part tenth series and a seven-part eleventh series.

In series nine, chaos, paranoia and misunderstanding – yes, it's life as usual in the Harper household. Ben stands up to – and gets put down by – his own school bully and gets a little jealous as a rich business man falls for Susan – or is that Janey? There are new worries as they discover Michael's seeing a therapist and Ben fails his retraining exam – and, while the family is divided over mean Uncle Norris's inheritance and the acquisition of a puppy, Ben's delighted to discover he's the inspiration for a wealthy if unhappy, celebrity dentist!

In the eighth series, love is in the air in the Harper house. Ben is in love – with an extremely large television; Janey is in love with a new man; and Michael's current love has announced that she is pregnant. Meanwhile, Ben and Susan's credit card statement highlights each of their secret vices and an armed robbery at the local bank leads to Ben and Janey being taken as hostages. Michael and Alfie investigate the world of internet dating with mixed results and Abi realises her true vocation in life is to become a nun!

In the seventh series, a mystery man arrives asking for Janey – Susan finally discovers the identity of Kenzo's father. Roger and Abi's marriage announcement gives Susan the idea to renew her marriage vows despite protests from Ben. A death in the dentist's chair is not very good for business, but, as Ben discovers, it is not very good for your private life either. Michael succeeds in placing the whole family on The Weakest Link, but Anne Robinson raises more difficult questions than might have been expected.

In the sixth series, Janey and son Kenzo spend much more time at the Harper house than is good for Ben, and Micheal moves from scam to scam with alarming ease. Add to that the ever-so-slowly blossoming of the Abi-Roger romance and the new cuckoo in the nest, wiser-than-he-looks Alfie Butts and the problems multiply. The family's hurdles include Ben joining a secret society (The Brotherhood of the Cockerel), Suasn's new job leading her to a dinner date with a new man and an encounter with squatters. In other words, as usual, problems and situations constantly conspire to remind Ben and Susan that 'Family' is an 'F' word.

In Series five, Ben and Susan are enjoying some new-found tranquility, Nick has moved into his own flat, Janey is at university and Abi is usually out at evening class. Naturally the peace is not to last! Janey comes back home with baby Kenzo and Michael has been "born again" and is holding Bible study sessions in the living room. With Ben's famous dental patients, Susan's election ambitions and an unheathly obsession with Inspector Morse – not to mention the unlikely perils of house-sitting in a luxury modern apartment – domestic life is soon to be back to normal. So when Ben and Susan start being nice to each other it's no wonder Abi's suspicious; they could not be getting a divorce could they?

Ben Harper 是一位事业中等成功的家庭男人，也是一名牙医。他正经历中年危机，同时努力应对抚养青少年子女带来的种种怪异现实。他的妻子Susan似乎过得很开心，喜欢自己作为伦敦导游的工作，然而在家里，她在厨房里找路的能力远不如在城市里导游那样出色。

他们的三个孩子——Nick, Janey, and Michael——性格各异，简直像天壤之别。19岁的 Nick正在休学年中，但他的活动范围似乎并不超过沙发和就业中心；Janey聪明伶俐，16岁的她表现得像个25岁的成年人；而12岁的Michael是个非常聪明的电脑宅男，刚刚开始对女孩产生兴趣。