Old Tom

Angela Throgmorton is leading a somewhat lonely life when a strange, scruffy, creature appears on her doorstep. Feeling sorry for the poor thing, she takes it in, feeds it and cleans it up. However, when the creature manages to flood the house, Angela decides to find another home for it. This soon teaches Angela two lessons: firstly, that no-one wants the creature; and, secondly, that she really quite likes him. However, Old Tom and Angela get separated, and Angela goes home alone. Then a storm hits. Angela, learning that the creature has taken shelter in a storm drain, goes off to rescue him. Surfing through the drain on her ironing board, Angela snatches her new friend just before the storm-waters can wash him away. Angela takes him home and calls him Old Tom.

Told by her friend, Lavinia, that she and Old Tom should 'smarten themselves up', Angela takes Old Tom to the local department store to buy new outfits. There, they bump into Lavinia, who insists on taking them shopping. Lavinia leaves Old Tom to play on a children's ride, as she takes Angela around the store, buying increasingly silly outfits for her. Meanwhile, Old Tom breaks free from the ride and causes mayhem around the store, much to the anger of the store manager, Mr Pangborn. Angela, in her new outfit, gets away from Lavinia, just as Old Tom, in disguise, manages to escape Mr Pangborn. They both end up in the Missing Persons department, where they recognise each other and, shedding their silly outfits, decide they don't need to smarten up, after all.

Old Tom is getting in Angela's way as she tries to tidy the house, so she suggests he goes outside and find a friend. However, outside Old Tom is teased by Billy and, worse, trapped by a savage dog. He is saved at the last moment by a young girl called Lucy. They hit it off immediately, and Lucy invites Old Tom around to her place to play. Unfortunately, they are followed by the savage dog, who bursts into Lucy's house and causes mayhem. Old Tom and Lucy lock the dog in her room and escape, just as her parents come home. They think Old Tom caused all the mess and forbid Lucy from seeing him again - that is, until they accidentally let the dog out. Then Old Tom and Lucy, using one of Angela's vacuum cleaners, manage to get rid of the dog, and teach Billy a lesson.

Angela goes shopping for a playhouse for Old Tom and ends up buying an old rocket ship. Old Tom loves it and, with his best friend Lucy, they decide to fly it to Mars. Angela thinks they are just playing (after all, the booster rockets have been taken off) and she goes along with their little 'fantasy'. However, while she is cleaning the rocket, it takes off - Old Tom had used one of Angela's vacuum cleaners as the propulsion. The rocket flies off into space with Old Tom on the inside, and Angela on the outside, battling meteors and satellites. Finally, Old Tom lets her in, just as the rocket careens out of control and crash lands on an unknown planet. Angela is sure they're on Mars - but one of the aliens looks familiar. It's Lavinia, and they have literally 'crashed' her garden party.

Lavinia decides to 'elevate the cultural tone' of Angela's household, by giving them regular musical recitals on her violin. Her talent, however, is negligible, and Old Tom and Lucy can't stand the racket. When Lavinia and Angela go out for a cup of tea, Old Tom has a go on the violin and discovers he is a prodigy, fiddling a tune so fast that he breaks all the strings. Lavinia returns, but doesn't notice the broken strings because she is in a hurry to get to a TV talent show, on which she is a contestant. Lucy and Old Tom hope Lavinia wins because the first prize is a trip around the world - which means no violin recitals for six months! However, they realise she can't win, because her violin has no strings. So Old Tom, grabbing another violin, races off to give Lavinia a helping hand.

Lavinia takes Angela with her to the beauty salon for a complete makeover . Angela is reluctant, but agrees to go if Old Tom can come, too. At the salon, they are greeted by the temperamental owner, Istvan, who mistakes Old Tom for a particularly hairy customer and tries to give him a beauty treatment. In Old Tom's struggle to escape, Istvan ends up bald instead, and chases Old Tom furiously around the salon. Old Tom hides in Lavinia's room, where he is mistaken for a beautician, and told by Lavinia to begin her 'full treatment' immediately. Old Tom gleefully obliges, using whatever odds and ends he can find. Istvan bursts in just as Old Tom is finishing. Lavinia looks bizarre, but she likes her new look and thanks Istvan, who can only smile and take the credit.