Ministry of Technology representative Mr Fosdyke pays a visit to mild-mannered inventor Robert Somersby, to discuss his submission for an increase in his research grant. Robert explains that he needs more money to continue his pioneering work in robotics, and offers to show the government official his latest creation, an android named Eric. Meanwhile, foreign industrial spy Marken employs private investigator Gimble to uncover Robert’s electronic engineering secrets; Gimble sneaks into Robert’s lab, but is discovered by Fosdyke and mistaken for a robot. Amazed at how life-like ‘Eric’ is, Fosdyke asks Robert for a further test before he can approve the extra funding; Robert agrees, and the real Eric is sent to visit Doctor Randall in the nearby village for a medical. However, Eric is unaware that Gimble is following him – and the detective has no idea that Fosdyke is trailing him. Then Eric’s electronics start to malfunction...
While Robert takes Eric ice-skating in order to test his reactions to cold temperatures, Aunt Mille arrives with the news that Katie has fallen in love with the gas cooker. Robert’s Aunt also brings him a ring from the jewellers; it seems that romantic Robert is planning to propose to his girlfriend, Angela, later that evening. Eric goes out of control, and spins so much that he drills through the ice and into the water beneath; Robert is forced to use an electromagnet to pull the robot to safety – magnetising Eric’s metal body in the process. Back at Robert’s country house, Katie pines for the cooker, which has been taken away for repairs; the love-sick robot decides to follow the repair van, but he soon ends up hopelessly lost – and then one of his legs falls off. Angela arrives at the house, and a nervous Robert attempts to pop the question – but Eric’s magnetic personality keeps getting in the way...
Robert is having big problems: his new Maintenance Robot is causing havoc, not only breaking everything it tries to repair, but also those items that don’t need fixing – including Eric; and Robert’s new Sanitary Robot keeps getting muddled, putting Aunt Millie’s crockery in the washing machine and scrubbing Robert’s shirts into shreds amongst the washing up. When Robert decides to hold a dinner party for Angela, Aunt Millie resolutely refuses to use the robots as servants, and sets off for a domestic agency; but on the way she meets Gimble, who pretends to be a cook so that he can get close to her nephew’s electronics secrets. But when Gimble spies on Robert’s lab he sees the inventor deactivating one of the troublesome androids; he immediately believes he has just witnessed a murder – and that he will be the next victim...
When Robert tries out his four new Entertainer Robots, Eric immediately complains: he has recently been reading Karl Marx, and vehemently objects at the ‘exploitation’ of his fellow androids. Concerned with his robots’ ability to sing, Robert uses Eric to test out a new program; the long-suffering robot is soon belting out show tunes at the top of his voice – not only does his singing shatter glass, but it also smashes the binocular lenses of Gimble and Marken, who are spying from a nearby house. Katie runs off with the Entertainer Robots’ remote control, thinking it pretty; Robert chases after the dim-witted android, but Angela overhears him, and immediately suspects her fiancé of having a secret girlfriend...
While Robert is away attempting to make up with his fiancée, Angela, Mr Forsyth and Sir Mortimer from the Ministry of Technology arrive for some important talks concerning the robo-research schedules. But when Robert eventually returns, he finds his way barred by an over-zealous Katie, who has taken his maker’s instructions not to let anyone inside the house far too literally. Unable to enter his own home for the meeting, Robert is forced to get Eric to pose as himself, while he spends a cold night out on the garden bench...
Suffering from a cold after his night in the garden, Robert sets about fixing Eric’s emotion program in order to make the grumpy robot much nicer. Just as Eric is about to belt Katie with a chair for interrupting his television viewing, his new program activates, and he is reduced to tears over his mistreatment of his best friend. After watching a hospital show, an over-emotional Eric decides to help sick people by introducing a medical training plan to the other robots; he then decides to help his first patient, Robert, get some much-needed rest – but with Eric and Katie looking after him, rest is the last thing Robert gets...
Robert and his robots prepare for their first commercial venture, in the world of fashion. With two important clothes buyers due to visit the next day, Robert plans to use his androids, his fiancée, Angela, and his new robot duplicate of himself as models in the parade, while giving Eric the task of making all the outfits for the show. However, Eric – now back to his usual bad-tempered self and malfunctioning with stress from all the work he has been given – soon decides to form a robots’ union and call his comrades out on strike. Meanwhile, rubbish spies Marken and Gimble intercept a phone call from the buyers, cancelling their appointment; immediately seeing an opportunity to learn Robert’s secrets, the two agents decide to take their place. The next day, a disguised Marken and Gimble meet with Robert, only to learn that instead of electrical products, they are there to see a new range of clothing. When Marken then activates a jamming device as part of a ploy to learn the location of Robert’s electronic engineering secrets, all the robots malfunction, including the duplicate of the inventor himself – ensuring that the spies get to see a fashion parade that they will never forget..
With Angela away on holiday in Australia, and Aunt Millie trying to cope with her new robot parrot, Robert busies himself with his latest invention: a headset that allows its wearer’s actions to be mimicked by a robot; but things go wrong as usual, and the experiment ends with Katie wiping his feet on Eric’s back. Meanwhile, Marken meets his new associate, Plummer, who has taken over the spying operation after Gimbert quit. Facing the sack from his bosses, Marken decides to bribe Sommerby into handing over his secrets; however, his meeting with the inventor doesn’t go according to plan, as Robert’s new headset has since jammed, leaving him and Eric stuck making the same moves as each other. Making a hasty retreat from the duo’s strange behaviour, Maken and Plummer then decide to kidnap Robert; unfortunately they capture the inventor’s robot double instead – and when they take him back to Maken’s houseboat, the android runs straight through the side of the vessel and sinks to the bottom of the canal...
Having recaptured the duplicate Robert, whom they now believe to be the inventor’s twin brother, Marken and Plummer watch in dismay as the canal water inside the robot’s body overheats, causing steam to pour out of his head; terrified that their prisoner is seriously ill with a dangerous disease the two spies immediately dump him outside Robert’s research laboratory. Meanwhile, Eric learns of the government’s cut to Robert’s funding, and decides to help; setting up a secret meeting with his fellow robots, Eric goes over his first idea for a money-making venture: a baby-minding service..
Fleeing from Eric and Katie’s “repaired” Mini car, Marken and Plummer are arrested by a suspicious policeman; when they finally get released, they decide on a last desperate attempt at infiltrating Robert’s laboratory, by disguising themselves as government officials. Meanwhile, Robert resolves to deal with the spies himself: he begins spying on them, and when the duo leave Marken’s houseboat dressed in bowler hats and badly-fitting suits, he sneaks aboard and begins to search for information. Back at the lab, Eric has created a beautiful female robot counter-spy, Desiree, to deal with Marken and Plummer; programming Desiree as a ‘femme fatale’, Eric sends her to seduce the spies; but when she boards the houseboat, she meets Robert instead – and promptly tries to seduce him...
Wanting to keep a close eye on the spies, Robert has successfully blackmailed Marken and Plummer into coming to work for him as security guards. The next day; with Eric and Katie’s “help”, Robert moves to different quarters to make room for his new employees. But Eric is still suspicious of the new recruits, and after seeing how much Marken likes Desiree, he programmes his female robotic creation to try to ensnare the spy with her beauty and uncover his schemes. Desiree accepts Marken’s offer of a dinner date in his room, and together they enjoy a somewhat strange evening getting to know each other. Meanwhile, the duplicitous Plummer sneaks into Robert’s lab to steal back the incriminating documents that the inventor has confiscated from Marken...
Plummer’s attempt to break into Robert’s safe results in him and Marken getting blown up by Katie; Robert is furious, and threatens to report the spies to the police unless they take their new jobs as security guards seriously. Later, Robert reveals his latest money-making venture: opening a restaurant. Unfortunately the sight of human food causes all the robots to suffer from electronic nausea, and they immediately collapse; undaunted, Robert appoints Eric as head waiter and instructs him to train his fellow automatons to handle food without being sick. Opening day comes two days later: but with the robot waiters still feeling sick at even the mere mention of what’s on the menu, Robert’s restaurant is doomed to be a recipe for disaster...
Robert closes his restaurant for a few days while he attempts to repair the damage done to the robots, a result of their revulsion to human food. Meanwhile, Marken and Plummer actually do their jobs and see off a couple of reporters from ‘The Clarion’. Worried about more negative publicity, after the newspaper printed a damning review of the restaurant written by the vicar’s wife, Robert shows the two reporters, Mr Holroyd and Miss Digby, around his laboratory to convince them that the place is safe and normal – but unfortunately he and his staff just come across as being completely mad. Meanwhile, Marken and Plummer learn that Robert has hidden their papers inside one of his robots, and they set about determining which one. The next day, Holroyd and Digby’s report condemning Robert and his team as raving loonies is published in all the national newspapers. Robert agrees to go on the television show ‘Yesterday’ to account for himself, taking Eric and Desiree with him; but things don’t go to plan: Eric and Desiree go bonkers, and then Katie decides to join them in the studio…
It’s Christmas at Little Stockbrush: Robert and Aunt Millie have put up the Christmas tree and the robots have put up their stockings. Robert and his robots have also been tasked with organising a children’s party at the village hall, and while the robots get the decorations ready, Robert tests his new computerised electronic organ. Meanwhile, Marken gets into the festive spirit by dressing up as Santa and, together with a rather ‘humbug’-ish Plummer, takes Robert’s robot sleigh out for a test run – and then returns covered in oil after the thing crashes. When Marken tells the robots a (badly-translated) story about Father Christmas, Katie gets all emotional and decides to give him a present: the leg of robot George, which contains the papers Rober confiscated from Marken. Now free of Robert’s hold over them, the elated Marken and Plummer attempt to make a break for it; however, Katie realises his mistake and confesses to Robert and Eric. As the spies drive off on the motorised sleigh, Robert, Eric and Katie give chase...