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Conscious that "one job is so last Millennium," Edina has added TV production to her business portfolio. Patsy has decided to grow old disgracefully with the help of Parralox injections to freeze her wrinkles, and Saffy is praying that her Labor Party job interview goes to plan so that she can finally escape them both.
In between trying to align her lower Chakras and blag her way into London's trendiest drinking dens, Edina manages to land herself and client Twiggy, guest appearances on Richard and Judy (the UK's answer to Regis and Kelly) - much to the annoyance of her new partner, ruthless TV presenter Katy Grin (Jane Horrocks). But as her TV appearance draws near, Edina's vanity and Patsy's bullying get the better of her and she succumbs to the power of Parralox.
This episode also features Naoko Mori as Sarah, Bob Barrett as Labor Party Man and Tilly Blackwood as Lady Candy, with a celebrity appearance from Twiggy.
Patsy and Edina have been moshing at a Marilyn Manson concert. "Rock stars with a needle in their arm, not a hook in a trout. No gentlemen farmer ex-rockers. No fish farms!" proclaims Edina on their return.
The following morning, Eddy wakes to find an attractive young man in her garden. Tousle-haired Jago (Crispin Bonham-Carter) turns out to be a landscape gardener hired by Saffy, but Patsy recognizes him as the younger brother of a well-known aristocrat who inherited a huge estate in Hertfordshire - in other words, he's loaded.
Mother (June Whitfield) is also flirting for Britain, competing with her friend Dolly (Dora Bryan) for the attentions of agent Brice (Tim Wylton), the smoothie who has got her a job as an extra of the new Harry Potter movie.
A photo-shoot in Paris gives Patsy the chance to re-live her modeling days and spend time with her new best friend, supermodel Erin O'Connor. The Monsoon household accompany her across the Channel, as Edina drags Saffy along for a mother-and-daughter "Generation Flex" feature. But Eddy has trouble persuading her mild-child daughter to get into the swing - and out of her frumpy outfit. "Darling, just so it doesn't look like that blouse is trying to strangle you," she pleads, attempting to undo Saffy's top button. "I'm not asking you to get your ta-tas out."
Patsy finds the shoot is not quite the glamorous trip down memory lane she expected and struggles to cope with fresh-faced models, hideously unflattering clothes, and Rimmer (Dave Gorman, Are You Dave Gorman?, the photographer from hell. Eddy and Saffy, however, spend an unusually pleasant day together, hitting the shops and bars. But what is Edina plotting? And will Patsy crack under the pressure?
Despite having tried every fad diet going, Edina is still desperate to be thin - all she wants is to be able to take her clothes and not be marked by them. The answer is detox.
Spurred on by a Sex and the City-style lunch with her bitchy girlfriends, Edina embarks on a strict regime of water and red meat, and enrolls herself in a grueling British Military fitness program.
Despite Patsy's best efforts, Eddy eschews champagne and begins to shed the pounds... But her nights are plagued by dreams of visits from God (Marianne Faithful) and the Devil (Anita Pallenberg), who have their own agendas.
Meanwhile, budding playwright Saffy bumps into a pretentious old school friend, Taylor (Julian Rhind-Tutt), who attempts to use her in his bid to further his acting career, and Patsy decides to see what lifef is like without her trademark '60s forelock.
Donkey also stars Helen Lederer as Catriona, Harriet Thorpe as Fleur, Tilly Blackwood as Lady Candy, Andrea Gillie as Patsy's PA and Jessica Willcocks as Minge.
Saffy's first play, Self-Raising Flower, based on her young life, is opening at the local fringe theater. Afraid that Saffy's play could bring her public humiliation, Edina plots with Bubble to get the run canceled. But they fail and the show goes on.
Saffy's father, Justin (Christopher Malcolm), turns up to support his daughter on the opening night, as does Edina's first husband, Marshall (Christopher Ryan), and his loud, American girlfriend, Bo (Mo Gaffney).
Edina and Patsy reluctantly turn up to the performance, with Patsy adding her own ad-libs from the stalls.
Edina is facing a crisis. "I've got a PR company with no clients and a TV company with no shows!" she cries. Bubble has e-mailed Edina's personal address book and correspondence to rival PR person Claudia Bing (Celia Imrie) and the only client left on Edina's book is Twiggy.
"I've been in worse trouble before. I shall rise again like the Phoenix!" Eddy declares. Twiggy, however, has other ideas. With her empire crumbling before her eyes, Edina knows that something has to give.
Saffy arranges an MA (Menopause Anonymous) meeting to give reluctant Patsy and Eddy the chance to share their feelings and learn to love their hormone patches with an array of weird and wonderful women. After a visit to her gynecologist, going through "the change" begins to have a dramatic effect on Patsy. A new, altogether fluffier Patsy - a domestic goddess, no less - begins to break through the hardened veneer. Will she ever be the same again?
Menopause also stars Helen Lederer as Catriona, Harriet Thorpe as Fleur, Antony Cotton as Damon, Mo Gaffney as Bo, Christopher Ryan as Marshall, Ruby Wax as Beth, Jeillo Edwards as Jeillo, Joanna Bowen as Jobo, June Whitfield as Mother, and Twiggy, Leigh Lawson and Dale Winton as themselves.
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