The Lovers! 1973

In 1972 Manchester, three girls are window shopping at the George Best Boutique, while three boys across the street pick their company for the evening. Geoffrey Scrimshaw [Richard Beckinsale] unwittingly ends up with Beryl Battersby [Paula Wilcox], landing the last choice but sparking a slow, mutual attraction. The pair’s budding romance unfolds against a backdrop where their parents try to sound modern, yet feel almost comically out of step with the times. Geoffrey, when with his male friends, booms about conquests that never quite happened, revealing a gap between his bravado and his true feelings.

The two young lovers find themselves at odds over the permissive society: Geoffrey wants to dive in, while Beryl prefers to wait until marriage. On Geoffrey’s first meeting with Beryl’s mother [Stella Moray], they sit quietly in the living room, sip tea, nibble sardine sandwiches, and later share a soft cuddle by the electric fire after a game of Scrabble. The pace of their relationship makes them question whether they’re truly suited, and ultimately they decide to part ways.

On his way to meet his own parents to celebrate his mother’s birthday by watching Fiddler on the Roof, Geoffrey encounters Veronica [Rosalind Ayres], and he goes off with her instead. They head to a strip bar, and Veronica invites him back to her flat. Just before she goes inside, Veronica’s little brother Jeremy [Bruce Watt] appears and offers a very technical description of “how to make a baby,” a moment that underscores the era’s curiosities and tensions.

Beryl and Geoffrey cross paths again at a house party, attempting to impress with trendy chat‑up techniques. In the midst of these conversations, Edith contends with the changing times by expounding the values of Women’s Lib; a joint is passed around, someone removes a bra, and the atmosphere grows increasingly uneasy. Beryl storms off and ends up helping wash dishes in the kitchen with Geoffrey’s nerdy friend, a scene that further highlights their mismatched ambitions. After a shaky reconciliation, Beryl phones Geoffrey to say she never wants to see him again, only to reveal she will be at the school jumble sale the next day. He shows up, and they end up agreeing to attend a football match together and try to readjust their expectations.

The couple’s efforts to connect continue, but the relationship still feels fragile. They visit the rooftop of the Hotel Piccadilly and discuss what it means to be happy and to communicate openly, only to admit that, in truth, they don’t truly like each other in the way they hoped. Meanwhile, Sandra [Susan Littler] learns she is pregnant and plans to marry, a development that shifts the dynamics of the circle around them. Beryl sits beside Geoffrey at the reception meal, and a misunderstanding arises when Geoffrey mentions going to a “match” — which Beryl misreads as football, while he meant cricket. He ends up tracking Sandra down to an empty football stadium, and they sit together in the quiet, talking through their complex feelings about relationships and the future.

As the story progresses, the choices of love, timing, and understanding weave a mosaic of youth navigating a changing era. The film closes on a note that feels both hopeful and unresolved, with the image freezing on the two of them in a crowded stadium and the caption Not really the End lingering in the memory, suggesting that adolescence often leaves its questions open but enduringly human.