Miranda is a BBC television series co-written by and starring comedian Miranda Hart. It first aired on BBC Two on 9 November 2009 and has since moved to BBC One. The situation comedy also features Sarah Hadland, Tom Ellis, Patricia Hodge and Sally Phillips. The series is based on Hart's semi-autobiographical writing and followed a television pilot and the BBC Radio 2 comedy Miranda Hart's Joke Shop. This was a very popular TV show watched by millions.
After going to a restaurant for a reunion lunch with Tilly and Fanny, Miranda bumps into an old friend, Gary, who, after returning from travelling, is working in the restaurant as a chef and asks her out for a drink. Excited about her first real date, she goes shopping for a new outfit to impress, but is mistaken for a transvestite. After the date ends disappointingly, the next day they agree to another drink. She joins Tilly and Fanny wedding dress shopping, and they persuade her to try on a dress. Gary and her mother pass by the shop and see her through the window; Penny faints, and Miranda chases Gary down the street to explain that she is not desperate.
After Miranda quickly agrees to become Gary's safety wife, she decides to create a spontaneous romantic moment with him so he will see her in a new light. Stevie persuades her to join a French language evening course with her to help her feel more sophisticated and passionate. Miranda goes, but discovers that the class is run by her old school teacher Mr Clayton (Peter Davison). After leaving, she passes a tango class and invites Gary to join her. They attend and the potential "moments" pass after disagreement. The next evening Gary gives her a cooking lesson, when another potential "moment" leads to another disagreement.
After never having an "obvious career path", Penny's disappointed that her daughter doesn't have a proper job. Tilly's promotion leads Penny to tell her that Miranda has a new job in television and is only in the joke shop as a reporter, and Miranda decides to prove her mother wrong and find a new career. After gaining a job at a department store and losing it while trying to cancel her gym membership, she waitresses at Gary's restaurant. After Tilly sees her waitressing, Penny declares she's undercover in the forces, which Tilly does not believe until Gary appears in his RAF cadet uniform and carrying her out of the restaurant in his arms (echoing the final scene of An Officer and a Gentleman).