Jean Warboys

 Mrs Warboys ( Doreen Mantle) is a friend of Margaret (and a rather annoying one in Victor's eyes) who attached herself to the Meldrews, accompanying them on many of their exploits. In the early series she was married to Chris, but eventually he left her for the private detective she had hired when she suspected him of having an affair, and they divorced.

She often bears the brunt of Victor's temper due to muddled misunderstandings and in part due to her aloof nature. One such occasion saw her goading Victor into taking a dog whose owner had just died. She had not told him that it was stuffed, much to Victor's annoyance, as he had spent time constructing an expensive kennel for it. On another occasion she had a waxwork made of herself which had to be delivered to their house as she had been involved in a road accident. As it turned out, she hated it as much as Victor and Margaret did, and that particular episode finished with the waxwork standing in the dustbin. Despite being friends with Margaret, she has driven Margaret mad a few times, notably in "Only a Story", when she moved in with the Meldrews after her flat had been flooded and drove Margaret to the point of distraction with her complaining and laziness. She would often bore the Meldrews by showing them her complete collection of holiday pictures at the most unwelcome times. Doreen Mantle described her character as "wanting to do the right thing but always finding out that it was the wrong thing".[10]