After Manny's help with the tax return Bernard is persuaded to hire him in the shop. Unfortunately he actually sells some books, much to Bernard's annoyance.

Black Books Season 1 Episodes...

• s01e01 - Cooking the Books
• s01e02 - Manny’s First Day
• s01e03 - Grapes of Wrath
• s01e04 - The Blackout
• s01e05 - The Big Lock-Out
• s01e06 - He's Leaving Home

Black Books Show Summary

Black Books is a second-hand bookshop in London run by an Irishman named Bernard Black. He is probably the planet's worst-suited person to run such an establishment: he makes no effort to sell, closes at strange hours on a whim, is in a perpetual alcoholic stupor, abhors his customers (sometimes physically abusing them) and is often comatose at his desk. Help comes in the lumpy shape of Manny Bianco, a hairy, bumbling individual who (almost by osmosis) becomes Bernard's assistant. Manny is not exactly great at the job either but he is a million times better than Bernard. Next door is Fran, an anxious, frustrated woman who runs a sort of new-age shop selling the most unlikely bits of arty junk. Fran is friends with Bernard and, through him, with Manny; together the trio become embroiled in escapades that are sometimes extreme or unhappy or fantastically ludicrous, and always bizarre.