In episode one Colin, a frustrated writer meets literary agent John Langley at a party. He fails to inform him about his work but does phone him to invite him to dinner at his flat. The evening goes badly however due to Colin's shyness and instead Colin's friend Des monopolises Langley and gets asked to send him a treatment of his work related stories.

The first episode opens with a dinner party hosted by Jenny (Colin's girlfriend) and featuring Sarah and Richard (mutual friends) as their guests. Colin is bored by them and is rather rude which causes an argument between him and Jenny after they've gone.

Colin has to photocopy 40,000 letters at work (which emphasises the tedium of his job.)

After work the following day Colin plans a quiet night in but is thwarted by Jen who phones him whilst in the bath to inform him they have to be at a dinner party hosted by Sarah and Richard. At the party is literary agent John Langley who Colin is desperate to meet, but a combination of being cornered by the party bore and his own ineptitude means he fails to meet him.

Colin is desperately bored at work which drives him to ask Jen to phone Langley and invite him to dinner. Colin hosts the dinner but is very nervous about it and nearly cancels. During the party Des (Colin's best friend) monopolises Langley's time and is offered a commission on the basis of his stories.

Finally Colin escorts Langley to the tube station but as predicted by Jen ends up taking him all the way home returning to his flat in the early hours of the morning.