Tis the season of goodwill and Mary is full of the Christmas spirit, whereas Rab is just full of spirits. Disillusioned with the whole idea of the festive season, Rab embarks on a one man campaign to stamp out Christmas. A tussle with Santa lands him in the jail and in hot water with Mary.
After waiting three days for Rab to come back from the butcher shop on what should have been a routine purchase, Mary moves out and leaves Rab and their sons to look after themselves. Rab is comforted by his pals at the pub and things are made even worse when Rab is forced into work after being called into the job centre.
Rab gets involved in the local by-elections and Mary finds a rat in the kitchen.
Glasgow's new image as the 'City of Culture' looks set to be tarnished by a cynical Rab.
Rab is told by the doctor that he only has a year to live, if he doesn't stop drinking that is.
The police are after Rab for outstanding payments. Gash runs off to London in search of his girlfriend and Rab also decides to do a runner to London, so he drops in on a relative, "Hugh" better known as "Shug" by his family who he is ashamed to have as he lives an English lifestyle now.
The Nesbitts are in Spain on holiday, after Mary wins a competition on a packet of oven chips.
Rab gets an offer of a free trip to the World Cup in Italy, if he takes an old man with him.
After returning home from the World Cup late, Rab's family decide they no longer want him. After moving in with Jamesie, Rab tries everything in his power to get himself put in jail.
Rab decides to take the family up to the highlands for the weekend.
When Rab is released from prison, and Mary doesn't want him back, he moves in with Jamesie and begins to have flashbacks to his days at school and his first love Isobel.
When Rab returns home to find his bairns have been taken into care, he's so upset he can hardly finish his kebab.
Rab comes into contact with Social Services reject and local headcase Young Young McGurn.
Rab is stalked by a homeless man after preventing the man's suicide attempt.
Rab has an argument with the devil worshipper who lives next door, and gets a curse put on him.
Mary's cousin Shug and his wife Phoebe come to stay with the Nesbitts for Hogmanay.
Mary lands a job with a lecherous boss, and Rab, fearing she may dump him, turns to his pal Jamesie Cotter for advice on improving his love life.
Mary has a new job, but her boss seems a bit too friendly, which makes Rab think that she's having an affair.
A strange new affliction is visited on the Nesbitt household. Rab's younger son Burney has been diagnosed as gifted and begins attending weekend classes for advanced tuition. But as his talent blossoms, so do the thorns of jealousy and resentment, as Rab and elder son Gash are left hungry in the emotional wasteland.
With Ella's biological clock ticking loudly and husband Jamesie less potent than a seedless orange, parenthood seems a pretty unlikely prospect. Fortunately, Rab offers to supply the wherewithal needed for such a delicate operation.
The beer-swilling Scottish sage decides to behave respectably on his release from jail. But with Burney adopting fascist tendencies, Gash on drugs, Mary at her wits end, and a new Tory local councillor to boot, will Rab's fresh outlook escape the tarnish of a world spinning out of control?
Rab is thrown into a grimy police cell for being drunk and disorderly and is shocked to find a guard pointing a gun at him.
Rab is back living with his mother, because he is unable to say to Mary that he loves her. Family member Screech is living with the Nesbitts. Rab and Jaimsie go out on the town to pick up women.
Rab is living rough out on the local dump, when he gets some sad news concerning his mother.
Rab and Jamesie take a spiritual trip to the Buckfast Abbey brewery.
Rab needs to wear glasses after having his eyes tested and Mary is reluctant to go for another smear test.
The Govan local tv station gets excited when both Rab and Jamesie are accused of committing murder.
Norrie the barman can't find anyone to volunteer for the brewery sponsored charity walk across Scotland, until he mentions free drinks.
Xmas Special: Gash wants to get married to his new girlfriend, and Ella gets a toyboy and kicks Jamesie out on the street.
Whilst Mary is eagerly anticipating the Nesbitts' twentieth wedding anniversary Rab is tempted into an affair with Susan, the leader of his AA group. When Susan discovers that Rab is married she throws him over. Will Mary have him back in time for the anniversary celebrations?
Mary and Rab take a romantic trip to the Lake District where Rab becomes an environmental crusader against a local pharmaceutical company.
Rab and Mary have a win on the football pools but it doesn't bring them the happiness that they expected it to.
Shug comes to Govan and wants to start up his own pie shop but he doesn't know about the local pie mafia, who don't like outsiders on their turf.
The Nesbitts appear on an american style talk show after being accused of annoying their next door neighbour to death.
Rab recalls his family history after finding his long lost brother Gash Sr.
Mary seems strangely calm when told that Rab's benefits have been suspended.
Rab is spending a lot of time at his newly acquired allotment, which causes Mary to look for her own excitement with an old boyfriend.
After a visit to the doctor, Rab is diagnosed with a cancerous growth and has to undergo chemotherapy treatment.
Rab is in the hospital cancer ward and the constant attention of the hospital reverend is starting to get on his nerves.
Rab joins Jamesie's trip to Amsterdam to supposedly see the bulbfields but on arrival, Rab finds out that Jamesie is only interested in the red lights there.
Rab and Jamesie take Gash out on a traditional three day drinking binge before he gets married.
The thought of a new Labour government and a new daughter-in-law, makes Rab start to feel his age.
The relief barman at the pub is an ex Broadmoor resident called Mad Dog, who quickly leaves Rab and Jamesie struggling with a problem involving 'fashionable drugs'.
Rab goes on a booze cruise to Millport which opens up some old wounds for him.
Mary gets mugged while out walking, and Gash decides to leave his wife and go off with her sister.
Everyone in Govan is sad at the news that Country singer Marilou Devine has tragically passed away, except for Rab who has just been sentenced to community service.
Rab is suffering from a bad back, but that doesn't stop Jamesie from sticking an emotional knife into it.
After serving a jail sentence for setting fire to the house because Mary had gone off with Jamesie, Rab gets a job as a dishwasher but is still planning to get his revenge.
MP Tony Welthorpe agrees to swap lifestyles with Rab, after being challenged to see if he can live on state benefits for a month.
Rab can't get to sleep because of his bad back, and matters are made worse by the arrival of Jamesie, who is hiding from a disgruntled husband with a shotgun.
Gash's girlfriend Bridie is due to give birth to Rab's first grandchild.
After a visit to the doctor to cure his feelings of restlessness proves pointless, Rab decides to explore his spiritual side in the local park.
Rab is trying to organise the invitations to Barney Feeney's birthday booze-up, where the men are hoping to run riot and raise hell, for a change.
Christmas Special 2008: Mary goes out to work leaving a newly sober Rab to make his own tea.
Rab and Mary welcome their son Gash back to the family home and become reacquainted with their granddaughter Peaches. Meanwhile, Jamesie shows just how far he'll push it to get a woman into bed.
When a mobile phone mast appears in Govan, Rab turns rabble-rouser to fire up the community. It's driving everyone up the pole, but is it really damaging their health? Nesbitt seeks justice; the mob just want a nice bit of compensation.
Rab embraces his feminine side as part of his most outrageous social security scam yet. Meanwhile, Mary does her best to come to terms with her husband's new-found womanly presence.
Rab struggles to get his head round all the angles in a love triangle involving his son Gash, his local barmaid Camille and his best mate Jamesie. Govan is awash with hot passion, but could it really lead to murder?
Rab finds himself at a posh supper for namesake Rabbie Burns. Rab locks horns with filth magnet Saunders McClure, a slimeball with designs on Mary's cleaning company. Features a guest appearance from John Michie.
Rab and Jamesie get caught up in a series of misadventures while trying to fulfill the last wishes of an old dying woman.
When Rab returns home he finds out that Mary has kidnapped the government minister for work as revenge for losing her job. The couple have no idea what to do next when and after a full-scale siege develops, they are believed to be terrorists.
The bottom falls out of the cleaning business, so Mary and Ella put their singing talents to good use by forming a girl band - and after a successful first gig, they set their sights on winning Govan's Got Talent. Meanwhile, Rab and Jamesie set themselves up as `Hunks for Hire', sexy male cleaners for bored housewives - and a misleading advert means they get plenty of interest.
Jamesie's philandering ways finally catch up with him when he learns he is about to become a father - and when he comes clean to Ella, she performs a spot of amateur surgery on her unfaithful husband. Meanwhile, Rab ends up in the next hospital bed to his friend after an accident with the cake knife at Peaches' birthday party.
The drop-in centre falls victim to council cuts, so Rab fights back, but when a spot on local radio and a meeting with the council leader amount to nothing, he feels it is time for a grand public gesture - burning himself at the stake. As the string-vested hero prepares to become Govan's answer to Joan of Arc, Mary wastes no time in getting herself a new flame as she considers starting an affair with one of her cleaning clients.
Peaches chooses Rab as her role model for a school project, but when he recognises her teacher as a fellow member of his self-help group, he wonders how he can live up to her expectations when Miss Carruth knows he likes more than a tipple. Jamesie hits 60 and starts a much-needed business venture - a crack den for OAPs.
The new minister arrives at Rab's church with two serious drawbacks - she is a woman and English.
Facing hard times that are harder than ever, Rab turns to a life of crime to help make ends meet. He soon restyles himself as a new breed of heroic outlaw - not so much Robin Hood as Rab in Hoodie, as he rages against the state with his band of Merry Men and his long-suffering wife Mary-Doll, who becomes 'Maid Mary-on'. Rab not only has a system to overthrow, he also has a grand-daughter, Peaches, who desperately needs the price of a ticket for the school cruise. Meanwhile, Jamesie strikes up an affinity with the local wildlife.
How does a worldwide recession affect a waster, a workshy scrounger, a freeloading sponger like Rab C Nesbitt? In a hard-hitting, face-to-face interview, John Sergeant travels to Govan to interrogate the man behind the string vest. Supported by clips of Rab's finest and funniest moments, as well as testimonials from his closest friends and family, John gets under the skin of one of Britain's best-loved layabouts.
