Plot

WC Boggs' Lavatory factory faces industrial unrest, with union rep Vic Spanner frequently calling strikes, eventually everyone has to get fed up with him. This is also the ideal opportunity for lots of lavatorial jokes.

This is the tale of industrial strife at WC Boggs' Lavatory factory. Vic Spanner is the union representative who calls a strike at the drop of a hat; eventually everyone has to get fed up with him. This is also the ideal opportunity for lots of lavatorial jokes...—Simon N. McIntosh-Smith <Simon.N.Smith@cs.cf.ac.uk>

They all go on a outing to Brighton and discover the hotel kitchen staff are also on strike so they all go on the pier and get hammered, WC Boggs finds himself in miss witherings bed naked and cant remember a thing and his son Mr Lewis Boggs marries Sid Plummer's daughter Myrtle Plummer.—katy lou

Wm. C. Bogg + Son is a manufacturer of toilets and other ceramic bathroom fixtures, which do not include bidets in traditionally minded Wm. C. Bogg considering gauche. Outside of the workplace, there is general harmony between management and staff. Designer Charles Coote and union job steward Vic Spanner live in the same boarding house owned by Vic's mum, Agatha Spanner. Factory foreperson Sid Plummer and line worker Chloe Moore have eyes for each other despite each already married, Chloe to company traveling salesman Fred Moore. At work, however, there are frequent problems, union job action generally initiated by Vic in adhering to the letter of union rules. Vic arguably does so in part in his dislike of Wm. C.'s son, Lewis Bogg who Vic feels was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, the two who compete for the affections of canteen clerk Myrt Plummer, Sid's daughter. Sid would rather she end up with Vic in his own union leanings. Things come to a head with this collective with the latest contract Lewis has negotiated for supplying goods, and Vic's resulting labor action in protest. What happens is affected by Sid's new venture with his wife Beattie Plummet's up to now silent budgie.—Huggo

In bathroom ceramics factory W.C. Boggs & Son, the traditionalist owner W.C. Boggs (Kenneth Williams) is having no end of trouble. The factory produces products like urinals and toilet seats. WC uses his secretary Miss Withering to test the company's new models of toilet seats to check if they are too wide and if customers would fall into it while sitting.

Bolshie and lazy union representative Vic Spanner (Kenneth Cope) continually stirs up trouble in the works, to the irritation of his co-workers and management. He calls a strike for almost any minor incident (such as when WC introduces a new rule that drinks will only be served in the canteen during official breaks) - or because he wants time off to attend a local football match. Even the workers of the factory are not sure what makes Vic strike work so often.

Vic positions all actions of the management as an infringement of the worker's personal freedoms and their institutional rights. When the workers don't vote for Vic's strike proposals, he reminds the men that there is a football match that afternoon, which makes all the men vote for a strike. Vic claims that the workers are a member of the National Union of Chinaware Industrial Employees (NUCIE).

Sid Plummer (Sid James) is the site foreman bridging the gap between workers and management, shrewdly keeping the place going amid the unrest.

Prissy floral-shirt-wearing product designer Charles Coote (Charles Hawtrey) has included a bidet in his latest range of designs, but W.C. objects to the manufacture of such "distasteful" items. WC says that the bidets have a high cost of production and a limited demand. W.C. won't change his stance even after his son, Lewis / Lew Boggs (Richard O'Callaghan), secures a large overseas order for the bidets. It is a deal that could save the struggling firm, which W.C. has to admit is in debt to the banks.

Lewis has completed a time and motion study and concludes that the factory serves 166 cups of tea every week on the factory floor. And every time a pint of tea is consumed, a worker has to make a trip to the toilet which lasts 4.5 minutes. This leads to a loss of 72 minutes of production time every day, which equals 15 hours in a week. Hence, a logical solution was to cut down the extra tea servings. Vic calls "reducing the trips to the loo" as restricted practice and calls the strike. Lewis thanks Vic for saving the company all the wages that they had to pay their employees.

Vic goes home where his mother is not supportive of him starting strikes so frequently. She claims that Vic never did an honest day's work in his entire life, just like his father. Vic retorts that his father was a victim of the capitalist system.

Vic's dim stooge Bernie Hulke (Bernard Bresslaw) provides bumbling assistance in both his union machinations and his attempts to woo Sid's daughter, factory canteen worker Myrtle (Jacki Piper). She is torn between Vic and Lew Boggs, who is something of a playboy but insists he loves her. Mrytle is disgusted when Lewis tries to lure her like he has lured all his other conquests. In retaliation, Mrytle shows favors to Vic in front of Lewis.

Sid's wife is Beattie (Hattie Jacques), a lazy housewife who does little but fuss over her pet budgie (budgie is a small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot native to Australia), Joey, which refuses to talk despite her concerted efforts. Their neighbor is Sid's brassy and lascivious co-worker Chloe Moore (Joan Sims). Chloe contends with the endless strikes and with her crude, travelling salesman husband Fred (Bill Maynard), who neglects her and leaves her dissatisfied. Chloe and Sid enjoy a flirtatious relationship and are sorely tempted to stray. Sid, although, is a faithful husband, albeit a cheeky and sorely tempted one.

Sid and Beattie find that Joey can correctly predict winners of horse-races - he tweets when the horse's name is read out. Sid bets on Joey's tips and makes several large wins - including a vital 1,000 pounds loaned to W.C. when the banks refuse a bridging loan - before Sid is barred by his bookie Benny (Davy Kaye) after making several pay-outs. Benny refuses to accept further bets, larger than 5 pounds, from him.

Lewis convinces WC to sign the contract for 1000 bidets. The only hitch is that the order has to be completed in 2 months, which is a huge stretch. In order to cut down on manufacturing time, Coote makes a design modification by coming up with a single fitting that has hot water, cold water & waste-water controls on it. Vic, as the union leader opposes this new fitting as it leads to 2 out 3 people being made redundant. He leads the workers out of door when Sid fails to convince him to keep production going.

The strike goes on for 2 weeks, bringing the company to its knees, so much so that WC has to consider selling it. His secretary Hortense Withering (Patsy Rowlands) vehemently protests & professes her love for WC, saying that never in these years has WC even pinched her bottom.

The strikers finally return to work, but it is only to attend the annual workers outing, a coach trip to Brighton. A good time is had by all with barriers coming down between workers and management, thanks largely to that great social lubricant, alcohol. W.C. becomes intoxicated and spends the day - and it seems the night - with his faithful, adoring secretary, Miss Hortense Withering. Lew Boggs manages to win Myrtle from Vic Spanner, giving his rival a beating, and the couple elope.

After arriving home late after the outing and with Fred away, Chloe invites Sid in for a cup of tea. They fight their desires and ultimately decide not to have the tea fearing that neighbors might see Sid enter Chloe's home and get the wrong idea. At the picket lines the next day, Vic gets his comeuppance - partly at the hands of his mother (literally, as she spanks him in public) - and the workers and management all pull together to produce the big order to save the firm.