Percy may or may not have been Ethel's boyfriend. I'll get back to you on that. But he was certainly her foil in the show's early days. Both were eccentric but Percy was close to being certifiable.

In the first series (right), Percy looked and acted like a twat, with a rather drippy, high-pitched voice. Later he became slightly more normal, and in the third series he regenerated into Alec Simmons, who spoke in a less bizarre Scottish accent.