Miranda (Miranda)

An ungainly, socially awkward, 35-year-old woman who frequently finds herself in awkward and bizarre situations. She is something of a misfit relative to her upper-middle-class, privately educated background, opting to invest an inheritance from her uncle in a joke/gift shop rather than pursuing what her mother perceives as a more "respectable" career, and balking at the supposedly "suitable" men that her mother and friends try to set her up with. Miranda struggles with everyday adult life, often indulging in odd, childlike behaviour (including adding faces and clothes to pieces of fruit and vegetables, dubbing them "Fruit Friends" and "Vegeta-Pals") and getting thrown out of numerous establishments. Although this often irritates her friends and family, they tolerate her because, at heart, she is intelligent and good-natured, despite not always showing it. In the final episode, after she breaks up with Gary, some of her awkward and childish behaviour disappears; this causes considerable concern for her friends and mother, who organise a therapy session. However, she finally accepts that her only serious problem – her lack of confidence – is now gone and although she does not need Gary, she does indeed love him. After an initial panic over an unexpected wedding, she marries Gary at his restaurant.