Brian Collett was an employee at Fosters who had a date with Mavis Riley through a computer dating agency in September 1975. The date left Mavis scared and upset, causing her to go into hiding for a day. Returning to work at The Kabin, Mavis gave Rita Littlewood the low-down on her date from hell: dining at the Bay Horse on Liverpool Road, Brian had acted queer and said strange things, such as asking if she liked hairy men, and given her an envelope containing a lock of hair. Since the date, Mavis had suspected Brian was following her and was jumpy whenever someone entered The Kabin. Finding Brian's details and photograph in Mavis's handbag, Rita sent Jerry Booth, Mavis's one-time boyfriend who was still protective of her, to investigate Brian.
Catching Brian as he left his work, Jerry read him the riot act, telling him that he had upset 'Mavis Armitage' (Mavis's alias at the agency) and that she didn't want to see him again. As Brian expressed his disappointment, he revealed himself to be a soft-spoken, introspective man with a bitter loneliness to him. Musing that a pleasure not shared was a pleasure halved, Brian was silent when Jerry asking for his word that he wouldn't bother Mavis again, instead wondering what the computer would turn up next. The encounter left Jerry more sympathetic to Brian than to Mavis, whose reaction to Jerry's account of the meeting was to say that men like Brian should be weeded out.