Forgotten sitcoms

[Joey]

1. L for Lester

UK, BBC, Sitcom, Colour, 1982
Starring: Brian Murphy, Hilda Braid, James Cossins

Shrugging off the henpecked-husband persona of George Roper in George And Mildred Brian Murphy bounced back on to TV as Lester Small, owner of his own motoring school in a West Country town. Small's life was never easy but his one main headache was the banker's wife, Mrs Davies, his most frequent customer, whose attempts to master the controls of a motor vehicle only succeeded in driving Lester (metaphorically - just) up the wall. Lester also had more than his fair share of clashes with the local constabulary, especially Chief Inspector Rodgers, with whom he had a long-lasting feud. Described as an action-comedy, this series was far less broad than most examples of the genre, hence its scheduling on BBC2. The series' writer, Dudley Long, appeared occasionally as PC Bright, and Linda Robson cropped up too, seven years before Birds Of A Feather Despite the interesting array of characters and the potential for laughs in the complexities of small-town social politics, the series failed to make an impression and failed to return.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/images/220/lforlester_1.jpg

[Dr Lecter]

OOh i remember that!
2 LAME DUCKS

Brian Drake's life changes dramatically when he is hit by a lorry on the way to work, for not only is he badly injured but also, while recovering in hospital, his glamorous wife tells him that she wants a divorce. Upon his recovery, Brian decides to opt out of the rat race and use his share of the proceeds from selling their house to go away and start over anew as a hermit. But things don't go according to plan. He is joined in his quest for a new life by Tommy, a reformed pyromaniac whom he met in the hospital, and on their way to their country cottage they pick up a hitch-hiker, Angie, a young woman who has drifted from relationship to relationship and seems to have no purpose in life. They in turn are joined by Maurice, another drifter whose peculiar ambition it is to 'ball-walk' (that is, walk on a ball) around the world, and who has left his job with the Post Office because they would not let him go to work on his ball.

This disparate bunch of lame ducks become Brian Drake's (oh dear, it's the old ducks-and-drakes pun again) surrogate family and join him in his new existence. Meanwhile, Brian's awkward wife hires a private detective, Ansell, to track down her errant husband. He pursues them to the country cottage but, also being a loser despised by his wife, he joins the others in the mini-community building up.


This was comedy with a serious edge from Peter J Hammond, who was best known as a writer of drama. Straight actor John Duttine proved his expertise at such low-key comedy, tingeing his performance with the necessary pathos. Lorraine Chase demonstrated that there was more to her than make-up and cockney catchphrases, and Brian Murphy and the underrated Tony Millan were as reliable as usual.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/images/220/johnduttine_1.jpg

[Agnetha]

Cucumber Castle
UK, BBC, Musical comedy, Colour, 1970
Starring: Eleanor Bron, Pat Coombs, Julian Orchard

A strong comic cast combined for this medieval musical fantasy, written by Barry and Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees. They, indeed, were the main stars, along with other musical guests Lulu and, bizarrely, the rock supergroup Blind Faith.

Cast
Eleanor Bron
Pat Coombs
Julian Orchard
Frankie Howerd
Spike Milligan
Vincent Price
The Bee Gees - (Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb, Robin Gibb)

Crew
Barry Gibb - Writer
Maurice Gibb - Writer
Hugh Gladwish - Director
Robert Stigwood - Executive Producer
Mike Mansfield - Producer

[Dr Lecter]

Up to end of the 1980s four different school sitcoms had reflected their times. Billy Bunter Of Greyfriars School in the 1950s depicted boyish pranks; Whack-O! in the 1960s was good clean fun, albeit with heavy use of the cane; Please, Sir! in the 1970s was more unruly and delinquent, but still light; and Hardwicke House in the 1980s offered no-holds-barred anarchy. The school's hapless headmaster, R G Wickham, was an alcoholic; deputy head (Mr Mackintosh) took a lewd pleasure in watching the sixth-form girls play hockey; French mistress Ms Crabbe was a fanatical cause supporter; PE teacher Mr Savage lived up to his name; Head of English Mr Fowl had twice murdered to climb his way up the pedagogic ladder; history teacher Dick Flashman was a spiv; maths teacher Mr Magnusson was a lunatic Icelandic prone to eating raw fish; and geography master Mr Philpott liked to routinely electrocute selected pupils.

It was quite a brew - and one which ITV viewers did not enjoy one little bit. After the premiere hour-length episode, and the first of six more half-hours screened the following evening, they complained so loudly that network executives waved the white flag and promptly pulled the series off the air: the five remaining episodes (scheduled to have ended on 1 April 1987) were never shown, and work on a second series was immediately scrapped. Those whose cameo roles in series one were taped but not seen included John Fortune, Bryan Pringle and, in the roles of highly dangerous boys straight out of Borstal, Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson.


Perhaps, however, extending the analogy of school sitcoms reflecting their time, Hardwicke House was merely ahead of the game. Chalk on BBC1 in 1997, was another uncompromising few-holds-barred comprehensive-school sitcom and it drew some rave reviews.
http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/K/htmlK/kinnearroy/kinnearroyIMAGE/kinnearroy.jpg

[Dr Lecter]

COME BACK MRS NOAH
sci-fi sitcom featuring many of the actors who had appeared, or would later appear, in other productions from the Jeremy Lloyd/Jimmy Perry/David Croft theatre of comedy, including Mollie Sugden (Are You Being Served? , Ian Lavender (Dad's Army , Donald Hewlett and Michael Knowles (whose characters were based on their It Ain't Half Hot Mum personae) and Gorden Kaye ('Allo 'Allo! .

Like Dad's Army and It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Come Back Mrs Noah was another period piece, but this time that period was the future: the year 2050. Mollie Sugden played a housewife, Mrs Noah, whose prize, as the winner of a cookery competition, is to be shown around Britain's new Space Exploration Vehicle, the space station Britannia Seven. In the pilot episode, a series of mishaps result in the craft accidentally blasting off, with Mrs Noah and the station's skeleton crew catapulted into outer space. The full series followed the attempts to bring Mrs Noah and the errant craft back down to Earth.


Not without good reason, Come Back Mrs Noah has been cited in some quarters as one of the worst British sitcoms of all time, but there were some funny lines, especially in the Earth news bulletins (read by Gorden Kaye) which reported on a future where Britain's North Sea oil revenues had re-established it as the most prosperous and successful nation on the planet, with once powerful economies like Germany and the USA struggling to survive and turning to the UK for assistance. But, overall, the series fared pretty badly, failing to take off with an audience who found the quantum leap of fantasy required to accept Mollie Sugden as an astronaut light-years beyond their capabilities.


MOLLIE!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/c/gallery/comebackmrsnoah_1299000654_1.shtml
GORDEN!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/images/400/comebackmrsnoah_3.jpg

[Dr Lecter]

TAKE A LETTER MR JONES
Following the absolutely abysmal Odd Man Out - which had 'advanced' John Inman's ohso-gay screen persona to even greater camp lengths than Mr Humphries' in Are You Being Served? - ITV manufactured this vehicle for him, written by the venerable Wolfe and Chesney. Truth be told, Inman was less camp here than before, but only just: he still pouted and distributed quips with a merry twinkle.


Inman was cast as Graham Jones, employed as male secretary/PA to Ms Joan Warner, the business-efficient head of the British arm of Eight Star, an American leisure corporation. Ms Warner was a divorcee, mother of a seven-year-old daughter, Lucy, and owner of a shaggy dog, so - as could be expected - Jones, never short of a stinging word and not one to hold back, felt that his duties should extend beyond the office to embrace Ms Warner's home life too. Without such extension, one suspects, the premise could never have stretched to a full series - one which, remarkably, ITV saw fit to air at peak-time on Saturday evenings. Equally extraordinarily, Miriam Margolyes was among the regular cast, appearing as Ms Warner's 'mad Italian maid' Maria. One would imagine however, that Take A Letter, Mr Jones... no longer features prominently in her otherwise impeccable CV.

[Agnetha]

Friends
USA, NBC (Bright-Kauffman-Crane Productions/Warner Bros), Sitcom, Colour, 1994
Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow
When Friends began, depicting the lives and loves of six twenty-something white Manhattanites, it was branded as mediocre by critics, who saw it as another in the long line of singles sitcoms that followed Seinfeld and Ellen But viewers disagreed, taking to Friends immediately, and the critics were forced to review their opinions.

The series revolves around a sextet of good-looking young things, three men and three women, most of the action taking place in a local coffee-bar, the Central Perk, and Monica's penthouse apartment, where the six like to hang-out. Monica, a chef, has trouble making a lasting relationship, despite her stunning looks. Her most serious fling is with Dr Richard Burke, an older man and her parents' friend, but this too fails to work out. Her brother Ross is the serious one of the six, a divorced museum-worker whose pregnant wife (Carol) has left him for another woman (Susan). The lesbian couple are now raising his baby, and Ross - despite fits of pique and jealousy - tries to be a 'new man' about it and behave as if they were a normal heterosexual couple. His angst is tempered by a romance that he develops with Rachel, a sparky and sexy woman who works as a waitress at Central Perk. The smouldering build-up to this romance delighted viewers and helped propel the show towards the top of the ratings. The other young woman in the sextet is Phoebe, a trippy-hippy new-ager with an off-centre view on life. She is a part-time masseuse with a music bent, playing her own compositions on guitar, including the memorable 'Smelly Cat'. The other two men, Chandler and Joey, share an apartment across the way from Monica's. The former is bright, witty and manic, an office worker who, like Monica, has problems dating. He too has a serious fling, with the nasal Janice, but this peters out when she leaves him to return to her estranged husband. Joey, of Italian stock, is an actor who experiences mixed career fortunes - at one time being gainfully employed in a daytime TV soap opera, at other times awaiting the big break and attending auditions. Joey is the least bright of the team - he's as witless as a box of hammers - and his denseness provides some of the show's easiest laughs.

While lacking in 'soul', and unambitiously centring on a bunch of essentially well-off WASPs, Friends certainly delivered on the laughter front, its scripts being littered with dynamite one-liners, precious put-downs and sizzling dialogue - at its best, the series matched the screwball Hollywood comedies of the 1940s for sparkling, quick-paced repartee. The success of Friends also owed a great deal to the wonderful ensemble cast, who dovetailed perfectly and whose real-life affection for one another made the on-screen friendships seem all the more believable. As the series prospered the principal cast put up a united front to demand more money, and, after a well-publicised scrap with NBC, they were eventually rewarded with wages reputed to be in the region of $100,000 per episode each. (As every episode of Friends was said to be worth about $4m in syndication rights, it could be argued that such a high wage bill was justified.)

In the UK, Friends became a huge hit for C4, attracting particularly strong audience figures for an imported comedy. The network gives the series a strong slot and airs plenty of repeats (which keeps it on screen virtually all year); the channel also invited LeBlanc, Perry and Schwimmer to appear together on Friends With Gaby, a special edition of Gaby Roslin's C4 chat-show, screened on 29 November 1996.


Note. Lisa Kudrow has also been cast in Friends as Phoebe's twin sister Ursula, an equally spaced-out character who originally appeared semi-regularly in the sitcom Mad About You (from 1992), the show screened immediately before Friends in NBC's Thursday night line-up.

Researched and written by Mark Lewisohn.

Cast
Jennifer Aniston - Rachel Green
Courteney Cox - Monica Geller / Bing (Courteney Cox Arquette)
Lisa Kudrow - Phoebe Buffay / Ursula Buffay
Matt LeBlanc - Joey Tribbiani
Matthew Perry - Chandler Bing
David Schwimmer - Ross Geller
Jane Sibbert - Carol Willick
Jessica Hecht - Susan Busch
Maggie Wheeler - Janice
Elliott Gould - Jack Geller
Christine Pickles - Judy Geller
June Gable - Estelle Leonard
James Michael Tyler - Gunther (from 1995)
Tom Selleck - Dr Richard Burke (1996-97, 2000)
Giovanni Ribisi - Frank (1996-98)
Helen Baxendale - Emily (1998-99)
Paul Rudd - Mike (from 2002)


Crew
Marta Kauffman - Creator
David Crane - Creator
Andrew Reuch - Writer
Ted Cohen - Writer
Scott Silveri - Writer
Shana Goldberg-Meehan - Writer
Marta Kauffman - Writer
David Crane - Writer
Greg Malins - Writer
Brian Buckner - Writer
Sebastian Jones - Writer
Sherry Bilsing - Writer
Ellen Plummer - Writer
Alexa Junge - Writer
Seth Kurland - Writer
Wil Calhoun - Writer
Adam Chase - Writer
Doty Abrams - Writer
Jeffrey Astrof - Writer
Mike Sikowitz - Writer
Michael Borkow - Writer
Ira Ungerleider - Writer
Brian Boyle - Writer
Dana Klein Borkow - Writer
Robert Carlock - Writer
Zachary Rosenblatt - Writer
Mark J Kunerth - Writer
Jeff Greenstein - Writer
Jeff Strauss - Writer
Alicia Sky Varinaitis - Writer
Chris Brown - Writer
Perry Rein - Writer
Gigi McCreery - Writer
Peter Tibbals - Writer
Shelley Condon - Writer
Amy Toomin - Writer
Greg Malins - Writer
Kevin S Bright
Gary Halvorson
Michael Lembeck
James Burrows
Gail Mancuso
Peter Bonerz
David Schwimmer
Ben Weiss
Robby Benson
Shelley Jensen
Terry Hughes
Sheldon Epps
Dana deVally Piazza
Pamela Fryman
Alan Myerson
Tommy Schlamme
Steve Zuckerman
Kevin S Bright - Executive Producer
Marta Kauffman - Executive Producer
David Crane - Executive Producer
Michael Borkow - Executive Producer
Adam Chase - Executive Producer
Michael Curtis - Executive Producer
Greg Malins - Executive Producer
Todd Stevens - Producer
Betsy Borns - Producer
Adam Chase - Producer
Michael Curtis - Producer
Alexa Junge - Producer
Ira Ungerleider - Producer

Transmission Details
Number of episodes: 209 Length: 192 x 30 mins 2 x 35 mins 6 x 40 mins 9 x 60 mins to 31 Dec 1997 continuing into 1998
US dates: 22 Sep 1994 to date
UK dates: 28 Apr 1995 to date (200 x 30 mins 1 x 40 mins, 5 x 60 mins to 30 Apr 2003 C4 Fri mostly 9.30pm then mostly 9pm

[Agnetha]

S-s-s-h! The Wife!
UK, BBC, Sketch, B/W, 1938
Starring: Richard Hearne, Lily Palmer, George Nelson

Another one-off comedy sketch, presented under the Starlight banner, starring a pre-Mr Pastry Richard Hearne. As for the storyline - well, the title says it all.

Researched and written by Mark Lewisohn.

Cast
Richard Hearne - The husband
Lily Palmer - The wife
George Nelson - The friend


Crew
Richard Hearne - Writer

[Agnetha]

Struck By Lightning
USA, CBS (Fellows-Keegan Company/Paramount), Sitcom, Colour, 1979
Starring: Jack Elam, Jeffrey Kramer, Millie Slavin
Ted Stein, a young science teacher from Boston, inherits the decrepit Bridgewater Inn, in Massachusetts, and plans to sell it. But then he meets its incredibly ugly caretaker, Frank, who reveals himself to be 231 years old and the creation of Doctor Frankenstein. Frank also declares that said famed doctor is Ted Stein's great-great-great-grandfather. Frank persuades Ted to keep the inn and to set about rediscovering his ancestor's scientific formula, in order that he be given his latest shot and remain alive for another 50 years. Others figuring in the storylines include Nora, the inn's manager; her husband Walt, the local real-estate man; their son Brian; and long-term resident Glenn.


Although the episodes packed some pretty silly ideas - in one, Ted permits a film company to shoot a horror movie at the inn, upsetting Frank - Struck By Lightning was not quite as bad as it sounds, some critics admiring its exploration of zany comedic ideas. American audiences thought likewise, however, fleeing from the series as one would a real monster: three episodes were screened in the States before it was cancelled owing to poor ratings. Six had been made by this time, though, and all of them turned up on London-ITV.

Researched and written by Mark Lewisohn.

Cast
Jack Elam - Frank
Jeffrey Kramer - Ted Stein
Millie Slavin - Nora Clavin
Jeff Cotler - Brian Clavin
Richard Stahl - Walt Clavin
Bill Erwin - Glenn


Crew
John Boni - Writer
Fred Freeman - Writer
Lawrence J Cohen - Writer
Bruce Kalish - Writer
Bryan K Joseph - Writer
Michael A Russnow - Writer
Phillip Taylor - Writer
Joel Zwick - Director
Arthur Fellows - Executive Producer
Terry Keegan - Executive Producer
John Thomas Lenox - Producer
Bob Ellison - Producer
Steve Pritzker - Producer
Marvin Miller - Producer

Transmission Details
Number of episodes: 6 Length: 30 mins

[rural juror]

Come back Mrs Noah

It's the year 2050 and Britain's newest space station, Britannia 7, is about to be launched. Mrs Gertrude Noah wins a tour around the Britannia 7 as a prize in a competition.

Things go wrong and the space station is blasted into space, carrying Mrs Noah and a motley group of other non-astronauts into orbit.

Ground Control are faced with the difficult task of rescuing their unwilling recruits and bringing them safely back to Earth.

Starring Molly Sugden

[Dr Lecter]

Erm Strebor, look above

[Agnetha]

The Glam Metal Detectives
UK, BBC (Peter Richardson Productions), Sitcom/sketch, Colour, 1995
Starring: Gary Beadle, Phil Cornwell, Doon Mackichan
Using as its linking device the technique of a random trawl through spoof cable/satellite TV channels, The Glam Metal Detectives was a lightning-paced sketch show which featured four recurring themes within its array of short visual jokes and soundbites. The main sketch each week was an adventure with the Glam Metal Detectives, a sort of secret-agent rock band pledged to take care of the world's ecological balance - led by their manager, the square-jawed Mark, they fight various nefarious threats to the balance of nature. This sketch ran throughout episodes, interrupted by the sudden zaps to other channels. Featuring regularly were 'Betty's Mad Dash', a satire of old TV (black and white) adventure serials, featuring Doon Mackichan as flapper Betty, a 1930s undercover agent, and Sara Stockbridge as her sidekick, the man-hungry Maisie;'The Big Me' a chat-show parody featuring Morag (Mackichan again) as an egomaniacal presenter; and 'Colin Corleone' (George Yiasoumi), a Londoner of supposed Italian extraction who behaved as if he was a mafia godfather.


This was a heady brew combining the cultish, the cliché-shattering and the contemporary kitsch, almost as if director Peter Richardson had taken all of his disparate Comic Strip Presents... films and mixed them in a blender. The series had a distinct look, with high quality visuals and garish/gaudy colours aping the style of some of the 'in yer face' satellite channels. Vocal impressionist Phil Cornwell stood out, as did the wonderful Doon Mackichan who played a dizzying amount of different characters. And ex-Vivienne Westwood model Sara Stockbridge demonstrated a pleasing light-comedy touch and willingness to go to embarrassing lengths for a laugh. The show had enough quality to become a cult classic but for some reason failed to ignite the public imagination and lasted for only one series.

Researched and written by Mark Lewisohn.

Cast
Gary Beadle - Gary
Phil Cornwell - Phil
Doon Mackichan - Doon
Sara Stockbridge - Sara
George Yiasoumi - George
Mark Craven - Mark, the manager


Crew
Gary Beadle - Writer
Phil Cornwell - Writer
Doon Mackichan - Writer
Sara Stockbridge - Writer
George Yiasoumi - Writer
Mark Craven - Writer
Peter Richardson - Writer
Lloyd Stanton - Writer
Peter Richardson - Director
Nira Park - Producer

[rural juror]

Erm Strebor, look above

must have gone up when I was looking for info, oh well :shy:

[Dr Lecter]

THREE UP TWO DOWN
When Angie and Nick Tyler produce a baby they decide to aid their financial predicament by renting out their basement, which is coveted by both Nick's father, Sam, and Angie's, mother, Daphne. Sharing is the only solution, but the Cheltenham-bred Daphne, who has never forgiven her daughter for marrying a 'common' photographer, is even less enamoured with his father, a somewhat coarse cockney. Both of the new grandparents are widowed and both possess a stubborn streak, thus circumstance and bloody-mindedness results in the unlikely co-habitation. Soon enough, as so often happens in sitcom-land, a romance blossoms, coarse Sam taking quite a shine to the snobbish Daphne, an affection that remains one-way for a while until she, in turn, recognises his appeal. The comedy arose from the clash of his broad cockney brashness and her refined country sensibilities, and it rarely failed to deliver on this front.

Angela Thorne, who had made an impact as Penelope Keith's sidekick in To The Manor Born had demonstrated her star potential with a dazzling performance as Margaret Thatcher in the hit stage-show Anyone For Denis? and Three Up, Two Down proved well suited to her style. Her co-star, Michael Elphick, brought a thick-eared delivery and slower-paced acting style that neatly contrasted with Thorne's performance and correctly emphasised the differences between them. However, it was the possibility that Daphne and Sam would link up romantically that kept viewers on tenterhooks, although so unlikely was the prospect that much interest centred on just how it could be plausibly achieved. The writer duly obliged, introducing into the scenario a girlfriend for Sam - next-door neighbour Rhonda - who acted as the catalyst in bringing Sam and Daphne together.


Three Up, Two Down was a massive audience pleaser and a perfect example of an unexceptional though eminently watchable sitcom that exploited a simple premise to its logical extreme and then didn't hang around to outstay its welcome. A US version, 5 Up, 2 Down, was attempted, with Nick and Angie Tyler (Jeffrey D Sams and Jackie Mari Roberts) giving birth to triplets, thus causing their feuding respective parents Sam Tyler and Daphne Fitzgerald (Cleavon Little and Emily Yancy) to descend upon their offspring, both determined to help the couple tend their newly arrived family. Richard Ommanney and producer Winifred Hervey-Stallworth were credited with the pilot, which aired on the CBS network on 5 June 1991, although no show developed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/images/220/threeuptwodown_1.jpg

[Dr Lecter]

BRUSHSTROKES
An Esmonde and Larbey sitcom set in south London and depicting the (mostly) amorous adventures of a good-looking, wisecracking house painter, Jacko. He was a sort of Alfie-type on the surface: a seemingly happy-go-lucky, uncomplicated womaniser, but part of Jacko's charm was his sincerity and tendency genuinely to fall for the women he pursued. He appeared to love most women, and not simply in the sexual sense. At work, his boss was the hard-to-please Lionel, who was thankfully ignorant of the fact that his daughter Lesley was one of Jacko's conquests. When Lionel died, his wife Veronica took over the business and our hero found his working life more pleasant. Jacko's prime romance was with the firm's secretary Sandra, to whom he became engaged. Brush Strokes was a serial comedy and at the end of the second series the writers introduced a real soap-like cliffhanger when Jacko, about to be married to Sandra, turned to his best man Eric, as the bride walked down the aisle, and whispered 'I think I've made a terrible mistake...' (They didn't marry, but went on honeymoon regardless.)

The main action in Brush Strokes was split between the decorating agency where Jacko worked, the house he shared with his sister Jean and her husband, Jacko's friend and work colleague Eric, and (in later episodes) Elmo's Wine Bar, a garish, gaudy, tasteless establishment run by the equally garish, gaudy and tasteless Elmo. As the series progressed viewers saw less of the flippant devil-may-care side of Jacko and more of his melancholic quality as he found himself becoming a lone single guy, his friends and acquaintances all gradually pairing off. Never fully losing his emotional naivety, Jacko nevertheless matured through his experiences. The character proved very popular, especially with women viewers, and provided a breakthrough for the actor Karl Howman.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/images/220/brushstrokes_1.jpg

[Alex]

Ain't Misbehavin'
UK, BBC, Sitcom, Colour, 1994
Starring: Peter Davison, Nicola Pagett, Lesley Manville
A complicated Roy Clarke comedy about adultery. Clive Quigley thinks he is happily married to Melissa but a visit from Sonia Drysdale shows how wrong he is. Sonia informs him that her husband Dave is engaged in an affair with his wife Melissa. At first Clive refuses to believe Sonia but he is convinced when they follow the straying couple to a secret rendezvous. Clive is devastated, and even contemplates suicide, but the more sanguine Sonia talks him into joining her in a campaign to split up the affair. It transpires that actual adultery hasn't taken place yet, mostly owing to the procrastination of the faintly frigid Melissa, but by the end of the first series the act is committed and, surprisingly, Melissa turns into a rampant sex kitten. Other characters in this passion play are Chuck Purvis, the private detective Clive and Sonia hire, and Lester and Ramona Whales - Ramona is Clive's secretary, and her jealous husband Lester, an exterminator, is convinced that his wife is having an affair with Clive, and takes to following him around.

This was a somewhat stilted effort from the usually sure-footed Clarke, although he did manage to stretch the thin premise into two series. The first was not well received but did enjoy some notoriety when one of the scenes, showing Clive attempting to hang himself from a light fitting, was condemned for being irresponsible. It was probably Clarke's track record that persuaded the BBC to go for a second run, but Ain't Misbehavin' failed to live up to his high standards.


The series was unrelated to a three-part comedy-drama of the same title, screened by ITV from 28 July 1997, starring Robson Green and Jerome Flynn.

Researched and written by Mark Lewisohn.

Cast
Peter Davison - Clive Quigley
Nicola Pagett - Sonia Drysdale
Lesley Manville - Melissa Quigley (series 1)
Karen Drury - Melissa Quigley (series 2)
John Duttine - Dave Drysdale
Polly Hemingway - Ramona Whales
Barry Stanton - Lester Whales (series 2)
Ian McNeice - Chuck Purvis (series 1)
Paul Brooke - Chuck Purvis (series 2)


Crew
Roy Clarke - Writer
Tony Dow - Director (6)
John Kilby - Director (6)
James Gilbert - Executive Producer
Tony Dow - Producer

[Toyah]

Clarence
UK, BBC, Sitcom, colour, 1988
Starring: Ronnie Barker, Josephine Tewson
Before bidding farewell, however, there was time for one last show, Clarence. Even still, Barker only agreed to it because, as its writer (he used the pseudonym Bob Ferris, seemingly without realising that it was the name of Rodney Bewes' character in The Likely Lads), he could set it in Oxfordshire, near to his home.

Barker had faced criticism from some quarters over his employment of a stammer to attract laughs in Open All Hours. Here, mischievously, he showed that he had no remorse by having the character of Clarence the removal man suffer severe myopia. The slapstick possibilities of a short-sighted furniture shifter must have seemed irresistible. Set in 1937, the show was mostly concerned with Clarence's courtship of a ladies' maid, Jane Travers. When he proposes marriage, Jane decides, with a modernity years ahead of its time, that they should have a trial period of living together - respectably: a bolster was placed between them in the bed to preserve her chasteness - to see if they are compatible. Clarence agrees but as the nights grow longer so his resolve grows weaker...


Clarence was a reworking of The Removals Person, an episode of the 1971 ITV series Six Dates With Barker. That comedy playlet, written by Hugh Leonard, had also featured Tewson in the Travers role, but the main character's name was Fred. However all the 'Clarence' characteristics and mannerisms were in place, including the short-sightedness that led to his clumsy attempts at romance. The BBC show that emerged 17 years later was an efficient enough sitcom, and pleasingly beyond the mainstream, but Barker had been in better. For the public, he had a high-quality back catalogue with which it had to compete, and Clarence offered nothing to suggest, in retrospect at least, that Barker's decision to retire gracefully while still at the peak of his profession was the wrong one.


Oh Elizabeth!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/images/400/clarence_2.jpg

[Sebastian Flyte]

That awful one that Jim Davidson wrote & starred in - 'Up the Elephant & Round the Castle' or something like that. BEST forgotten :evil:

[Kate]

Ooh I remember the theme tune to "Ain't Misbehaving"

I quite liked the Glam Metal Detectives :shy:

[Jack]

Its not really forgotton as such but I was reminded just how good The Royale Fmaily could be. They had an episode on UK Gold last night which was Baby Davids christening. They were all drunk and the best bit was:-

Mary: Your kids go to my school?
Twiggys Girlfriend: Yes, are you a teacher?
Mary: Yes.
Barbara: No Mary, You're a DINNERLADY
Mary: Oh yes, thats right!

[Donna Winter]

Agony
UK, ITV (LWT), Sitcom, colour, 1979
Starring: Maureen Lipman, Simon Williams, Maria Charles

Real-life press and radio 'agony aunt' Anna Raeburn advised and (for the first series) co-wrote this sometimes daring and always entertaining sitcom about her own work, casting Maureen Lipman as a cosmopolitan Jewish wife and mother, Jane Lucas - radio broadcaster and author of the problem page in Person magazine.

The main premise was that Jane spent so much time sorting out other people's problems that she was unable to handle her own - and they were many: she had a psychiatrist husband, Laurence, a philandering ex-public schoolboy and a Christian too; a needy and manipulative archetypal Jewish widowed mother, Bea; a magazine boss, Diana, who was impossible to work for; a gung-ho office secretary, Val; and, at Happening Radio 242, a DJ colleague, Andy, who was shallow and narcissistic. The only people to offer Jane real comfort and support were Rob and Michael, her gay neighbours. The portrayal of this homosexual couple as non-camp, sensitive, intelligent, witty and generally happy was a notable first in the British sitcom genre, and Agony efficiently tackled many other taboos along the way. The show's media setting and Jewish background meant that the lead character could be legitimately witty, delivering wisecracks and sharp one-liners in a style more usually associated with American sitcoms. Indeed, deviser and co-writer Len Richmond was a Californian who had worked on US TV, notably on Three's Company the Americanised version of Man About The House

Agony was carefully supervised by LWT's Head of Comedy, Humphrey Barclay, and by all accounts it was a volatile production, with much friction and many off-screen arguments. However, the finished programme certainly looked good and managed to maintain a high quality throughout its run, which ended after three series (in the last, Michael committed suicide, Jane had a baby whom she named Michael in his honour, and Andy became a pop star). The show then enjoyed two further leases of life: the first was a US translation, The Lucie Arnaz Show (with scripts from Richmond), not screened in Britain, which starred the daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz and ran for six episodes on CBS in 1985. The second was a 1995 British sequel (made by the BBC, not ITV this time), Agony Again with Lipman still starring.


Note. An (ITV) episode of Agony was screened by BBC2 on 18 October 1997, accompanying a tribute deservedly paid to Lipman in the series Funny Women. She was also the subject of Best Of British (BBC1, 29 October 1999).
Researched and written by Mark Lewisohn.

Cast
Maureen Lipman - Jane Lucas
Simon Williams - Laurence Lucas
Maria Charles - Bea Fisher
Peter Blake - Andy Evol
Jeremy Bulloch - Rob
Peter Denyer - Michael
Diana Weston - Val Dunn
Jan Holden - Diana
Bill Nighy - Vincent Fish (series 2)
Robert Austin - Junior Truscombe (series 2 & 3)

Crew
Len Richmond - Creator
Anna Raeburn - Creator
Len Richmond - Writer (series 1)
Anna Raeburn - Writer (series 1)
Stan Hey - Writer (series 2 & 3)
Andrew Nickolds - Writer (series 2 & 3)
John Reardon - Director / Producer

[Jack]

Oh it even made me laugh just typing it out...

[David]

DAF's B&B (2003)

Set in a Plymouth guest-house run solely by a semi-literate surly 14 year old girl, the DAF of the title. Hilarity ensued when DAF just said 'I dno't ndurstand' and progressively lost her composure with the customers, who reciprocated in kind... Sadly the world was not ready for DAF's fast brain activity and the show was cancelled in early 2004, resulting in DAF's loss of sanity and much moaning in the Haven.

[Joseph]

DAF's B&B (2003)

Set in a Plymouth guest-house run solely by a semi-literate surly 14 year old girl, the DAF of the title. Hilarity ensued when DAF just said 'I dno't ndurstand' and progressively lost her composure with the customers, who reciprocated in kind... Sadly the world was not ready for DAF's fast brain activity and the show was cancelled in early 2004, resulting in DAF's loss of sanity and much moaning in the Haven.

bless... that was a fave of mine :moopy:

[David]

bless... that was a fave of mine :moopy:
It did gain a cult following, but poor DAF was already showing signs of unravelling, it was for the best, especially after the notorious 'Norwegian Tourist' episode!

[Ellie]

Luv
UK, BBC, Sitcom, Colour, 1993
Starring: Michael Angelis, Sue Johnston, Sandy Hendrickse
Yet another serio-comedy from Carla Lane. This one dealt with the problems of a couple who, on the surface, seem to have everything but, underneath, remain unfulfilled. The lead character, Terese Craven, was a Lane heroine in the mould of Rea from Butterflies - indeed, comparisons between the two series are hard to avoid, but Luv was a harder, harsher idea and made for uncomfortable viewing at times.

Terese is in a comfortable marriage with a loving if distant husband, but inside she is being eaten alive by a desire to get more from life. She is unsure what she wants to do, and this uncertainty - combined with her dissatisfaction - results in extreme behaviour and a skewed viewpoint on life. Terese is married to a real-life 'flowerpot man', Harold - a wealthy, self-made businessman who became rich from the success of his flowerpot factory. Harold has lived to earn money and, now that they have plenty, cannot understand his wife's dissatisfaction; but, typically for a man, he finds it easier to run away from the issue rather than confront it. Harold's low sperm-count has meant that the couple could not conceive children so they adopted three: Hannah, Victor and Darwin. The first two have left home, Hannah to live with her Italian boyfriend Antonio, the gay Victor to reside with his lover Stephen. But Darwin, the youngest, has stayed at home, where he seems to be wasting away, spending long, miserable periods in bed and only really being motivated by his membership of an animal-rights group (a subject close to Carla Lane's heart). Harold has tried hard as a father, but has shown his love by gifts of money and lavish presents rather than personal investment. This is how he treats Terese too, and this inability to give of himself rather than of his pocket is likely the root cause of all their problems.


From this structure Lane wove a complex, intense series that, despite its seriousness, still featured many witty lines. As ever, she was not afraid to take the characters into some difficult areas - Harold had a brief but damaging affair with his secretary Eden, and Terese, well, she was in the thick of it: she found a lump in her body that she thought might be cancerous, she moved out to live alone at one point, and she contemplated divorce. Then Harold suffered financial problems and faced the collapse of his empire. The arrival of a grandchild, Hannah and Antonio's baby, did little to heal the wounds, but an attempt by the jilted Eden to gain revenge by seducing Darwin was thwarted.

Researched and written by Mark Lewisohn.

Gallery Images - Click for a bigger image

Cast
Michael Angelis - Harold Craven
Sue Johnston - Terese Craven
Sandy Hendrickse - Hannah Craven
Russell Boulter - Victor Craven
Stephen Lord - Darwin Craven
Peter Caffrey - Lloyd
Julie Peasgood - Eden
Jackie Downey - Bernie
Zubin Varla - Antonio
Derek Howard - Stephen


Crew
Mike Stephens - Director / Producer
Carla Lane - Writer / Executive Producer

Transmission Details
Number of episodes: 18 Length: 30 mins
Series One (10) 9 Mar-11 May 1993 · BBC1 Tue 8pm
Series Two (8) 2 Mar-20 Apr 1994 · BBC1 Wed 8.30pm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/images/220/luv_1.jpg

[David]

For some reason they filmed parts of one of Carla Lane's sitcoms (one of the crap ones) at the top of my road...

[Ellie]

Close To Home
UK, ITV (LWT), Sitcom, Colour, 1989
Starring: Paul Nicholas, Angharad Rees, Jane Briers
A mediocre ITV sitcom starring Paul Nicholas as James Shepherd, a man juggling with life's responsibilities: he's a vet with his own practice, he's divorced but his remarried ex-wife Helen remains a millstone around his neck - indeed he probably sees more of her now than when they were married - and he also looks after their children Kate (19) and Robbie (14) and runs the family home. As if he doesn't have enough strife, Shepherd's veterinary assistant, Rose (played by Jane Briers, sister of Richard), is a former showgirl who claims to dislike animals. Shepherd cannot even distance himself from his problems because the vet's surgery is attached to the house.


Close To Home was the British adaptation of a dire American sitcom, Starting From Scratch which ran there for 24 episodes in 1988-89 and has also aired in the UK. While hardly a rarity - it ranks among tens of transatlantic sitcom crossovers - this one was unique in that it was created by the British writer Brian Cooke while he was living in the States. Adaptation rights to many of Cooke's previous British creations had been sold to the USA - Man About The House, George And Mildred, Robin's Nest, Keep It In The Family, Tom, Dick And Harriet, Tripper's Day/Slinger's Day and Full House - but here was one coming back the other way. Cooke duly returned to England from the US to oversee the production of Close To Home.

Researched and written by Mark Lewisohn.

Cast
Paul Nicholas - James Shepherd
Angharad Rees - Helen DeAngelo
Jane Briers - Rose
Lucy Benjamin - Kate Shepherd
Andrew Read - Robbie Shepherd
Stephen Frost - Frank DeAngelo (series 1)
John Arthur - Tom (series 2)
Pippa Guard - Vicky (series 2)
Angela Curran - Jenny (series 2)


Crew
Brian Cooke - Creator
Brian Cooke - Writer (8)
Brian Cooke - Writer (1)
Ken Steele - Writer (1)
Paul Minett - Writer (6)
Brian Leveson - Writer (6)
Lucy Flannery - Writer (2)
Alex Shearer - Writer (1)
Jack Huffham - Writer (1)
Ian Hamilton - Director (10)
Nic Phillips - Director (5)
Alistair Clark - Director (4)
Marcus Plantin - Executive Producer (series 1)
Robin Carr - Executive Producer (series 2)
Nic Phillips - Producer (series 1)
Ian Hamilton - Producer (series 2)

Transmission Details
Number of episodes: 19 Length: 30 mins
Series One (9) 1 Oct-26 Nov 1989 · Sun 7.15pm
Series Two (10) 16 Sep-18 Nov 1990 · Sun 7.15pm

[Ellie]

Second Thoughts
UK, ITV (LWT), Sitcom, colour, 1991
Starring: James Bolam, Lynda Bellingham, Belinda Lang
A good-value ITV comedy about two young-middle-aged divorcees with very different backgrounds, trying to build - and cling to - a relationship despite the pressures pulling it apart. The principal players were the ever-excellent James Bolam, cast as Bill Macgregor, the art editor of a style magazine, and Lynda Bellingham, hitherto best known as Mum in the Oxo TV commercials, cast as freelance illustrator Faith Grayshot.

Faith has two teenage children from her marriage - not 'problem teenagers' as such, but endowed with every teenager's peculiar sense of priorities and customary inability to adopt tact and diplomacy. Bill, however, has a definite problem: a glamorous, snooty and most definitely bitchy ex-wife, Liza, who seems determined to ruin his relationship with Faith with her mischievous meddling. When Bill and Faith are together, Bill's eternal gripe is that she always puts the children's, or her dog's, interests first, while his unfamiliarity with kids is such that when he is thrust into a paternal role it is like watching a drowning man thrashing around without a life-jacket.

As they strive to overcome the hurdles placed before them, Faith and Bill endure major rows in virtually every episode, and break up several times. They twice try to marry but both times stop short on the planned wedding day, making a mockery of the series' optimistic theme music, Gershwin's 'Our Love Is Here To Stay'. Meanwhile, the children grow up, jobs come and go and the arguments just keep on coming. All the while, Faith and Liza never meet - a situation rectified only in the very last TV episode. Liza is pregnant, but won't tell the two possible prospective fathers whose child it is. At the end, as she gives birth to a boy, Faith declares that it looks like Bill. This is never proven because the programme ends there, but the inference is that this allegation is the final breaking point in Bill and Faith's association.

Second Thoughts was based upon the real-life relationship of the writers, husband and wife Etherington and Petrie. Both had been journalists - Petrie was features editor at TVTimes and Etherington a regular freelancer for the same magazine, interviewing comedy writers and performers among other duties. Once they became partners a writing relationship developed alongside, and they won the first bi-annual Radio Times Radio Comedy Award, then titled 'Sounds Funny', in 1987. Created for BBC radio, Second Thoughts followed soon after, Petrie crafting the characters and storylines and Etherington adding the dialogue, recalling how, when they first met, Petrie was a wealthy bachelor while Etherington was up to her eyes in children and dogs. A success on the wireless for more than two years, Second Thoughts was the third major BBC radio sitcom of the 1980s to be adapted for TV - all of them ITV, oddly - following on from After Henry and Up The Garden Path There could have been no questioning its radio origin: Second Thoughts came across as more wordy and situation-bound than most TV sitcoms.

The fifth series of Second Thoughts was weaker than the others (it was the first stretch of episodes not to have been written for radio), with a clear shift in emphasis away from Faith and Bill towards the lives of the children and other characters. Petrie and Etherington must have seen the writing on the wall and allowed the series to die, instead focusing their attention on what they would do with the sequel, Faith In The Future


Note. There were 31 BBC Radio 4 episodes of Second Thoughts, broadcast as follows - series one (eight episodes, 1 November-20 December 1988), series two (eight episodes, 31 October-19 December 1989), series three (eight episodes, 9 April-28 May 1991), series four (six episodes, 18 June-23 July 1992) and, finally, a Christmas special (25 December 1992). Four of the principal actors in the subsequent TV series - Bolam, Bellingham, Lang and Denham - played the same roles in the radio version; Hannah (whom the writers admitted was based on their real-life daughter Lucy) was played on radio by Kelda Holmes (series one and two), Emma Gregory (three) and Julia Sawalha (four and the special); Hilary was played by Celia Imrie. Apart from the Christmas special, the scripts for the other 30 episodes of the radio Second Thoughts all translated directly to TV.

Researched and written by Mark Lewisohn.

Cast
James Bolam - Bill Macgregor
Lynda Bellingham - Faith Grayshot
Belinda Lang - Liza Macgregor
Julia Sawalha - Hannah Grayshot
Mark Denham - Joe Grayshot
Louisa Rix - Hilary (series 1); Paddy Navin (series 2 & 3)
Geoffrey Whitehead - Richard
Georgina Melville - Marjorie
Ian Henderson - Callum (series 5)


Crew
Jan Etherington - Writer
Gavin Petrie - Writer
David Askey - Director / Producer (series 1
Robin Carr - Director / Producer (series 2-5)
Robin Carr - Executive Producer (series 1)

Transmission Details
Number of episodes: 49 Length: 30 mins
Series One (7) 3 May-14 June 1991, Fri 8pm
Series Two (12) 3 Jan-20 Mar 1992, Fri 8.30pm
Series Three (15) 18 Oct 1992-12 Feb 1993, Sun 7.15pm then Fri 8.30pm
Series Four (7) 29 Oct-17 Dec 1993, Fri 8.30pm
Series Five (8) 26 Aug-14 Oct 1994, Fri 8.30pm

[Toyah]

You can't call Second Thoughts "forgotton". I remember it VERY well.

[Ellie]

Me too, but it's never been repeated. LOADS of stuff that was on LWT in the very early 90s seems to have gone forgotten since ITV got regionalised.

[Toyah]

Usually pops up on Granada Plus.

[Ellie]

I'm bursting to see the Dave Allen Show from 1993 again. A whole series that was really popular of just his new stand-up show, but it was aired right before Thames TV got taken over by Carlton and I've never seen it again. I still have 3 episodes on tape just because I put it on the same tape as the MJ Oprah interview at the time.

[Toyah]

I wouldn't be surprised to see some of those old ITV shows pop up on the new ITV3 channel when it starts next month.

[Ellie]

I hope so. I STILL laugh hysterically at the shows I've got. The BBC Comedy Guide write-up isn't very flattering though:

Dave Allen
UK, ITV (Noel Gay Television for Carlton), Standup, colour, 1993
Starring: Dave Allen

Carlton, the new ITV franchise in London, utilised Dave Allen to launch its comedy output, touting not only his return to TV after a three-year absence but the claim that he would be uncensored. The resulting series was both mildly controversial and, it has to be said, slightly disappointing, even though it won Allen the Best Comedy Performer honour at the British Comedy Awards. Recorded before a receptive audience at the Mermaid Theatre in London, the programmes featured Allen in typical repose, seated in or standing close by his leather chair, a tumbler within easy reach (no cigarettes this time, though: Allen had recently quit smoking and indeed had become vehement in his opposition to the practice). Through six programmes, and a later special, Allen proceeded to deliver his customary sidelong observations on everyday life, but the flair of old was replaced, it seems, by a swagger and crankiness not previously present. As such, the comedy essays came across a little more than a succession of tirades - enlivened, as promised, by undeleted expletives (although still no f-word) - which did Allen few favours.

Researched and written by Mark Lewisohn.

[Ellie]

I could have sworn it was Thames TV that did it. Oh well.

[PJL]

Dear John...

UK, BBC, Sitcom, Colour, 1986
Starring: Ralph Bates, Peter Blake, Belinda Lang
Dear John starring Ralph Bates

John, a schoolteacher, is a recent divorcee whose wife Wendy has left him for his best friend. John is a mild-mannered chap but this event has left him shell-shocked, unable to speak without stumbling over his words and finding it difficult to face up to living alone. To aid the healing process, he joins a divorced and separated encounter group, 1-2-1, where others in a similar situation seek solace in each other's company. Unfortunately, on the surface at least, the group throws up more problems than it solves.

The 1-2-1 group is organised by Louise, a matronly woman determined to remain chirpy throughout, hoping to jollify the others by example. Prone to the odd insensitive remark - but oblivious to them - she sports an unhealthy interest in the sexual history of her charges, probing into the bedroom habits behind the failed marriages. This tendency embarrasses the rest of the group but Louise carries on regardless, seeming to derive a sensual thrill from the revelations. Apart from John, the group's regular members are Ralph, a timid, relentlessly ordinary chap beside whom John seems positively dynamic; Mrs Arnott, who mostly keeps herself to herself; the attractive and vulnerable but bitter Kate; and the 'black sheep' of the congregation, Kirk, a massively insecure soul who overcompensates by maintaining a braggardly front, boasting of a fabulously full life of wild parties and sexual adventures. Although the others see through him, and his lies, Kirk persists in keeping the pretence going. Despite all the hurdles, however, the group members slowly start to rebuild their lives.

A dysfunctional bunch of adults who rely upon one another for companionship and hope is not an obvious subject for comedy, but much humour was wrought from it thanks to John Sullivan's deft writing and well-observed characters. By his own high standards, the series was only a modest success, but Ralph Bates made a likeable lead - his real-life son William played his on-screen son, Toby, incidentally - and the series may have continued if a fatal illness hadn't claimed the actor's life prematurely in 1991.


Following its demise on the BBC, the series was sold to the USA where it was remade with the same title - see the next entry for details.
Researched and written by Mark Lewisohn.

Gallery Images - Click for a bigger image
Clips
John reads a letter from his estranged wife
John's support group reveal their secrets
Cast
Ralph Bates - John
Peter Blake - Kirk
Belinda Lang - Kate
Peter Denyer - Ralph
Rachel Bell - Louise
Jean Challis - Mrs Arnott
Terence Edmond - Ken
Wendy Allnut - Wendy
William Bates - Toby
Kevin Lloyd - Rick (series 2)

Crew
John Sullivan - Writer
Ray Butt - Director (7)
Sue Bysh - Director (7)
Ray Butt - Producer
Transmission Details
Number of episodes: 14 Length: 13 · 30 mins · 1 · 50 mins
Series One (7) 17 Feb-31 Mar 1986 · BBC1 Mon 8.30pm
Series Two (6) 7 Sep-12 Oct 1987 · BBC1 Mon 8.30pm
Special (50 mins) 21 Dec 1987 · BBC1 Mon 8.10pm

[Madison]

A Perfect State
UK, BBC (Cinema Verity), Sitcom, Colour, 1997
Starring: Gwen Taylor, Jacqueline Defferary, Matthew Cottle

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/images/400/perfectstate_3.jpg

Flatby-on-the-Bog is a nondescript coastal town whose main industry is fishing (although it's virtually a one-man-and-his-boat operation). The locals would prefer the main industry to be tourism but Flatby just isn't the type of place that attracts outside visitors; indeed, the locals themselves don't seem to like it very much. Even the town's principal activist, its deputy mayor Laura Fitzgerald, who is determined to champion local fishermen against destructive European Union legislation, unleashes many barbs about the town's unattractiveness and its inhabitants' tendency to inbreed. As a relentless crusader, and manager of the local pub, she knows everything about everyone.

Laura's daughter, Julie, a solicitor, is involved (although seemingly non-sexually) with the boring Malcolm Batley, an expert on local history and a fiercely left-wing political idealist. Malcolm singularly fails to impress Julie's mother until he discovers that, owing to the occasional submergence of the Flatby peninsula, it has never been formally ratified as part of the British mainland. This information, interpreted legally by Julie, means that Flatby could, in theory, declare independence. Laura immediately seizes upon the idea, seeing it as a way to flaunt EU regulations and thumb the town's collective nose at Whitehall. First, however, she has to convince her fellow councillors, which she does by persuasion (she tells wide-boy estate agent Johnny that Flatby will become a tax haven, attracting the super-rich), threat (she tells Bert, a local butcher, that EU regulations will prevent him from selling much of his best produce), and blackmail (she tells the golf-fanatic mayor that she will reveal details of their wild affair 20 years earlier; when this fails to convince him, she threatens to disclose his recent affair with a woman whose husband is in an oxygen tent). Flatby's declaration of independence and its erection of a border post brings it to the attention of two Whitehall civil servants, the creepy but ferocious Gareth Jones and the kind-hearted Simon Watson, whose eventual role as go-between between the new state and the government is complicated by his passionate feelings towards Laura.


The notion of claiming independence for a tiny village or town, able to make its own rules, resulted in a delightful Ealing comedy, Passport To Pimlico (1949), but A Perfect State, made almost 50 years later, singularly failed to do the theme justice, and its embracing of British tabloid newspaper 'scare' stories about the EU insisting upon 'regulation-shaped cucumbers' and 'threats to the sanctity of the British sausage' was clumsy. Disliked by critics, and watched by few viewers compared with other shows in its primetime slot, the series was relegated to Sunday afternoons for the final two episodes.

[Bunty's Magic Vegetable]

The Glam Metal Detectives


Oh, in my mind this was never ever forgotten about!


Anybody remember Platypus Man? ... now that was good sitcom!

[Sheena]

Loads of these were too successful to be truly "forgotten"- "Brush Strokes", "three Up, Two Down" for example...