This caused outrage when it was first shown on ITV, Public opinion soon forced the cancellation of this show - it’s never been repeated on UK television to the best of my knowledge but it is a good mirror of 70’s attitudes and for that I’m glad it’s been preserved.
Lovely - never saw it at the time. Full of great Northern actors - Bill Dean, Joe Gladwin, Ken Jones. Sheila Fay grates though - she is clearly doing a Hilda Ogden impression.
I say Nigel, let's write a sit com about those funny working class Liverpudlian chappies, , A few " Lavvie " jokes , a couple of steriotypical " scousers ", a "Posh one " and a thievin dad. Should be a winner. 🤪
@andrewjames I recall it’s premiere.....it was set up to be ITV’s answer to Till Death Us Do Part.....working class family, complained about bad language, even had the same watershed slot on Wednesday night 9.30
I agree. I do my best to aquire copies of any surviving sitcoms from the era but even so, often times they'll be short several episodes. Tele is such trash these days. It makes my heart ache to see what's been left to historys deep abyss
@@bridgetgibson5998 Of course it wasn’t a local programme. Do you think it would say “*THAMES* Colour Production” on the end and have their ident on the front of it if it was about a city in the Granada region if it was a regional programme? The reason this isn’t remembered is because it was so crap it was dropped before the final episode as people didn’t watch it. It was never repeated so it didn’t get the chance to pick up new audiences on a second showing.
@@bridgetgibson5998 Crossroads wasn’t a local programme, it was a national programme as it was shown nationally. “Local programme” means only being shown in the region of the company that made it.
He was also in the sweeney with the best line - John Thaw is looking at a young lady in a short dress - and "Wally" goes 'I could go to jail for what your thinking!!' - which JT agrees with
After watching the first three and a half minutes of this in 1975, John Lydon called an old friend and said “Sidney- do you still happen to have that bass guitar, old chap? I’ve got an idea.”
Never heard of this, it came up in my recommended. Love all British TV shows. "Single retired American widow here interested in online discussions of same."
This was a poorly received sitcom set in Liverpool ( where I'm from) from the mid 70s. It didn't do to well due to its negative depiction of the working class and poor humour.
Yes!!!! Kind of like underproved baps...but also, I'm almost getting the vibe of a kitchen sink drama ...like something Morrissey would write a song about ...
Mrs Richards: "I paid for a room with a view!" Basil: (pointing to the lovely view) "That is Torquay, Madam." Mrs Richards: "It's not good enough!" Basil: "May I ask what you were expecting to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window? Sydney Opera House, perhaps? the Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically past?..." Mrs Richards: "Don't be silly! I expect to be able to see the sea!" Basil: "You can see the sea, it's over there between the land and the sky." Mrs Richards: "I'm not satisfied. But I shall stay. But I expect a reduction." Basil: "Why?! Because Krakatoa's not erupting at the moment ?"
He also “wrote” Mind Your Language for LWT, who were more known for making these truly awful sitcoms. They shat out crap like On the Buses, Yus My Dear, Bottle Boys and Curry & Chips. Thames usually made better sitcoms, but their crap like this and Jim Davidson’s Up The Elephant & Round the Castle were very LWT in style and tastelessness.
Peterdavid Brennan And now people are force fed such reality tv trash as Geordie shore, TOWIE , Big Brother, Celebrities in the jungle, for gods sake how things have been dumbed down over the last few decades. No wonder the general public voted for Brexit..
Strikes me, in the first few scenes, as its the forerunner for Bread. Carla Lane was a wee bit more refined, but the woman even sounds like Nellie Boswells and grandad......well.
Like every 70's comedy show. They are funny to watch but you aren't laughing at what they are saying you are laughing at how shit they are. If you really want to cringe watch stand up from the 70's, The Comedians for instance. People call them legends but they were actually fat old men trying to be funny but wouldn't know comedy if it poked them in the eye then kicked em in the bollocks.
Generic 'northern housewife', the war against the working class was in full flow, making us look pathetic through the 70s then replacing us in the 80s (alternative comedy), it was all by design and it worked a charm
Why not? Yorkshire TV made loads of sitcoms set in London, HTV in Wales made Robin of Sherwood (set in Nottinghamshire) and Central TV in Nottingham made Auf Wierdersehn Pet, set in Germany.
I don't live in my hometown of Liverpool anymore sadly but like to keep up with the local news & bizarrely today in the Liverpool Echo there's an article deriding this grubby little comedy...I see why they have it now ,seeing the great Alison Steadman in this role is just sad .
I live in N.C. USA..I've never seen this show before..I've only watched a few minutes of it and not impressed. I love watching British shows and always looking for something new..Some of my favorites are Are You Being Served, Allo Allo and of course any thing related to Agatha Christie...
Two glimmers of humour in the whole episode and they came in the last five minutes: The whole family knowing he's been in prison because it was in 'The Echo' (nicely delivered by the cast), and the Dad chalking up day 1 on the bedroom wall at the end. (Even if he HAD gone to bed fully clothed and carrying a pencil!) The cast were actually pretty good (apart from the mum - Tom O'Connor in drag - who only seemed to have one setting) and the production values were ok. BUT everything was undermined by the quality of the script. It was rubbish. It was all further undermined by the lukewarm reactions from the studio audience. Put that up against other sitcoms of the time, Porridge, The Good Life, Rising Damp, Dads Army, and you can get a feel of how much of a misfire this was.
