Nearest and Dearest

Never caught this when 1st aired..as I was about 8 and was more interested in pop music like Bay City rollers and stuff...but now I've recaptured the moment on box set DVD.

This has to be the funniest sitcom bar none. Absolute comedy gold from start to finish.

These are the days when you could just forget pc rubbish and just laugh and laugh again...I bet the laugh quota per minute is up there with the best of them.

Why ...when we hear about the "TOP" comedies are we always reminded of Fawlty Towers ans OFAH ?? This is pure and unadulterated perfection .

Hylda Baker just lets herself go and Jimmy Jewel is in on the gag. I'ts interesting to see the non speaking part of Walter is handed on to Gilbert in the sequel called "Not On Your Nellie"!

This is pure vaudeville at it's best ..If you don't like it then you're mad!!

I love this series, yes it's dated, but that's part of its Northern charm.

Try as I might, I can't warm to Jimmy Jewel, but I love everyone else, they're a joy. I think the problem with Jimmy Jewel is he seems a bit 'music hall' and very dated.

The opening episode sets the scene in a wonderful fashion, death is treated in a matter of fact way, and there's an early appearance by Bet Lynch!

From there things continue in a raucous fashion, and credit has to be given to Madge Hindle and Edward Malin in their supporting roles, you couldn't imagine anyone else playing their parts.

Overall though, this is a vehicle for the fantastic talents of Hylda Baker, a fantastic comic actress, who is wonderful with her malapropisms, and her comic timing is spot on.

And of course, the saucy double entendres which must have seemed quite risqué for their time work incredibly well, although of course they wouldn't get away with much of it these days!

Over the whole seven series there isn't really a dull moment, scriptwriting stays sharp throughout, and I find the entire series a joy.

Almost 50 years on I realise how much of an impression this show had on me, as I still paraphrase Nellie Pledge and her malaproprisms.

It's humour from a simpler time, full of non pc stuff, double meanings and very typical northern humour.

Not everybody's cup of tea, but I can watch now and still cry with laughter.

Have you been?

When Joshua Pledge dies, he leaves his pickling factory, Pledge's Pickles to his daughter Nellie, and his son Eli, to make ends meet, the pair must live together.

It's such a fun, watchable series, there are some really funny episodes, and some classic moments throughout, the quality is consistent from start to finish.

Bottoms up, A pair of bloomers, and the very first episodes are my favourites, each of them are incredibly funny.

For me, it's made by Hylda Baker, and her wonderful Nellie-isms, her destruction of The English language is a thing of beauty, the way she mixes up words, is the highlight for me.

I was quite surprised to see that Baker and Jewell didn't get on with one another, I find that quite sad, you'd never be able to see that from their acting, they seemed to share a bit of chemistry.

Worth watching for Lily and Walter alone, the pair are incredibly funny, his facial expressions are a scream, and the jokes about whether he'd been or not never failed to make me chuckle. You wait seven series to see if Malin gets a line.

I look forward to seeing not on your Nellie, I've heard that's along the same lines.

Classic comedy, 8/10.