Bless This House

ITV can't make sitcoms, apparently; which is why they rely on bog-standard reality shows like "Celebrity" Love Island (who hell he?) and copious episodes of soap operas. However ITV need to look at its glorious past and the folks at Thames who produced some of the classic comedies of the 1970s- "The Benny Hill Show", "Man About the House", "The Kenny Everett Video Show", and "Bless this House" (we'll forget about the tawdry efforts of "Love thy Neighbour, thank you).

In "Bless this House", we have typical British sitcom fayre; middle-class family in a domestic setting, grumpy dad, stay-at-home mum, and two "teenagers" who, like most TV teens seem a bit long in the tooth. What raises bar in BTH is, undoubtedly, the casting of Sid James as, er, Sid, a middle-aged sales rep who is continually bewildered by the behaviours of his kids- the groovy Mike (Robin Stewart) and the sweetly sexy Sally Geeson, who plays, er, Sally. Diana Coupland completes the complement in her solid portrayal of Sid's long-suffering wife Jean.

Typically, the "sit" for each episode revolves around misunderstandings, Sid trying to negotiate the generation gap, worrying about Mike's sexuality, and trying to shield Sally from an evermore permissive world. Fan's of Sid's "Blimey" and "Oh my Gawd" skills honed in the "Carry on..." films are not disappointed here;James delivers such lines in each episode with his usual aplomb.

Yes, the programme was made on the cheap; and, yes, it does contained some outmoded opinions regarding the "place" of women and sexuality, but hey, I'd rather watch half an hour of the master at work than some non-entities griping on about nothing particularly interesting in an over-hyped non-shag-fest.

"Bless This House" was never going to be the sort of sitcom where there would be any depth to the writing or any attention to characterization. It is Sid James who makes this comedy worth seeing as he does his usual. He plays a rather harassed husband and father to a wife and two children who usually know how to worm their way into his good books. The result being that Sid is financially worse off! In most episodes, he is being nagged about this, that and other and after having a hard day at work. The series lasted from 1971 until 1976. The best episodes are from '71 up to '73. There wasn't much location shooting and the sets were fairly basic.

This is one of the best ITV comedies such that its episodes, should be made available on the ITV Hub so we can still enjoy them.

It does crop up on the box though strangely not via ITV sources, it's available on the CCXTV Channel. Number 23 on my Freeview television selection, which is where I have just seen it.

Sid James is a well known and yes loved actor to British audiences on film and TV, mostly through comedy performances.

He certainly deserved his own TV Comedy show and this is it, it's really tailored around him and it certainly fits him like the proverbial glove.

The Abbott's are an atypical TV Comedy family though thankfully, not the same 'Type' as became all too familiar on our tellies. That of the frankly all too twee more middle class type sit coms, the Abbott family is much less than that. Thanks that is to the character of father Sid, the Abbott's appear at any rate somewhat more working class.

Mum Jean Abbott is aptly played by Diana Coupland with just the right touch, to fit perfectly as Sid Abbott's better half.

The Abbott kids Sally and Mike are both well played, by Sally Geeson and Robin Stewart.

The neighbours Betty and Trevor Lewis are personified by good comedy performers, Patsy Rowlands and Anthony Jackson.

In Bless this House we have not just 1 but 2 typical British Happy Families, for the price of 1 excellent TV Comedy show.

Typical 70s sitcom here...the ones of which todays comedians look down on...The modern so called comedy...Not Going Out,,,In Betweeners...etc...should watch this and see how it's done.

Sid James is the sun here with everybody else in his comedy gravity. Nobody could have kept this show fresh for 5 years and had it not been for his untimely death we would have seen a lot more...even the spin off movie was great.

ITV cannot do sitcom anymore..but this along with Man About The House..George and Mildred..Nearest and Dearest shows that they could in their day.

Such a shame that he never got the Knighthood he deserved...this was his show , he made it his as he did with the Carry On genre.

All the crew understood he was the cog and worked around him perfectly. much missed and a true comedy genius.

While not quite as good or as funny as On The Buses or Love Thy Neighbour, it's still a good show, probably on the same level as George and Mildred. Only the odd average episode here and there.

Sid James is definitely the star of the show, without him I think it would only have been average. The rest of the cast are all still good though.

It probably does peak in season 4 however, the last two seasons while still worthwhile, aren't quite as good.