It Takes a Worried Man

I remember this series very fondly. I'm pretty sure it was written by Peter Tilbury as well as staring him although IMDb doesn't say who wrote the series, perhaps someone out there knows? As ITV have never repeated the (two?) series I can't tell! And by the way, what has happened to Peter Tilbury since 1993? The early Shelly episodes were written by him and Shelly must rate as one of the funniest British comedy series ever. It Takes a Worried Man doesn't sound like the subject of a comedy, being the story of a man recently divorced a worried about every thing from losing his hair to losing his job, but somehow it worked and it helped that the main character was actually likable and you wanted him to succeed. Come on ITV / Granada / whoever, how 'bout some repeats?

Am I the only one who seems to remember this vague series? As I recall, it was about a married/bored/husband/dad, played by Peter Tilbury, who seemed to moan and groan about life and everything in general. Sounds like good material for a sitcom eh? The title sequence was excellent, and featured an animated picture of Mr Tilbury, which rapidly split and fell apart.

Hmmm?

IMDb rating system is beyond baffling - how can an arithmetic mean of 8.6 and a median of 9 possibly equate to a weighted average of 4.2?!

This was a fantastic series. If any aspiring comedy writers take the trouble to watch this, they will see that Peter Tilbury's technique defies every single piece of received wisdom on sitcom writing. The plots are wafer thin, Philip Roath seldom finds himself up a tree that he has to get down from, there is precious little conflict to be resolved and it is all tell and no show: most of the laughs come from the characters we never see: Gerald, the analyst's boyfriend, the boss's Mohican son-in-law, and Napley's delinquent sprog.

Tilbury's central performance is workmanlike; the comparison with Hywel Bennet who took the part he had written for himself in Shelley, is interesting. ITAWM demonstrates the advantages of having the writer deliver his own lines; Tilbury knows exactly what he is trying to achieve. But Shelley shows how a great actor can lift a script with a performance that exceeds the writer's vision.

The supporting performances, particularly from Benjamin and the wonderful Le Prevost, are excellent.

This series was incredibly literate and funny. It's a tragedy that it hasn't been seen since. With so many tired repeats aired, surely it can't be difficult to get the necessary clearances for this to be seen again.

Peter Tilbury is impressive as the intelligent worker who'd rather not (work that is ) and whose intelligence prevents him from taking his desk bound duties seriously, Christopher Benjamin compelling as the boss who's unable to do more than harbour the suspicion that his employee does as little work as possible. A gem of eighties comedy based on disengagement from society.

Peter Tilbury is not unlike a (very, very) British version of Woody Allen, endlessly complaining about life, death, the universe, his love-life, his boring job and vanishing hair. Nicholas Le Provost is his alleged therapist, who doesn't listen but instead complains to him about his own love-life and his other patients. Christopher Benjamin is his boss, who ought to sack him but grudgingly admires his lack of work-ethic and complains to him about the modern world and his daughter's awful boyfriend.

Struck by memories of people quoting lines at school I've just watched the first series and found it hilarious. I don't know why; it just has an alchemy. The dialogue is great and Tilbury, Benjamin and Le Provost are brilliant in delivery but I still can't say why often relatively ordinary lines cracked me up quite as much as they did. Somewhere online I once found someone who'd worked on the show reminiscing about the very cameramen cracking up, the only time he'd seen professionals do that, so it isn't just me.

It shouldn't work! It's just people sitting around yakking! But it does.