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'This room will be totally destroyed.'

That was my mother's prediction when Frank took Betty into a fairly down-market hotel on some coastal town or other for a stab at a second honeymoon - suffice to say she was correct and a lot of hilarity ensured. First episode I ever watched, and I have been in love with Frank and Betty ever since. Seriously, I think Micheal Crawford must have been the best physical comedian since Buster Keaton. His stunts just gave every episode an edge. It was brilliant.

A word on Michelle Dotrice. She managed to develop Betty as a strong character with her own (usually very funny) contribution. Compared to the thankless exposition and moaning that Gwyneth Strong and Tess Peak - Jones were lumbered with in 'Only Fools...'

I cannot recommend this enough.

Frank Spencer means well, but everything he touches just seems to go wrong, from kitchen appliances to holidays, to roller skating, he just manages to mess things up, he is however supported by his wonderful, beautiful wife, Betty.

It doesn't matter how many times I watch it, or what episode I put on, my mood is always elevated, this is comedy of the highest order.

I love the chemistry between Crawford and Dotrice, you definitely see a sense of admiration, of camaraderie between the pair. It helps answer the show's biggest question, why on Earth did Betty put up with him.

So many wonderful episodes, but my personal favourite, has to be the holiday, the moving furniture and screams of Mr Bedford are agonisingly funny.

What has always amazed me, is the fact that Michael Crawford did all of his own stunts, and there are many, some of them are incredible, they'd never get away with it these days, the health and safety people would have forty fits.

Magical comedy.

9/10.

There are really funny British sitcoms, then there are really funny funny British sitcoms. This one joins the latter. As never knowing not that much about it, when as a kid, piled up in front of the t.v, I was reunited with re runs a couple of years back, where I remembered just what a funny show this one was. Of course I never forgot the opening theme, where as a 7 year old boy I used to sing to it's tune with my own lyrics, if you can believe that. Frank Spencer is a walking disaster, the clutz's of clutz's, he makes Timothy Lea from the Confession movies, look small fry. Two of the best that stick out was the learning to drive and fly one, the learning to drive one, had me and stitches. Michael Crawford, a beautiful singer, was just an acting revelation here. No other actor could of brilliantly fitted his shoes. "Oh Betty", those trademark words, I hear, here and there from people. There are so many other episodes I loved so much. And that voice, oh that voice, and that beret, Frank Spenser's famous for, plus those sorry and worrying face gestures of his, irreplaceable, just like this brilliant show. The wife was good too, about the other real person who believed in our Frank.

Some Mothers Do Have 'Em is an immensely entertaining comedy about a grown man who is such a klutz that everywhere he goes,trouble is bound to follow.Portrayed by Michael Crawford,Frank Spencer is a bumbling idiot whose hilarious predicaments always end in disaster,with everything he touches falling apart.The hilarity comes from his endless quest for employment be it a pipe salesman,a chicken farmer,a window cleaner afraid of heights,a ventriloquist,a postman,and the list goes on and on as Frank creates the ultimate hell in the workplace,seriously irritating everyone he comes into contact with.One person who does tolerate him however is his patient unconditionally loving wife,Betty,played by the beautiful Michele Dotrice.Dotrice is a doll on camera,always managing to look cute in colorful frocks and pigtails.She has an endless amount of patience for Frank,the high pitch voiced walking disaster.The physical comedy performed by Crawford will have you in stitches.The humor comes from watching the antics of a man so incompetent,who has good intentions all the time but never fails to cause a catastrophe.Some Mothers Do Have Em is the type of show where everything that can go wrong,does.Nothing is ever simple,and uncomplicated when Frank Spencer is around.

I am now delighted to have the entire series of this brilliant comedy on DVD.

As a child of 1970's Britain I remember that Frank Spencer and his suffering wife Betty were household names and with his various catchphrases everybody thought that they could do a good impression of him. I still thoroughly enjoy watching these episodes, they were so funny but also incredibly well made. Guaranteed to have me laughing out loud, for me this was simply the funniest thing on TV, then and now. Classic comedy

You remember the voice, the beret and the "ooh Betty" catchphrase (although he only said it once). You might not remember the weird character change in series three, where Frank becomes sort of pompous and arrogant and even a bit unlikeable.

That said, there's plenty to enjoy, even if some of the episodes are a little clunky. Michael Crawford's Frank Spencer is a superb comedy creation, although quite what the lovely Betty saw in him I'll never know.

The stunts, all performed by Crawford himself (odd that the camera tends to zoom away from the action which makes you think it's a stuntsman) are a rarity in sitcoms. They range from slapstick to downright dangerous (Frank hanging onto a moving train, for example).

It's obviously a little worn around the edges at this point in time, and the quality dips from episode to episode. It's still funny and still worth your time.

One of my happiest memories of the 1970s .

It can still reduce me to tears of laughter.

On this site I've often lambasted the Americans for not knowing how to write comedy, BUT, while they've never produced anything of the quality of 'Fawlty Towers', 'Blackadder' or 'The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin', they have also never (to my knowledge) made anything as bad as this: the nadir of British comedy.

On my Richter scale of comic awfulness, it rates only behind the truly criminal 'Are You Being Served' as the worst comedy show in the English language, with bad acting, annoying characters, and humour I'd grown out of before I left primary school. Unfortunately, it was part of a large crop of shows back then, along with 'Dad's Army', 'It ain't Half Hot Mum' and 'Allo, Allo' that relied on ridiculous situations and familiar catch-phrases to keep audiences "amused".

Michael Crawford proved later on that he's a talented performer, but personally, I'd rather be sentenced to a month of watching 'Rhoda' than endure a single episode of this drivel, which makes me ashamed to be British.

I got my first taste of this series recently. The comedy is side-splitting, especially when you realize that is the very intense "Phantom of the Opera" on your screen with that innocent look on his face making a complete disaster of everything.

I can't wait to see more episodes. The episodes I saw, about a second honeymoon and an RAF reunion, were laugh-out-loud hilarious. The comedy is very physical. Crawford has astounding delivery. He looks so young and different from the way he did when international stardom hit him. My sister lived in England and was a fan of this series, and I can still remember how astonished she was that Crawford was taken so seriously after Phantom. She, and millions of others, knew him as the hapless Frank Spencer, the man with "troubles."

The great theater actor, Michael Crawford OBE, does a fantastic job in playing Frank Spencer, a perpetual disaster on two legs. With his lovely wife, Betty Spencer, played by Michele Dotrice to support him and help him recover from the fall. In the episode I saw, he is visiting an in-law's house which is built quite modern in the times with moving chairs, beds, and doors just the perfect place to get stuck in or ruin. When he has trouble with the plumbing, his in-law is expecting his guests who are business clients to offer him a deal on building homes just like theirs. Fortunately, Frank is around making a mess in the bathroom ruining the plumbing and his wife does her best to cover up his mistakes. When they go downstairs to fix the wiring or turn the water off, it just gets worse and worse and it's a disaster waiting to happen.

Really funny episodes and such great performance from all the actors! Particularly Frank Spencer who is played by Michael Crawford. Amazing show!

Funny show. I like the bits where frank Spenser does silly things

Sometimes classics are classics for a reason.

50 years later this show remains funny, and that's a testament to all involved both in terms of on camera and off.

A lot has been said about Michael Crawford's stunt work on this show, but there's a great deal of verbal comedy here too. There must have been, look at how many impressionists of the day rubbed their hands together with glee at the time.

With great charm and writing this show very much deserves to be right up there when people talk about the best of UK sitcom comedy, and puts some of the so-called modern 'classics' to shame.

Good comedy never dates.

I have only been viewing this series for a few weeks. I am addicted to them, They are just crazy, Mad. I thought Peter Sellars was the best comic in the U.K., but Michael is fantastic. Then I found out HE was THE Michael Crawford/Phantom of the Opera STAR. I can't believe the two are the same. We are talking about two ends of the spectrum of talent. I am a fan for life. I am going to scarf up as many videos as I can. Are the Brits just so talented or are they using mirrors or something? What great entertainment!!!!

Entertaining British Comedy from the 70s. I have two of the series on DVD. Frank's character can get frustrating at times and it is something the viewer just has to get used to. Some of his stunts were very impressive indeed. Michele Dotrice is amazing with her unflappability ! One of the best is where Frank has to act in a play. Certainly one of the better comedies of the seventies and anyway a cut above all the rubbish comedy ( if you can call it comedy ) nowadays !

Some Mothers Do 'Ave Them is one of the funniest shows EVER. Michael Crawford is just brilliant. Michael is an amazing actor and writer and always keeps everyone, including me, laughing all the way through his shows, films, etc. I give Some Mothers Do 'Ave Them a 10/10. This is an absolutely brilliant show.

Nearly 30 years ago, a skinny, 30 something unproven British comedian called Michael Crawford, graced our screens in a show with a funny name, but with no huge raps. But after just a few screenings, Frank Spencer was a star, an idiot too, but hey I would not have minded being in his comical shows, because he was hilarious. This show would have to go down as one of the top comedy show to have come out of England, which made people laugh all over the world.

Meet Frank Spenser. He is the world's most clumsiest person, someone who people are out to try and avoid at all cost. Everything he touches falls apart, and he can't keep a job for more than a day. The only thing that keeps him going is his long-suffering wife Betty, who somehow manages to cope with his disaster-prone life-style.

I remember watching this show as a youngster, and did it make me laugh. All of Franks Spenser's idiotic lines and antics were a good chance to allow myself escape my own ‘crazy' world. That is the great part about this character. He must have had a huge affect on many walks of life, including the young, sick and elderly, who at some stage needed a laugh to forget there blues they were suffering in life. I think that most people see a lot of Frank Spenser in themselves, that I am sure is one of the reasons why he is still so popular today.

Then think about the man behind Frank, that being Michael Crawford. He is a talent, who makes the screen a different experience. For memory, I really loved how he would jump onto our screens and say ‘good mornin'. Then as we get to love his antics, Frank is adored more and more. Crawford was born to be like this, yet he also had another calling in life. I am of course talking about being the leading man in the Andrew Lloyd Webber music sensation, ‘The Phantom Of The Opera'. From all reports he was brilliant as the ‘Phantom', and I can see why. Then take his onscreen partner on Some mothers, that being Michelle Dotrice. She was incredible as the patient and ever reliable Betty. I would be betting that she would have had some funny moments on set with Michael. She was a perfect choice as Betty.

Then take some of the episodes that this show had. When Betty is in hospital after giving birth to the Spenser's first child it was hilarious what Frank went through while living on his own. I can always remember the catch cry of ‘plus, I blew the pudding up'. But he was also so funny, in many situations that would usually require a ‘please answer'. Going through walls, crashing cars, cooking disasters in the kitchen are all traits that Frank was jinxed to live with. I am not so sure that anyone would like to have that bad a luck.

Yet a few years later a funny man, with about the same amount of luck as Frank, graced our screens, that being the hilarious ‘Mr. Bean'. He was played by Rowan Atkinson, who like Crawford is a comedy genius, although his character was greatly different to Frank Spenser. With no voice, he made it up in silly antics and stupid little scenarios that he got himself into, that again had people crying in laughter all over the world. It is no wonder that Atkinson is British as well. What is it that makes these men so funny over in England, the water or what?

In summary, last year in Australia, we were lucky to see Michael Crawford in a one on one interview with popular Australian TV journalist, Ray Martin. In this interview we got to see not only how funny Michael was and still is, but how compassionate he is toward many charities and what a terrific vocalist he is. We are really lucky to have had someone like Frank Spencer on our small screens, because if we didn't, we might never have met the remarkable man behind the fool, called Michael Crawford.

Brilliant comedy in the 70's, have watched repeats on uk gold, still as funny as when they were first aired. Micheal Crawford plays a guy who's a walking disaster area, nothing goes right for him, his daft voice is a laugh.

The 70's british tv was brilliant when you look at the other comedys that were aired during the 70's they include....

Monty pythons flying circus Fawlty towers On the buses "Carry on" movies

Who said the 70's were bad

this comedy gets 9/10, Crawford also did all of his own stunts.

Michael Crawford was a quirky boy actor in 50s films and as a young adult in 60s films where he usually played the odd man out, out of sync with swinging London. His offbeat charm was a success in big films like HELLO HOLLY, A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM, THE KNACK, and TWO LEFT FEET.

When he came to British TV in his early 30s, he brought his original style along with him to fashion the hapless Frank Spencer, the disaster-prone but lovable TV character. Crawford seems to have harvested all sort of old Music Hall bits and pieces in creating the slightly spastic, prissy Frank whose constant tinkering and butting in wreaks all kinds of havoc. The slapstick comedy recalls the time-honored work of Buster Keaton (a co-star in FORUM).

Seemingly adrift in his own catastrophic universe, his only real connections with the real world are his wife Betty (Michele Dotrice) and baby daughter Jessica. Otherwise, Frank lives in a constant state of harassment from co-workers in the endless parade of failed jobs, nasty neighbors, a mother in law, and even the local priest.

Yet Crawford makes Frank a character you root for even as you laugh at his silliness and foresee his failures. On top of this, Crawford proves to be a splendid slapstick comedian, doing all his own stunt work (as he did in his films) that involves all sorts of situations.

Familiar faces among the guest stars over the course of the series include Jane Hylton as the mother in law, Bryan Pringle, George Baker, James Cossins, Christopher Timothy, Peter Jeffrey, Cyril Luckham, Bernard Hepton, Deddie Davies, Desmond Llewelyn, Sydney Tafler, Hazel Bainbridge, Glynn Edwards, Roland Curram, Derek Farr, Diana King, and Dick Bentley as Grandad.

I knew for the first time about Michael Crawford and this TV series in 1985, when it was broadcasted in TV-3 -the Catalan channel-. I ever before had been laughing with so pleasure!. All situations are so funny and Michael´s acting is so superb!. I remember him destroying million pounds machines, bedrooms, shops, bars, dozen of dishes of a restaurant, henhouses, showing his skills making cradles, henhouses, repairing the lid of the rubbish plastic container, dancing, teaching an abandoned dog that he adopted, learning about sexuality going to lessons together with women of odd hairdos, feeding his daughter, be caught on a glued chair with an old lady sitting on, saying 'Don´t touch me...I´m a married man!', talking always about his mother...

Situations are so hilarious that even Betty and the other great actors who participated in the series hardly can contain their laughs. I recommend also Michael´s refreshing film of the sixties 'The Knack'.