Don't Forget to Write!

The most wonderful thing about this wonderful series is that it was broadcast with no moronic audience soundtrack - neither real nor manufactured. There was no canned laughter. The real live audience was allowed to listen for itself and react accordingly. Was this the last time on British television that this happened ? I rather think so. I must confess to being very depressed that only one of the preceding comments mentions this - but on the other hand I am reassured that at least one other person remembers. I was starting to doubt my own memory. I confess that I only saw the first series - thankfully all of it, devotedly, despite working swing shifts at the time which made any TV watching very difficult. However for the same reason I was totally unaware until half an hour ago that there had ever been a second series. Maybe that did have a laughter track - who knows?

This I rate as the best TV sit-com ever. Since finding out about the parallel with reality, a re-run would be most interesting. The quietness, dryness and intelligence of the wit made this stand above anything else at that time. It is difficult to compare against later TV programs (time/memory) and there have been only one of two good contenders for best situation comedy; the rest, I find, range from just bearable to simply unwatchable. The most mediocre seem to be repeated ad nauseam. We Missed the 2nd series. I didn't know there as a 2nd series until now, after reading the other reviews. This makes it more important for me, to get access to the series. Surely after George Coles sad demise a rerun should be broadcast or, at least, a DVD. Someone at BBC wake-up, PLEASE

The recordings of this series do exist and I believe they are in the archives of York University. In spite of the wonderful performances by George Cole and Gwen Watford the BBC didn't like this series at all for some reason best known to them. They played the usual trick of putting the second series out later and later at night - why they play this game is beyond me but play it they do once it has been decided, presumably by the Drama Controller (if there is such a thing) that they wish to be disassociated. I doubt if anything can be done about getting them to change their minds and show it again and it would probably not find favour with present day audiences. Perhaps the University of York could do a special showing but I think it is unlikely for copyright reasons. It would in itself make a very good episode. Of course Gordon Maple (George Cole) would find that he was refused admission while his friend would be a guest of honour.

This was a TV comedy series, but it was produced by the BBC's drama department, not its comey department; hence, each episode ran 50 minutes, not half-and-hour, and there was no audience or laugh track. Charles Wood wrote it, and part of the fun lay in our wondering how much of it was based on his own life, as the hero, Gordon Maple, described as a "lesser-known English dramatist", makes most of his money by writing screenplays for films which are never made. Throughout the first series, he was toiling away at a script called "Thundering Hooves", whilst coping with his near-hysterical wife (Gwen Watford) and oddball children, not to mention his neighbour, best friend and deadliest rival, a very successful playwright indeed, allegedly based on Wood's real-life neighbour and friend Peter Nichols. The friend (Francis Matthews) is said to be the author of a play called "Soldiers In Spurts" - Nichols had recently written "Privates On Parade"; Gordon is said to be the author of plays called "Elephant" and "Dog" - Wood had written a play called "Dingo". The first series also featured a famous actor-knight clearly based on John Gielgud, who had starred in Wood's script for "The Charge Of The Light Brigade". By episode six of the first series, Wood seemed to have deliberately written himself into a corner to avoid a second series, but a second series nonetheless appeared in 1979. It was very nearly as brillaintly funny and original as the first, but the BBC have never repeated either. Why not? More people should know it.

I can only echo the other comments. Don't know how I stumbled across this when it was being broadcast as it didn't seem to be promoted. It was genuinely funny, intelligent, and engaging. It was unlike anything else being broadcast at the time, and I cant really think of anything else that resembled it, so it was unique then. The recent Metal Detectorists resembles it insofar as there was much rich humour in dialogue without jokes. Superb cast: it gave George Cole a chance to shine in something other than the Arfur Daley character for which he had become so well known. I couldn't believe that it wasn't repeated as I certainly didn't get a chance to see all episodes. I have never forgotten it and certainly agree that it should be available on DVD.