George & Mildred

I just wanted to give a credit to Norman Eshley. He played the straight man to George Roper, brilliantly.

'George & Mildred' was the first - and best - of the spin-offs from Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke's 'Man About The House'. Using the proceedings from the sale of their home in Myddleton Terrace, the Ropers' move into a posh residential area ( 'all B.B.C.-2 and musical toilet rolls', according to George ), and find themselves living next door to snobbish estate agent Jeffrey Fourmile, his wife Ann and their son Tristram. George is like the proverbial fish out of water. Somewhat unbelievably, he gets a job as a traffic warden.

The relationship between him and Mildred was much the same; she craves physical affection, and poor George isn't able to provide it. Much of the humour came from George constantly embarrassing his wife in public, such as the time he took a bath in the lounge just as Mildred brought home friends for tea. Like 'Terry & June', it was cosy, predictable stuff, but highly amusing. Mortimer and Cooke wrote every episode, meaning that there was no dip in quality ( as was the case with 'Robin's Nest' ) when new writers came aboard. The first season had a cracking theme by John Hawksworth but when it returned, Roger Webb supplied a bland tune which didn't suit the show at all. In much the same way that Yootha Joyce stole the show in 'House', little Nicholas Bond-Owen upstaged the adult performers as 'Tristram'. Enormously popular, the show racked up huge ratings even on its repeats. Sadly, Yootha Joyce died before a final series could be recorded.

Surely the best ever British comedy series. I know that people talk about Only Fools and Horses being the best, but for me, this is it. In case anybody doesn't know what it is about, it is basically about a middle-aged married couple who, after having their London home compulsory purchased by the Council, move to Hampton Wick into a posh neighbourhood. The series is basically about Mildred, the sex-starved wife, trying to better herself and George, her work-shy husband, who seems to delight in upsetting their neighbours. Only 5 series were made, due to the death of Yootha Joyce, but I would recommend this to anybody who appreciates genuine British comedy.

Very good comedy actors that do their job very well. Many of the individual scenes are funny.

However, the story lines are very predictable. You can normally guess how the story will develop or end in, about 5 or 10 minutes into episode, which was typical of ITV sitcoms churned out during this time, which were normally second division to those produced by the BBC. I feel sorry for the actors having to act out such weak storylines.

Surprised this went as far as a 5th Series, and probably more if Yootha Joyce had not died in 1980. Nevertheless decent enough period 70s comedy to watch.

One of the best British sitcoms of the 70 s and I still enjoy watching it now as I did back then