Life Without George

I remember this series well, but suspect it hasn't aged well. Indeed it was never shown at prime time when it was premiered. It's your basic will they/won't they get together with Jenny constantly comparing everyone to a long departed (and never seen) boyfriend 'George', and Larry doing everything he can, in a very shy and unconfident way, to persuade Jenny to take a serious interest in him.

Jenny is played by the always watchable Carol Royale, and Larry is played by the equally watchable Simon Cadell who is doing what he did so well, which is playing likeable, intelligent, yet vaguely incompetent, shy, unconfident fool. Indeed, apart from the looks, he coined this act well before Hugh Grant, and it is a great pity he died so young.

Other than that the other main characters are very forgettable (except perhaps Micheal Thomas who played Ben Morris). It wasn't laugh-out-loud funny, and each episode by itself doesn't stand-up too well, but as a complete series I found it quite likeable at the time. It is very inoffensive, too formulaic and not black enough for my tastes these days.

5/10

I seem to remember watching a few episodes of this in late 80s or early 90s but it always seemed to be tucked away late at night - the sort of thing you only ever "catch the odd episode of". Anyway recently watched all three series in a weekend. It isn't exactly laugh out loud funny although there are several really good laughs. It is more a very human and kind examination of peoples insecurities when it comes to relationships. I found it very warm and honest in the way it dealt with these issues. Simon Cadell is utterly charming - what a wonderful voice - and he has some great lines. Carol Royle is beautiful and believable as Jenny. Was a pity Rosalind March only did the first two series as her character gets more involved in series 3. All in all a well written (by David Croft's daughter Penny) sitcom - which tells its story in 3 series - no need for more or less.

Life Without George was a wonderful series. How do I know? Well 20 years later you still wonder what happened to the characters. Did they get back together? How's Mandy. I'm not the kind of person who generally likes maudlin series, but this was more. Well written without being OTT... characters you wondered and worried about. My wife and I were living in the UK at the time and followed it religiously, as we did series like Blackadder. Life Without George is a gem. A piece of cultural British history located in a time when the country was changing -- losing the last of whatever post-WWII energy and ideas remained. Yes, I imagine (as an earlier review said) there may be 'yuppie' parts that seem out of date; but this is a story of ill fated love, of friends, of what could have been. These themes never go out of date. Sorry, too, that Simon Cadell died so soon. BTW -- WHEN WILL BBC MAKE THIS SERIES AVAILABLE? HOW HARD CAN IT BE TO DIGITIZE 20 EPISODES????? YES, SOMETIMES THE BRITS ARE INFURIATING!!!!!