Executive Stress

Recently having subscribed to ACORN TV I discovered many of the British Television shows I had enjoyed like Reggie Perrin and Fresh Fields. But one I had never heard of was Executive Stress with Penelope Keith who I had always enjoyed on the The Good Life. Although I thoroughly enjoyed the first few episodes I was disappointed in the departure of Geoffrey Palmer does anyone know why he was replaced ?

The show was pretty good. Mostly I have a hard time with British comedies, but this one was different and I really enjoyed it. I also don't enjoy the way Americans are portrayed, but at least the American wasn't a total idiot. Better than the comedies I have seen lately. A classic with a twist.

I never really get the reasoning behind any sitcom replacing main characters with different actors midstream with no explanation, but this one is quite good in both iterations. Geoffrey Palmer is completely different than Peter Bowles acting wise, but they are both masterful. Penelope Keith is always flawless in her perfectly crisp comedic delivery. Very very well done and enjoyable. Now available streaming on Acorn.

There aren't greater actors in a situation comedy than Penelope Keith, Geoffrey Palmer and Peter Bowles - Americans have loved them in their various series for decades

Yet for some reason, this series is unavailable to rent or purchase in Region 1 DVDs. PLEASE make them available!

Penelope Keith is absolutely delicous as Caroline Fielding Fairchild, a woman who wants to return to the publishing world after spending her best years raising her family and taking care of her husband, Donald.

Over the course of the series, we see Caroline and Donald try to keep the secret of their marriage from their co-workers, and the writers continually found original ways to get the characters out of scrapes. Donald's continual refusal of the advances of the lovely Angela Duxbury leads to raised eyebrows and the most comic of complications.

I first saw this series when it was still quite new (I was only about 10 at the time) but it continues to be one of my favourites. As I've gotten older and experienced a bit of the business world, I see just how accurate the series was in portraying the soap opera world of the rat race. If you have a chance to see this hillarious and delightful series, don't miss it!