Following 'The Fall & Rise Of Reginald Perrin', David Nobbs's next few series were deemed - rightly or wrongly - to be disappointments. 'The Sun Trap' was about expatriates living in Spain and, despite a great cast, failed to catch on. Ditto 'The Hello Goodbye Man' starring Ian Lavender and 'The Glamour Girls' in which Brigit Forsyth and Sally Watts played a female promotions team ( with Duggie Brown as their boss 'Ernest Garstang' ). 'Dogfood Dan & The Carmarthen Cowboy' ( starring Peter Blake and Malcolm Storry ) was regarded as a dog's breakfast. .
In 1989, Nobbs struck gold with 'A Bit Of A Do', a comedy drama about two families, the middle-class Rodenhursts, and the common-as-muck Simcocks, who keep meeting up at various social gatherings - a white wedding, a dentists' dinner dance, a beauty contest etc. - and each time there's trouble. Toasting fork tycoon Ted ( David Jason ) sleeps with his daughter-in-law's mother Liz ( Nicola Pagett ) at his son Paul's ( David Thewlis ) wedding to Jenny ( Sarah-Jane Holm ), leading to Liz's pregnancy, and the break-up of his marriage to Rita ( Gwen Taylor ). As her parents - Percy and Clarrie Spragg ( Keith Marsh and Maggie Jones ) also perish around this time, Rita could easily fall apart but instead takes the opportunity to learn how to be independent. There was a touch of 'La Ronde' to the series; each time we see the characters they are sleeping with other people. The only couple loyal to one another are the much derided Rodney ( Tim Wylton ) and Betty ( Stephanie Cole ) Sillitoe, owners of 'Cock-A-Doodle Chickens', who regularly take it in turns to get paralytic.
As you'd expect from a David Nobbs series, the writing is first-class, and the cast mouth-watering. For Pagett, this was a welcome return to television after years in the theatre following 'Upstairs, Downstairs'. Her seduction of 'Ted' in the opening episode attracted much press interest. Michael Jayston was also great as boring solicitor Neville Badger ( of "Badger, Badger, Fox and Badger!" ), forever droning on about his late wife Jane. Paul Chapman's 'Laurence Rodenhurst' was a perfectly judged performance; his off screen suicide gave the series a slightly dark edge. Diana Weston cropped up in Series 2 as devious confidence trickster 'Corinna Price-Rodgerson'. Malcolm Hebden - currently in 'Coronation Street' as 'Norris' - appeared from time to time as gay barman 'Eric'.
Wonderful stuff. Worth watching over and over again.
In 1989, Nobbs struck gold with 'A Bit Of A Do', a comedy drama about two families, the middle-class Rodenhursts, and the common-as-muck Simcocks, who keep meeting up at various social gatherings - a white wedding, a dentists' dinner dance, a beauty contest etc. - and each time there's trouble. Toasting fork tycoon Ted ( David Jason ) sleeps with his daughter-in-law's mother Liz ( Nicola Pagett ) at his son Paul's ( David Thewlis ) wedding to Jenny ( Sarah-Jane Holm ), leading to Liz's pregnancy, and the break-up of his marriage to Rita ( Gwen Taylor ). As her parents - Percy and Clarrie Spragg ( Keith Marsh and Maggie Jones ) also perish around this time, Rita could easily fall apart but instead takes the opportunity to learn how to be independent. There was a touch of 'La Ronde' to the series; each time we see the characters they are sleeping with other people. The only couple loyal to one another are the much derided Rodney ( Tim Wylton ) and Betty ( Stephanie Cole ) Sillitoe, owners of 'Cock-A-Doodle Chickens', who regularly take it in turns to get paralytic.
As you'd expect from a David Nobbs series, the writing is first-class, and the cast mouth-watering. For Pagett, this was a welcome return to television after years in the theatre following 'Upstairs, Downstairs'. Her seduction of 'Ted' in the opening episode attracted much press interest. Michael Jayston was also great as boring solicitor Neville Badger ( of "Badger, Badger, Fox and Badger!" ), forever droning on about his late wife Jane. Paul Chapman's 'Laurence Rodenhurst' was a perfectly judged performance; his off screen suicide gave the series a slightly dark edge. Diana Weston cropped up in Series 2 as devious confidence trickster 'Corinna Price-Rodgerson'. Malcolm Hebden - currently in 'Coronation Street' as 'Norris' - appeared from time to time as gay barman 'Eric'.
Wonderful stuff. Worth watching over and over again.