Post by The Collector on Nov 16, 2006 16:40:17 GMT
Just got me mum series 1 of this for £1-99
Not over fond myself (Tho' did watch it)
This series reunited actor Richard Briers with the writers of his huge hit The Good Life but here, instead of playing an amiable idealist, he was cast as the awful Martin Bryce, an anally retentive, interfering know-all and ceaseless, do-gooding, tradition-loving organiser who tried the patience of all his neighbours and acquaintances but especially tested his wife Ann's endurance. In time-honoured but inexplicable sitcom fashion, she suffered without ever throttling him, emigrating or trying to have him committed.
Tenacious in his never-say-die attitudes, a compulsive arranger of committees and relentless volunteer and supporter of every cause going, Martin undoubtedly meant well, but he was the type of insufferable bore who has 'four different kinds of spade in his garage' and who 'changes the water in his car battery every three days'. Pitiful the lead character may have been, but viewing audiences somehow identified with him, and the series proved very popular. The nub of the show, beyond the fact that Martin was a crushing bore, was the threat he felt from his new next-door neighbour, Paul Ryman, a handsome and super-smooth bachelor who, just by doing nothing, made Martin look and feel inferior - and, of course, Martin never did nothing, digging himself deeper and deeper into holes from which he refused to emerge. They all lived in a cosy suburban close in Horsham, a little patch of greenery tucked away in a quiet corner of England, with Martin's well-meaning but a trifle sad friends Howard and his wife Hilda (they usually wore identical clothes) taking part in most of his endeavours.
It was obvious to all that a truer scenario would have pitched Paul and Ann as husband and wife, trying to put up with their obsessive neighbour Martin. But, despite an obvious closeness, Paul and Ann's friendship never quite ripened in this way, and while she should have run off with him, and been done with Bryce for ever, she remained the faithful wife.
Peter Egan, who played Paul, had previously appeared with Richard Briers on stage, in Shaw's Arms And The Man in 1982.
Researched and written by Mark Lewisohn
Transmission Details
Number of episodes: 27 Length: 26 · 30 mins · 1 · 80 mins
Series One (5 x 30 mins) 29 Jan-26 Feb 1984 · BBC1 Sun 8.35pm
Series Two (8 x 30 mins) 21 Oct-23 Dec 1984 · BBC1 Sun 7.15pm
Series Three (6 x 30 mins) 31 Aug-5 Oct 1986 · BBC1 Sun 7.15pm
Series Four (7 x 30 mins) 25 Oct-6 Dec 1987 · BBC1 Sun 7.15pm
Special (80 mins) 24 Dec 1989 · BBC1 Sun 7.45pm
Not over fond myself (Tho' did watch it)
This series reunited actor Richard Briers with the writers of his huge hit The Good Life but here, instead of playing an amiable idealist, he was cast as the awful Martin Bryce, an anally retentive, interfering know-all and ceaseless, do-gooding, tradition-loving organiser who tried the patience of all his neighbours and acquaintances but especially tested his wife Ann's endurance. In time-honoured but inexplicable sitcom fashion, she suffered without ever throttling him, emigrating or trying to have him committed.
Tenacious in his never-say-die attitudes, a compulsive arranger of committees and relentless volunteer and supporter of every cause going, Martin undoubtedly meant well, but he was the type of insufferable bore who has 'four different kinds of spade in his garage' and who 'changes the water in his car battery every three days'. Pitiful the lead character may have been, but viewing audiences somehow identified with him, and the series proved very popular. The nub of the show, beyond the fact that Martin was a crushing bore, was the threat he felt from his new next-door neighbour, Paul Ryman, a handsome and super-smooth bachelor who, just by doing nothing, made Martin look and feel inferior - and, of course, Martin never did nothing, digging himself deeper and deeper into holes from which he refused to emerge. They all lived in a cosy suburban close in Horsham, a little patch of greenery tucked away in a quiet corner of England, with Martin's well-meaning but a trifle sad friends Howard and his wife Hilda (they usually wore identical clothes) taking part in most of his endeavours.
It was obvious to all that a truer scenario would have pitched Paul and Ann as husband and wife, trying to put up with their obsessive neighbour Martin. But, despite an obvious closeness, Paul and Ann's friendship never quite ripened in this way, and while she should have run off with him, and been done with Bryce for ever, she remained the faithful wife.
Peter Egan, who played Paul, had previously appeared with Richard Briers on stage, in Shaw's Arms And The Man in 1982.
Researched and written by Mark Lewisohn
Transmission Details
Number of episodes: 27 Length: 26 · 30 mins · 1 · 80 mins
Series One (5 x 30 mins) 29 Jan-26 Feb 1984 · BBC1 Sun 8.35pm
Series Two (8 x 30 mins) 21 Oct-23 Dec 1984 · BBC1 Sun 7.15pm
Series Three (6 x 30 mins) 31 Aug-5 Oct 1986 · BBC1 Sun 7.15pm
Series Four (7 x 30 mins) 25 Oct-6 Dec 1987 · BBC1 Sun 7.15pm
Special (80 mins) 24 Dec 1989 · BBC1 Sun 7.45pm
