BRACE YOURSELVES. Dotty 21st century housewife (MOLLIE SUGDEN) gets blasted into orbit on board Britannia Seven spaceship along with a load of characters from other crap David Croft comedies including Private Pike and Colonel Reynolds. Rene “CODENAME: ICARUS” Artois also shows up.
Lee James Turnock
May 5, 2010 at 4:24 pm
A black mark on the permanent record of the late Bob Spiers, matched only by SPICEWORLD.
Glenn Aylett
January 15, 2022 at 2:29 pm
I wonder if Mollie Sudgen was short of money when she took on this awful sitcom as Are You Being Served and The Liver Birds were still in production and doing very well. All I can remember is Gorden Kaye as a newsreader and some really cheap sets of a space ship and the papers calling Mrs Noah the worst sitcom ever.
Droogie
January 15, 2022 at 5:58 pm
Saw a clip on a worst TV Shows ever documentary showing Mollie Sugden entering zero gravity and “ hilariously “ uncontrollably floating across the studio set. The godawful harness wire effects used here would make the average school nativity play look professional in comparison.
Richardpd
January 15, 2022 at 10:11 pm
As expected quite a few other people seen in other David Croft sitcoms were cast in supporting roles.
I’ve only seen stills but it looks like many props used in Dr Who & other Sci-fi shows were reused.
Astronauts was another Sci-fi sitcom around this time that was written by people who should have known better.
Glenn Aylett
January 16, 2022 at 4:06 pm
It wasn’t all wall to wall classic sitcoms in the late seventies as Mrs Noah proved. I can remember a few real stinkers like You’re Only Young Twice( surprisingly lasted four series) and Room Service( a dire ITV sitcom about a London hotel with a wobbling set). Also Michael Crawford was tempted over to ITV just after Some Mothers finished to do a sitcom called Chalk And Cheese, where he played a foul mouthed doleite that was a real shock for his fans and bombed.
Richardpd
January 16, 2022 at 10:20 pm
Yes there were plenty of duds along the way.
Droogie
January 17, 2022 at 12:43 pm
@Glen Aylett I remember Room Service. It was indeed dire. I remember watching the first episode with my Dad hoping for some Fawlty Towers-type giggles, but they never manifested. Would it be fair to say ITV only had a handful of truly great sitcoms? Right now I can only think of Rising Damp and Man About The House . The early Doctor In The House shows were great but the later seasons were iffy. I’m not sure the likes of On The Buses or Please Sir have aged well either.
Sidney Balmoral James
January 17, 2022 at 7:25 pm
Rising Damp is very much in a class of its own, can’t think of any ITV sitcom that comes close. Then there’s a few which touch greatness, like Please Sir, The Army Game, The Lovers, George and Mildred, largely due to the engaging leads; then a wide-ranging and often bizarre assortment of tatty looking fodder from the 60s and 70s, which no two people are likely to agree on – from Nearest and Dearest to For The Love of Ada (and some of which are now positively neanderthal). In the 80s ITV sitcoms are slightly more interesting and much more professional looking – Agony, Only When I Laugh, Home to Roost, Chance in a Million, Surgical Spirit etc. But nothing massively well-loved or remembered.
Richardpd
January 17, 2022 at 10:03 pm
Shelley seemed to be a rare ITV sitcom that was quite intellectual, at one point it was going to moved to Channel 4 when it had a hiatus between seasons.
Hot Metal was another above average one, written by Andrew Marshall & David Renwick before they started writing solo projects for the BBC.
The bizarrely named Lollipop Loves Mr Mole was a good example of the cheap & cheerful 1970s ITV sitcom, not much of it exists though.
for some reason ITV often had a good track record with comedy dramas like Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, Minder, Shine On Harvey Moon & Jeeves & Wooster etc.
Droogie
January 18, 2022 at 1:21 pm
I’d forgotten about Shelley. It wasn’t really a favourite of mine as a kid as it was a bit over my head with characters having thoughtful discussions rather than getting into amusing scrapes, but I appreciate it’s quality. Regarding ITV sitcoms, it strikes me how few have memorable ” THAT episode when so-so happened” moments compared to classic BBC sitcoms. Rising Damp had lots, but after that it’s a big drop-off. That’s My Boy starring Mollie Sugden ran for 5 series, but can you remember the plot of one bloody episode?
Sidney Balmoral James
January 18, 2022 at 10:36 pm
Of course, when there were only three channels, we watched what was on – don’t think people could bring themselves to turn the television off. Although that doesn’t explain how Never the Twain ran until 1991. There must be a good organisational/ economic reason why ITV sitcoms are unmemorable – did the BBC pay more, offer more rehearsal / refining time (I’ve heard this in relation to Morecambe and Wise, which is why the Thames shows are so poor – they were done quicker and cheaper)? Doesn’t look like ITV stations have struggled to attract talent – including in their time Hancock, Sid James, Leonard Rossiter, John Thaw, Donald Sinden, Richard Beckinsale, Peter Jones, Rowan Atkinson, Elaine Stritch plus David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst.
Glenn Aylett
January 19, 2022 at 8:55 pm
ITV seemed to do better with comedy drama, as has been mentioned above, and with individual performers like Benny Hill and Kenny Everett, but rarely struck gold with their sitcoms. I think a commercial break tended to stop any momentum a sitcom was developing, the BBC had most of the best scriptwriters and producers, and they seemed to think putting a star name in a sitcom would automatically work, even if the material was poor. While Mollie Sugden is best remembered for Mrs Slocombe and her pussy’s misadventures in Are You Being Served, I can’t think of any classic lines in That’s My Boy.
Richardpd
January 19, 2022 at 10:45 pm
As mentioned in the relevant sections, ITV managed to poach After Henry from the BBC for it’s TV adaptation, complete with most of the cast & Simon Brett on writing duties. My Dad wasn’t too happy with the end result as he liked the radio version, though it was probably better than most of the other ITV sitcoms at the time.
Droogie
January 20, 2022 at 12:52 am
@richardpd I wasn’t a huge fan, but the BBC Men Behaving Badly was much better than the earlier ITV attempt with Harry Enfield.
Richardpd
January 20, 2022 at 10:07 pm
I didn’t get round to seeing the first series of Men Behaving Badly, but I remember the BBC repeated the 2nd series with Neil Morrissey at one time & it was up to the standard of the ones the BBC had commissioned.