''After You've Gone'' is a British comedy that aired on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

from 12 January 2007 to 21 December 2008. Starring

Nicholas Lyndhurst Nicholas Simon Lyndhurst (born 20 April 1961) is an English actor. He began his career as a child actor and became best known for his role as Rodney Trotter in the sitcom ''Only Fools and Horses'' (1981–2003). He also had major roles in other ...

Celia Imrie Celia Diana Savile Imrie (born 15 July 1952) is an English actress and author. She was described in 2003 as one of the most successful British actresses of recent decades. She is best known for her film roles, including the '' Bridget Jones'' f ...

Dani Harmer Danielle Jane Harmer (born 8 February 1989) is an English actress, television personality, and former singer. She is best known for her lead role as Tracy Beaker in the CBBC series ''The Story of Tracy Beaker'' (2002–2006), '' Tracy Beaker R ...

and

Ryan Sampson Ryan Oliver Sampson is an English actor, best known for playing Alex Venables in '' After You've Gone'', Grumio in '' Plebs,'' and Tommo in '' Brassic''. He also played Luke Rattigan in the Series 4 two-part story of '' Doctor Who'', "The Sont ...

, ''After You've Gone'' was created by Fred Barron, who also created ''

My Family ''My Family'' is a British sitcom created and initially co-written by Fred Barron, which was produced by DLT Entertainment and Rude Boy Productions, and broadcast by BBC One for eleven series between 2000 and 2011, with Christmas specials broadc ...

''. The writers include Barron, Ian Brown, Katie Douglas, James Hendie, Danny Robins, Andrea Solomons and Dan Tetsell. Three series and two Christmas specials aired, and work on scripts for a fourth series had already begun when the BBC withdrew the commission in November 2008 and cancelled the series.

Plot

When his former wife Ann goes to Africa to help out following a natural disaster, Jimmy Venables, a

handyman A handyman, also known as a fixer, handyperson or handyworker, is a person skilled at a wide range of repairs, typically around the home. These tasks include trade skills, repair work, maintenance work, are both interior and exterior, and are so ...

, has to move back into the marital home to look after his two children, Molly and Alex. Jimmy's opinionated widowed former mother-in-law Diana Neal, a teacher, who has always disliked Jimmy, decides to help him out. Diana's husband, Patrick Neal OBE, died in 1996. Fashion-obsessed Molly is an intelligent girl who sees herself as the only adult in the family, while cheerful Alex is bright but has constantly changing ideas. Jimmy had a girlfriend, Siobhan Casey, a hairdresser, who often feels he does not pay her enough attention. Jimmy's assistant is Kev, while the

landlord A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant (also a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). When a juristic person is in this position, the ...

of his local

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

, ''The Leek and Shepherd'', is the pessimistic Bobby. In Series Two, Siobhan is the

barmaid A bartender (also known as a barkeep, barman, barmaid, or a mixologist) is a person who formulates and serves alcoholic or soft drink beverages behind the bar, usually in a licensed establishment as well as in restaurants and nightclubs, but ...

at the pub and goes back to college to study Business Studies. She appears less often in Series Three, having been partially written-out by having her split with Jimmy. The actress playing the character,

Amanda Abbington Amanda Abbington (born Amanda Jane Smith; 28 February 1974) is an English actress. She is best known for playing Miss Mardle in ''Mr Selfridge'' and Mary Watson in '' Sherlock'', the BBC adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes sto ...

, was pregnant at time of filming and so it was decided to make things easier for her by reducing her sizeable role. Bobby and Kev, meanwhile, have been developing a tendency to team up and do things which annoy Jimmy (such as kidnapping him and locking him in Kev's flat or taking legal action against him). Often compared to ''

'', ''After You've Gone'' is a light comedy which pulled in good viewing figures despite often being broadcast at the same time as '' Coronation Street''. It was often broadcast on Friday evenings on BBC One and followed by the heavier comedy of '' Have I Got News for You''.

Characters

Cast information

Amanda Abbington (Siobhan) is seen less frequently in Series Three due to her real-life pregnancy. Nicholas Lyndhurst and Celia Imrie were already household names by the time they appeared on the programme: Lyndhurst had appeared in ''

Only Fools and Horses ''Only Fools and Horses....'' is a British television sitcom created and written by John Sullivan (writer), John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom from 1981 to 1991, with sixteen sporadic Christmas ...

'' and '' Goodnight Sweetheart'' while Imrie previously featured in ''

dinnerladies Lunch lady, in Canada and the US, is a term for a woman who cooks and serves food in a school cafeteria. The equivalent term in the United Kingdom is dinner lady. The role is also sometimes known as cafeteria lady. Sometimes, a lunch lady also ...

'' and ''

Calendar Girls ''Calendar Girls'' is a 2003 British comedy film directed by Nigel Cole. Produced by Touchstone Pictures, it features a screenplay by Tim Firth and Juliette Towhidi, based on a true story of a group of middle-aged Yorkshire women who produ ...

''. Dani Harmer and Ryan Sampson had appeared in various roles previously – the most notable being Harmer in ''

The Story of Tracy Beaker ''The Story of Tracy Beaker'' is a British children's book first published in 1991, written by Jacqueline Wilson and illustrated by Nick Sharratt. Background The book is told from the point of view of Tracy Beaker, a troubled ten-year-old gir ...

'' – but have both gone on to more solid roles since. Harmer went on to star in her own programme called ''

Dani's House ''Dani's House'' is a British children's comedy series broadcast on CBBC and starring Dani Harmer. The first series premiered on 26 September 2008, and its fifth series concluded on 19 July 2012. It has received several awards and nominations ...

'' (with the result that she was on

for two half-hour programmes on Fridays) while Sampson had a leading role in two 2008 episodes of ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'', as well as appearing in a pilot programme for

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, cur ...

called ''The Things I Haven't Told You'' (which has not been picked up).

Episodes

Theme song

The theme song is " After You've Gone" and is performed by

Jamie Cullum Jamie Cullum (born 20 August 1979) is an English jazz-pop singer, songwriter and radio presenter. Although primarily a vocalist and pianist, he also accompanies himself on other instruments, including guitar and drums. He has recorded nine stu ...

. The song was composed by

Turner Layton Turner Layton (July 2, 1894 – February 6, 1978), born John Turner Layton, Jr., was an African American songwriter, singer and pianist. He frequently worked with Henry Creamer. Life Born in Washington, D.C., United States, in 1894, he was the s ...

with lyrics by

Henry Creamer Henry Sterling Creamer (June 21, 1879 – October 14, 1930) was an African American popular song lyricist and theater producer. He was born in Richmond, Virginia and died in New York. He co-wrote many popular songs in the years from 1900 to 1929, ...

and was originally released in 1918 by

Marion Harris Marion Harris (born Mary Ellen Harrison; April 4, 1896 – April 23, 1944) was an American popular singer who was most successful in the late 1910s and the 1920s. She was the first widely known white singer to sing jazz and blues songs.Ward, Elij ...

Cancellation

The BBC announced in January that it had commissioned a third series with eight episodes and a Christmas special, they also announced that a fourth series had been commissioned that included ten episodes and a festive one-off for 2009. Later the BBC made a statement announcing that the third series would be the last despite writers already working on the scripts. The cancellation cost the corporation thousand of pounds, a BBC spokesperson said "We are very proud of the programme and its achievements over the past three years but believe it has now come to a natural end." Following the abrupt cancellation, there was a proposal to shift the series to radio, utilising the unfilmed but completed scripts for the fourth series, which the series writers behind the proposal felt could be developed on a cheap budget as no scripts required being written. However the proposal did not come to fruition.

DVD releases

All of the three series of ''After You've Gone'' have been released on DVD in the UK (Region 2). The final series was released on 18 January 2010. All 25 episodes, including the Christmas specials, have been released. The first two series of ''After You've Gone'' have also been released on DVD in Australia. * Note: Despite being filmed in High Definition no Blu-ray release.

References

External links

* * *{{IMDb title, 0927170 2000s British sitcoms 2007 British television series debuts 2008 British television series endings BBC television sitcoms