''Come Back Mrs Noah'' is a

British sitcom A British sitcom or a Britcom is a situational comedy programme produced for British television. Most British sitcoms are recorded on studio sets, while some have an element of location filming. A handful are made almost exclusively on location ...

starring

Mollie Sugden Mary Isobel Sugden (21 July 19221 July 2009), known professionally as Mollie Sugden was an English actress. She was best known for being an original cast member in the British sitcom ''Are You Being Served?'' (1972–1985) as senior saleswoman M ...

that aired on

BBC1 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, ...

from 17 July to 14 August 1978 with a pilot broadcast on 13 December 1977. It was written by

Jeremy Lloyd John Jeremy Lloyd, OBE (22 July 1930 – 23 December 2014) was an English writer, screenwriter, author, poet and actor. He was the co-writer of several successful British sitcoms, including ''Are You Being Served?'' and '' 'Allo 'Allo!''. Ea ...

and David Croft, who had also written ''

Are You Being Served? ''Are You Being Served?'' is a British sitcom created and written by executive producer David Croft (Croft also directed some episodes) and Jeremy Lloyd, with contributions from Michael Knowles and John Chapman, for the BBC. Set in London, t ...

'' which also starred Mollie Sugden. ''Come Back Mrs Noah'' was not a success, with some regarding it as one of the worst British sitcoms ever made.Come Back Mrs. Noah
at the former

BBC Guide to Comedy BBC Online, formerly known as BBCi, is the BBC's online service. It is a large network of websites including such high-profile sites as BBC News and BBC Sport, Sport, the on-demand video and radio services branded BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds, t ...

, retrieved 7 July 2010

Cast

as Mrs Gertrude Noah *

Ian Lavender Arthur Ian Lavender (born 16 February 1946) is an English stage, film and television actor. He is best known for his role as Private Pike in the BBC sitcom ''Dad's Army'', and is the last surviving major cast member of the series following the ...

as Clive Cunliffe *

Donald Hewlett Donald Marland Hewlett (30 August 1920 – 4 June 2011) was a British actor who was best known for his sitcom roles as Colonel Charles Reynolds in ''It Ain't Half Hot Mum'' and Lord Meldrum in '' You Rang, M'Lord?'', both written by Jimmy Perry ...

as Carstairs * Michael Knowles as Fanshaw *

Gorden Kaye Gordon Irving Kaye(7 April 194123 January 2017), known professionally as Gorden Kaye, was an English actor, best known for playing womanising café owner René Artois in the television comedy series Allo 'Allo!''. Early life Kaye was born o ...

as TV Presenter * Tim Barrett as Garfield Hawk *Joe Black as Garstang *

Ann Michelle Ann Michelle (born 11 August 1952) is a British actress. Biography Michelle's father Joseph was a fish trader at Billingsgate Fish Market and her mother Shirley an actress. One of her sisters is the actress Vicki Michelle. While her parent ...

as Scarth Dare *Jennifer Lonsdale as Technician * Raymond Bowers as Professor Holzburger *

Robert Gillespie Robert James Gillespie (born 9 November 1933 in Lille, France) is a British actor, director and writer. Notable acting credits include '' Keep It in the Family'' (1980), '' At the Earth's Core'' (1976) and ''Force 10 from Navarone'' (1978). Lat ...

as Mission Control *

Harold Bennett Harold Frank Bennett (17 November 1898 – 11 September 1981) was an English actor, active in stage, television and film best remembered for being in sitcoms written and produced by David Croft, having played 'Young Mr. Grace' in the 1970s Bri ...

as Priest * Christopher Mitchell as Butler *

Norman Mitchell Norman Mitchell Driver (27 August 1918 – 19 March 2001), known professionally as Norman Mitchell, was an English television, stage and film actor. Born in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, his father was a mining engineer and his mother a ...

as Mr Noah *

Diana King Diana King (born 8 November 1970) is a Jamaican-American singer-songwriter who performs a mixture and fusion of reggae, reggae fusion and dancehall. They were born to an Indo-Jamaican mother and an Afro-Jamaican father. They are best known f ...

as Mrs Carstairs *

Vicki Michelle Vicki Michelle, (born 14 December 1950) is an English actress, radio presenter, businesswoman, film producer and former model. She is best known for her role as Yvette Carte-Blanche in the BBC television comedy series Allo 'Allo!'' and as ...

as Maid *

Jean Gilpin Jean Gilpin (born ) is an English actress. Early life Gilpin was born in London. Her father worked for the United Nations and she thus lived in various locations while growing up, such as China, Cuba, France, Switzerland, Thailand, the Congo, th ...

as 2nd Technician *Jennifer Guy as Ivy Basset * Kenneth MacDonald as Space Hen

Plot

In 2050, British housewife Gertrude Noah wins a cookery competition, and is awarded a tour of ''Britannia Seven'', the UK's new Space Exploration Vehicle. The craft is accidentally sent blasting off into space with a crew consisting only of Mrs Noah,

proton A proton is a stable subatomic particle, symbol , H+, or 1H+ with a positive electric charge of +1 ''e'' elementary charge. Its mass is slightly less than that of a neutron and 1,836 times the mass of an electron (the proton–electron mass ...

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

Carstairs,

neutron The neutron is a subatomic particle, symbol or , which has a neutral (not positive or negative) charge, and a mass slightly greater than that of a proton. Protons and neutrons constitute the nuclei of atoms. Since protons and neutrons beh ...

physicist Fanshaw,

lightbulb An electric light, lamp, or light bulb is an electrical component that produces light. It is the most common form of artificial lighting. Lamps usually have a base made of ceramic, metal, glass, or plastic, which secures the lamp in the so ...

-changer Garstang, and

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

reporter A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

Clive Cuncliffe. The series then centres on efforts to bring them back to

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

. The programme ''Far and Wide'' (a parody of '' Nationwide'') features frequent updates read by

. These reports present a reality in which

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

is the most successful nation on Earth, providing aid to countries like Germany and the United States.

Development

The series was originally intended as a vehicle for

and to take her out of the usual setting she would be in. Croft was very worried that others would soon start work on similar projects so he wished to rush it past the

as soon as possible. He later said that 'It speaks volumes about the flexibility of the

at that time ... we rushed it along without any opposition at all. One of my concerns, when I spoke to ead of Comedy Jimmy Gilbert, was that everyone would soon be trying to do something similar in this area, because "space" was suddenly all the rage, so I was greatly bothered about the danger of duplication. So I told him that Jeremy and I had an idea that we really liked, and that we wanted to do a pilot, but that the idea was so "hot" that I'd prefer not to tell him what it was about. And Jimmy, to his eternal credit, didn't ask for a script, he didn't question it at all, he just told me to go ahead and do it.'

Production

David Croft signed up

as Mrs Noah who had previously appeared on another Croft and Lloyd sitcom ''

.'' Also in the series was

who was known for his role as

Private Pike Private Frank Pike is a fictional Home Guard private and junior bank clerk, first portrayed by actor Ian Lavender in the BBC television sitcom ''Dad's Army''. He was appointed as the platoon's information officer by Captain Mainwaring in The Ma ...

in ''

Dad's Army ''Dad's Army'' is a British television British sitcom, sitcom about the United Kingdom's Home Guard (United Kingdom), Home Guard during the World War II, Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft (TV producer), David Crof ...

''.

and Michael Knowles played physicists Carstairs and Fanshaw, the two were already known to viewers as Colonel Reynolds and Captain Ashwood in the sitcom ''

It Ain't Half Hot Mum ''It Ain't Half Hot, Mum'' is a BBC television sitcom about a Royal Artillery concert party based in Deolali in British India and the fictional village of Tin Min in Burma, during the last months of the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy ...

.''

Episodes

Other countries

''Come Back Mrs Noah'' was also shown in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, starting on 30 June 1979. It was also aired in Australia and on several

public television Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...

stations in the United States including

WPBT WPBT (channel 2), is a PBS member television station in Miami, Florida, United States. It serves as the flagship station of South Florida PBS, which also owns Boynton Beach-licensed fellow PBS member WXEL-TV (channel 42, serving the West Palm B ...

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

and

WNED-TV WNED-TV (channel 17) is a PBS member television station in Buffalo, New York, United States. It is owned by the Western New York Public Broadcasting Association (doing business as Buffalo Toronto Public Media) alongside NPR member WBFO (88.7 F ...

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

References

Mark Lewisohn Mark Lewisohn (born 16 June 1958) is an English historian and biographer. Since the 1980s, he has written many reference books about the Beatles and has worked for EMI, MPL Communications and Apple Corps.

, "Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy", BBC Worldwide Ltd, 2003

Footnotes

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Come Back Mrs. Noah 1970s British sitcoms 1970s British science fiction television series 1977 British television series debuts 1978 British television series endings BBC television sitcoms David Croft sitcoms English-language television shows Television series set in the 2050s