''French Fields'' is a British television

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

. It is a sequel/continuation of the series ''

Fresh Fields ''Fresh Fields'' is a British sitcom starring Julia McKenzie and Anton Rodgers. A ratings success at the time, it was written by John Chapman and produced by Thames Television for ITV, running for four series between 7 March 1984 and 23 Oc ...

'' and ran for 19 episodes from 5 September 1989 to 8 October 1991. It was written by John T. Chapman (who created and wrote all the episodes of ''Fresh Fields'') and Ian Davidson and was produced by

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broa ...

for ITV.

Cast

The series stars

Anton Rodgers Anthony "Anton" Rodgers (10 January 1933 – 1 December 2007) was an English actor and occasional director. He performed on stage, in film, in television dramas and sitcoms. He starred in several sitcoms, including ''Fresh Fields'' (ITV, ...

and

Julia McKenzie Julia Kathleen Nancy McKenzie (born 17 February 1941) is an English actress, singer, presenter, and theatre director. She has premièred leading roles written by both Alan Ayckbourn and Stephen Sondheim. On television, she is known for her BAFT ...

as middle-aged, middle-class husband and wife William and Hester Fields and follows the series ''

'', which ran from 1984 to 1986. ''French Fields'' resumes the story three years later as William accepts a position with a French company and the series follows Hester and William as they move from

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

to Calais. The pair are regularly visited by their daughter Emma (Sally Baxter and Karen Ascoe) and son-in-law Peter (

Philip Bird Philip Bird is an English actor who has appeared in several British shows such as Peter Birch in ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale'' in 2006. He has also appeared in BBC's '' Doctors'', ITV's '' Heartbeat'' and ''Coronation Street''. He also appeared ...

). Bird is the only other ''Fresh Fields'' actor to appear regularly, as Emma only "appeared" via voiceover by Debby Cummings in the original show. Other regular cast members include their French estate agent Chantal Moriac (

Pamela Salem Pamela Fortunee Salem (born 22 January 1944) is a British film and television actress of Anglo-Indian descent. She was born in Bombay, India, and educated at Heidelberg University in Germany and later at the Central School of Speech and Drama i ...

), who is also the Fields' neighbour to the left, and snobbish English couple Hugh (

Robin Kermode Robin William Kermode (born 9 July 1958), is an English actor, author and communications coach. He is best known for his role in ''Never the Twain'', ''Ffizz'', ''The Ruth Rendell Mysteries'', ''The Iron Lady (film), Iron Lady'', ''Wilde (film), ...

) and Jill (

Liz Crowther Elizabeth Ann Crowther (born 9 December 1954) is an English theatre actress. Her father was the actor, comedian and presenter Leslie Crowther and her mother was Jean Crowther, actress and dancer. Theatre work Beginning her stage career in 1966 ...

) Trendle, the neighbours to the right. Hester and William also cope with Madame Remoleux ( Valerie Lush), the unintelligible, ancient, and generally useless (but unsackable) French cleaner who lives on and cares for the estate, "Les Hirondelles," ("

Swallow The swallows, martins, and saw-wings, or Hirundinidae, are a family of passerine songbirds found around the world on all continents, including occasionally in Antarctica. Highly adapted to aerial feeding, they have a distinctive appearance. The ...

s" in English) where they all live. Also popping in regularly are local farmer and mayor Monsieur Dax (Olivier Pierre in series 1 and 2 and

Philip McGough Philip McGough is a British actor with many appearances on UK television and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Personal life In an interview with The Mirror in 2001, McGough revealed he had trained as a monk between the ages of 14 ...

in series 3) and his cheeky daughter Marie-Christine (Victoria Baker), to whom Hester does her best to teach English.

Nicholas Courtney William Nicholas Stone Courtney (16 December 1929 – 22 February 2011) was an Egyptian-born British actor. He was known for his long-running role as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. Ea ...

also appears frequently as the estate's owner, the Marquis.

Ann Beach Ann Beach (7 June 1938 – 9 March 2017) was a British actress. She is perhaps best remembered for her supporting role as Sonia Barrett, the quirky next-door neighbour on the comedy ''Fresh Fields'', starring Julia McKenzie and Anton Rodgers. ...

, Sonia in ''Fresh Fields'', makes a guest appearance in the final episode, in which Hester and William decide to return to their former UK home.

Episodes

Series 1 (1989)

Series 2 (1990)

Christmas special (1990)

Series 3 (1991)

Home releases

All three series of ''French Fields'' have been released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

by Network. A 7-disc boxed set containing all episodes of both ''Fresh Fields'' and ''French Fields'' was also released by the company. The entire series was released in a single

box set by Acorn Media UK on 2012-2-28.DVD box set
at

TVShowsOnDVD.com TVShowsOnDVD.com was a website dedicated to cataloging, campaigning for, and reporting news about Region 1 television series releases on DVD and region A Blu-ray. The site's slogan asked "Is YOUR Favorite Show On DVD?" From February 2007 until ...

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=0096590, title=French Fields 1989 British television series debuts 1991 British television series endings 1980s British sitcoms 1990s British sitcoms English-language television shows ITV sitcoms Television shows produced by Thames Television Television series about marriage Television series by Fremantle (company) Television shows set in France Television shows shot at Teddington Studios