''George and Mildred'' 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 ...

produced by

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a Broadcast license, franchise holder for a region of the British ITV (TV network), ITV television network serving Greater London, London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until th ...

and first aired between 1976 and 1979. It is a spin-off from ''

Man About the House ''Man About the House'' is a British sitcom created by Brian Cooke and Johnnie Mortimer that starred Richard O'Sullivan, Paula Wilcox, Sally Thomsett, Yootha Joyce and Brian Murphy. Six series were broadcast on ITV from 15 August 1973 to 7 A ...

'', and starred

Brian Murphy Brian Murphy may refer to: Sportspeople * Brian Murphy (Jamaican cricketer) (born 1973), Jamaican cricketer * Brian Murphy (Zimbabwean cricketer) (born 1976), Zimbabwean cricketer * Brian Murphy (baseball) (born 1980), American head baseball coach ...

and

Yootha Joyce Yootha Joyce Needham (20 August 1927 – 24 August 1980), known as Yootha Joyce, was an English actress best known for playing Mildred Roper opposite Brian Murphy in the sitcom ''Man About the House'' (1973–1976) and its spin-off ''George and M ...

as constantly-sparring married couple

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...

and

Mildred Roper Mildred Dorothy Roper (''née'' Tremble) is a fictional character from the Thames Television sitcoms ''Man About the House'' and ''George and Mildred''. She was portrayed by Yootha Joyce. Biography Mildred Dorothy Tremble was born in London and ...

. The premise of the series had George and Mildred leaving their flat as depicted in ''Man About the House'' and moving to a modern, upmarket housing estate in

Hampton Wick Hampton Wick, formerly a village, is a Thames-side area of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, and is contiguous with Teddington and Kingston upon Thames. It is buffered by Bushy Park, one of the Royal Parks of London from Hampton and ...

. Their arrival horrifies their snobbish neighbour Jeffrey Fourmile, a middle-class estate agent who fears the Ropers' presence will devalue his home. It was written by

Brian Cooke Brian Cooke (born 1937) is a British comedy writer who, along with co-writer Johnnie Mortimer, wrote scripts for and devised many of the top television sitcoms during the 1970s, including ''Man About the House'', ''George and Mildred'', and '' ...

and

Johnnie Mortimer John Mortimer (2 July 1931 – 2 September 1992) professionally Johnnie Mortimer, was a British scriptwriter for British TV whose work, along with creative writing partner Brian Cooke, also served as inspiration for American television pro ...

. Like many British sitcoms, ''George and Mildred'' was made into a

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

. The movie was dedicated to actress

who died suddenly in August 1980, just as the cast were about to film a sixth and final series.

Cast

George Roper George Roper (15 May 1934 – 1 July 2003) was an English comedian, best known for his appearances in the long-running UK television series '' The Comedians''. Early history He was born George Francis Furnival in Liverpool to a working-cla ...

Norman Eshley Norman Eshley (born 30 May 1945) is an English actor best known for his television roles. Biography Eshley attended Bristol Grammar School and worked in a bank, before training as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He played many ...

as Jeffrey Fourmile *

Sheila Fearn Sheila Fearn (born 3 October 1940 in Leicester) is an English retired actress best known for playing Audrey, the sister of Terry Collier in BBC situation comedies ''The Likely Lads'' and ''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'', and also lat ...

as Ann Fourmile *

Nicholas Bond-Owen Nicholas Bond-Owen (born 13 November 1968) (sometimes billed as Nick or Nicholas Owen) is a child actor of the 1970s and 1980s best known for playing Tristram Fourmile in all five series of the popular comedy ''George and Mildred'' and in the fi ...

as Tristram Fourmile

Recurring guest cast

Roy Kinnear Roy Mitchell Kinnear (8 January 1934 – 20 September 1988) was a British character actor. He was known for his roles in films such as The Beatles' ''Help!'' (1965), Clapper in '' How I Won the War'' (1967) and Planchet in ''The Three Musketeer ...

as Jerry *

Avril Elgar Avril Elgar Williams (1 April 1932 – 17 September 2021) was an English stage, radio and television actress. Early life and career Elgar was born in Halifax, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. She trained at the London Old Vic Theatre School ...

as Ethel Pumphrey * Reginald Marsh as Humphrey Pumphrey *

Gretchen Franklin Gretchen Franklin (7 July 1911 – 11 July 2005) was an English actress and dancer with a career in show business spanning over 70 years. She was born in Covent Garden, Central London. She played Ethel Skinner in the long-running BBC 1 soap ope ...

as Mildred's Mother *Simon Lloyd as Tarquin Fourmile ''(from series 3)''

Premise

George and Mildred Roper have left their old house after receiving a

compulsory purchase order A compulsory purchase order (CPO; , ) is a legal function in the United Kingdom and Ireland that allows certain bodies to obtain land or property without the consent of the owner. It may be enforced if a proposed development is considered one for p ...

from the council, and move to 46 Peacock Crescent in upmarket

. While Mildred enjoys the chance to better herself in her new surroundings, she is always being thwarted—usually by the lazy, inept and generally unemployed George, who has no interest in climbing the social ladder, and also continues to show a lack of interest in sexual relations with Mildred. George and Mildred's next-door neighbours are Jeffrey Fourmile, a snobbish estate agent and his wife Ann. Ann and Mildred become good friends, but Jeffrey is frequently irritated by George, with their spats providing much of the show's humour. The Fourmiles have a young son, Tristram, who gets on well with George, much to the chagrin of Jeffrey (particularly because Jeffrey supports the Conservative Party, while George puts socialist ideas into Tristram's head). In series three, Ann gives birth to a second child; Tarquin. Mildred's snobbish sister Ethel and her rich husband Humphrey occasionally visit, as does Mildred's elderly mother. Having married wealth, Ethel enjoys trying to make Mildred feel inferior by showing off her latest car or fur coat, at which point Mildred often makes subtle digs at Ethel's age, or social status and pretensions. George however, is far less subtle. George's friend Jerry, a jack-of-all-trades and common swindler, also visits occasionally, much to Mildred's annoyance. Jerry is fond of referring to Mildred as "Mildew". Jerry is the only other character from ''Man About the House'' to reappear in this series. In the first series, George buys Mildred a

Yorkshire Terrier The Yorkshire Terrier (often shortened as Yorkie) is one of the smallest dog breeds of the terrier type and indeed of any dog breed. The breed developed during the 19th century in Yorkshire, England.

Episodes

Props

George Roper's 1933 Brough motorcycle combination—shown to regular comic effect in the opening titles of series 2, 3 and 5—is now exhibited at the

London Motorcycle Museum London Motorcycle Museum displayed a range of over 150 classic and British motorcycles. It closed in October 2019, partly due to inability to meet the running costs. A charitable trust, it opened in May 1999 at Oldfield Lane South, Greenford, ...

. It also appeared in the BBC sitcom ''

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 ...

''. In episodes 1-6 of Series 1, George drives a

Reliant Regal The Reliant Regal is a small three-wheeled car and van that was manufactured from 1952 to 1973 by the Reliant Motor Company in Tamworth, England, replacing the earlier Reliant Regent three-wheeled cyclecar van which had its origins in a desi ...

three-wheeler - which he swaps for a caravan in the episode "Where My Caravan Has Rested". The Fourmiles' car was Ford Granada Mk1 in Series 1-4 changing to a

Volvo 240 __NOTOC__ Year 240 ( CCXL) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sabinus and Venustus (or, less frequently, year 993 ''Ab u ...

estate in Series 5.

Filming locations

The exterior shots for the Roper and Fourmile residences were filmed at 46 and 44 Manor Road,

Teddington Teddington is a suburb in south-west London in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. In 2021, Teddington was named as the best place to live in London by ''The Sunday Times''. Historically in Middlesex, Teddington is situated on a long m ...

, Middlesex (now South West London) TW11 8AB. Interior scenes were filmed at the nearby Thames Television studios in Teddington.

Theme Music

The theme music for the show is ''Graphic Brown'' by

Roger Webb Roger Webb (7 April 1934 – 19 December 2002) was a British songwriter and jazz pianist best known for leading Roger Webb's Trio (1963-1965) for television series and club performances, and Roger Webb's Orchestra. The Roger Webb Trio appear ...

(Media Music Number 22, ''Multi Images'', 1978)

Stage show

During 1977, Brian Murphy and Yootha Joyce, joined at one point by Reginald Marsh, toured in a successful stage version of the programme. The tour included appearances at The King's Theatre, Edinburgh. In 1976 and 1977, Murphy and Joyce appeared as the

ugly sisters The ugly stepsisters are characters in the fairy tale and pantomime, Cinderella. They are the daughters of Cinderella's wicked stepmother, who treat her poorly. The "ugly stepsisters" have been in variations of the story from as early as researchers ...

, Georgina and Mildred, in the

London Palladium The London Palladium () is a Grade II* West End theatre located on Argyll Street, London, in the famous area of Soho. The theatre holds 2,286 seats. Of the roster of stars who have played there, many have televised performances. Between 1955 an ...

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...

, ''

Cinderella "Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...

''.

Film version

Following the fifth series, a feature film version of the series was produced in 1980. The film was not written by Cooke and Mortimer but by

Dick Sharples Dick Sharples (7 June 1927 – 19 October 2015) was a British TV scriptwriter of British sitcoms. He has also written novels, plays and drama series (for both television and radio). Life and career Dick Sharples was born in Manchester. He beg ...

. The Fourmiles only played a small role in the film, which focused on George and Mildred celebrating their wedding anniversary, at Mildred's insistence, at an upmarket London hotel. It featured several guest stars including

Stratford Johns Alan Edgar Stratford Johns (22 September 1925 – 29 January 2002), known as Stratford Johns, was a British stage, film and television actor who is best remembered for his starring role as Detective Inspector Charlie Barlow in the long-running ...

Kenneth Cope Kenneth Charles Cope (born 14 April 1931) is an English retired actor and scriptwriter. He is best known for his roles as Marty Hopkirk in ''Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)'', Jed Stone in ''Coronation Street'' and Ray Hilton in ''Brookside (T ...

and

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 ...

. The film was neither a critical nor box office success. It was shown on ITV on Christmas Day 1980.

The end

The final caption of the ''George and Mildred'' film read "The End – or is it the beginning?" It would prove to be the former as Yootha Joyce died from portal cirrhosis of the liver due to chronic

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol (drug), alcohol that results in significant Mental health, mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognize ...

on 24 August 1980, before the film was released. Friends and colleagues were unaware that Joyce had been habitually consuming half a bottle of brandy every day for over 10 years. In 2004, on an

audio commentary An audio commentary is an additional audio track, usually digital, consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with a video. Commentaries can be serious or entertaining in nature, and can add informatio ...

on the Australian Umbrella

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 ...

release of ''George and Mildred'': the Complete Series 2, Brian Murphy revealed that there had been plans for a sixth series of eight episodes of the show. These were to have been recorded in late 1980. Murphy also revealed that this was due to have been the final series of ''George and Mildred'', as he and Yootha Joyce were afraid of being typecast after playing the characters since 1973 on television and in two films. However, despite scripts being written, Joyce's hospitalisation and subsequent death brought a premature end to the show. Her funeral took place on the day the cast were due to begin rehearsals for the new series. Speaking of their relationship in a 2001 ITV programme, ''The Unforgettable Yootha Joyce'', Murphy said that when they had first met at

Joan Littlewood Joan Maud Littlewood (6 October 1914 – 20 September 2002) was an English theatre director who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and is best known for her work in developing the Theatre Workshop. She has been called "The Mother of M ...

Theatre Workshop Theatre Workshop is a theatre group whose long-serving director was Joan Littlewood. Many actors of the 1950s and 1960s received their training and first exposure with the company, many of its productions were transferred to theatres in the West En ...

he had, "always regarded Yootha as very stylish and very confident. I was rather over-awed by her at first, full of admiration for her. "At her death, "People said, 'You've lost a working partner' and I said, 'No, I've lost a chum'... and then I realised I've lost my working partnership ''as well''...". Thames Television did consider producing a spin-off for the character of George, looking at him cope with life as a widower. However, this project did not materialise, with Brian Murphy briefly moving to the BBC the following year for ''

L for Lester ''L for Lester'' is a BBC sitcom first broadcast in 1982, starring Brian Murphy. The programme followed the misfortunes of a small town driving instructor. It was intended as a new vehicle for Murphy after his previous hit show - ''George and Mi ...

'' which was cancelled after just one series due to its writer's death. He did reunite with ''George and Mildred'' co-star Roy Kinnear and writers Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke for ''The Incredible Mr. Tanner'', a comedy produced by Thames Television.

Adaptations

''George and Mildred'' was adapted in the United States as ''

The Ropers ''The Ropers'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on ABC from March 13, 1979, to May 22, 1980. It is a spin-off of ''Three's Company'' and loosely based on the British sitcom ''George and Mildred'', which was itself a spin-off of ...

'', a spin-off from ''

Three's Company ''Three's Company'' is an American sitcom television series that aired for eight seasons on ABC from March 15, 1977, to September 18, 1984. It is based on the British sitcom ''Man About the House''. The story revolves around three single roomma ...

'' (itself the US adaptation of ''Man About the House'').

Book

''Man About the House – George and Mildred: The Definitive Companion'' by Tex Fisher was published on 1 July 2010. The book includes contributions from many of the original cast, including

Paula Wilcox Paula Wilcox (born 13 December 1949) is an English actress. With a career spanning over 50 years, she is best known for her role as Chrissy in the popular ITV sitcom ''Man About The House'' from 1973 to 1976. She has also had roles in TV shows ...

Sally Thomsett Sally Thomsett (born 3 April 1950) is an English actress who starred as Phyllis in the film ''The Railway Children'' (1970) and played Jo in the TV sitcom ''Man About the House'' (1973–1976). She also appeared as Janice in the film '' Straw D ...

and Nicholas Bond-Owen. It explains the background and history of both programmes, together with an episode and film guide, full cast biographies, details of the stage play, full catalogue of support cast, and a 1970s phrase dictionary. . The book is published by Deck Chair Publishing.

Home releases

UK

The first DVD of ''George and Mildred'' was released by Clear Vision in the UK in 2001, featuring six episodes of series one (four episodes of the first series were omitted). The DVD was criticised for poor image quality and changes to the original captions. The ''George and Mildred'' movie was released on DVD in 2003. Network DVD in Region 2 (UK) from 2005–2007 with superior image quality and unedited captions. Region 2 "Network DVD" Releases: * Series 1 – 2005 * Series 2 – 30 January 2006 * Series 3 – 20 March 2006 * Series 4 – 7 August 2006 * Series 5 – 22 January 2007 * The Complete Series (all 5 individual seasons in a box) – 24 September 2007 * The Complete Series (repackaged into slimmer packaging) – 26 May 2008

Australia

In Australia, the first series was released by Umbrella on 15 May 2003. Unlike the Clear Vision release of Series 1, all ten episodes were included, as were the original advertising captions, the Thames TV idents at the start and original end boards. A DVD of Series 2 was released on 19 March 2004. A DVD of the movie was released on 18 November 2004. Unlike the UK Network release of Series 2, the Australian version contained some audio commentaries with series star Brian Murphy. Series 3, 4 and 5 were released in Australia on DVD in 2008. In 2009,

FremantleMedia Fremantle (; formerly FremantleMedia) is a British multinational television production and distribution company based in London. Fremantle takes its name from Fremantle International, acquired by predecessor company All American Television in ...

re-released DVDs of each of the five series with the same cover art as the UK releases with Season 1 released on 14 May 2009 and remainder seasons following. In 2011, Fremantle once again re-released all five series with new cover art with Series 1, 2 & 3 on 3 March 2011 and Series 4 & 5 on 1 September 2011, and a complete box set was released on 8 April 2015. Via Vision Entertainment later released "The Complete Series" on 17 March 2021.

References

External links

* *
British TV Comedy Guide for ''George and Mildred''.
* {{DEFAULTSORT:George And Mildred 1970s British sitcoms 1976 British television series debuts 1979 British television series endings British television spin-offs English-language television shows Fictional married couples Hampton Wick ITV sitcoms Man About the House Television duos Television series about couples Television series about marriage Television series by Fremantle (company) Television shows adapted into films Television shows adapted into plays Television shows produced by Thames Television Television shows set in London Television shows shot at Teddington Studios Works about social class