''Watching'' is a

British television Regular television broadcasts in the United Kingdom started in 1936 as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of a transmitted moving image in 1926. Currently, the United Kingdom has a collection ...

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 ne ...

, produced by

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...

for the ITV network and broadcast for seven series and four Christmas specials between 1987 and 1993. The series was written by Jim Hitchmough and starred

Paul Bown Paul Bown (born 11 October 1957) is an English actor. Acting career Bown is best known for playing a leading role in the Granada Television sitcom '' Watching'' (1987–1993) and '' Casualty'' in 2000 more recently as Philip Reid in BBC's ''H ...

and

Emma Wray Emma Wray (born Gillian Elizabeth Wray, 22 March 1965 in Birkenhead (Cheshire, now Merseyside) is an English television actress. She attended the Merseyside Council-funded Glenda Jackson Theatre whilst still at Park High School in Birkenhead; she ...

as mismatched couple Malcolm Stoneway and Brenda Wilson.

Plot

''Watching'' was set in

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

, with Brenda from

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and Malcolm from

Meols Meols (sometimes known as Great Meols) is a village on the northern coast of the Wirral Peninsula, England. It is contiguous with the town of Hoylake immediately to the west. Historically in Cheshire, since 1 April 1974 it has been part of th ...

on the Wirral, the "posh" part of Merseyside on the other side of the

River Mersey The River Mersey () is in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it has formed part ...

. The title refers to Brenda and her sister Pamela's hobby of "people watching", and to Malcolm's hobby of

birdwatching Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, b ...

, which initially Brenda endures rather than enjoys, but later comes to appreciate. Following the idea, the episode titles are

verbs A verb () is a word (part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descrip ...

in the ‘-ing’ form. Quiet biker Malcolm, who lived with his domineering mother (played by

Patsy Byrne Patricia Anne Thirza Byrne (13 July 1933 – 17 June 2014) was an English actress, best known for her role as "Nursie" in ''Blackadder II'' as well as Malcolm's domineering Mother, Mrs Stoneway in all seven series of the ITV comedy '' Watching ...

), was accompanied on his birdwatching trips by loud

scouse Scouse (; formally known as Liverpool English or Merseyside English) is an Accent (dialect), accent and dialect of English language, English associated with Liverpool and the surrounding county of Merseyside. The Scouse accent is highly dis ...

r Brenda, who was forced to ride in the

sidecar A sidecar is a one-wheeled device attached to the side of a motorcycle, scooter, or bicycle, making the whole a three-wheeled vehicle. A motorcycle with a sidecar is sometimes called a ''combination'', an ''outfit'', a ''rig'' or a ''hack''. ...

of his Norton motorbike and had a habit of rubbing his mother up the wrong way. Other key characters in the series were Brenda's sister Pamela ( Liza Tarbuck), her boyfriend (later husband) David ( John Bowler – Series 2 onwards) and Brenda and Pam's mother Joyce (played by

Noreen Kershaw Noreen Kershaw is an English television actress and director. She trained at the Manchester Polytechnic School of Theatre and, at Liverpool's Everyman Theatre, originated the title role of the play '' Shirley Valentine'', later made famous by ...

) in the last few series. The series followed Malcolm and Brenda's on/off relationship, during which Malcolm married another woman called Lucinda (played by

Elizabeth Morton Elizabeth Heery (born 1961) is a British actress, screenwriter and novelist. As an actress and author she works under the name Elizabeth Morton and is known for playing Madeline Bassett in ITV series ''Jeeves and Wooster'' Since 2016, she has ...

). However, Brenda and Malcolm finally married each other in the final episode, "Knotting", which was broadcast on 4 April 1993. The series ran for 54 30-minute episodes over 7 series, plus two 60-minute special extended episodes. ''Watching'' was later repeated on

Granada Plus Plus was a digital channel run by Granada Sky Broadcasting. It was launched on 1 October 1996 under the original name of Granada Plus, and during its availability it underwent successive rebrands as G Plus, G+ and then simply Plus. However, it ...

during the early 2000s and on BFBS'

Forces TV The British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) provides radio and television programmes for His Majesty's Armed Forces, and their dependents worldwide. Editorial control is independent of the Ministry of Defence and the armed forces themsel ...

from March 2022 until the channel ceased broadcasting four months later.

Episodes

Series 1 (1987)

Christmas Special (1987)

Series 2 (1988)

Christmas Special (1988)

Series 3 (1989)

Series 4 (1989–90)

Series 5 (1990–91)

Christmas Special (1991)

Series 6 (1992)

New Year Special (1993)

Series 7 (1993)

Cast

as Brenda Wilson *

as Malcolm Stoneway * Liza Tarbuck as Pamela Wilson *

as Mrs. Marjorie Stoneway *

Perry Fenwick Perry Fenwick (born 29 May 1962) is an English actor. He is known for portraying the role of Billy Mitchell in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', a role which he has played since 1998. Career Television Fenwick's first regular television ro ...

as Terry Milton (series 1–3, 7) * Philip Fox as Sidney Clough (series 1) * John Bowler as David Lynch (series 2 onwards) *

Elizabeth Spriggs Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...

as Aunt Peggy (series 2, 4–5) *

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 ...

as Susan Roberts (series 2–3) *Ann Rye as Mrs. Riley (series 3–5) *

Russell Boulter Russell Boulter (born 7 April 1963 in Liverpool) is an English actor and documentary narrator. He is a communications coach. Career As a teenager he was one of the original members of the Concrete Theatre Company which toured several theatre p ...

as Chris Cameron (series 4) * Ken Jones as Uncle Bernard (series 5) *

as Joyce Wilson (series 5 onwards) *Andrew Hilton as Gerald Wilson (series 5 onwards) *

as Lucinda Davis/Stoneway (series 5–7) *Richard Good as Jonathan MacMillan (series 6) *Ally Vuli as Roz (series 7) *Jonathan Hackett as Julian (series 7) *Al T. Kossy as Harold * Dave Dutton as Oswald Parkins (series 1–5) *Bill Moores as "Cedric", regular at the Grapes *Anita Petrof as "Mary", regular at the Grapes Note: "Cedric" and "Mary" are the names given to the characters by Brenda during her people-watching days, Cedric's "real" name is unknown, but in series one episode "Repenting" Brenda reveals that she has talked to her and that "Mary"'s real name is Freda.

Production

''Watching'' was originally conceived as a comedy sketch about a shy birdwatcher and a lively girl, written by Hitchmough during a drama workshop at the Everyman Theatre in

. He submitted the sketch for the BBC satirical series ''

Not the Nine O'Clock News ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' is a British television sketch comedy show which was broadcast on BBC2 from 1979 to 1982. Originally shown as a comedy alternative to the '' Nine O'Clock News'' on BBC1, it features satirical sketches on then-cur ...

'' but it was rejected. Undeterred by this, Hitchmough developed the sketch into a stage play, adapted into an afternoon play for

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

. Later, Watching won a commission from

to produce a seven-part series for broadcast on Sunday nights at 10pm, which was a timeslot that was usually reserved for satirical comedy such as

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

's ''

The New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...

'' and

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

's ''

Spitting Image ''Spitting Image'' is a British satirical television puppet show, created by Peter Fluck, Roger Law and Martin Lambie-Nairn. First broadcast in 1984, the series was produced by 'Spitting Image Productions' for Central Independent Television ov ...

''. After a successful first series and subsequent

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

special, ''Watching'' was recommissioned and moved to an earlier timeslot of 8pm on Friday nights. Up until the end of the final run (broadcast at 7pm on Sunday), the series would have audiences of over 13 million viewers. Originally, the series was produced by

David Liddiment David Liddiment (born 20 September 1952) is Creative Director of the independent production company All3Media. He is also an associate of The Old Vic Theatre Company and a member of the BBC Trust, the governing body of the British Broadcasting Cor ...

(later to become Director of Programming at

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

) and directed by Les Chatfield, a senior director at Granada. Chatfield directed most of the episodes and took over producing duties from series 3 onwards. Liddiment became the series' executive producer. Emma Wray sang both the opening and closing versions of the

theme song Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

, ''What Does He See in Me?'', which was written by Charles Hart. Incidental music was written and composed by Richie Close.

Books

A novel based on the first series of ''Watching'' and written by Jim Hitchmough was published in 1990 by Bantam Books.

Home releases

A video featuring the first two episodes, "Meeting" and "Wrestling", was released by CastleVision in August 1993. All seven series and four specials have been released on DVD. The complete first series, including the 1987 Christmas special ("Seasoning"), was released on DVD in February 2006; also released was ''Watching: Series 1 -Selected Episodes'', which comprised three first-season episodes: "Meeting", "Outing" and "Hiding". The complete second series was released in March 2008. The complete third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh series including the 1988, 1991 and 1993 Christmas and New Year specials ("Twitching", "Slipping" and "Reverting"), especially a nine-disc set of the complete series, were released in April, May, July, October and November 2009. All releases on DVD by Network.

References

External links

* * *{{British Comedy Guide, tv, watching
''Watching - Contains the latest News about this British Comedy Award-winning sitcom''''Watching''
at British TV Comedy
Tributes to Watching: Add Yours Facebook Fansite
ITV sitcoms 1987 British television series debuts 1993 British television series endings 1980s British sitcoms 1990s British sitcoms Television shows set in Liverpool Television series by ITV Studios Television shows produced by Granada Television English-language television shows 1980s British romantic comedy television series 1990s British romantic comedy television series Television shows shot in Liverpool