''Bless This House'' is a British sitcom that aired on ITV from 2 February 1971 to 22 April 1976. Starring
Sid James
Sidney James (born Solomon Joel Cohen; 8 May 1913 – 26 April 1976) was a British actor and comedian whose career encompassed radio, television, stage and screen. He was best known for numerous roles in the Carry On film series.
Born to a mi ...
and
Diana Coupland
Betty Diana Coupland (5 March 1928 – 10 November 2006), billed as Diana Coupland, was an English actress and singer, best remembered for her role in the sitcom '' Bless This House'', as Jean Abbott, the wife of Sid James character Sid, which s ...
, it was created by
Vince Powell
Vincent Joseph Powell (6 August 1928 – 13 July 2009) was a British television scriptwriter. He collaborated with a writing partner, Harry Driver, until 1973.
Early life
Powell was born as Vincent Joseph Smith to Roman Catholic parents in M ...
and
Harry Driver
Harry Driver (13 May 1931 – 25 November 1973) was a British television scriptwriter and executive producer. He is best remembered for his partnership with Vince Powell on comedy television programmes including '' Never Mind The Quality Feel The ...
, but mainly written by other hands including Dave Freeman and
Carla Lane
Romana Barrack (5 August 1928 – 31 May 2016), known professionally as Carla Lane, was an English television writer responsible for several successful British sitcoms, including '' The Liver Birds'' (co-creator, 1969–1979), ''Butterflies'' (1 ...
. It was made for the ITV network 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 ...
. In 2004, ''Bless This House'' was ranked by a
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 exam. ...
''Bless This House'' centres on life in Howard Road,
New Malden
New Malden is an area in South West London, England. It is located mainly within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and the London Borough of Merton, and is from Charing Cross. Neighbouring localities include Kingston, Norbiton, Raynes ...
, where travelling stationery salesman Sid Abbott and his wife Jean live with their teenagers: Mike is fresh from
art college
An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, including fine art – especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. Art schools can offer elementary, secondary, post-second ...
and more pre-occupied with protests than finding a job; and trendy schoolgirl Sally. Mike is 18 and Sally is 16, at the series' start. Sid and Jean constantly battle to comprehend the new generation's permissive ways and are usually out-of-touch. Their neighbours and best friends are Trevor Lewis and his wife Betty.
A total of 65 episodes of ''Bless This House'' were produced between 1971 and 1976.
Cast
* Sidney James as Sid Abbott. Jean Abbott's husband and an Arsenal F.C. fan. He likes to believe he is in control of his household, but finds he has to sneak out to go to the football or the public house. He often tries to avoid occasions he doesn't want to attend, but this often backfires on him.
*
Diana Coupland
Betty Diana Coupland (5 March 1928 – 10 November 2006), billed as Diana Coupland, was an English actress and singer, best remembered for her role in the sitcom '' Bless This House'', as Jean Abbott, the wife of Sid James character Sid, which s ...
as Jean Abbott. Sid's wife, who believes she can talk him into or out of anything. She always knows what he's up to and sees through his schemes.
* Robin Stewart as Mike Abbott. Jean and Sid's son, their firstborn. He is an artist but he always avoids employment because "it's a drag."
* Sally Geeson as Sally Abbott. Jean and Sid's daughter, Mike's little sister. Sid and Jean constantly worry about her relationships with "boys." She calls Sid "Daddy" and Jean "Mummy." Sally married Bless This House producer William G. Stewart in 1976 and had two children during their 10 years of marriage.
* Anthony Jackson as Trevor Lewis. The Abbotts' next-door neighbour and Sid's best friend.
*
Patsy Rowlands
Patricia Amy Rowlands (19 January 1931 – 22 January 2005) was an English actress who is best remembered for her roles in the ''Carry On'' films series, as Betty Lewis in the ITV Thames sitcom '' Bless This House'', and as Alice Meredit ...
as Betty Lewis. Trevor's wife and Jean's best friend. Jean and Betty usually gang up on their husbands if they don't do the right things.
Production
The show was produced and directed by William G. Stewart, later the host of Channel 4’s '' 15 to 1''
gameshow
A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or demonstrative and are typically directed by a host, ...
, and had
theme music
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 ...
written by
Geoff Love
Geoffrey Love (4 September 1917 – 8 July 1991) was a prolific British arranger and composer of easy listening and pop versions of film themes. He became famous in the late 1950s, playing under the pseudonym of Manuel and The Music of The Mo ...
. A comic strip version was also produced, written by
Angus Allan
Angus Peter Allan (22 July 1936 – 16 July 2007) was a British comic strip writer and magazine editor who worked on ''TV Century 21'' in the 1960s and ''Look-in'' magazine during the 1970s. Most commonly known as Angus Allan and sometimes credit ...
and printed in TV comic ''
Look-in
''Look-in'' was a children's magazine centred on ITV's television programmes in the United Kingdom, and subtitled "The Junior ''TVTimes''". It ran from 9 January 1971 to 12 March 1994.ITV colour strike. Every episode was recorded in Studio 1 at the Thames Television studios based in Teddington.
The series ended abruptly on 22 April 1976, when just four days after broadcast of the final episode of the sixth series, Sid James collapsed on stage at the Sunderland Empire Theatre during a performance of ''The Mating Season'' after failing to respond to a cue. James had suffered a
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...
and later died on the way to the hospital on 26 April 1976.
At the time of James's death, plans were in place for a seventh and eighth series of the show and a second feature film . Ironically, James had told his co-star Diana Coupland, "it's such fun and so successful, we'll still be working on ''Bless This House'' till one of us kicks the bucket."
Film
A film version of the TV series was made in 1972. While it still starred Diana Coupland and Sid James as the Abbotts,
Robin Askwith
Robin Mark Askwith (born 12 October 1950) is an English actor and singer who has appeared in a number of film, television and stage productions.
Making his film debut as Keating in the film '' if....'' (1968), a role he would reprise in ''Brita ...
, who had previously appeared in the TV series, played Mike instead of TV series regular Robin Stewart due to the latter being unable to find time to appear in the film, having already been booked for the summer season on Bournemouth Pier. In addition, it featured "new" neighbours played by
Terry Scott
Owen John "Terry" Scott (4 May 1927 – 26 July 1994) was an English actor and comedian who appeared in seven of the ''Carry On films''. He is also best known for appearing in the BBC1 sitcom ''Terry and June'' with June Whitfield.
Early lif ...
and
June Whitfield
Dame June Rosemary Whitfield (11 November 1925 – 29 December 2018) was an English radio, television, and film actress.
Her big break was a lead in the radio comedy '' Take It from Here'', which aired on the BBC Light Programme in 1953. ...
. June later guest starred in an episode of the regular series, although as a different character. The part of Trevor was also recast with
replacing Jackson. All the original actors returned for series three. Additionally, Mike gets married at the end of the film; this had no effect on the storylines in the television series.
Home media
All six series of ''Bless This House'' have been released on DVD in the UK including a Box Set containing all six series plus the feature film through Network DVD.
In Australia, Series 1 was released on 2 April 2009, Series 2 on 3 October 2012 and Series 3 on 6 March 2013, no further individual seasons have been released. A Complete Series 1-6 Box Set was released on 6 November 2013. Via Vision Entertainment obtained the rights to the series and will release 'The Complete Series' on 9 December 2020.
ITV3 started repeating the series on 17 June 2020, with minor edits.
Series overview
*Series 1: 2 February 1971 to 20 April 1971 (12 episodes)
*Series 2: 21 February 1972 to 15 May 1972 (12 episodes)
*Series 3: 22 January 1973 to 28 May 1973 (12 episodes)
*Series 4: 20 February 1974 to 10 April 1974 (6 episodes)
*Series 5: 14 October 1974 to 16 December 1974 (10 episodes)
*Series 6: 29 January 1976 to 22 April 1976 (13 episodes)
Episodes
Series 1 (1971)
* "The Generation Gap" – 2 February 1971
* "Mum’s The Word" – 9 February 1971
* "Father’s Day" – 16 February 1971
* "Be It Ever So Humble" – 23 February 1971
* "Another Fine Mess" – 2 March 1971
* "For Whom The Bells Toll" – 9 March 1971
* "The Woman’s Place" – 16 March 1971
* "The Day of Rest" – 23 March 1971
* "Make Love…Not War!" – 30 March 1971
* "Charity Begins at Home" – 6 April 1971
* "If The Dog Collar Fits…Wear It!" – 13 April 1971
* "The Morning After, The Night Before" – 20 April 1971
Series 2 (1972)
* "Two Heads Are Better Than One" – 21 February 1972
* "Love Me, Love My Tree" – 28 February 1972
* "It’s All In The Mind" – 6 March 1972
* "Another Lost Weekend" – 13 March 1972
* "Parents Should Be Seen And Not Heard" – 20 March 1972
* "Strangers In The Night" – 27 March 1972
* "Get Me To The Match On Time" – 10 April 1972
* "Wives and Losers" – 17 April 1972
* "Never Again on Sunday" – 24 April 1972
* "People In Glass Houses" – 1 May 1972
* "A Rolls By Another Name" – 8 May 1972
* "A Touch Of The Unknown" – 15 May 1972
Series 3 (1973)
* "It Comes To Us All In The End" – 22 January 1973
* "Tea For Two And Four For Tea" – 5 February 1973
* "To Tell Or Not To Tell" – 12 February 1973
* "Blood Is Thicker Than Water" – 19 February 1973
* "One Good Turn Deserves A Bother" – 26 February 1973
* "The Loneliness Of The Short Distance Walker" – 5 March 1973
* "Watch The Birdie" – 12 March 1973
* "Aitishoo! Aitishoo! We All Fall Down" – 30 April 1973
* "Entente Not So Cordiale" – 7 May 1973
* "Will The Real Sid Abbott Stand Up Please" – 14 May 1973
* "I’m Not Jealous, I’ll Kill Him" – 21 May 1973
* "A Girl’s Worst Friend Is Her Father" – 28 May 1973
Series 4 (1974)
* "Money Is The Root Of" – 20 February 1974
* "And They Will Come Home…" – 27 February 1974
* "Who’s Minding The Baby?" – 20 March 1974
* "A Beef In His Bonnett" – 27 March 1974
* "The Bells Are Ringing" – 3 April 1974
* "The First 25 Years Are The Worst" – 10 April 1974
Series 5 (1974)
* "They Don’t Write Songs Like That Anymore" – 14 October 1974
* "The Gypsy’s Warning" – 21 October 1974
* "The Biggest Woodworm In The World" – 28 October 1974
* "Home Tweet Home" – 4 November 1974
* "You’re Never Too Old To Be Young" – 11 November 1974
* "The Policeman, The Paint and The Pirates" – 18 November 1974
* "Happy Birthday Sid" – 25 November 1974
* "Freedom Is" – 2 December 1974
* "'Mr Chairman'" – 9 December 1974
* "And Afterwards At…" – 16 December 1974
Series 6 (1976)
* "The Frozen Limit" – 29 January 1976
* "Beautiful Dreamer" – 5 February 1976
* "Fish With Everything" – 12 February 1976
* "The Naked Paperhanger" – 19 February 1976
* "Remember Me?" – 26 February 1976
* "Something Of Value" – 4 March 1976
* "Men Of Consequence" – 11 March 1976
* "Skin Deep" – 18 March 1976
* "Friends And Neighbours" – 25 March 1976
* "Well, Well, Well…" – 1 April 1976
* "The Phantom Pools Winner" – 8 April 1976
* "A Matter Of Principle" – 15 April 1976
* "Some Enchanted Evening" – 22 April 1976