Growing up in the seventies, I still have a great fondness for the era. I particularly love some of the sitcoms, which serve us up a slice of life from the seventies, and introduced us to comedy actors that are still household names today. In alphabetical order (because I can't choose between them!):
Fawlty Towers
Based around the Monty Python team's actual stay at a hotel, John Cleese and Connie Booth decided to write a series about a Torquay hotelier and his rather individual brand of customer service. It was a popular choice - the British public came to love John Cleese as the hotelier, Basil Fawlty, Prunella Scales as his long-suffering wife, Sybil, and their employees Manuel (Andrew Sachs) and Polly (Connie Booth). Perhaps one reason for its success is that Cleese and Booth decided to stop at just two series and twelve episodes.
Man About the House
Created by Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke, this series revolved around three housemates - Robin (Richard O'Sullivan), Chrissy (Paula Wilcox) and Jo (Sally Thomsett) - and their landlords, Mr and Mrs Roper (Brian Murphy and Yootha Joyce). For the time, it was considered quite forward-thinking - the idea of two girls sharing a flat with a man was not approved of in all quarters, even in London. Most of the episodes were about the housemates relationship with one another and with Mr and Mrs Roper. The show lasted for six series and was so popular that all five actors became household names and two spin-offs were made from it - Robin's Nest and George and Mildred.
Porridge
Written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, Porridge was set in a prison and looks at the relationships between the prisoners and the warders. Two prisoners in particular are highlighted: Norman Stanley Fletcher, played by Ronnie Barker, and Godber, played by Richard Beckinsale. The two become friends - Godber is relatively new to the life of crime, whereas Fletch is an old lag and takes Godber under his wing. Other actors that made their name because of this series include Fulton Mackay and Brian Wilde, who played prison warders, and David Jason, who had an occasional role as another prisoner. Only three series of Porridge were made. There was a follow-up series (Going Straight) about Fletch's life on the outside, but it didn't prove as popular as Porridge.
Rising Damp
Leonard Rossiter stars as a miserable landlord, anxious to make as much money off his impoverished tenants as possible. Richard Beckinsale appears as Alan, one of the tenants, although he unfortunately died of a heart attack aged just 31 before the fourth and final series was made. Frances de la Tour and Don Warrington played two of the other tenants, Miss Jones and Philip. Miss Jones took on the role of Rigsby's potential girlfriend, whereas Philip, who was black, was used to highlight blatant racism in British society to great effect. The creator of the series, Eric Chappell, was also responsible for brining Only When I Laugh and Home to Roost to our screens.
Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads
This series was a follow-up to The Likely Lads, a sixties sitcom set in the North East of England, which followed the lives of two working class men - Terry and Bob. At the beginning of Whatever Happened to...Terry (James Bolam) had just returned from the military to find that Bob (Rodney Bewes) was just about to get married to Thelma (Brigit Forsyth). Terry, on the other hand, was divorced and jobless, yet the two old friends managed to rekindle their friendship, much to Thelma's horror! Written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, there were two series made and broadcast between 1973 and 1974.
There are many other sitcoms made in the seventies that are still much loved today, including, among others, The Good Life, Last of the Summer Wine, Till Death Do Us Part, Love Thy Neighbour, Mind Your Language and The Liver Birds. However, the five listed above are, in my opinion, the best of the bunch and will always have a place on my DVD shelf.
