Bless This House (British TV series)
A sitcom about a father out of touch with his teenage children.
Bless This House is a British sitcom that aired on ITV from 2 February 1971 to 22 April 1976, totalling 65 episodes. Starring Sid James and Diana Coupland, it was created by Vince Powell and Harry Driver and produced by Thames Television. In 2004, a BBC poll ranked it the 67th Best British Sitcom.
Quick Facts
- Genre
- Sitcom
- Runtime
- 30 minutes
- Creator
- Vince Powell; Harry Driver
- Starring
- Sid James
- Diana Coupland
- Robin Stewart
- Sally Geeson
- Anthony Jackson
- Patsy Rowlands
- Producer
- William G. Stewart
- Company
- Thames Television
- Theme music
- Geoff Love
- Country
- United Kingdom
Facts from the source article.
Cast
Sidney James played Sid Abbott, a travelling stationery salesman and Arsenal F.C. fan who believes he controls his household but often sneaks out to football or the pub. Diana Coupland portrayed Jean Abbott, his wife who sees through his schemes. Robin Stewart played their son Mike, an artist who avoids employment. Sally Geeson played daughter Sally, whose relationships with boys worry her parents. Anthony Jackson played neighbour Trevor Lewis, Sid's best friend, and Patsy Rowlands played Betty Lewis, Trevor's wife and Jean's best friend.
Production
William G. Stewart, who would later present Channel 4's 15 to 1, both produced and directed the series. Geoff Love composed the theme tune. A comic strip adaptation, written by Angus Allan, ran in the magazine Look-in. Because of the ITV colour strike, the first seven episodes of the initial series were shot in black-and-white. Every episode was taped in Studio 1 at Thames Television's Teddington Studios. Sid James died of a heart attack on stage at the Sunderland Empire Theatre four days after the final episode aired; he was 62. A seventh and eighth series, along with a second feature film, had been planned but were scrapped.
Home media
The entire series is available on DVD. The first Region 2 UK release, from Clear Vision, featured the first colour episodes. Network released complete series sets between 2005 and 2007, followed by a complete series box set in 2007, repackaged in 2008 and 2009. These sets lack special features except the series four set, which includes the 1971 Christmas special All This, and Christmas Too! that had not aired since. Both complete series sets include the 1972 feature film. In Australia (Region 4), Umbrella Entertainment released the first and second series each in two parts, the only DVDs with special features. Complete first three series were released between 2009 and 2013. A complete series set from Roadshow Entertainment appeared in 2013, reissued by Via Vision Entertainment in 2020. The Region 4 complete sets also contain the feature film. ITV3 began repeating the series on 17 June 2020 with minor edits.
Film
A film version was made in 1972, starring Sid James and Diana Coupland as the Abbotts. Robin Askwith played Mike instead of Robin Stewart, who was unavailable due to a summer season booking. New neighbours were played by Terry Scott and June Whitfield; June later guest-starred in the TV series as a different character. Peter Butterworth replaced Anthony Jackson as Trevor. All original actors returned for series three. Mike marries at the film's end, which did not affect the television series storylines.
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