Agreed. It was like Terry and June but without the sophistication
Apparently both Yus My Dear and the programme it span off from have both been called 'the worst sitcom ever' that's some achievement
Some sitcom analysts would also say the worst and definitely most tasteless sitcom was the BSkyB 1990 comedy “Heil Honey I’m Home” yes it was about a certain infamous Berlin couple who lived next door to a Jewish family...
BSB comedy, it ended production (like a lot of their programmes) when the merger happened.
It is possibly the worst taste sitcom, but certainly not the worst. Plus what has mostly been forgotten is that it was meant to be a pastiche.
I think Come Back Mrs Noah is up there among the worst - that was all about Molly Sugden being sent into space. Hardwick House and Bottle Boys too, the former was pulled mid series and the latter I think was in some regions
Apparently both Yus My Dear and the programme it span off from have both been called 'the worst sitcom ever' that's some achievement
Some sitcom analysts would also say the worst and definitely most tasteless sitcom was the BSkyB 1990 comedy “Heil Honey I’m Home” yes it was about a certain infamous Berlin couple who lived next door to a Jewish family...
BSB comedy, it ended production (like a lot of their programmes) when the merger happened.
Yes, 11 episodes were planned and eight were produced. Only one episode aired - on 30 September 1990. That was on a special comedy weekend, they probably intended to air the rest when production was finished... but of course five weeks later the merger happened.
There were 11 episodes planned of Heil Hitler, 8 were made before the merger, and only one was ever aired. Presume the other seven unseen episodes are sitting in a vault somewhere.
Hardwicke House was completed in full production wise (and they're all now on YouTube if you're that fussed) but only two episodes out of the seven were aired. The story goes it somehow ended up in a totally unsuitable time slot which sealed its fate. Presume it also sits somewhere in Leeds with big red "do not even think about it" labels
There were 11 episodes planned of Heil Hitler, 8 were made before the merger, and only one was ever aired. Presume the other seven unseen episodes are sitting in a vault somewhere.
They are. Kalidescope showed one of the episdoes at the last meeting back in March. I think it was mentioned then, that pretty much all of BSB's pre-recorded comedy output, was given back to the production company and they all survive somewhere.
Hardwicke House was completed in full production wise (and they're all now on YouTube if you're that fussed) but only two episodes out of the seven were aired. The story goes it somehow ended up in a totally unsuitable time slot which sealed its fate. Presume it also sits somewhere in Leeds with big red "do not even think about it" labels
Keeping Hardwicke House hidden seems quite ridiculous really. From what I've seen of it, it's certainly not that shocking compared to stuff we've had since, or even some stuff that was around at the time. Though of course none of that stuff was going out on pre-watershed ITV, which was the real problem, it was put in a completely unsuitable time slot and promoted inappropriately. It it had been late night BBC2 or Channel 4 it would probably have become one of those cult successes and nobody would have seen it as particularly controversial.
Network did try and bring it out on DVD a few years back, and got quite far into the process, but sadly ITV put their foot in and put a stop to it.
All the Hardwicke House episodes are on YouTube, they've been there over a year now, the bots that police the copyright thing haven't hoovered them up, so its probably safe to assume ITV aren't in the least bit interested that something that caused Central a pain both in the arse and in the wallet (since thanks to Roy Kinnear they were forced to pay up for a second series that then never materialised) is in the open and they get no money from it themselves.
I don't think it was ever established where the breakdown in communication came. Central were apparently surprised it ended up in an 8:30pm slot and I think they were expecting a post 10pm slot, which wouldn't have been an issue and it could have ran for three, four series? We'll never know.
Still interesting how LWT has a reputation for making low brow sitcoms when the proposals they won the franchise on (and the schedule they launched with) was anything but.
