George & Mildred: A classy sitcom all about class
Published: Sunday 8th December 2024
An immaculately turned-out lady emerges from her suburban house, sniffing a delicate peach-coloured rose. She descends the pathway to the road only to be greeted by a scruffy, weaselly little man riding a motorbike with sidecar. She looks mortified as the middle-class neighbours peek through their net curtains, and she reluctantly gets into the vehicle. The man drives off, but the motorbike and sidecar aren't properly coupled, leaving the lady sat stranded on the side of the road.
This is one of the iconic openings of the classic 1970s ITV sitcom George & Mildred. Each series had a slightly different intro sequence but the scenario was pretty much on this same theme, conveying to the audience everything they needed to know about the two lead characters, their dynamic and their relationship with the neighbourhood. To have that kind of clever comedy in the opening titles without a word being spoken lets you know you're in for some great writing and comedy acting.
George & Mildred was one of the spin-off series from the very successful Man About The House, which ran on ITV from 1973 to 1976. George and Mildred Roper, played by actors Yootha Joyce and Brian Murphy, were the landlords of the boarding house where Chrissy, Jo and Robin shared a flat. With Chrissy getting married at the end of the sixth series and the young trio going their separate ways, writers Brian Cooke and Johnnie Mortimer felt that the hugely popular Ropers still had plenty of mileage in them and were too good a double act to lose.
In a TV Times article at the time, Brian Cooke said: "They were so well loved by the public; we couldn't waste characters like that. If we hadn't used them again in something else, then somebody else would have."
Cooke and Mortimer also felt there was more they could glean from Robin (Richard O'Sullivan), and so embarked on another spin-off at the same time, Robin's Nest, which was also made by Thames and ran from 1977 to 1981, about the chef's new married life running his own restaurant.
Thames Television agreed with Cooke and Mortimer that there was more fun to be had with George and Mildred. Phillip Jones, Head of Light Entertainment at the company, was particularly keen to keep the duo going. There had been talk of a spin-off series towards the end of filming the last series on Man About The House but both Yootha Joyce and Brian Murphy thought they'd 'believe it when it happened' and were somewhat sceptical of the idea. But Phillip Jones had seen much positive audience reaction to the Ropers via fan mail and rumours were rife on the set that the show would go ahead. Chatting to the crew one day during that last series of Man About The House, Brian Murphy confided that he didn't think the mooted George & Mildred would come to anything, only to be told it was definitely going ahead because they were already building the set for it!
Joyce had misgivings about the spin-off, not confident that the couple had enough to say or do without the younger flatmates to bounce off. In Paul Curran's biography Dear Yootha, he quotes her:
We were quite nervous about going solo as George and Mildred: we thought the others were the stars. We said to the writers 'funny as George and Mildred are they won't be that great just on their own. They need something else otherwise audiences may tire of them'.
Cooke and Mortimer already had that in hand, planning to move the couple out to the suburbs after having their old South Kensington home compulsorily purchased by the council. This gave the Ropers the money to buy a new house at 46 Peacock Crescent in upmarket Hampton Wick, part of what the estate agent in Episode 1, Moving On, describes as "a small, rather exclusive development". George hates it and doesn't want to move, saying he'd rather take the council's offer of a flat in a tower block as he'd be happier there as "they're me own sort".
Moving south west from the centre of London also gave the Ropers new neighbours and a fresh set of situations for conflict; specifically a wealth of new opportunities for George to embarrass Mildred. While looking around the house for the first time, George mispronounces the words patio and barbecue from the estate agent's house details and Mildred explains what a barbecue is: "You shove sticks into things and roast them over red hot charcoal. As I will shortly prove to you if you don't stop showing me up."
The neighbours were the middle class, rather nicely-spoken Fourmiles. Jeffrey Fourmile, played by Norman Eshley, is the aforementioned estate agent and is not keen on 'their sort' moving in. He's a snob and although he finds Mildred pleasant enough he takes an instant dislike to George, which isn't helped by the couple's arrival in George's friend Jerry's truck, back-firing up the road and full of junk that spills out when they come to a stop.
Jerry, played by Roy Kinnear, is the only character apart from the titular couple to reappear, having been seen in Man About The House. However, Eshley had been in the former show, playing Robin Tripp's brother Norman in the last few episodes of the final series, marrying Chrissy. Using the same actor didn't seem to bother the producers or the audiences and it was never referenced.
Perhaps the key driver of conflict and comedy in George & Mildred was the class war between Jeffrey and George. Jeffrey's snobbery and social climbing were always evident and George's belligerence and resolute belief in being "working class and bloody proud of it" meant the two never saw eye to eye. When they first meet, George realises Jeffrey's views of his 'type'; he thinks the working class are spongers and makes barbed comments about plans to keep ferrets and pigeons in the back garden, and that he'd have plenty of room to burn mattresses. Although played for laughs, Brian Murphy's immense skill as a comedy actor means you can see George's pride is wounded.
Jeffrey's wife Ann Fourmile, played by Sheila Fearn, is much more open and accommodating of her new neighbours and she soon becomes good friends with Mildred. As was often the way, especially with ITV sitcoms in the 1970s, the wives got on fine but it was the husbands who clashed. Ann pricks Jeffrey's pomposity where she can and gets some funny lines as the character has a mischievous sense of humour.
Completing the Fourmiles - at least until the arrival of baby Tarquin in Series 3 - is their son Tristram, played by Nicholas Bond-Owen. Really simply Nicholas Owen, he found there were already numerous Nicholas Owens within actors' union Equity so, having to choose a unique soubriquet and as a huge fan of the Bond films, he changed his name (with his parents' permission, of course). Having a child sparked a further difference from Man About The House, Owen's Tristram proving a magnificent foil for Murphy's George.
Cosseted by his father, young Tristram loved spending time with George finding out about real life, asking those blunt questions that only a child could, bringing George's inverse snobbery crashing down on many on occasion. Their relationship brought out a softer side in George, who always maintained the child was an irritant but actually clearly enjoyed their chats and felt needed by the boy, like a favourite uncle. Having Tristram there also showed the motherly side of Mildred, and Yootha's performance perfectly conveyed Mildred's pain at her inability to have a child. There's real pathos when, in the episode Baby Talk from Series 1, the Ropers have their application to adopt rejected due to their age and not having enough experience with youngsters. To make amends George buys Mildred a Yorkshire Terrier, Truffles, who Mildred later registers at the kennel club as Truffles duBourbon Fitzwilliam III!
Another key driver of the series' humour came from the chemistry between George and Mildred, as illustrated in Man About The House, and the power struggle that is their marriage. There are put-downs on both sides, each annoying and antagonising the other. The biggest complaint from Mildred is the couple's lack of sex life. For the time, Mildred is a remarkably strong woman who knows what she wants and isn't afraid to ask for it: it's unfortunate that George isn't keen on listening! Their lack of intimacy is a regular source of jokes as it was in the previous series. It's hard to tell precisely how this may have come across at the time, but to a modern viewer George can look weak and emasculated.
Money, or lack of it, proves to be another source of conflict and laughter. George is in and out of work and never really wants to do anything much. He is part of television's long-line of slackers: as long as he's got his telly, the racing and a brown ale he's happy. Mildred on the other hand wants sophistication, the finer things in life and to be upwardly mobile and so is constantly frustrated by George's lack of ambition and social graces. He secures work for a period as a traffic warden, but gives it up in the Series 4 episode All Work And No Pay, after which he pretends to Mildred he still has a job as he's frightened of how she'll react.
Their lack of money is also highlighted when Mildred's sister Ethel, played by Avril Elgar, comes to visit with her husband Humphrey, played by sitcom stalwart Reginald Marsh. Ethel has married into money and relishes every opportunity to rub Mildred's face in it. For example in Series 2, The Unkindest Cut Of All, George hasn't paid the electricity bill and they have been cut off. Ethel and Humphrey are coming to dinner, so to hide the disgrace they run an extension lead into the Fourmiles' house next door while they're out. Humphrey remarks on the dim light and Mildred says they are doing their bit to save energy, to which Ethel replies: "Well, we're doing our bit. We turn off the underwater lighting in the pool during the day."
In real life, Yootha and Brian got on very well and enjoyed working together. They had met many years before, in the mid-1950s, when they were both part of the Joan Littlewood Theatre Workshop at The Theatre Royal Stratford East so knew each other's work on stage. Years of working together in Man About The House had forged their on-screen partnership and when it came to their own series they felt that the writers were delivering terrific scripts and had explored the characters well. Neither performer was a great ad-libber so they appreciated Cooke and Mortimer's tight scripts, packed with laughs, and would work quickly together at the read-throughs such was the understanding between them.
As evidence by its eventual five-series run, the sitcom proved hugely popular with the public. Its strong cast and crew saw it fly high in the TV ratings, and eventually the idea of a touring stage show was put forward. It was in fact the stars who first suggested the play, reasoning that their years of stage experience would prove useful. Cooke and Mortimer knew the characters so well that the script was duly delivered fully formed, with little finessing needing to be done. It would go on to be performed to packed audiences not just across the UK in summer seasons, but on an 8-month tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1979.
Upon their return to the UK Yootha's health was deteriorating. With a somewhat tumultuous private life, she had long sought refuge in alcohol and it was now taking its toll. There are different accounts as to how much she was drinking but the general consensus was half a bottle to a bottle of brandy each day. There are also conflicting reports on how well her alcoholism was known and whether the condition caused problems on set, with the drink being hidden and smuggled in for her by her dresser, but the cast and key crew members said they never saw her drunk or out of control. She was, however, becoming thinner, sadder and more withdrawn, and her colleagues were certainly unaware of the true fullness of her illness. Legendary comedy producer Peter Frazer-Jones, who worked on the sitcom throughout its run, said she could have something of a temper: "She had big blue eyes, and if you got a gaze out of them, they could turn black if she was not well pleased."
After Series 5 was completed a film adaptation was shot. However, it was not written by Cooke and Mortimer but by Dick Sharples and it failed to achieve either commercial or critical success. Sadly this proved to be the end of the otherwise enduringly popular comedy, with tragedy striking just days after its cinematic release in the summer of 1980.
Scripts for Series 6 - due to film that autumn - had already been completed when Yootha Joyce's health suddenly and drastically declined. She died, on 24th August 1980, just four days after her 53rd birthday, from portal cirrhosis of the liver. Brian Murphy was visiting his mother in the same hospital and popped in to see his friend and colleague.
She slipped into a coma while he was there and died with him at her side.
In the 2001 tribute show The Unforgettable dedicated to Joyce, Murphy said that when she died people said to him, "'You've lost a working partner', I said, 'No, I've lost a chum'... and then I realised I've lost my working partnership as well".
In 2004 Brian also revealed that that ill-fated sixth series was going to be their last, both stars fearing they were becoming typecast. Yootha's funeral took place on 3rd September 1980, the very day the cast should have begun rehearsals. Speaking in an interview to mark the sitcom's 45th anniversary, he said: "I don't remember reading all the episodes of Series 6. The sadness of losing Yootha had knocked the wind from our sails."
George without Mildred was unthinkable. There were proposals for a spin-off from the spin-off, following George coping as a widower, but these never came to anything, perhaps thankfully. The iconic comic duo would remain locked, together, in the public mind forever.
Like many ITV sitcoms, George & Mildred probably doesn't get the credit that it deserves. It had sharp scripts, tightly packed with laughs, well-drawn characters, funny situations and a top-quality cast of seasoned comedy actors delivering career-favourite, stand-out performances. It was, and is, a television classic.
Primarily though it should be remembered for its two leads, who between them created one of the great comedy character partnerships, not just of their generation but of all time.
Where to start?
Series 1, Episode 1 - Moving On
It may seem cliché to recommend starting at the start, but the first episode of this sitcom sets out perfectly both the tone and nigh-on every element of conflict that would follow in the next five series.
Mildred wants to view a new house in Hampton Wick but George's feckless friend Jerry still hasn't repaired the car so he offers to take them in the truck he uses as a rag 'n' bone man. It's not the most auspicious way to arrive in a leafy middle-class suburb and it certainly doesn't do anything to endear George and Mildred to their potential new neighbours, the Fourmiles.
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Love comedy? Find out moreDear Yootha...: The Life Of Yootha Joyce
Dear Yootha... That's how people would start. They would write to Yootha about their most intimate problems, so convinced were they of her performance as Mildred in the sitcom George & Mildred. This sexually frustrated, vulnerable yet predatory character had reached such levels of believability, that some were convinced that Yootha would be the one to sort out their worries.
"I'm no Marjie Proops darling, but I try to help in my simple way."
Looking at Yootha's long career, you wonder where she'd been before her phenomenal success. George & Mildred, in which she played alongside Brian Murphy, was one of the most successful TV sitcoms of the seventies. TV success also saw both actors branching out, achieving record audiences on stage, at summer seasons in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. Where had Yootha come from? What training had she had? What kind of person was she? Most importantly, what went wrong when her success became a problem? All this, the author attempts to discover in this fascinating insight into her life.
First published: Wednesday 29th October 2014
- Published: Sunday 16th July 2023
- Pages: 191
- Catalogue: 9798852439031
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- Pages: 191
- Catalogue: 9781494911645
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- Published: Monday 5th August 2024
- Download: 31.57mb
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George & Mildred - The Complete Series
This 6 disc set contains all the series of this classic Man About The House spin-off.
The acclaimed series follows dispassionate landlord George Roper (Brian Murphy - Last Of The Summer Wine) and his upwardly mobile wife Mildred (Yootha Joyce - Nearest And Dearest), as they move from working class life to 46 Peacock Crescent, and thus to suburbia. The move is long awaited for domineering Mildred, who climbs the social ladder to middle class with gusto. George, however, is working-class and proud, and intends to stay that way. Much hilarity follows this transition, which together with the mishaps of a staling 25 year marriage, create a classic comedy.
This illustrious show was created and written by Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke (Full House) and co stars Norman Eshley (Randall And Hopkirk Deceased) and Sheila Fearn (The Likely Lads) as snobbish neighbours Jeffery and Ann Fourmile.
First released: Sunday 23rd September 2007
DVD DVD DVD- Released: Monday 20th May 2024
- Distributor: Old Gold Media
- Region: 2
- Discs: 6
- Minutes: 950
- Catalogue: OGM0008
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- Distributor: Network
- Region: 2
- Discs: 6
- Catalogue: 7952725
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- Released: Monday 6th October 2008
- Distributor: Network
- Region: 2
- Discs: 6
- Catalogue: 7952843
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George & Mildred - The Movie
George and Mildred are the ultimate odd couple, the popular landlord and landlady from Man About The House who became household names with Thames Television in the 1970s. Mildred is vain, snobbish and domineering; George is shy, timid, frigid and henpecked. Together they make a great partnership!
In this movie outing Mildred is still trying to steer him towards romance; hopefully a holiday alone will restart their relationship.
First released: Monday 17th February 2003
DVD- Distributor: Carlton Visual Entertainment Ltd
- Region: 2
- Discs: 1
- Minutes: 89
- Subtitles: English
- Catalogue: 3711503843
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Man About The House - George & Mildred - The Definitive Companion
The classic British situation comedy Man About The House was the highly successful product of comedy writers Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke, airing from 1973 to 1976 and drawing in an astonishing 20 million viewers every week. It introduced us to Robin Tripp (Richard O'Sullivan), a womanising cookery student, lodging in an upstairs flat with two attractive young girls, Chrissy Plummer (Paula Wilcox) and Jo (Sally Thomsett).
Downstairs at the flat in Myddleton Terrace, South Kensington, were George and Mildred Roper, acted brilliantly by the finest exports of Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop, Brian Murphy and Yootha Joyce. The landlords of the property were so popular, they ended up at the front of their own series, the equally successful George & Mildred.
Richard O'Sullivan was also transported to his own spin-off in Robin's Nest, with Tessa Wyatt, although this series didn't meet the same success as its predecessors.
This new book details the full story of these iconic series. With exclusive interviews with the cast, the book includes extensive biographies of all the main actors, together with a full synopsis of every episode, details of the film versions, filming locations, vehicles used on screen, the stage play, and a complete A-Z of every supporting cast actor. The book also boasts frequent memories and contributions from the people involved, including Brian Murphy, Paula Wilcox, Sally Thomsett, Nicholas Bond-Owen, and over twenty-five other support cast and crew.
First released: Wednesday 14th July 2010
DVD- Distributor: Deck Chair Publishing
- Region: 2
- Discs: 1
- Catalogue: 9780956563408
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