British Comedy Guide

Mulberry Page 2

Quote: jsg @ 25th July 2020, 10:28 AM

I uploaded an interview which was an extra from the DVD to YouTube. I then tweeted it to Karl Howman who quote tweeted it and also had some nice words to say about Geraldine McEwan, which was cool.

In the interview he said that the BBC wanted another 13 episodes of Brush Strokes at the time but Esmonde and Larbey wanted to do something different, which explains how it came to be and also why it had as many episodes as it did.

Didn't they do As Time Goes By once Brush Strokes finished as well?

Quote: Wheel @ 25th July 2020, 10:33 AM

Didn't they do As Time Goes By once Brush Strokes finished as well?

Larbey did, yeah. He didn't create it originally though.

Quote: jsg @ 25th July 2020, 10:28 AM

In the interview he said that the BBC wanted another 13 episodes of Brush Strokes at the time but Esmonde and Larbey wanted to do something different, which explains how it came to be and also why it had as many episodes as it did.

Ha! He told me something completely different when I interviewed him: that the BBC wanted to do more So Haunt Me, and didn't feel they had space for two sitcoms around paranormal themes, so cancelled Mulberry.

Quote: Aaron @ 25th July 2020, 2:17 PM

Ha! He told me something completely different when I interviewed him: that the BBC wanted to do more So Haunt Me, and didn't feel they had space for two sitcoms around paranormal themes, so cancelled Mulberry.

Oh, the interview I was talking about was from when the first series was on TV. He specifically said the number 13 though, and as that's how many episodes there ended up being I just assumed that both series were commissioned at the same time. Obviously they were hoping to get more after that as Larbey had an ending in mind that never happened.

The paranormal thing makes sense. I've also noticed a few sitcoms from established writers cancelled at pretty much the same time though. Sitting Pretty, Get Back, and Grace & Favour are similar cases. As the controller of BBC One changed around that time I wonder if that had something to do with it.

Quote: jsg @ 25th July 2020, 2:34 PM

As the controller of BBC One changed around that time I wonder if that had something to do with it.

Yes, almost certainly the case.

In one week, little by little, s01 is almost done - with an effort, I don't know about watching s02 - iyt's tooooooo slowww.

Quote: Aaron @ 25th July 2020, 2:35 PM

Yes, almost certainly the case.

Yep: https://twitter.com/karl1953howman/status/1330842399216635904

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