British Comedy Guide

Close To Home - 1989

I'm trying to find some information on the 1989 Paul Nicholas "sitcom" called Close to Home.

Does anyone remember it? The Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_to_Home_(UK_TV_series) has quite a lot of information, but sadly no pictures and I can't even find the opening title sequence on YouTube.

It was a (fairly poor) sitcom starring Just Good Friends' Paul Nicholas as a vet running his own veterinary practice. The only reason I'm really asking is from a nostalgia point of view. I was 7 when it first aired and I have fond memories of it, but when I go through my bi-weekly YouTube nostalgia trips, that's one of the shows that I've never been able to find.

I seem to remember it being a fairly standard ITV sitcom of the era, not that dissimilar to stuff like The Upper Hand.

So, does anyone have any pictures or links to video clips? Even better if someone knows of it ever being available on VHS so I can pay silly money for it.

If not, feel free to share your memories, if any, of this programme.

Edited by zooo, you meant Paul Nicholas. Paul Nicholls is someone very different. : )

Don't know anything sorry. But you may or may not be interested to know that there was a New Zealand soap in the 70s and early 80s called 'Close to Home'. It was quite successful locally.

Quote: Steve Charlie @ October 4 2010, 3:46 AM BST

Don't know anything sorry. But you may or may not be interested to know that there was a New Zealand soap in the 70s and early 80s called 'Close to Home'. It was quite successful locally.

I wasn't aware of that, makes it even harder to find any useful information on this show. :)

Did it have anything to do with a veterinary practice?

I have just watched both series on Forces TV. They have a lot of old British comedies on. I would say that this is not the best work that Paul Nicholas has done but I would describe it as pleasant comedy typical of the late 80s period. Jane Briers is in my opinion the star of the show. Lovely to see the late Angharad Rees in one of her last acting roles before she turned her back on the industry after the death of her son.

I seem to have lost Forces TV. What number is it?

274 on Virgin

Or Freeview 96. Or Sky 181.

Didn't know this had been on it! Will have to take a peek.

Quote: Steve B Smith @ 26th May 2020, 10:21 PM

274 on Virgin

I used to have it on BT. No longer.

I took more notice of this series and watched some of it because it's the only sitcom so far shown on Forces TV that's not available on DVD. Some of the jokes are a bit dated and one scene was copied from Father, Dear Father. I notice that it's written by the same writer so i expect that's why. Can we expect to see other Brian Cooke sitcoms on this channel in the future? I hope so as I would like to see Tom, Dick & Harriet.

I only found this recently after finding Forces TV did comedy. I really enjoyed it.

The jokes are thick and fast, Jane Briers is amazing, the on going joke "....did I tell you about, no I think I'd have remembered (complete with cheeky grin)" were really good. The young lass (20 then) from Eastenders, and the woman off Roger Roger who I would never have guessed.

I'd watched the entire series before I realised Frank was Steven Frost. In fact, I saw the credits and saw Steven Frost was in it before realising he was Frank.

There was one episode which had a reference to Donald Trump in it which made me do a double take. I hadn't heard of the [insert word here] until a lot more recently.

Edit : Pippa Guard and Lucy Benjamin.

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