British Comedy Guide

No Strings - 1989 Short-lived Yorkshire TV Series

I have vague memories of this series - from what I can recall it was a very "grown-up" sitcom and had a slow and sad sounding song as its theme. I recall that the opening titles featured faceless wooden puppets without strings - an obvious play on the title.

No Strings must have been a flop if a second series wasn't commissioned. I know there were a few late 80s sitcoms (many on BBC 1) that didn't make it to a second series - the David Essex comedy The River being one.

I saw a couple of episodes of this and recall four things: Cleo Laine sang the theme tune, Edward Petherbridge and Jean Marsh starred, Robert Fyfe from Last Of The Summer Wine played the father of Petherbridge's character, and Alison Bettles who played Fay in Grange Hill played another schoolgirl.

Quote: peter gazzard @ December 26 2011, 11:37 AM GMT

I saw a couple of episodes of this and recall four things: Cleo Laine sang the theme tune, Edward Petherbridge and Jean Marsh starred, Robert Fyfe from Last Of The Summer Wine played the father of Petherbridge's character, and Alison Bettles who played Fay in Grange Hill played another schoolgirl.

Thanks for the info. I had heard Alison Bettles was in the series. Were the episodes actually funny? I know (as I had said in my previous post) that the late 80s weren't always a very good time for sitcoms. No Strings mustn't have been popular if they didn't commission a second series.

Quote: Matt79 @ December 27 2011, 1:22 PM GMT

Thanks for the info. I had heard Alison Bettles was in the series. Were the episodes actually funny? I know (as I had said in my previous post) that the late 80s weren't always a very good time for sitcoms. No Strings mustn't have been popular if they didn't commission a second series.

It wasn't laugh a-minute IIRC but gentle in a Summer Wine-type way

Share this page