Bless This House (UK TV series)

Production

The show was produced & directed by William G. Stewart, later the host of the 15 to 1 gameshow, and had theme music written by Geoff Love. A comic strip version was also produced, written by Angus Allan and printed in TV comic Look-in. The first seven episodes were made in black-and-white due to industrial action.

The series came to an abrupt end in 1976, when just four days after broadcast of the final episode of the sixth series, Sid James collapsed on stage at the Sunderland Empire during a performance of The Mating Season after failing to respond to a cue. James had suffered a heart attack and died later on the way to the hospital.

Plans were in place for a 7th and an 8th series and a second feature film at time of James' death. In an ironic twist of fate, James had told his co-star Diana Coupland, "We'll keep making this until one of us kicks the bucket."

Cast

Sid Abbott is Jean Abbott's husband and a Chelsea fan. He likes to believe he is in control of his household, but finds he has to sneak out to go to the Football or the pub. He often tries to avoid occasions he doesn't want to attend, but this often backfires on him.

Sid's wife, who believes she can talk him into or out of anything. She always knows what he's up to and sees through his schemes.

Jean and Sid's son, their firstborn. He is an artist but he always avoids employment because "it's a drag."

Jean and Sid's daughter, Mike's little sister. Sid and Jean constantly worry about her relationships with "boys." She calls Sid "Daddy" and Jean "Mummy."

The Abbotts' next-door neighbour; Sid's best friend.

Trevor's wife and Jean's best friend. Jean and Betty usually gang up on their husbands if they don't do the right things.

Plot

Bless This House centres on life in Howard Road, Putney, where travelling stationery salesman Sid Abbott (note: the spelling of their surname varies; the opening credits of early series one episodes spell it "Abbot" while in the closing credits it is spelt "Abbott") and his wife Jean live with their teenagers: Mike is fresh from art college and more pre-occupied with protests than finding a job; and trendy schoolgirl Sally. Sally is 16 at the series' start, and Mike is 18. Sid and Jean constantly battle to comprehend the new generation's permissive ways and are usually out-of-touch. Their neighbours and best friends are Trevor and his wife Betty.

Film

A film version of the TV series was made in 1972. While it still starred Diana Coupland and Sid James as the Abbotts, Robin Askwith, who had previously appeared in the TV series, played Mike instead of TV series regular Robin Stewart due to the latter being unable to find time to appear in the film, having already been booked for the summer season on Bournemouth Pier. In addition, it featured "new" neighbours played by Terry Scott and June Whitfield. The part of Trevor was also recast with Peter Butterworth replacing Jackson. All the original actors returned for series three. Additionally, Mike gets married at the end of the film; this had no effect on the storylines in the television series.

Home media

All six series of Bless This House have been released on DVD in the UK including a Box Set containing all six series plus the feature film through Network. In Australia, Series 1 was released on 2 April 2009, Series 2 on 3 October 2012 and Series 3 on 6 March 2013. A Complete Series 1-6 Box Set is due for release 6 November 2013.