5.4 /10 1 Votes5.4
Country of origin United Kingdom No. of episodes 13 First episode date 1 September 1984 | 5.4/10 IMDb No. of series 2 Running time 30 minutes Final episode date 24 August 1985 Number of episodes 13 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Cast Similar Never Mind the Quality - Feel the, George and the Dragon, Bless This House, Two in Clover, Slinger's Day | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bottle boys the bottle boys
Bottle Boys is a British sitcom which ran for two series on ITV in 1984 and 1985. Starring Robin Askwith as football-mad milkman Dave Deacon, the series mined comedy of the broadest sort from randy Dave's amorous adventures, in a style familiar to viewers from the Confessions films (which had also featured Askwith).
Contents
However, as well as the sexual innuendo of his earlier big-screen adventures, Askwith was equally likely to find himself embroiled in more off-the-wall exploits, and found himself at various points in the series dressing up as a cow, inadvertently engaged to Sharon the secretary, and meeting then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (played by an actor).
The part of Dave Deacon was originally written for Jim Davidson, who was by this time already expanding into sitcom territory with Up the Elephant and Round the Castle, also on ITV. Future BBC controller John Birt, during his tenure at London Weekend Television, suggested that Askwith take the part.
Bottle boys all in a days work
Critical reception
The series has acquired something of a reputation as one of the worst British sitcoms ever produced. Mark Lewisohn, writing in the Radio Times Guide to Comedy observes that "ITV sitcoms had often plumbed the depths, but this was the limit", and also notes that Bottle Boys was reputedly despised by comedy executives at ITV. He described Bottle Boys as his "worst ever" British sitcom.
Writer Vince Powell was no stranger to working on shows that attracted a bad press, however, having created two of the most controversial comedy shows of the 1970s - Love Thy Neighbour and Mind Your Language.
The programme also made number 97 in Channel Four's 100 Greatest TV Moments from Hell list show, a retrospective of television's low points of the last fifty years.
Cast
Episodes
Series One (1 Sep - 6 Oct 1984):
Series Two (13 July - 24 Aug 1985)