Man About the House

Main stars

Co-stars

Recurring cast

Plot

Chrissy and Jo live in a London flat together. They both work for the same firm. The women find a stranger, student chef Robin Tripp, asleep in their bath the morning after the farewell party for their departed flatmate Eleanor. When he meets the two girls, Robin has been in London two days, having moved from Southampton to attend college. The girls are unimpressed with Gabrielle (Helen Fraser) as a potential replacement for Eleanor. They are taken with Robin for his culinary skills; they themselves cannot cook at all. Learning that Robin has been staying at the YMCA they easily convince him to move in, on the understanding that it will be on a platonic basis.

Chrissy tells the landlord George Roper that Robin is gay to pre-empt objections to the mixed-sex living arrangement. George, in truth a sub-letting landlord placed by the council, is a miserly, spiteful and unkempt man under the thumb of his domineering and sexually-frustrated wife Mildred.

In the second episode, Robin's true sexuality becomes known to Mildred. She takes out her frustrations with George's lack of class and sexual inadequacy by making suggestive remarks to Robin and frequently siding with the tenants against George. Mildred openly flirts with Robin at every opportunity. Robin frequently acts in a flirtatious manner toward Chrissy and Jo. The girls generally have no romantic interest and spurn his mild advances, and adapt to his presence in the flat. Chrissy occasionally shows attraction to Robin but they never pursue any romantic interaction.

Robin's friend Larry, a lovable rogue, appears on a recurring basis through the series. In the third series, he moves into the loft apartment above the trio's apartment and is a frequent source of trouble. Another occasional cast member is George's friend, dodgy builder Jerry (Roy Kinnear). Jerry is the only supporting character to reappear in the spin-off George and Mildred.

Robin's brother Norman Tripp (Norman Eshley) appears in the final three episodes of the sixth and final series, and starts a romance with Chrissy. Norman Eshley had a previous guest role in the series two years earlier playing a different character, and was also a member of the main cast of George and Mildred in which he played the Ropers' snobbish neighbour Jeffrey Fourmile.

Episodes

First airing on 15 August 1973, Man About the House ran until 7 April 1976, after 39 episodes in six series. In addition, on Christmas Day, 25 December 1973, a short special aired as part of All-star Comedy Carnival.

Theme music

Written by Johnny Hawksworth and entitled "Up To Date", it was not specially commissioned for the show, rather provided via the Production music company De Wolfe Music and most recently, made available in 1996 by independent record company Studio2Stereo on their CD "The sound gallery – Volume two". (Matrix number 7243 8 52990 2 5).

Film

In 1974, a film version was made, starring all of the main cast of the series. It was the last in a series of big screen adaptations of popular TV shows made by Hammer Films though a George & Mildred film (featuring Yootha Joyce and Brian Murphy) would be made in 1980 by another studio.

Spin-offs and remakes

After the series ended in 1976, two successful spin-off series followed:

The format of Man About the House was sold internationally, and it was remade in the United States as Three's Company in 1976; in the Netherlands as Sam Sam in 1994; in Sweden as En fyra för tre in 1996; in Norway as Tre på toppen in 1997; in Portugal as Não Há Duas Sem Três in 1997; in Poland as Lokatorzy in 2000; in Russia as Troe sverhy in 2006; in Ecuador as El hombre de la casa and in Chile as Tres son multitud, both in 2007.

The American Three's Company also spawned the same spin-offs as Man About the House had: Three's a Crowd and The Ropers, based upon Robin's Nest and George and Mildred, respectively.

DVD releases

All six series have been released on DVD in the UK by Network DVD, as have George and Mildred and Robin's nest.

Series 1 and 2 have had a US release as part of a 2-disc set by FremantleMedia.

Series 1 and 2 were released in Australia in 2004, but then suffered a delay in releasing further series due to contract re-negotiations (the same problem affected releases of George and Mildred and Bless This House). Series 3 was finally released on 16 July 2008, and Series 4 on 5 November 2008; however, it is no longer available. Series 5 and 6 are yet to be released. Series 1 was re-released on 2 April 2009, now with the same cover art as the UK edition. Fremantle Media re-released series 1 on 3 March 2011 with new cover art. Re-releases have continued with Series 2 on 3 October 2012, Series 3 on 1 May 2013, and Series 4 on 1 May 2013. Series 5 and Series 6 finally receive a release on 7 August 2013.