Bless This House (British TV series)

Bless This House centres on life in Howard Road, New Malden, where travelling stationery salesman Sid Abbott[1] 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. Mike is 18 and Sally is 16, at the series' start. 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 Lewis and his wife Betty.

• Sidney James as Sid Abbott. Jean Abbott's husband and an Arsenal F.C. fan.[2] 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 public house. He often tries to avoid occasions he doesn't want to attend, but this often backfires on him.
• Diana Coupland as Jean Abbott. 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.
• Robin Stewart as Mike Abbott. Jean and Sid's son, their firstborn. He is an artist but he always avoids employment because "it's a drag."
• Sally Geeson as Sally Abbott. 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." Sally married Bless This House producer William G. Stewart in 1976 and had two children during their 10 years of marriage.
• Anthony Jackson as Trevor Lewis. The Abbotts' next-door neighbour and Sid's best friend.
• Patsy Rowlands as Betty Lewis. 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.

The show was produced and directed by William G. Stewart, later the host of Channel 4’s 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 the ITV colour strike. Every episode was recorded in Studio 1 at Thames Television's Teddington Studios.[3][4]

The series ended abruptly on 22 April 1976, when just four days after broadcast of the 13th and final episode of the sixth series, Sid James collapsed on stage at the Sunderland Empire Theatre during a performance of The Mating Season after failing to respond to a cue. James had suffered a heart attack and later died on the way to the hospital.

At the time of James's death, plans were in place for a seventh and eighth series of the show and a second feature film. Ironically, James had told his co-star Diana Coupland, "it's such fun and so successful, we'll still be working on Bless This House till one of us kicks the bucket."[5]

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. June later guest starred in an episode of the regular series, although as a different character. 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.

List of films based on British television series

• blessthishouse.net - Unofficial fan site.
• Bless this house at IMDb.
• Bless this house at British Comedy Guide.
• Bless this house at British TV comedy.
• Bless this house at British classic comedy.