''Man About the House'' is a

British sitcom A British sitcom or a Britcom is a situational comedy programme produced for British television. Most British sitcoms are recorded on studio sets, while some have an element of location filming. A handful are made almost exclusively on location ...

created by

Brian Cooke Brian Cooke (born 1937) is a British comedy writer who, along with co-writer Johnnie Mortimer, wrote scripts for and devised many of the top television sitcoms during the 1970s, including ''Man About the House'', ''George and Mildred'', and '' ...

and

Johnnie Mortimer John Mortimer (2 July 1931 – 2 September 1992) professionally Johnnie Mortimer, was a British scriptwriter for British TV whose work, along with creative writing partner Brian Cooke, also served as inspiration for American television pro ...

that starred

Richard O'Sullivan Richard O'Sullivan (born 7 May 1944) is an English comedy actor, who is known for his role as Robin Tripp in the 1970s sitcoms ''Man About the House'' (1973–1976) and ''Robin's Nest (TV series), Robin's Nest'' (1977–1981) and as the title c ...

Paula Wilcox Paula Wilcox (born 13 December 1949) is an English actress. With a career spanning over 50 years, she is best known for her role as Chrissy in the popular ITV sitcom ''Man About The House'' from 1973 to 1976. She has also had roles in TV shows ...

Sally Thomsett Sally Thomsett (born 3 April 1950) is an English actress who starred as Phyllis in the film ''The Railway Children'' (1970) and played Jo in the TV sitcom ''Man About the House'' (1973–1976). She also appeared as Janice in the film '' Straw D ...

Yootha Joyce Yootha Joyce Needham (20 August 1927 – 24 August 1980), known as Yootha Joyce, was an English actress best known for playing Mildred Roper opposite Brian Murphy in the sitcom ''Man About the House'' (1973–1976) and its spin-off ''George and ...

and

Brian Murphy Brian Murphy may refer to: Sportspeople * Brian Murphy (Jamaican cricketer) (born 1973), Jamaican cricketer * Brian Murphy (Zimbabwean cricketer) (born 1976), Zimbabwean cricketer * Brian Murphy (baseball) (born 1980), American head baseball coach ...

. Six series were broadcast on ITV from 15 August 1973 to 7 April 1976. The series was considered daring at the time because it featured a man sharing a

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

flat with two single women. The show was made by

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broa ...

and recorded at its

Teddington Teddington is a suburb in south-west London in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. In 2021, Teddington was named as the best place to live in London by ''The Sunday Times''. Historically in Middlesex, Teddington is situated on a long me ...

studio in Greater London. It is regularly repeated on ITV3. Two spin-off series were later made: ''

George and Mildred ''George and Mildred'' is a British sitcom produced by Thames Television and first aired between 1976 and 1979. It is a spin-off from '' Man About the House'', and starred Brian Murphy and Yootha Joyce as constantly-sparring married couple ...

'' and '' Robin's Nest''. In 2004, ''Man About the House'' placed 69th in a poll to find ''

Britain's Best Sitcom ''Britain's Best Sitcom'' was a BBC media campaign in which television viewers were asked to decide the best British situation comedy. Viewers could vote via telephone, SMS, or BBC Online. This first round of voting was conducted in 2003, aft ...

''. The series was remade in the United States as ''

Three's Company ''Three's Company'' is an American sitcom television series that aired for eight seasons on ABC from March 15, 1977, to September 18, 1984. It is based on the British sitcom '' Man About the House''. The story revolves around three single room ...

'' in 1977. A

film version A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dia ...

was released in 1974.

Cast

Main stars

as Robin Tripp *

as Chrissy Plummer *

as Jo

Co-stars

as Mildred Roper *

George Roper George Roper (15 May 1934 – 1 July 2003) was an English comedian, best known for his appearances in the long-running UK television series '' The Comedians''. Early history He was born George Francis Furnival in Liverpool to a working-cla ...

* Doug Fisher as Larry Simmonds

Recurring cast

Roy Kinnear Roy Mitchell Kinnear (8 January 1934 – 20 September 1988) was a British character actor. He was known for his roles in films such as The Beatles' ''Help!'' (1965), Clapper in '' How I Won the War'' (1967) and Planchet in ''The Three Musketeer ...

as Jerry (series 3 to 5) *

Daphne Oxenford Daphne Margaret du Grivel Oxenford (31 October 1919 – 21 December 2012) was an English actress, known for her early stage roles, and later her radio and television work. She was the voice (''"Are you sitting comfortably ...?"'') of BBC ra ...

as Mrs Plummer (series 1, 4 and 6)

Plot

Chrissy and Jo live in a London flat together and 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 Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

to attend University. The girls are unimpressed with Gabrielle ( Helen Fraser) as a potential replacement for Eleanor, but they are impressed by Robin's culinary skills, as they cannot cook at all. Learning that Robin has been staying at the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), Georg ...

, they convince him to move in, on the understanding that it will be a

platonic Plato's influence on Western culture was so profound that several different concepts are linked by being called Platonic or Platonist, for accepting some assumptions of Platonism, but which do not imply acceptance of that philosophy as a whole. It ...

relationship. Chrissy tells

landlord A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant (also a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). When a juristic person is in this position, t ...

George Roper that Robin is

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

to eliminate George's objections to the mixed-sex living arrangement. George, in truth a subletting 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 A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to hold land or property in which a lessee or a tenant holds rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord. Although a tenant does hold rights to real property, a ...

against George. Mildred openly flirts with Robin, and Robin frequently flirts with Chrissy and Jo. The girls, adhering to their pledge to maintain a platonic relationship with Robin, spurn his mild advances and adapt to his presence in the flat. Chrissy occasionally shows attraction to Robin, but the two never pursue any romantic interaction. Robin's friend Larry, a lovable rogue, appears on a recurring basis throughout 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, the dodgy builder Jerry (

). Jerry is the only supporting character to reappear in the spin-off ''

''. Robin's brother Norman Tripp (

Norman Eshley Norman Eshley (born 30 May 1945) is an English actor best known for his television roles. Biography Eshley attended Bristol Grammar School and worked in a bank, before training as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He played many ...

) appears in the final three episodes of the sixth and final series, and starts a romance with Chrissy. Eshley had a previous guest role in the episode "In Praise of Older Men" (Series 2, Episode 3).

Episodes

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

Theme music

Written by

Johnny Hawksworth Johnny Hawksworth (2 February 1924 – 13 February 2009) was a British bass player and composer who lived and worked in Australia beginning in 1984. Biography Born in London in 1924, Hawksworth initially trained as a pianist, but also pla ...

and entitled "Up to Date", the theme song was not specially commissioned for the show, but rather was provided via the

production music Production music (also known as stock music or library music) is recorded music that can be licensed to customers for use in film, television, radio and other media. Often, the music is produced and owned by production music libraries. Background ...

company

De Wolfe Music De Wolfe Limited (previously known as Music de Wolfe, often referred to as De Wolfe Music) is a British music production company, recognised as the originator of what has become known as library music. De Wolfe Music was established by Meyer de Wo ...

. It also appeared on the 1996 compilation CD ''The Sound Gallery – Volume Two'', but credited to the Simon Park Orchestra.

Film

A 1974 film version of the show starred all of the main cast members. It was the last in a series of movie screen adaptations of popular TV shows made by Hammer Films,Tom Johnson and Deborah Del Vecchio, Hammer films: An exhaustive filmography, McFarland, 1996. p375. though a ''George and 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: * ''

'', in which the Ropers move to the suburbs. * '' Robin's Nest'', in which Robin gets married and opens a

bistro A bistro or bistrot , is, in its original Parisian incarnation, a small restaurant, serving moderately priced simple meals in a modest setting. Bistros are defined mostly by the foods they serve. French home-style cooking, and slow-cooked foods ...

. The format of ''Man About the House'' was sold internationally, and it was remade in the United States as ''

'' in 1976; in the Netherlands as ''Sam Sam'' in 1994; in Sweden as ''

En fyra för tre ''En fyra för tre'' (One four-room flat for three) is a Swedish television series from 1996. It is based on the British sitcom ''Man About the House''. The series was released on DVD in 2008. Cast * Göran Gillinger as Tobias Hultgren *Lina Per ...

'' 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'' adaptation also spawned the same spin-offs as had ''Man About the House:'' ''

Three's a Crowd ''Three's a Crowd'' (also known as ''Three's Company, Too'' in the ''Three's Company'' syndication package) is an American sitcom television series produced as a spin-off continuation of ''Three's Company'' that aired on ABC from September 25 ...

'' (based on ''Robin's Nest'') and ''

The Ropers ''The Ropers'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on ABC from March 13, 1979, to May 22, 1980. It is a spin-off of ''Three's Company'' and loosely based on the British sitcom ''George and Mildred'', which was itself a spin-off of ...

'' (based upon ''George and Mildred).''

Home media

All six series have been released on DVD in the UK by Network DVD, as have ''George and Mildred'' and ''Robin's Nest''. Region 2 Releases: * Series 1 - 2005 (reissued on 8 April 2013) * Series 2–30 January 2006 * Series 3–20 March 2006 * Series 4–7 August 2006 * Series 5–22 January 2007 * Series 6–14 May 2007 * The Complete Series (Features the six individual seasons in a box) - 24 September 2007 * The Complete Series (In slimmer packaging) - 26 May 2008 Series 1 and 2 have had a US release as part of a two-disc set by

FremantleMedia Fremantle (; formerly FremantleMedia) is a British multinational television production and distribution company based in London. Fremantle takes its name from Fremantle International, acquired by predecessor company All American Television i ...

. Series 1 and 2 were released in Australia in 2004, but a delay was encountered in releasing further series because of contract renegotiations (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. 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 received a release on 7 August 2013. Via Vision Entertainment announced "The Complete Series" will be released on October 21, 2020, which will be the first time this series will be released as a collection. In 2019, a 19-disc DVD set (Region 2) was issued by Network/Fremantle containing every episode of ''Man About the House'', ''George and Mildred'' and ''Robin's Nest''.

References

External links

* . * .
Man about the house – George and Mildred book
at Publisher's website. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Man About The House 1973 British television series debuts 1976 British television series endings 1970s British sitcoms 1970s sex comedy television series English-language television shows ITV sitcoms Television shows produced by Thames Television Television shows adapted into films Television series by Fremantle (company) Television shows set in London Television shows shot at Teddington Studios