''French Fields'' is a

British television Television broadcasts in the United Kingdom began in 1932, however, regular broadcasts would only begin four years later. Television began as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of a transm ...

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

. It is a sequel/continuation of the series ''

Fresh Fields ''Fresh Fields'' is a British sitcom starring Julia McKenzie and Anton Rodgers. A ratings success at the time, it was written by John Chapman and produced by Thames Television for ITV, running for four series between 7 March 1984 and 23 Oc ...

'' and ran for 19 episodes from 5 September 1989 to 8 October 1991. It was written by John T. Chapman (who created and wrote all the episodes of ''Fresh Fields'') and Ian Davidson and was produced 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 ...

for

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...

. Like Fresh Fields, the theme tune to French Fields was an arrangement of

Pick Yourself Up "Pick Yourself Up" is a popular song composed in 1936 by Jerome Kern, with lyrics by Dorothy Fields. It has a verse and chorus, as well as a third section, though the third section is often omitted in recordings. Like most popular songs of the ...

from the 1936 film

Swing Time In music, the term ''swing'' has two main uses. Colloquially, it is used to describe the propulsive quality or "feel" of a rhythm, especially when the music prompts a visceral response such as foot-tapping or head-nodding (see pulse). This sens ...

. The theme tune was played on an accordion and had a French feel to it. The music was by Alan Parker this time and not Harry Stoneham.

Cast

The series stars

Anton Rodgers Anthony Rodgers (10 January 1933 – 1 December 2007) was an English actor and occasional director. He performed on stage, in film, in television dramas and sitcoms. He starred in several sitcoms, including '' Fresh Fields'' (ITV, 1984– ...

and

Julia McKenzie Julia Kathleen Nancy McKenzie (born 17 February 1941) is an English actress, singer, presenter, and theatre director. She has premièred leading roles written by both Alan Ayckbourn and Stephen Sondheim. On television, she is known for her BAFT ...

as middle-aged, middle-class husband and wife William and Hester Fields and follows the series ''

'', which ran from 1984 to 1986. ''French Fields'' resumes the story three years later as William accepts a position with a

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

company and the series follows Hester and William as they move from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a French port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Calais is the largest city in Pas-de-Calais. The population of the city proper is 67,544; that of the urban area is 144,6 ...

. The pair are regularly visited by their daughter Emma (Sally Baxter and Karen Ascoe) and son-in-law Peter (

Philip Bird Philip Bird is an English actor who has appeared in several British shows such as Peter Birch in the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale'' in 2006. He has also appeared in BBC's ''Doctors'', ITV's '' Heartbeat'' and ''Coronation Street''. He appeared in ...

). Bird is the only other ''Fresh Fields'' actor to appear regularly, as Emma only "appeared" via voiceover by Debby Cummings in the original show. Other regular cast members include their French estate agent Chantal Moriac (

Pamela Salem Pamela Fortunee Salem (22 January 1944 – 21 February 2024) was a British film and television actress. She was born in Bombay, India, and educated at Wispers School and Heidelberg University in Germany, and later at the Central School of Sp ...

), who is also the Fields' neighbour to the left, and snobbish English couple Hugh ( Robin Kermode) and Jill ( Liz Crowther) Trendle, the neighbours to the right. Hester and William also cope with Madame Remoleux (

Valerie Lush Valerie Lush (24 December 1918 – 14 May 2016) was a British actress who appeared in many British television programmes. She is best known for playing Auntie in '' ...And Mother Makes Three'' (1971–1973) and '' ...And Mother Makes Five'' (1974� ...

), the unintelligible, ancient, and generally useless (but unsackable) French cleaner who lives on and cares for the estate, "Les Hirondelles," ("

Swallow The swallows, martins, and saw-wings, or Hirundinidae are a family of passerine songbirds found around the world on all continents, including occasionally in Antarctica. Highly adapted to aerial feeding, they have a distinctive appearance. The ...

s" in English) where they all live. Also popping in regularly are local farmer and mayor Monsieur Dax (Olivier Pierre in series 1 and 2 and

Philip McGough Philip McGough (born ) is a British actor from Penygraig, Wales, who is a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company with many appearances on a variety of television programmes. Personal life In an interview with '' The Mirror'' in 2001, McGo ...

in series 3) and his cheeky daughter Marie-Christine (Victoria Baker), to whom Hester does her best to teach English.

Nicholas Courtney William Nicholas Stone Courtney (16 December 1929 – 22 February 2011) was an Egyptian-born British actor. He was best known for his long-running role as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. ...

also appears frequently as the estate's owner, the Marquis.

Ann Beach Ann Beach (7 June 1938 – 9 March 2017) was a British actress. She is perhaps best remembered for her supporting role as Sonia Barrett, the quirky next-door neighbour on the comedy ''Fresh Fields'', starring Julia McKenzie and Anton Rodgers. ...

, Sonia in ''Fresh Fields'', makes a guest appearance in the final episode, in which Hester and William decide to return to their former UK home.

Episodes

Series 1 (1989)

Series 2 (1990)

Christmas special (1990)

Series 3 (1991)

Home releases

All three series of ''French Fields'' have been released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

by Network. A 7-disc boxed set containing all episodes of both ''Fresh Fields'' and ''French Fields'' was also released by the company. The entire series was released in a single

box set by

Acorn Media UK RLJE International Ltd, d/b/a Acorn Media, a British company that publishes and distributes DVDs, as well as selling home-video products and streaming videos with a particular focus on British television. History Launched in 1997, Acorn Media ...

on 2012-2-28.DVD box set
at

TVShowsOnDVD.com TVShowsOnDVD.com was a website dedicated to cataloging, campaigning for, and reporting news about Region 1 television series releases on DVD and region A Blu-ray. The site's slogan asked: "Is YOUR Favorite Show On DVD?". From February 2007 un ...

References

External links

* * *{{Epguides, FrenchFields 1989 British television series debuts 1991 British television series endings 1980s British sitcoms 1990s British sitcoms British English-language television shows ITV sitcoms Television shows produced by Thames Television Television series about marriage Television series by Fremantle (company) Television shows set in France Television shows shot at Teddington Studios