''The Bounder'' is a British

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 ...

which ran from 16 April 1982 to 28 October 1983, made by

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

. The series starred

Peter Bowles Peter John Bowles (16 October 1936 – 17 March 2022) was an English screen and stage actor. He gained prominence for television dramas such as '' Callan: A Magnum for Schneider'' and '' I, Claudius''. He is best remembered for his roles in sit ...

(of ''

To the Manor Born ''To the Manor Born'' is a BBC television sitcom that first aired on BBC1 from 1979 to 1981. A special one-off episode was produced in 2007. Starring Penelope Keith and Peter Bowles, the first 20 episodes and the 2007 special were written by ...

'' fame) as Howard Booth, an ex-convict who served two years in jail. He lives with his brother-in-law, Trevor Mountjoy ( George Cole), and his sister (Trevor's wife), Mary (

Rosalind Ayres Rosalind Ayres (born 7 December 1946) is an English actress, director and producer. Active since 1970, Ayres is well known for her role in the 1997 film ''Titanic (1997 film), Titanic'', in which she played Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon. Her husband, ...

). The latter left after Series One in 1982. It also starred

Isla Blair Isla Blair Glover (born 29 September 1944) is a British actress and singer. She made her first stage appearance in 1963 as Philia in the London debut of ''A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum''. Early life and education Isla Blair wa ...

as the next door widowed neighbour, Laura Miles. This series was created by

Eric Chappell Eric George Chappell (25 September 1933 – 21 April 2022) was an English television comedy writer and playwright who wrote or co-wrote some of the UK's biggest sitcom hits over a more than quarter-century career, first gaining significant noti ...

Production

In 1981, following the transmission of the third series of '' Only When I Laugh'', Peter Bowles informed Yorkshire Television, who produced the sitcom, that he would only sign on to do a fourth run if he was given his own series. ''The Bounder'' was specifically written by Eric Chappell for Bowles to play the lead role. The pair had first worked together on a 1977 episode of ''

Rising Damp ''Rising Damp'' is a British sitcom, written by Eric Chappell and produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV, which was originally broadcast from 2 September 1974 until 9 May 1978. Chappell adapted the story from his 1973 stage play ''The Banana ...

'' and then the four series of ''Only When I Laugh'' which aired between 1979 and 1982. The series co-starred George Cole, then well known for playing Arthur Daley in the comedy-drama series ''

Minder A minder is the person assigned to guide or escort a visitor, or to provide protection to somebody, or to otherwise assist or take care of something, i.e. a person who " minds". Government-appointed persons to accompany foreign visitors are of ...

'', which was concurrently in production at the time. This sitcom marked Cole's return to the format after a three-year gap, after previously starring as troubled writer Gordon Maple in Don't Forget to Write! Chappell told the ''

Reading Evening Post The ''Reading Post'' (formerly the ''Reading Evening Post'') was an English local newspaper covering Reading, Berkshire and surrounding areas. The title page of the paper featured the Maiwand Lion, a local landmark at Forbury Gardens. The paper ...

'' in 1982, "Peter played the part n ''Rising Damp''with such flamboyancy and style. It was the first time I had seen him in situation comedy and he did it so beautifully. He was a natural choice to play Archie Glover n''Only When I Laugh''. And, after watching his performance in the hospital comedy, I thought it would be marvellous to create a likeable rogue who had all the qualities we had seen conveyed by Peter." Bowles aired his delight at the series to the ''Reading Evening Post'', "It's the first time I have had a series written for me, and I'm thrilled and very enthusiastic about it. I'm also delighted to be working with George Cole for the first time. He is a master of comedy character roles." The series was cancelled after two series, however less than a year after its cancellation, in 1984 a US pilot was produced by

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

which starred Michael McKeown as Howard, Jeannette Arnette as his sister Bonnie,

Richard Masur Richard Masur (born November 20, 1948) is an American character actor who has appeared in more than 40 films. From 1995 to 1999, he served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). He is best known for playing David Kane on '' One ...

as her husband Charles and

Francine Tacker Francine Tacker (born September 15, 1946) is a retired American actress known for appearing as Jenna Wade in two episodes of the soap opera ''Dallas'' in 1980. Career Tacker was the second actress to play the character, succeeding Morgan Fairc ...

as Laura. However, the pilot was not picked up and a full series was not commissioned.

Home media

The first series only was released on VHS and DVD in the US on 16 September 2003 by BFS Entertainment. The complete series was subsequently released in the UK on DVD by Network on 20 August 2007. The series was also later distributed in Australia by Time Life where it was released in 2010.

Series 1 (1982)

Series 2 (1983)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bounder, The 1982 British television series debuts 1983 British television series endings 1980s British sitcoms ITV sitcoms Television series by Yorkshire Television British English-language television shows