''My Hero'' is a British television

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 ...

, created by

Paul Mendelson Paul A. Mendelson is an English television, film and radio scriptwriter. Early life and career He studied law at Cambridge University, where he gained a first class honours degree, after attending Newcastle Royal Grammar School, Glasgow High S ...

, and produced for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

between 2000 and 2006. The series follows the exploits of an alien superhero known as "Thermoman" - a multi-powered superhero who originates from the planet Ultron - during his time between missions after falling in love with a British nurse he rescued. Although incredibly intelligent amongst his kind, Thermoman is unfamiliar with human life, which not only leads others to consider him dim-witted and idiotic, but also causes problems due to his many misunderstandings. The main role of Thermoman was portrayed by

Ardal O'Hanlon Ardal O'Hanlon (; born 8 October 1965) is an Irish comedian, actor, and author. He played Father Dougal McGuire in ''Father Ted'' (1995–1998), George Sunday/Thermoman in ''My Hero (British TV series), My Hero'' (2000–2006), and DI Jack Moone ...

up until 2005, before he was replaced by

James Dreyfus James Louis de Zogheb Dreyfus (born 9 October 1968) is an English actor most notable for roles on television sitcoms '' The Thin Blue Line'' as Constable Kevin Goody, and '' Gimme Gimme Gimme'' as Tom Farrell. Dreyfus is most recently known for ...

for the final series. The cast itself remained largely unchanged throughout its broadcast history, and included

Emily Joyce Emily Sian Joyce is an English actress, known for playing the role of Janet Dawkins in the BBC comedy series '' My Hero'' between 2000 and 2006. Career After drama school, Joyce joined the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her first television role ...

Lill Roughley Lilian "Lill" Roughley (born 1949) is an English actress who has appeared on British television since the 1970s. Her notable roles include Alice in the first series of ''Mulberry'', and as Ella Dawkins in '' My Hero''. In the 1980s and 1990s, Ro ...

Tim Wylton Tim Wylton (born Timothy Higginson; 27 February 1940) is a British actor best known for his television roles as Stanley Dawkins in '' My Hero'', and Lol Ferris in '' As Time Goes By''. Career As a stage actor he appeared in Zeffirelli's noted 19 ...

, Lou Hirsch,

Hugh Dennis Peter Hugh Dennis (born 13 February 1962) is an English comedian, presenter, actor, Impressionist (entertainment), impressionist and writer. He was a panellist in every episode of the comedy show ''Mock the Week'' (2005–2022) and is one half ...

Geraldine McNulty Geraldine McNulty is an English stage and television actress. She has played the character of Mrs Raven in '' My Hero'', and had guest appearances in ''Neverwhere'', '' Gimme Gimme Gimme'', ''The Vicar of Dibley'', '' The Smoking Room'' and '' ...

, and

Philip Whitchurch Philip Whitchurch (born 30 January 1951) is an English stage, film, and television actor. He is best known for playing Captain William Frederickson in three episodes of ''Sharpe'' between 1994-1997 and the role of Chief Inspector Philip Cato i ...

. Unlike most British sitcoms, Mendelson co-wrote episode scripts with a large team of writers. Each series also featured a varying number of episodes, with the first and second series containing six episodes, series three through five containing 10 episodes each and series six containing 8 episodes, with a Christmas Special for 2000. Despite its viewing figures going into decline by the time of Dreyfus' appearance, the show remained a regular feature on British television, being regularly repeated on

Gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the series was shown on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

and, briefly,

BBC America BBC America is an American basic cable network that is owned by AMC Networks. The channel primarily airs sci-fi and action series and films, as well as selected programs from the BBC (such as its nature documentary series). Unlike the BBC's ...

. In Australia,

UKTV UKTV Media Limited, trading as UKTV, is a British multi-channel broadcaster, which, since 2019, has been wholly owned by BBC Studios (formerly BBC Worldwide), a commercial subsidiary of the BBC. It was formed on 1 November 1992 through a join ...

offered reruns of the first three series, while

BBC Entertainment BBC Entertainment was an international television channel that broadcast comedy, drama, light entertainment, reality and children's programming (some regions only) from the BBC, Channel 4 and other UK production houses. The channel broadcast re ...

provided repeats for

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

. Three of the six series have been released on DVD; two on

Region 1 DVD DVD region codes are a digital rights management technique introduced in 1997. It is designed to allow rights holders to control the international distribution of a DVD release, including its content, release date, and price, all according to t ...

and one on Region 2. Fans have since petitioned the

to release the complete series on DVD.

Premise

The series focuses on the life of George Sunday, a man who comes off as idiotic, but who in reality is a superhero from the planet Ultron known as "Thermoman", who serves to safeguard humanity and the Earth, and Janet Dawkins, a British nurse who works at a local surgery in the London town of Northolt, whom George falls in love with after saving her life. The series focuses on the couple's efforts to cope with numerous problems that occur to them during their relationship, including dealing with Janet's obnoxius parents and the self-centered doctor whom she works for, and George's many misunderstandings of human culture, societial values and traits. After the second series, the writers added in additional elements surrounding the couple being married and having children of Ultronian origin - capable of speech, intelligence and super powers for their infant age - and coping with issues surrounding their family lives. In the sixth series, George loses his old body, and replaces it with a new one that he gives the alias of George Monday, taking up work as a doctor alongside Piers at his surgery.

Cast

as George Sunday AKA "Thermoman" (Series 1–5) - A dim-witted superhero, intelligent on alien matters, but completely unable to understand human society and values. *

as George Monday AKA "Thermoman" (Series 6) - George's new alias after losing his old one due to financial troubles, who shows some intelligence but is still misunderstanding human culture. *

as Janet Dawkins - A British nurse and George's lover, who often struggles with the alien aspects of his life and people. *

as Ella Dawkins - Janet's obnoxious mother. *

as Stanley Dawkins - Janet's mildly obnoxious father. * Lou Hirsch as Arnie Kowalski - George's cousin, and a former superhero who was stripped of his powers for abusing them. Initially written to living in the US, the third series saw writers relocate him to Northolt and develop a relationship with Mrs. Raven. *

as Dr. Piers Crispin - A self-centred, pompous TV doctor who runs his own surgery in Northolt and regularly looks for ways to increase his fame and popularity. *

as Mrs. Raven - Piers' surgery receptionist, a vindictive, sadistic woman with a cruel liking for basking in other people's misery. *

as Tyler - George and Janet's next-door neighbour, who suffers delusions and hallucinations that cause him to mix up fictional elements, most from science-fiction, fantasy and conspiracy theories, with real-life. He is the only one to know of George's real identity. After the first series, the writers gave him more prominence, including being George's assistant at his shop. *

Moya Brady Moya Brady (born 8 September 1962) is an English actress. Her roles include Breda McQueen on the Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks'' from 2018 to 2020. Brady grew up in the seaside town of Blackpool, Lancashire, England. She has appeared in a ...

as Avril (Series 1) - George's assistant in his shop. The character was written out after the first series. *

Pat Kelman Pat Kelman (b. Patrick Kelly) is a British film distributor, photographer, director, writer and actor. Born in Chelmsford, Essex, he was raised in Cornwall where he now lives after spending 20 years in London. He was trained at the University of Lo ...

as the Ultron Postie (Series 3–6) - Ultronian postman who delivers correspondence to George on Earth * Finlay Stroud as Apollo "Ollie" Sunday (Series 2–6) - George and Janet's son. He is highly intelligent in human life, compared to his father, with his superpowers. * Madeline Mortimer as Cassandra "Cassie" Sunday (series 5–6) - George and Janet's daughter, highly intelligent, possessing the power of premonition and foresight.

Episodes

Home media

In the United States, the series has been released on DVD via

BBC Video 2 Entertain Video Limited, trading as BBC Studios Home Entertainment, is a British video and music publisher founded in 2004 following the merger of BBC Video and Video Collection International by BBC Worldwide and the Woolworths (United Kingd ...

; "Season One" was released on 16 January 2007, while "Season Two" was released on 7 August 2007. The sets are now currently out-of-print and no subsequent seasons have been made available on region 1. In the United Kingdom, Series Three was the only series to receive a home video release. The "Complete Series 3" was released on VHS on 7 October 2002 via IMC Vision, while two DVD sets, "Volume 1" (episodes 1–5 of Series 3), and "Volume 2" (episodes 6–10 of Series 3) were also released on 7 October 2002. A DVD set containing "Complete Series 3" was additionally made available from IMC Vision on 14 May 2012. As of 2024, it has not been announced if ''My Hero'' will receive any subsequent series releases, or a complete series box set. Series one and two of ''My Hero'' became available to stream in the UK via

BritBox BritBox is a British Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Video on demand#Subscription models, video on demand Streaming television, streaming service founded by BBC Studios and ITV plc, ITV which operates in eight countries across Australi ...

from 10 March 2022. Seasons 1 & 2 as well as the additions of Seasons 3 & 4 was added to BritBox via ITVX as of 18 February 2024 https://www.itv.com/watch/my-hero/10a2177

References

External links