Never the Twain
Never the Twain | |
---|---|
Genre | Sitcom |
Created by | Johnnie Mortimer |
Starring | Donald Sinden Windsor Davies Teddy Turner Derek Deadman Maria Charles |
Theme music composer | Jack Trombey |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
No. of seasons | 11 |
No. of episodes | 67 |
Production | |
Producers | Peter Frazer-Jones Anthony Parker |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Original release | |
Network | Thames Television ITV |
Release | September 7, 1981 – October 9, 1991 |
Never the Twain was a British sitcom that aired for eleven seasons from 1981 to 1991. It was created by Johnnie Mortimer, and was the only sitcom he ever created without his usual writing partner of Brian Cooke. Mortimer wrote the entirety of the first two series and four episodes out of six of the eighth, with the rest being mainly written by Vince Powell (who, among others, wrote the whole of the last three series) and John Kane.
It starred Windsor Davies and Donald Sinden, with Robin Kermode (later replaced by Christopher Morris), Julia Watson (later replaced by Tacy Kneale), Honor Blackman, Teddy Turner, Derek Deadman, Maria Charles and Zara Nutley.
It was made by Thames Television for the ITV network. Since it finished, it has been repeated a few times on satellite television: first on UK Gold and later on ITV3.
The title is taken from the Rudyard Kipling poem; The Ballad of East and West.
Plot
Oliver Smallbridge (played by Davies) and Simon Peel (played by Sinden) are antiques dealers who are also bitter enemies (after a falling-out having been business partners) and also next-door neighbours both in their homes and in their shops, and who are engaged in a continuous game of one-upmanship. So, both of them are shocked when they find out that their offsprings (Smallbridge's daughter Lyn - played by Watson and later Kneale - and Peel's son David - played by Kermode and later Morris) are in love and want to marry as soon as possible. The fathers are forced to reluctantly accept the relationship and marriage, which will take place at the end of the first series.
It is the relationship and marriage of Lyn and David and early days of their marriage alongside Oliver and Simon's further battling over the affection of middle-class widow Veronica Barton (played by Blackman) the bases over which the first three series will revolve (the first two of them being written entirely by Mortimer), alongside a (failed) attempt by Simon and Oliver to try to renew their business partnership in the third series.
After the third series Lyn and David will move to Vancouver in Canada, which will leave the daily goings on at Simon and Oliver's shops and in their private lives as the main themes of the show. Other notable characters in the series will be Simon's butler Banks (played by Turner), who came as a replacement for a foreign au-pair that Simon had requested; Ringo (played by Deadman), Oliver's idiotic assistant in his shop; and Mrs. Sadler (played by Charles), Oliver's clumsy cleaner, who had an annoying tendency to accidentally break things. Banks and Mrs. Sadler's amorous relationship will also provide humorous material in these series, with both of them marrying and leaving the show at the end of the seventh series. The fourth to seventh series were written by a group of other writers, Powell and Me and My Girl co-creator Kane being the chief ones.
In the eighth series (mostly written again by Mortimer), Lyn and David return from Canada, with their son (and Oliver's and Simon's grandson) Martin, who will prove a new way over which Simon and Oliver will develop their long-standing rivalry, over who would prove the better grandfather. However, at the end of that series, Lyn, David and Martin will move to their new flat in Friern Barnet.
Simon and Oliver's daily personal and business lives will return to being the main themes of the final three series (all written in their entirety by Powell). In these series, another character (who had already made a one-off appearance in the fourth series) would begin to appear regularly: Simon's Aunt Eleanor (played by Nutley, who had also appeared in Vince Powell's earlier sitcom Mind Your Language), who would move near Oliver and Simon.
Also appearing in some episodes of the series were Donald Sinden's sons Marc and Jeremy, and his wife Diana appeared in the very last episode of all.
Episodes
Series 1 (1981)
- 1.1. Families At War (September 7, 1981)
- 1.2. Of Meissen Men (September 14, 1981)
- 1.3. A Night At The Opera (September 21, 1981)
- 1.4. A Matched Pair (September 28, 1981)
- 1.5. Nothing But The Truth (October 5, 1981)
- 1.6. Father Of The Groom (October 19, 1981)
Series 2 (1982)
- 2.1. Who's Been Sleeping In My Bed? (September 7, 1982)
- 2.2. As Young As You Feel (September 14, 1982)
- 2.3. A Woman's Place ... (September 21, 1982)
- 2.4. Blood Brothers (September 28, 1982)
- 2.5. lf You Knew Susan (October 5, 1982)
- 2.6. The More We Are Together (October 12, 1982)
Series 3 (1983)
- 3.1. Taking Stock (October 10, 1983)
- 3.2. Partners (October 17, 1983)
- 3.3. A Nose For Quality (October 24, 1983)
- 3.4. The End Of The Line (October 31, 1983)
- 3.5. The Welsh Connection (November 7, 1983)
- 3.6. Not On The Same Wavelength (November 14, 1983)
Series 4 (1984)
- 4.1. A Home Of Your Own (November 8, 1984)
- 4.2. The Royal Connection (November 15, 1984)
- 4.3. Words And Music (November 22, 1984)
- 4.4. No Flame Like An Old Flame (November 29, 1984)
- 4.5. Love's Neighbours Lost (December 6, 1984)
- 4.6. Come Fly With Me (December 13, 1984)
Series 5 (1986)
- 5.1. In Whom We Tryst (January 8, 1986)
- 5.2. Going, Going, Gone (January 15, 1986)
- 5.3. Thicker Than Water (January 22, 1986)
- 5.4. Kung Who (January 29, 1986)
- 5.5. Reading Between The Lines (February 5, 1986)
- 5.6. Definitely Not Cricket (February 12, 1986)
Series 6 (1987)
- 6.1. Feed A Cold (January 15, 1987)
- 6.2. Going To Pot (January 22, 1987)
- 6.3. Love ls A Many Splendoured Thing (January 29, 1987)
- 6.4. A Night To Remember (February 5, 1987)
- 6.5. The Battle Of Deveraux Dale (February 12, 1987)
- 6.6. Affairs Of The Heart (February 19, 1987)
Series 7 (1988)
- 7.1. Settled Out Of Court (January 27, 1988)
- 7.2. The Wagers Of Sin (February 3, 1988)
- 7.3. Betrothed, Bothered And Bewildered (February 10, 1988)
- 7.4. The Second Time Around (February 17, 1988)
- 7.5. Born To Blush Unseen (February 24, 1988)
- 7.6. Fasten Your Seat Belts (March 2, 1988)
Series 8 (1988)
- 8.1. Grandfathers-in-Law (October 24, 1988)
- 8.2. Nursery Times (October 31, 1988)
- 8.3. Whose Baby? (November 7, 1988)
- 8.4. Never Say Die (November 14, 1988)
- 8.5. Moving On (November 21, 1988)
- 8.6. It's A Long Way To Friern Barnet (November 28, 1988)
Series 9 (1989)
- 9.1. Just The Ticket (September 6, 1989)
- 9.2. A Point Of Honour (September 13, 1989)
- 9.3. A New Lease Of Life (September 20, 1989)
- 9.4. Aspects Of Love (September 27, 1989)
- 9.5. Neighbours (October 4, 1989)
- 9.6. Bonjour Paris (October 11, 1989)
Christmas Special (1989)
- A Winter's Tale (December 28, 1989)
Series 10 (1990)
- 10.1. X Marks The Spot (September 5, 1990)
- 10.2. S.W.A.L.K. (September 12, 1990)
- 10.3. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? (September 19, 1990)
- 10.4. Happy Holiday (September 26, 1990)
- 10.5. There But For The Grace Of God (October 3, 1990)
- 10.6. A Car By Any Other Name (October 10, 1990)
Series 11 (1991)
- 11.1. Viva Espana (September 4, 1991)
- 11.2. The Best Laid Plans (September 11, 1991)
- 11.3. Born Again (September 18, 1991)
- 11.4. There Goes The Bride (September 25, 1991)
- 11.5. Two Fools And Their Money (October 2, 1991)
- 11.6. The First Of The Queue (October 9, 1991)
DVD release
The complete first series was released on DVD in 2001, by Clear Vision. No other series were released. However Network still has aspirations into releasing all eleven series of the show on DVD in the future.
DVD Title | Discs | Year | No. of Ep. | DVD release | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Region 2 | Region 4 | |||||
Complete Series 1 | 1 | 1981 | 6 | 04 Jun 2001 | TBC |
External links
- Never the Twain at IMDb
- Never the Twain at BBC Online Comedy Guide