Never the Twain

2022-06-11T23:05:02Z

2A00:23C8:1780:9201:F85A:B300:42B3:B010:

{{short description|British television series}}
{{about|the TV sitcom|the original poem containing this phrase|The Ballad of East and West|the film|Never the Twain (film)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2014}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2014}}
{{Infobox television
| name = Never the Twain
| image = Never the Twain title card.jpg
| genre = [[Sitcom]]
| creator = [[Johnnie Mortimer]]
| starring = [[Donald Sinden]] [[Windsor Davies]]
| location = [[Hersham, Surrey]]
| theme_music_composer = Jack Trombey
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| num_series = 11
| num_episodes = 67
| list_episodes = List of Never the Twain episodes
| runtime = 30 minutes (including commercials)
| producer = Peter Frazer-Jones (1981–1988) Anthony Parker (1988–1991)
| director = Peter Frazer-Jones (series 1–3) Robert Reed (series 4–7) Douglas Argent (series 8) Nick Hurran (series 9–10) Anthony Parker (series 11)
| company = [[Thames Television]]
| picture_format = [[4:3]]
| network = [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]]
| first_aired = {{Start date|1981|09|07|df=yes}}
| last_aired = {{End date|1991|10|09|df=yes}}
| distributor = [[Fremantle (company)|Fremantle]]
}}

'''''Never the Twain''''' is a British [[sitcom]] that ran for eleven series from 7 September 1981 to 9 October 1991.

It was created by [[Johnnie Mortimer]], and was the only sitcom he ever created without his usual writing partner, [[Brian Cooke]]. Mortimer wrote the entirety of the first two series, one episode of the seventh, and five out of six episodes of the eighth, with the rest being mainly written by [[John Kane (writer)|John Kane]] and [[Vince Powell]] (who wrote the whole of the last three series).

The series starred [[Windsor Davies]] (previously known for ''[[It Ain't Half Hot, Mum]]'') and [[Donald Sinden]] as rival antique dealers, and also co-starred [[Robin Kermode]] (later replaced by Christopher Morris), [[Julia Watson]] (later replaced by Tacy Kneale), [[Honor Blackman]], [[Teddy Turner (actor)|Teddy Turner]], [[Derek Deadman]], [[Maria Charles]] and [[Zara Nutley]].

It was made by [[Thames Television]] for the [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] network. Since its run ended, it has been repeated a few times, including on [[Gold (UK TV channel)|UK Gold]], later on [[ITV3]], and more recently on [[British Forces Broadcasting Service|Forces TV]].

The title is taken from the [[Rudyard Kipling]] poem ''[[The Ballad of East and West]]''. The show's theme tune was composed by [[Jack Trombey]] and the track was entitled ''Domino''.

==Plot==
[[Image:silvey-never-the-twain.jpg|thumb|left|[[Donald Sinden]] and [[Windsor Davies]] during filming of ''Never the Twain''.]]
Oliver Smallbridge, played by Windsor Davies, and Simon Peel, played by Donald Sinden, are antiques dealers who are also bitter enemies (after a falling-out having been business partners) and next-door neighbours, both in their homes and shops. They are engaged in a continuous game of one-upmanship, so both of them are shocked when they find out that their respective children (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 takes place at the end of the first series.

It is the impending marriage of Lyn and David and the early days of their marriage, alongside Oliver and Simon battling over the affection of middle-class widow Veronica Barton (played by Blackman), that provides the basis for the first two series (both written entirely by Mortimer). The third series features a failed attempt by Simon and Oliver to try to renew their business partnership.

After the third series, Lyn and David move to [[Vancouver]] in Canada, leaving 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 are Simon's butler Banks (played by Turner), 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 has an annoying tendency to accidentally break things. Banks and Mrs. Sadler's amorous relationship provides 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 writers, Powell and ''[[Me and My Girl (TV series)|Me and My Girl]]'' co-creator Kane being the most prominent.

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 provides a new platform on which Simon and Oliver can develop their long-standing rivalry, fighting over who is the better grandfather. However, at the end of that series, Lyn, David and Martin move to a new flat in [[Friern Barnet]].

Simon and Oliver's daily personal and business lives are the primary focus of the final three series (all written in their entirety by Powell). In these series, another character (who had already made two appearances in series 4 and 7) begins to appear regularly: Simon's Aunt Eleanor (played by Nutley, who had also appeared in Vince Powell's earlier sitcom ''[[Mind Your Language]]''), moves near Oliver and Simon.

Also, appearing in some episodes of the series were Donald Sinden's sons [[Marc Sinden|Marc]] and [[Jeremy Sinden|Jeremy]], while his wife Diana appeared in the last ever episode.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0802052/|title="Never the Twain" A Car by Any Other Name (TV Episode 1990)|work=IMDb}}</ref>

==Episodes==
{{Main|List of Never the Twain episodes}}
{{:List of Never the Twain episodes}}

==Home releases==
The complete first series was released on DVD in June 2001 by Clear Vision and no other series were released. It was announced that a different company would release a DVD featuring the first two series, it was released in September 2010.

An 11-disc complete series set, through Network, was released on 21 October 2019.

In Australia (Region 4), Via Vision Entertainment release The Complete Series in a 11-Disc box set on January 6, 2021.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Never The Twain - The Complete Series|url=https://viavision.com.au/shop/never-the-twain-the-complete-series/|access-date=2021-01-18|website=Via Vision Entertainment|language=en-AU}}</ref>

==Locations==
The outside filming location for the two antique shops in the early series was a double-fronted restaurant on The Green in the village of [[Claygate]] in Surrey, just six miles to the south of Thames Television’s [[Teddington studios]]. They then used some shops at 10-12 Queen's Road, Hersham, Surrey. The churches used for the weddings were St Andrew's Church, Ham, Surrey and St Andrew's Church, Cobham, Surrey. The houses used in the early series were on Burtenshaw Road, Thames Ditton, Surrey. One of these has since been demolished and another house built on the plot. Later houses on Brook Farm Road and Oak Road, Cobham were used.

==Repeats==
Beginning in early 2006, [[ITV3]] began showing repeats beginning with series one in a late afternoon timeslot with other classic ITV comedy series such as ''[[Rising Damp]]'' and ''[[On the Buses]]''. From late January 2019, coincidentally a short time after the announcement of Windsor Davies's death, [[Forces TV]] started broadcasting the show as double bills from the very start.

==Interviews==
* [https://soundcloud.com/thebillpodcast/episode-01-jon-iles The Bill Podcast: Jon Iles] (2017)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb title|0081907}}
*{{British Comedy Guide|tv|never_the_twain}}
*{{epguides|NevertheTwain}}

{{Cooke and Mortimer}}
{{Vince Powell}}

[[Category:1980s British sitcoms]]
[[Category:1990s British sitcoms]]
[[Category:1981 British television series debuts]]
[[Category:1991 British television series endings]]
[[Category:English-language television shows]]
[[Category:ITV sitcoms]]
[[Category:Television series by Fremantle (company)]]
[[Category:Television shows produced by Thames Television]]
[[Category:Television shows set in Surrey]]
[[Category:Fictional rivalries]]
[[Category:Television shows shot at Teddington Studios]]

Bottle Boys

2022-06-11T23:03:41Z

2A00:23C8:1780:9201:F85A:B300:42B3:B010:

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2014}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2014}}
{{More citations needed|date=September 2013}}
{{Infobox television
| image = Bottle Boys titles.jpg
| runtime = 30 minutes
| creator = [[Vince Powell]]
| starring = [[Robin Askwith]]
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| company = [[London Weekend Television]]
| network = [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]]
| first_aired = {{Start date|1984|9|1|df=y}}
| last_aired = {{End date|1985|8|24|df=y}}
| num_series = 2
| num_episodes = 13
}}
'''''Bottle Boys''''' is a British sitcom which ran for two series on [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] between 1 September 1984 and 24 August 1985.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/b/bottleboys_1299000392.shtml |title=BBC – Comedy Guide – Bottle Boys |accessdate=2013-09-04 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050417222328/http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/b/bottleboys_1299000392.shtml |archivedate=17 April 2005 }}</ref> Starring [[Robin Askwith]] as football-mad milkman Dave Deacon, the series mined broad comedy from randy Dave's amorous adventures.

However, as well as the sexual innuendo of his earlier big-screen adventures, Askwith was equally likely to find himself embroiled in more off-the-wall exploits, and found himself at various points in the series dressing up as a cow, inadvertently engaged to Sharon the secretary, and meeting then-Prime Minister [[Margaret Thatcher]] (played by an actor).

The part of Dave Deacon was originally written for [[Jim Davidson]], who was by this time moving into sitcom with ''[[Up the Elephant and Round the Castle]]'', also on ITV. Future BBC controller [[John Birt]], during his tenure at [[London Weekend Television]], suggested that Askwith take the part.

==Critical reception==
The series has a reputation as one of the worst British sitcoms ever produced. [[Mark Lewisohn]], writing in the ''Radio Times Guide to Comedy'' observes that "ITV sitcoms had often plumbed the depths, but this was the limit", and also observed that ''Bottle Boys'' was reputedly despised by comedy executives at ITV. He described ''Bottle Boys'' as his "worst ever" British sitcom.

Writer [[Vince Powell]] was no stranger to working on shows that attracted a bad press, however, having created two of the most controversial comedy shows of the 1970s: ''[[Love Thy Neighbour (1972 TV series)|Love Thy Neighbour]]'' and ''[[Mind Your Language]]''.

The programme also made number 97 in Channel Four's ''100 Greatest TV Moments from Hell'' list show, a retrospective of television's low points of the last fifty years.

==Cast==

* [[Robin Askwith]] – Dave Deacon
* [[David Auker]] – Billy Watson
* [[Oscar James]] – Joe Phillips
* [[Phil McCall]] – Jock Collins
* [[Richard Davies (Welsh actor)|Richard Davies]] – Stan Evans
* [[Eve Ferret]] – Sharon Armstrong
* [[Patrick Newell]] – Mr Dawson
* Leo Dolan – Wilf Foley
* Ann Michelle (one episode)
* [[Zara Nutley]] (one episode)
* [[Alan Gear]] (one episode)
* [[Candy Davis]] (one episode)
* [[Pam St. Clement]] (one episode)
* [[Don Henderson]] (one episode)
* [[Bernie Winters]] – himself (one episode)

==Episodes==

Series One (1 Sep – 6 Oct 1984):

*Fools Rush In
*God Save Our Dairy
*Danger Women at Work
*All in a Day's Work
*One Good Turn
*Here Comes the Groom

Series Two (13 July – 24 Aug 1985)

*Things That Go Bump in the Night
*I Gotta Horse
*Out of the Frying Pan
*If the Cap Fits
*High Noon
*I Love Paris
*The Milk Cup Runneth Over

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb title|id=0086674|title=Bottle Boys}}
*[http://sitcoms.frey-united.com/tv-comedy-series/sitcom/bottle-boys/1808/episodes Bottle Boys episode guide on ComedySeries.info]

{{Vince Powell}}

[[Category:1984 British television series debuts]]
[[Category:1985 British television series endings]]
[[Category:1980s British sitcoms]]
[[Category:ITV sitcoms]]
[[Category:Television series by ITV Studios]]
[[Category:London Weekend Television shows]]
[[Category:English-language television shows]]
[[Category:Television shows set in London]]

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Never the Twain

Bottle Boys