Bless This House (film)

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Bless This House
Bless This House poster.jpg
Film poster by Arnaldo Putzu
Directed byGerald Thomas
Written byDave Freeman
Produced byPeter Rogers
StarringSid James
Diana Coupland
Terry Scott
June Whitfield
Peter Butterworth
CinematographyAlan Hume
Edited byAlfred Roome
Music byEric Rogers
Production
company
Peter Rogers Productions
Distributed byRank Film Distributors
Release date
8 September 1972
Running time
87 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Bless This House is a 1972 British comedy film directed by Gerald Thomas starring Sid James, Diana Coupland, Terry Scott, June Whitfield and Peter Butterworth. It is a spin-off from the television sitcom Bless This House.

Plot

In contemporary suburbia, somewhere in southern England, middle-aged home-owner Sid Abbot (Sid James) just wants to lie on his settee and snooze. He is initially frustrated by his wife, work-shy son, and fashion-conscious daughter.

Their next door neighbour, Mr Hobbs, puts his house up for sale. The rude and arrogant Ronald Baines (Terry Scott) and his family move in next door and things worsen.

Sid works as a rep and is trying to sell to the Fizzo Drinks company when his daughter Sally arrives with a group of environmentalists to protest the use of non-disposable containers. Meanwhile Kate, Ronald's daughter, starts working next to Mike, Sid's son, and a romance begins to blossom. He drives her home in his psychedelic Morris Minor.

Sid buys a garden shed and sits drinking there with his friend Trevor (Peter Butterworth). They find a book about distilling and decide to create an illegal still in the shed. Sid tells his wife it is for making wine. In fact they are distilling home made rhubarb wine to create brandy. As Ronald is a customs and excise officer this does not bode well.

Mike and Kate get engaged and the wedding day arrives. On the wedding day a fire starts in the shed. Ronald and Sid put the fire out and miss the wedding. A fire engine gives them a lift to the church in time for the photos.

Despite Mike getting married at the end of the film, he is still single when the tv series returned.

Cast

The film starred many of the main actors from the TV series but some were replaced; most notably Robin Stewart, who was replaced by Robin Askwith because he had already been booked for the summer season on Bournemouth Pier and could not also appear in the film; though Stewart would return for the remainder of the six series. Another change was the role of Trevor Lewis, played in the film by Peter Butterworth and on television by Anthony Jackson.

June Whitfield and Terry Scott would play a couple two years later in Happy Ever After and the follow up Terry and June.

Filming and locations

  • Filming dates – 19 June–1 August 1972[1]


Exteriors:

  • The exterior shots of the houses were filmed at numbers 7 and 9, Bolton Avenue, Windsor.[2]
  • Several exterior scenes were shot in Burnham, a village in Buckinghamshire, including St Peter's Church (wedding scene), Church Street (magistrates court/pub scene) and the High Street (fire engine scene).

Interiors:

References

  1. ^ "Robin Askwith's work diary for 1972 from Twitter".
  2. ^ "Reelstreets | Bless This House".

External links