Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em

1 9 7 3 - 1 9 7 8 (UK)
19 x 30 minute episodes
3 x 50 minute Christmas specials

The slapstick adventures of childlike, accident-prone Frank Spencer, resplendent in mac, tank top and beret. Frank was the  ultimate loser - unemployable, unable to cope with even the simplest technology, and the victim of his surroundings. Every well-meaning attempt he made to come to terms with the world ended in disaster, be it learning to drive, getting a job, or realising some long-cherished dream. 

His nervous, effete movements and tremulous voice gave Frank Spencer a childlike quality that might have become tedious if it wasn't for the fact that these affectations were combined with some of the most amazing and hilarious physical comedy ever seen on TV. What saved him was his innocence, his dogged persistence, and his outrage at the injustices he felt he had suffered . . . and his patient, understanding girlfriend, then wife Betty. As Betty, Michele Dotrice provided sympathetic support for Michael Crawford (real name Michael Dumble Smith), content to let him explode in all directions while she, the sensible one, concentrated on being the calm eye at the centre of the storm. Against all the odds, they later had a daughter, Jessica.

There were three series of the hit comedy as well as three Christmas specials from 1973-1978. Crawford did all his own stunts and was involved in some hair-raising slapstick antics - teetering in a car over a cliff, dangling underneath a helicopter, roller-skating underneath a truck, jumping a 30 foot wall on a motorbike, and risking destruction under the wheels of a moving train in a way that would not have been tolerated by television companies and their insurers a few years later.

Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em was a huge hit. A repeat of one episode in 1979 managed to attract 20.4 million viewers. But the BBC weren't so confident in the beginning. When writer Raymond Allen asked them if he should risk giving up his job cleaning in a cinema, they said he should keep it on for a while to see how things went!

Frank Spencer transformed Crawford into a household name but these days he is better known for his singing and his massive success in the stage hits Barnum and Phantom of the Opera.

EPISODES

The Job Interview  George's House  Love Thy Neighbour  Going On Holiday  The Hospital Visit  The Psychiatrist  The Labour Exchange  Cliffhanger

The RAF Reunion  The PR Course  Frank And Marvin  Fathers' Clinic  The Baby Arrives  Jessica's First Christmas  Learning To Drive

Moving House  Wendy House  Scottish Dancing  Men As Women  King Of The Road  Australia House  Learning To Fly