Millions of TV viewers came to love George and Mildred Roper and their life together at 46 Peacock Crescent, Hampton Wick.
Mildred was the go-ahead half of the partnership, a would-be social climber with a conversational wit and a dress sense that could be truthfully described as stunning. George, on the other hand, was all for the quiet life – a life, for example, which is not complicated by work.
Unfortunately, despite having the same stars and director as the TV series, the absence of prolific sitcom writers Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke – replaced here by Dick Sharples – was all too obvious.
Mildred is determined to celebrate the anniversary of her wedding to George and to do it in style. It’s questionable whether George even remembers getting married, never mind celebrating the disaster.
Resigned to his fate, however, he books a table at “their” restaurant where he had proposed to Mildred many moons ago.
The passing years, however, have not been kind to the restaurant which has deteriorated into a scruffy drivers’ pull up from which George and Mildred are only able to extricate themselves with difficulty.
Steadfastly refusing to give up, Mildred accepts an out-of-season package deal for a weekend at a plush London hotel.
As they arrive at the hotel, George’s best clothes are killing him, while Mildred’s dazzling ensemble seems likely to kill the other guests.
They settle in to have a good time, moving with all innocence into a world of beautiful women, champagne, casinos and roses – until their naivety drops them into an underworld of crooked businessmen, hoods, and con men.
A case of mistaken identity makes George the unsuspecting target for a hitman.
The film was released in July 1980 on the ABC cinema circuit but was shown on television less than five months later, airing on ITV on Christmas Day immediately after the Queen’s Christmas Message.
Tragically, this was to be Yootha Joyce’s last work. Amidst growing concern over her health, she was admitted to hospital in the summer of 1980 and died in hospital of liver failure four days after her 53rd birthday on 24 August 1980. Her co-star and good friend Brian Murphy was at her bedside.
Mildred Roper
Yootha Joyce George Roper
Brian Murphy Harry Pinto
Stratford Johns Jeffrey Fourmile
Norman Eshley Ann Fourmile
Sheila Fearn Harvey
Kenneth Cope Elvis
David Barry Marlene
Sue Bond Tristram Fourmile
Nicholas Bond-Owen Eddie
Neil McCarthy Jacko
Dudley Sutton Bridges
Garfield Morgan Fisher
Harry Fowler Spanish Businessman
Bruce Montague Casino Supervisor
John Carlin Commissionaire
Roger Avon Angela
Linda Frith Bishop
Dennis Ramsden Bishop’s 1st Lady
Caron Gardner Bishop’s 2nd Lady
Vicki Michelle
Director
Peter Frazer Jones
Video
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Steadfastly refusing to give up, Mildred accepts an out-of-season package deal for a weekend at a plush London hotel.
The film was released in July 1980 on the ABC cinema circuit but was shown on television less than five months later, airing on ITV on Christmas Day immediately after the Queen’s Christmas Message.
