1 9 6 0 – 1 9 6 2 (UK)
13 x 55 minute episodes
26 x 45 minute episodes
Our House was written by Norman Hudis – fresh from scripting the first five Carry On films – and was grounded very much in that particular genre of comedy.
The Sunday afternoon comedy series also starred some of the regular Carry On team (Hattie Jacques, Charles Hawtrey and Joan Sims). The basic premise had nine incompatible people chip together to purchase and cohabit a run-down house.
Hattie Jacques starred as librarian Georgina Ruddy – who had to keep quiet at work all day and so made up for it by being extremely noisy at home.
Charles Hawtrey was council official Simon Willow, an amiable loner, and Joan Sims was the unemployable Daisy Burke who flitted in and out of jobs and was the bane of the local Labour Exchange.
The newly-wed Hatton’s were played by Trader Faulkner and Leigh Madison, with Frank Pettingell and Ina de la Haye playing retired Yorkshire sea dog Captain Iliffe and his French violinist wife.
Frederick Peisley was the shy and persecuted bank clerk, Herbert Keene, and Norman Rossington played law student, Gordon Brent, whose life was dictated by his father’s wishes.
The series initially ran for 13 episodes of 55-minute duration and was seen at 3.25pm on Sunday afternoons from September to December 1960.
The disasters and belly laughs ensured a second series of Our House, this time with the addition of Hylda Baker and Bernard Bresslaw. Sims, Rossington, Faulkner, Pettingell and de la Haye were all absent from the second series.
Other new faces for the second series were Johnny Vyvyan, Harry Korris, and Eugenie Cavanagh as Marina.
Although series two of Our House had 26 episodes, ITV decided to stop showing them in the London area after just seven fortnightly airings. The remaining 19 episodes were seen on a weekly basis elsewhere in the country.
Only three episodes of the 39 are known to have survived as telerecordings. The others have been junked. None have been seen on British television since 1962.
Georgina Ruddy
Hattie Jacques
Simon Willow
Charles Hawtrey
Daisy Burke
Joan Sims
Captain John Iliffe
Frank Pettingell
Mr Stephen Hatton
Trader Faulkner
Mrs Louise Iliffe
Ina de la Haye
Herbert Keen
Frederick Peisley
Gordon Brent
Norman Rossington
Mrs Marcia Hatton
Leigh Madison
Henrietta
Hylda Baker
Marina
Eugenie Cavanagh
William Singer
Bernard Bresslaw
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