Cuckoo in the Nest

1 9 7 8 – 1 9 7 9 (Australia)
4 x 30 minute episodes

This atrocious sitcom from Channel 7 in Australia aired in December 1978 and January 1979 and starred Jeanne Little (one of the most irritating people ever to appear on Aussie television) who had risen to fame via some hilarious appearances on the daytime Mike Walsh Show.

Jeanne was a much-divorced lady who, as each marriage ended, returned to stay with her sister (Diana Davidson) and brother-in-law (David Whitford) and their two teenage children (Alan Clinis and Lorna Lesley).

Jeanne got a job in the watches section of a department store with her old friend Beryl (Lyn Porteous) who had a crush on Ross (Barry Creyton), the salesman who worked in men’s pyjamas.

Jeanne – wearing a bewildering array of bewildering dresses and a blood-red wig – was meant to be a slightly crazy, addle-brained cross between Lucille Ball and Aunty Mame – but not even the studio audience could be persuaded to laugh.

The scripts were abysmal, the studio-bound production was cheap and only four low-rating episodes were made before the concept was canned.

Producer Austin Steele had previously devised the Oh Brother! series for Derek Nimmo.

Jeanne Little was diagnosed with rapid-onset Alzheimer’s disease in 2009 and was cared for in a Sydney nursing home, where her husband Barry also resided. She died on 7 November 2020 at the age of 82.

Jeanne Little
Diana Davidson
David Whitford
Alan Cinis
Lorna Lesley
Lynne Porteous
Barry Creyton