Thick As Thieves was a British sitcom starring John Thaw (in a role very different from The Sweeney or Inspector Morse) and Bob Hoskins. The series ran for only eight episodes, but every episode was hilarious.
George “Dobbsie” Dobbs (Hoskins) is a career criminal. Well . . . he’s a burglar who was never very good at it.
In the first episode, he is released a day early after a three-year gaol sentence. He returns to his house in Fulham and discovers his wife Annie (Pat Ashton) in bed with his criminal colleague, Stan (Thaw).
Annie is glad to have her husband home, but she has no intention of giving up her relationship with Stan either, so the three reluctantly set up house together. George starts out unwilling to share his wife with Stan but gradually accepts this as the series progresses.
George and Stan are the archetypal ‘odd couple’: friends with radically different personalities who clash constantly but respect each other’s differences. Daphne (Nell Curran) was Annie’s friend and much-needed confidante.
It’s clear that Annie genuinely loves both men, and she clearly enjoys being the centre of the threesome.
But things got especially crowded when on-the-run jailbird Tommy Hollister (Trevor Peacock) also moved in.
Thick As Thieves was penned by the excellent scriptwriting team of Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais.
The pair wanted to develop the series further and send both men back inside, but two things happened: LWT bosses dithered because they thought the writing was too clever and could go over people’s heads; and John Thaw appeared in an Armchair Cinema film called Regan, which led to him being offered the lead role in The Sweeney.
Clement and La Frenais took the idea to the BBC instead, who developed the idea into Porridge.
George Dobbs Bob Hoskins
Stan
John Thaw
Annie Dobbs
Pat Ashton
Daphne
Nell Curran Tommy Hollister
Trevor Peacock
Episodes
The Home Coming | Happy Release | Good Conduct | Two Men in My Life | The Trouble with Tommy | Three Into Two Won’t Go | Home & Away | Holy Deadlock
Video
Related Posts
Happy Ever After 1 9 6 9 - 1 9 7 0 (UK) 14 x 50 minute episodes This 14-part drama anthology series from…
Nobody's Perfect (Hart of The Yard) 1 9 8 0 (USA) 8 x 30 minute episodes This short-lived crime-fighting comedy from ABC starred Ron Moody as English…
Kids 1 9 7 9 (UK) 13 x 60 minute episodes Debuting on 27 April 1979, LWT's Kids provided 13 hour-long episodes…
Angel 1 9 6 0 - 1 9 6 1 (USA) 33 x 30 minute episode Events in the lives of the newlywed…
Marjorie and Men 1 9 8 5 (UK) 6 x 30 minute episodes Patricia Routledge appeared in her first starring comedy role as Marjorie…
That's Your Funeral 1 9 7 0 (UK) 7 x 30 minute episodes This brief BBC comedy series about a firm of undertakers…
You're Only Young Twice 1 9 7 7 - 1 9 7 9 (UK) 1 9 8 1 (UK) 31 x 30 minute episodes The setting…
Sir Yellow 1 9 7 3 (UK) 6 x 30 minute episodes Yellow by name, Yellow by nature. The cowardly Sir Yellow ranges…
