It Takes A Worried Man

1 9 8 1 – 1 9 8 3 (UK)
19 x 30 minute episodes

Written by and starring Shelley creator/author Peter Tilbury, It Takes A Worried Man featured the life of Philip Roath, an indecisive 35-year-old insurance salesman whose wife Ellen (Gaye Brown) has walked out, leaving him confused and saddled with a plethora of self-debilitating thoughts, hypochondria and depression.

Philip worries that his hair and gums are receding, and his office colleagues – among them the neurotic ‘Old Man’ and Napley – do not help at all.

The depressive Roath is going through life with perpetually low morale, seeing the worst in every situation.

To help, he talks to himself and to Simon, his nervous psychiatrist (Nicholas Le Prevost) – Many of the episodes were told by Roach recounting his recent experiences to the analyst. Not even the arrival in his life of Liz (Sue Holderness) in series two helps matters much, as their relationship produces as many anxieties as it calms.

One of the gloomiest comedies ever to appear on the box. The televisual equivalent of an album by The Smiths . . .

Philip Roath 
Peter Tilbury
Simon 
Nicholas Le Prevost
Liz 
Sue Holderness
Ruth 
Diana Payan
Lillian 
Angela Down
Napley 
Andrew Tourell
Ellen
Gaye Brown
The Old Man 
Christopher Benjamin