It’s 1938 and Adolf Hitler (Neil McCaul) and Eva Braun (Denica Fairman in the pilot and then Maria Friedman) live in an apartment in Berlin and have a love-hate relationship with their happy-go-lucky Jewish neighbours, the Goldensteins – Arny (Gareth Marks) and Rosa (Caroline Gruber).
Adolf doesn’t like how nosy the Goldensteins are. Early in the pilot episode, he says to Eva; “When I finally get to invade Poland, who will be the first to know? The Poles? No! Rosa Goldenstein!”.
The series was a spoof, not of the Third Reich, but of 1950s American sitcoms like I Love Lucy or The Honeymooners with Hitler played as a kind of Nazi Jackie Gleason.
The plot and dialogue were deliberately vapid and corny, and the characters had New York accents and were applauded whenever they arrived on set.
The first episode opened with a caption card explaining the fictional back-story: it supposedly comprised the rediscovered “lost tapes” of an abandoned, never-aired American sitcom created by “Brandon Thalburg”.
Hitler and Eva Braun had little in common with their historical counterparts, acting more like a stock sitcom husband and wife; Hitler, for example, appeared in a golfing sweater and cravat as well as military garb.
Although eight episodes were produced by the new satellite network BSB, only the pilot was ever transmitted (in September 1990) before the series was cancelled following accusations of bad taste and criticism from the Jewish community.
The show marked the final screen appearance of Patrick Cargill.
Adolf Hitler
Neil McCaul Eva Braun
Denica Fairman (1)
Maria Friedman (2) Arny Goldenstein
Gareth Marks Rosa Goldenstein
Caroline Gruber Neville Chamberlain
Patrick Cargill Ruth
Laura Brattan Reinhard Heydrich Ben Boardman Hermann Göring
Thomas Lord Joseph Stalin
Lewis Barratt Narrator
Casey Wallace
Episodes
Pilot | Hitler Moves In*** | Eva’s New Shelves*** | Ziggy Comes to Stay*** | The Mom Who Came to Dinner*** | A Close Shave for Adolf*** | Hitler in the Closet*** | Without Prejudice***
NB: Episodes marked *** were not broadcast.
Video
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The series was a spoof, not of the Third Reich, but of 1950s American sitcoms like I Love Lucy or The Honeymooners with Hitler played as a kind of Nazi Jackie Gleason.
