1 9 9 4 – 1 9 9 5 (UK)
12 x 30 minute episodes
35-year-old Lenny Smart (David Threlfall) is the manager of a Manchester travel agency who shares his house with his younger work colleague Kendle Bains (newcomer John Simm).
The cynical but good-hearted Lenny had been badly hurt when his wife left him two years ago for another man and now he won’t forgive, forget, or allow his 22-year-old friend to make the same mistake.
And so he dispenses worldly-wise – and unsolicited – advice on how to succeed with women to the romantic young lad.
Kendle ultimately falls for Becky (Eva Pope, once Coronation Street‘s temptress Tanya).
The talented David Threlfall struggled valiantly as the hapless Lenny but Men of the World was largely a case of two characters in desperate search of a plot.
The BBC series was written by Daniel Peacock who also played a supporting role as window cleaner Gilby, a former school friend of Lenny’s. Although compared unfavourably to Men Behaving Badly, a second series was still produced in 1995.
Lenny Smart
David Threlfall
Kendle Bains
John Simm
Gilby Watson
Daniel Peacock
Becky
Eva Pope
Mrs Daff
Brenda Bruce