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Bless This House was a fairly unusual British sitcom for its time in that the
situation was conceived as a vehicle for its star, rather than as an idea for
which a cast was then assembled. Like American sitcoms, it also used a rotating
pool of writers, which included Dave Freeman, Vince Powell and Harry Driver, and
Carla Lane and Myra Taylor.
The programme was the last and by far the most successful of many attempts to
craft a small screen vehicle for Sid James, the hugely popular star of the Carry
On films and Hancock's Half Hour (BBC, 1956-60). It also marked a watershed in
his career by establishing him as an older family man, rather than the lecherous
bachelor in eternal pursuit of 'dolly birds' that was his typical Carry On
persona. The humour of the series revolved around the audience's acceptance of
Sid as a befuddled, short-tempered but essentially loveable everyman with a
prosaic approach to life, constantly frustrated by the pressures of a modern
world he was unable to come to terms with. In particular, he found himself at
odds with the permissive society (as expressed in the burgeoning sexuality of
his daughter Sally), the artistic pretensions and counter-culture slang of his
longhaired son Mike, and his wife Jean's dissatisfaction with domestic servitude
(the latter especially in the episodes written by Lane and Taylor, creators of
The Liver Birds, BBC, 1969-79).
In later series attempts were made to inject a little novelty into the simple
formula: in one episode Sid played both his usual character and an unscrupulous
lookalike with whom he is repeatedly confused; another featured a lengthy
flashback to document his activities during the Second World War. But audiences
were by and large happy with the basic set-up. It was a consistent ratings
winner, partly on account of its calculated efforts to appeal to all generations
of the home audience. It ran for a very healthy six series, in which time the
children grew from school age to adulthood. The last episode aired just four
days before James' death on stage in 1976.
Largely because of affection for the star, and its pleasantly nostalgic
attitudes and concerns, the programme retains a large fan following. A partially
re-cast film version was made in 1973 by the Carry On team of producer Peter
Rogers and director Gerald Thomas.
Matthew Coniam
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1. Peaceful Sunday morning (3:26)
