My Family (TV series)

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My Family

My Family Opening Credits
Genre Sitcom
Running time Mostly 30mins, 2 50mins
Creator(s) Fred Barron
Starring Robert Lindsay
Zoë Wanamaker
Kris Marshall
Daniela Denby-Ashe
Gabriel Thomson
Siobhan Hayes
Keiron Self
Country of origin UK
Original channel BBC
Original run 19 September 2000–
No. of episodes 73 to date (List of episodes)
IMDb profile

My Family is a long-running British sitcom starring Robert Lindsay and Zoë Wanamaker that first aired in 2000. A seventh series of nine episodes will start in 2007, after a Christmas Special this year [1].

Contents

[edit] Cast

Note - Grace Riggs was played by Avril Elgar in one episode of Series Two, and listed in the credits as "Rebecca", but was not called this in the episode.

[edit] Plot

My Family is about the life of the Harper family, a fictional English family, who live in the London suburbs. Ben, a dentist, and Susan, a tour guide, have three children, Nick, Janey and Michael, all of whom cause problems in their own way. While Susan is a control freak, Ben prefers to leave the children to it and tries not to get involved. In the third series, Abi, the daughter of Ben's cousin, comes to lives with them, and she eventually falls for Roger, Ben's neighbouring dentist. The humour, like most domestic sitcoms, came from the relationships of the family members and the situations they end up in.

[edit] Writers

The series is scripted by a team of writers, following the American model. Historically, British sitcoms were more generally written by one or two writers. By employing a wider number of writers to brainstorm jokes for each episode, the BBC has been able to maintain a consistent and relatively long-lived product without having to wait for a single writer to produce more material.

Those who have written for My Family include brothers Jim & Steve Armogida, Penny Croft, James Hendrie, Ian Brown, Darin Henry, Brian Leveson, Paul Minett, Sophie Hetherington, Shawn Schepps and Andrea Solomons. The creator, Fred Barron, has also written a few episodes.

[edit] Characters

  • Ben Harper - Ben is a misanthropic dentist who shows little compassion for his family, his patients or anyone else he encounters. A grumpy and in a way self-centred man he does deep down care about his family and deeply loves his wife and children. Ben had a habit of trying to get Nick to go away and always makes jokes about him.
  • Susan Beryl Harper (née Riggs) - Ben's wife, Susan works as a tour guide and is a control freak who wants to run the lives of her children, and is known for being a bad cook. She is in her forties, but her actual age is not known because, although she celebrated her 40th birthday in the first series, it was claimed that that was not the first time she had turned 40.
Main Cast of My Family
Enlarge
Main Cast of My Family
  • Nick Harper - The eldest son of Ben and Susan, is an eccentric 20-something still living with his parents in the early series, before moving out in later series. He is unable to hold a job for very long and, while he is often called "a pillock" by his father and "an idiot" by his sister, he is actually much cleverer than he appears. For instance, in "One Flew Out Of The Cuckoo's Nest", the final episode of series 3, where he owns a damp little flat, he cunningly made his father pay for his rent by making a friend impersonate a furious landlord demanding it. In the series 5 christmas special "Glad Tidings We Bring", he is seen in a video postcard, apparently trapped in a jungle and threatened by terrorists demanding £3000. It is shown in the end of the episode however to be a scam cooked up by him and Michael.
  • Janey Harper - Janey, the eldest daughter, is known as a shopaholic and becomes pregnant with baby Kenzo at the age of 19 (Series 3/4). She temporarily leaves the cast in series 4, after going away to university in series 3, where she had a limited part in the series. In series 5, she drops out and returns to live near the rest of the family. Known by Ben as "that airheaded shopping machine from hell". Her boyfriend in series 2 was Stupid Brian, who appeared in three episodes.
  • Michael Harper - The youngest, who was at secondary school until series 6, but is now in the sixth form, is known for his short-term relationships, and is the black sheep of the family, being an extremely intelligent supporter of the Conservative Party (as opposed to his Labour Party father). From series 4, his posh, geeky friend Hubert makes occasional appearances.
  • Abi Harper - Abi is the daughter of Ben's cousin, a very clumsy and dimwitted student, who moves in with the family during the third series. Is romantically involved with Roger Bailey, who proposed to her at the end of series six.
  • Roger Bailey, Jr - Roger, Ben's eternally optimistic and good-natured (much to Ben's chagrin) colleague, works in a surgery above Ben's starting series four. He is forever intruding upon and annoying Ben. He really likes Abi (who obviously likes him back), but can never seem to gain the courage to ask her out in early series. This changes in series 6 when they begin to date. In the final episode of the series he proposes to her. Her response is currently unknown, though, as she fainted on the spot.
  • Alfie Butts - Alfie is a friend of Nick who turns up at the house in the 2005 Christmas Special and moves in with the family. Is a Welsh starting musician but is never very successful in the industry.
  • Brigitte - Brigitte worked as Ben's dental assistant in series 1. Was fired at the end of the series. Out of Ben's many dental assistants, she was the only one who lasted more than one episode. This changed in Series 6, when Muriel became Ben's dental assistant, and lasted the entire series.
  • Grace Riggs (née Ryman) - Susan's mother. Likes her drink, and makes the odd appearance in the series. She is 70 years old.

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of My Family episodes

The first episode aired on 19 September 2000, and six series have so far been aired with six specials, including four Christmas Specials. A Christmas Special for 2006 and Series Seven, consisting of nine episodes, are currently being recorded.

In the 24-30 June 2006 edition of the Daily Mail weekend magazine, a repeat run of Series 5 was advertised, both in the listings and by the TV critic, as a "Brand New Series".

The BBC and UKTV refuse to re-broadcast the series four episode 'Blind Justice' due to an upheld Ofcom complaint. Although no reason was given, it is likely that was considered offensive to blind people. This episode is banned from British TV, but it is still on the Series Four UK DVD release and has been screened on BBC America.

[edit] American style

The production values for the programme are also different from the traditional 'Britcom'. The family's standard of living is more aspirational than realistic. The first series was shot in field-removed video (FRV), to give it a film-like effect similar to American sitcoms (although most American sitcoms are actually shot on film rather than video), and thus in order to maximise overseas sales potential. The 2004 DVD release is presented without the FRV effect, although it is still present on repeat showings on both BBC One and UKTV Gold.

The episodes were recorded in front of a live audience, except where the set used was too large, this was then filmed, and played out to an invited audience 'as-live'. Also, the show, unlike most British sitcoms but in common with most American television comedies, has no location footage.

[edit] Reception

When My Family started, few critics liked it, thinking that it was middle-of-the-road and too old fashioned. [2] However, the programme received above average audience ratings, and further series were commissioned.

[edit] Other countries

My Family has been aired in Canada on YTV, originally at 10pm on weeknights. Also, it has been aired in America on BBC America and some PBS stations. In Australia and New Zealand, it airs on pay channel UK.TV and occasionally on free-to-air network ABC. It is also seen in southern Africa on BBC Prime. In Iceland, state TV channel RÚV has aired a few series.

[edit] DVD releases

The first five series have been released on DVD in the UK, minus the Christmas specials that accompanied series 3 and 4, and the specials that accompanied series 5. A Christmas Specials DVD was released on 20 November 2006, and this contained the 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 Christmas specials. Series 6 will be officially released on 26 December. The first two series are available in the US on Region 1 DVD.

DVD Release date
The Complete First Series (1 disc) 22 March 2004
The Complete Second Series (2 discs) 7 June 2004
The Complete Third Series (2 discs) 12 September 2005
The Complete Fourth Series (2 discs) 20 March 2006
The Complete Fifth Series (2 discs) 18 September 2006
The Complete Sixth Series (1 disc) 26 December 2006
The Christmas Specials (1 disc) 20 November 2006

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ "BBC Whats On", BBC.
  2. ^ "BBC Comedy Guide", BBC.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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