In Loving Memory (TV series)

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In Loving Memory
Image:Inlovingmemory.jpg
Thora Hird and Christopher Beeny
Format Comedy
Created by Dick Sharples
Starring Thora Hird
Christopher Beeny
Colin Farrell
Avis Bunnage
Sherrie Hewson
Rose Power
Country of origin Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
No. of episodes 37
Production
Producer(s) Thames Television (pilot), Yorkshire Television (series)
Running time 30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel ITV
Original run 4 November 1969 – 27 March 1986
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

In Loving Memory was a British period sitcom set in an undertakers business that starred Thora Hird and Christopher Beeny. A pilot aired in 1969, and it further ran for five series between 1979 and 1986. It was made by Yorkshire Television with the 1969 pilot episode made by Thames Television.

[edit] Plot

The year is 1929 and in the opening episode Jeremiah Unsworth (Freddie Jones), the proprietor of the undertakers, dies. This leaves his widow Ivy (Thora Hird) and gormless nephew Billy (Christopher Beeny) to take over the business.
As might be expected, the accident prone Ivy and Billy have numerous mishaps, and hardly a funeral goes by without something untoward occurring.

The setting for the show is the fictional Lancashire town of Oldshaw during the 1930s. The writer Dick Sharples chose this period as this was the time when undertakers were switching from horse drawn hearses to mechanical ones.

[edit] Trivia

  • The pilot for the show aired on November 4, 1969, it was almost ten years later until the first series was commissioned.
  • Luddenden, Yorkshire was where the location shooting took place.
  • That's Your Funeral was a sitcom based on a similar premise, but it only lasted for one series.
  • Thora Hird and Dick Sharples worked together on another ITV comedy series, Hallelujah!, which ran concurrently with In Loving Memory.

[edit] Transmission dates

Pilot (B&W)
(1 x 30 min)Nov 4 1969 · Tues 8.30pm
Series One
(7 x 30 min) May 21-July 2 1979 · Mon mostly 8pm
Series Two
(7 x 30 min) 27 Oct-8 Dec 1980 · Mon 8pm
Series Three
(7 x 30 min) 12 Oct-23 Nov 1982 · Tue 8.30pm
Special
24 Dec 1982 · Fri 8pm
Series Four
(7 x 30 min) 28 Nov 1983-6 Feb 1984 · Mon 8pm
Series Five
(7 x 30 min) 13 Feb-27 Mar 1986 · Thu 9pm