| Barbara | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Starring | Gwen Taylor Sam Kelly Benedict Sandiford Sherrie Hewson Elizabeth Carling Mark Benton Madge Hindle John Arthur |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of episodes | 29 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ITV |
| Original run | 10 July 1995 – 30 March 2003 |
Barbara is a British sitcom starring Gwen Taylor in the title role. A pilot aired in 1995, and three series then aired from 1999 to 2003. It was made by Central Television, and filmed at their Lenton Lane studios in Nottingham in front of a live studio audience. The majority of location scenes for the series were filmed in various suburbs of Nottingham, including Mapperley and West Bridgford, with other scenes filmed around Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. Despite winning awards and respectable viewing figures, it was axed by ITV in 2003. It is possibly the very last family sitcom broadcast on ITV.
Contents |
Barbara first aired a pilot within the Comedy Firsts series on 10 July 1995. Four years later, on 27 June 1999 the first of three series aired. Some of the cast and names of the characters changed when the first series aired. Unusually for a British sitcom, Barbara was written by a team of writers; Mark Bussell, Rob Clark, Ramsay Gilderdale, Graham Mark Walker and Justin Sbresni.
Pilot
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Series
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Barbara Liversidge (spelt Liversage in the pilot) is a no-nonsense nosey middle-aged Yorkshire doctor's receptionist with a sharp tongue. She has been married to her husband Ted, a taxi driver, for 35 years. Their twenty-something lovelorn son Neil does very little. Their daughter, the long-suffering Linda is married to Martin Pond (Benson in the pilot). Martin is a chef in the pilot, while in the three series is a TV presenter who has his own show Pond Life on a local TV channel. Jean is her preening sister who is married to the simpering Phil. Barbara's colleague at the doctor's surgery is Doreen. Benedict Sandiford did not appear in the pilot. John Arthur did not appear in the pilot.
All Sunday, 8pm, ITV except Scattering, shown at 7pm
The twelve episodes making up Series Three were recorded as a complete series in 2001, but were split into two separate series upon broadcast - six airing in 2002 and the remaining six airing in 2003. The 2002 episodes were shown Tuesdays at 8.30pm, apart from "Flood" which was shown at 8.00pm and "Valentine" which was shown on a Saturday at 7.45pm. All 2003 episodes were shown Sundays at 7.00pm. The Series Three DVD release contains the full twelve episodes.[1]
Initial reactions to the pilot were lukewarm. While The Guardian described Taylor as 'ever-watchable', it felt there was too much focus on character at the expense of plot, summing up 'whether or not there's a series in here remains to be seen'[2]. Critics remained ambivalent as Barbara progressed to full series; previewing the second series opener in The Guardian, Jonathan Wright felt the show had become 'an enjoyable slice of mainstream sitcom'[3], but Charlie Catchpole in The Mirror felt Taylor and Kelly were both 'sadly wasted', remarking 'Carlton Television say Barbara is ITV's most popular comedy for five years. I believe them. It's not exactly a crowded field, is it?'[4]. However, every episode of the 1999 and 2002 series was in ITV's top 30 weekly ratings as compiled by BARB and audience figures frequently averaged around 5-7 million viewers.
The Independent Television Commission's annual report for 2001 labelled Barbara 'a rare exception' to the otherwise unimpressive 'commitment to comedy shown by ITV', as represented by shows such as Sam's Game and Babes in the Wood[5]
| DVD | Release date |
|---|---|
| The Complete Series 1 | 13 September 2010 |
| The Complete Series 2 | 17 January 2011 |
| The Complete Series 3 | 23 May 2011 |
| The Complete Series 1 - 3 Box Set | 24 October 2011 |