| Heil Honey I'm Home! | |
|---|---|
Title card |
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| Genre | Sitcom |
| Starring | Neil McCaul Denica Fairman Maria Friedman Gareth Marks Caroline Gruber |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 1 (7 unaired) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Galaxy |
| Original airing | 30 September 1990 |
Heil Honey I'm Home! is a controversial British television sitcom, produced in 1990, which was cancelled after one episode aired.
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The show centres on fictionalised versions of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun, who live next door to a Jewish couple, Arny and Rosa Goldenstein. The show's plot is centred on Hitler's inability to get along with his neighbours. A caption at the beginning of the episode presented the series as a 'lost' sitcom from the 50s, recently re-discovered. The show spoofed elements of 1950s and 1960s American sitcoms such as Leave It to Beaver and I Love Lucy, including the corny title, light (even vacuous) plots and dialogue, and unwarranted applause whenever a character appeared on screen.
The plot of episode 1 involved Adolf telling Eva of the impending arrival of Neville Chamberlain, and begging her not to tell the Goldensteins. Of course, Eva lets it slip to Rosa that Chamberlain ("the most important man in Europe!") is coming round and Rosa tells Arny. They then crash the dinner party the Hitlers have prepared for Chamberlain.
The programme was written by Geoff Atkinson and commissioned by satellite television channel Galaxy, part of British Satellite Broadcasting (which later became part of BSkyB).
It was shown at 9.30pm on a Monday night, after an episode of Dad's Army. During the credits of Dad's Army, Galaxy's announcer said "And unless Arthur Lowe defeats him, it's the man himself in a few moments in Heil Honey, I'm Home!, as the Galaxy Comedy Weekend continues."
The programme proved controversial when first aired, as it was seen by many as being in very poor taste. Television historian Marian Calabro described Heil Honey, I'm Home! as "perhaps the world's most tasteless situation comedy". [2] It was accused of crassly trivialising Nazism, although others have defended it as being in the same tradition of Third Reich parodies such as 'Allo 'Allo! and Hogan's Heroes, or along similar lines to the portrayal of Hitler as a domestic fool in The Producers. They also point out the crassness was intentional, and part of the parody anyway.[3] One comedy historian cites Heil Honey I'm Home! as a "heavy-handed concept", and argues the show was a failure as a comedy because it "disastrously exceeded" the limits of irony.[4]
Only the pilot was ever screened, although eight episodes were planned and a number were recorded. The filming of the series was cancelled immediately by Sky (BSkyB) on its acquisition of British Satellite Broadcasting. This was probably due in part to the ire that accompanied the first episode. Neither the pilot nor other episodes have ever been aired since, however many copies of the pilot exist and have been shown on YouTube and other video sharing sites. The show has since become renowned as one of the most controversial programmes ever to have been screened in the UK; it listed at #61 on Channel 4's 100 Greatest TV Moments from Hell.[5][6]