Man About the House

1973

Seasons & Episodes

  • 6
  • 5
  • 4
  • 3
  • 2
  • 1
  • 0
7.2| 0h30m| TV-14| en| More Info
Released: 15 August 1973 Ended
Producted By: Thames Television
Country: United Kingdom
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

Sitcom exploring the trials and tribulations created by one man and two women flat-sharing in the 70s.

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Thames Television

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Reviews

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.
StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
ShadeGrenade Some years ago, satellite channel U.K. Gold promoted repeats of 'Men Behaving Badly' with the hype: "Here it is, the original flat-sharing sitcom!". This was in fact untrue. 'Man About The House' was also a flat-sharing sitcom and ran from 1973-76.It was the brainchild of Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke, creators of the popular sitcom 'Father Dear Father'. When it ended, they decided they wanted to do something more in harmony with the times. In the first episode, Chrissy ( Paula Wilcox ) and Jo ( Sally Thomsett ) are tidying their Myddleton Terrace flat following a wild party when they find a man in their bath. He is Robin Tripp ( Richard O'Sullivan ), a Southampton cookery student of no fixed abode. While his clothes dry out, he puts on a ladies' dressing gown and prepares them a meal. They are so impressed by his culinary skills that they invite him to stay. But there must be no naughty business. So Robin has to pretend to be gay...On B.B.C.-2's 'I Love 1973', shown in 2000, Julie Burchill claimed that 'House' showed her a way of life she envied. She was not alone. One of the most iconic ( for me, anyway ) images of '70's British television was Sally Thomsett coming out of the London Underground carrying a parasol, and a 'blind' man doing a double take as her pert bottom swings past. A man living with two girls was a risqué subject for the time, but Mrs.Mary Whitehouse had no need to get hot under the collar, it was innocent, good-natured fun. Mortimer and Cooke's scripts went as close as they could to the edge without crossing it.Richard O'Sullivan was still playing 'Bingham' in I.T.V.'s 'Doctor In Charge' when this got started. In fact the second run of 'In Charge' overlapped with the first of 'House'. He was born to play the sex-mad Robin. Paula Wilcox's 'Chrissy' was more streetwise than 'Beryl', her character she played in 'The Lovers', while Sally Thomsett's 'Jo' was a lovable dizzy blonde. As time wore on, he became almost like an older brother to them.For many viewers, Brian Murphy and Yootha Joyce stole the show as the warring Ropers. George had lost interest in sex, but Mildred had not. They went on to their own show - the aptly titled 'George & Mildred'. The late Doug Fisher was good value as as Robin's wideboy friend Larry. He worked so well he was made into a regular.Within a year of its debut, there was the inevitable movie spin-off. I am not a big fan of the 'Man About The House' movie because I think it was stretched to fit the big screen. Most of its characters had never appeared in the series.The format was sold to America, where it became the long-running 'Three's Company' starring the late John Ritter and Suzanne Somers. It was far more suggestive than the British original, with Somers often seen in sexy clothing.After six seasons, 'House' ended with Chrissy marrying Robin's older brother Norman ( Norman Eshley ). Fans were devastated to see Robin failing to get the girl he loved, but there was some consolation in the fact that he too landed his own show - 'Robin's Nest'.
Max Turner Having lived in both the UK and the US, and watched both the ORIGINAL, "Man About The House", and the US COPY, "Three's Company", I've enjoyed both of them, even now, in 2006.I've just been watching M.A.T.H. on Paramount Comedy, and much as I liked Three's Company, I'm finding I laugh out loud more often, at the UK show. I loved the American re-make too, but I guess my British upbringing means I identify with the British humour more.It's just one of many UK sitcoms from the 1970's, that US television bought the rights and scripts of, and remade with an American flavour. Most of them became very popular in the US, with few people realising they were copies of original British ideas/scripts. Others I can think of:"The Ropers" = "George & Mildred" "Sandford & Son" = "Steptoe & Son" "All In The Family" = "Till Death Do Us Part" "Reggie" = "The Rise & Fall Of Reginal Perrin"All were good re-makes. Conversely, on the few occasions the British have re-made American comedies, it hasn't worked as well. I'm thinking of UK remakes of "Golden Girls" and "Married With Children" - both British re-makes sucked, big time. In the case of the Married With Children re-make, I think it failed because the whole premise of the show was that it mocked clichéd "US cute family" comedies (it was known as the Anti-Cosby Show by the writers), and such humour didn't translate to a British show about a British family.And now it's the 21st Century, and what do we see on NBC? An American re-make of the Golden Globe-winning British comedy, The Office.Nothing changes.
Jose E I absolutely LOVED this show when it aired here, even though I was a little kid by then. It had the kind of charm and mood that keeps you laughing until it hurts, the cast was excellent and so was the timing. If compared to what the sitcom genre has degenerated to (And I don't think it's necessary to name any specific title, most of the sitcoms are awful except Seinfeld) it's a crying shame that shows like Mad About The House are no longer made. Whatever happened to witty writing and great cast?What you've got now in any sitcom is a cast full of supposedly cute girls who look like they just got out of a concentration camp, plus they can't act. And male cast is not much better, either. It seems any sitcom actor/actress must come out of a models' agency, as if the 'beauty' actually mattered more than the acting skills. Somebody may accuse me of nostalgia, and I'm willing to be called that if it means yearning for good and funny shows like Mad About The House. The current sitcoms really stink. And I am looking forward to be able to get this fantastic show on DVD someday. By the way, The Roper was awesome as well.10/10.
Steed-2 Now the series is 30 years old but it is still funny. I saw it when I was a child and I can still recall the laughters at home. It was the first British tv series thet topped the tv rankings in Spain. And even now, people remember it. Two different situations: upstairs the 3 flat mates, and downstairs the landlord and his wife. The scripts were terrific: both situations fixed perfectly. And what about the actors? all of them were absolutely brilliant, specially my dear Mrs Roper. Oh, yes. Americans made a "remake" that was OK when they copied word by word the original episodes. When they had to create new scripts it became awful and boring. By the way, I always recommend to see any show in its original version, but I must confess that Spanish dubbed version is as good as the original one.

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