Fresh Fields

March. 07,1984

Rating：

6.6

Genre：

Comedy

Keywords：

Trailer Synopsis

Fresh Fields is a British situation comedy written by John T. Chapman and produced by Thames Television for ITV between 7 March 1984 and 23 October 1986. A ratings success at the time, the show is well remembered for its opening titles featuring a silhouette of a person in a rocking chair. It stars Julia McKenzie and Anton Rodgers as Hester and William Fields, a devoted middle-class couple with an idyllic suburban lifestyle. William works while Hester keeps home. The crux of the show was that she was always looking to try new hobbies or find ways to improve her life, much of which exasperated her hard-working husband. The family home had a granny flat attached, in which Hester's mother Nancy lived. She was divorced from Hester's father Guy although remarried him as the series progressed. The couple had a daughter called Emma who frequently telephoned but never appeared. Her husband Peter did appear often. They later had a son — the Fields' first grandchild — whom they named Guy, after his great-grandfather. Perhaps, the best remembered supporting character was Sonia Barrett who would frequently pop round to borrow items to replace hers due to breakage, theft or mislaying. Hester was not perturbed by this, as the two were close friends, but it used to irritate William. Sonia had the show's only catchphrase — she would always knock on the back door of the Fields' home and then say It's only Sonia! as she walked in. This would sometimes lead to applause of recognition from the studio audience, a phenomenon more regularly seen within American sitcoms. Sonia's husband John appeared on occasion, as did William's secretary Miss Denham, played by Daphne Oxenford.

Seasons & Episode

Seasons 4 : 1986

8 Episode

Episode 1 - A Nose For Trouble

September. 04,1986

William's snoring begins to give Hester disturned nights but when she has to look after a neighbour's dog, her days aren't too good either.

Episode 2 - The Old Folks At Home

September. 11,1986

Upset that a Victorian mansion is to be torn down and replaced by ""a block of flats,"" Hester starts a campaign to persuade local councillor Mr. Gardner to convert the premises into a seniors' residence. When he doubts the need for such a facility, Hester invites him home, having persuaded Nancy, her sister Winnie, and Guy to pretend senility. The appalled Gardner not only approves the home but telephones to notify William and Hester that he has arranged for their dotty dependents to move in immediately....

Episode 3 - One Damned Ming After Another

September. 18,1986

The Fields hope to get their Chinese vase onto a locally filmed episode of The Antiques Road Show. Returning home, they surprise a burglar at work enabling Hester to use her newly acquired martial arts skills.

Episode 4 - Life Is Full Of Ups And Downs

September. 25,1985

William has financial problems, so Hester takes him to Bologne, France, for a carefree day and Duty Free goods. It's far from plain sailing.

Episode 5 - It Takes Two To Tango

October. 02,1986

William comes home from work reeking of perfume. He says he can explain it; Hester stands by to listen with understanding and a rolling pin.

Episode 6 - Caught In The Act

October. 09,1986

William insists on mending a leaky kitchen tap himself, necessitating an expensive visit from the plumber. Meanwhile, Hester gets a call from Peter's parents, the Richardsons, who are coming from Dorset to London for the day and invite themselves to dinner and to stay overnight. Driven mad by overbearing Margaret and epically boring Henry, and dismayed when their guests decide to stay another night, the Fields invent a dinner engagement at a Bournemouth hotel, but actually bundle themselves and Nancy next door to Sonia's for the night. Then Margaret and Henry turn up to chat with Sonia, and the Fields flee to Nancy's granny flat only to be mistaken for burglars. They excuse their return by claiming that Nancy has come down with flu; but next morning Margaret cheerfully announces that Henry has caught it from Nancy and will have to remain in bed for several days.

Episode 7 - Brighton Or Bust

October. 16,1986

Hester joins in a sponsored cycle race to Brighton for the R.S.P.C.A. She finishes up in worse shape than most of the animals she is trying to help.

Episode 8 - Happy Returns

October. 23,1986

After a sojourn in Italy, the Fields return home to celebrate Hester's 45th birthday. Despite William's back going out, and some complications arising from misunderstandings, they settle on dinner out to celebrate whereupon Hester is summoned to deal with an emergency at Lucy's Kitchen. This turns out to be a ruse as the restaurant is packed with their friends for a surprise party, and Guy and Nancy announce that they were re-married that morning, leaving Hester in floods of happy tears.

Seasons 3 : 1985

7 Episode

Seasons 2 : 1984

6 Episode

Seasons 1 : 1984

6 Episode

May to December

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See Detail

May to December 1989

Ever Decreasing Circles

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See Detail

Ever Decreasing Circles 1984

Robin's Nest

Robin's nest is a British sitcom starring Richard O'Sullivan as Robin Tripp, one of the lead characters in the sitcom, Man about the house, which had ended on 7 April 1976. Robin's nest aired for six series from 11 January 1977 to 31 March 1981, and co-starred Tessa Wyatt as Robin's girlfriend - and later wife - Vicky, and Tony Britton as her father. It was made by Thames Television and aired on ITV. As with its predecessors, Robin's nest also inspired an American spinoff, Three's a crowd!. John Ritter reprised his Three's company character, Jack Tripper, alongside Mary Cadorette as Vicky Bradford, Jack's girlfriend and Robert Mandan and as her father and Jack's landlord. Unlike Robin's nest, Three's a crowd! was cancelled after its first season.

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French Fields

French Fields is a British situation comedy. It ran for 19 episodes from 5 September 1989 to 8 October 1991. It was written by John T. Chapman and Ian Davidson and was produced by Thames Television for ITV. The series starred Anton Rodgers and Julia McKenzie as husband and wife William and Hester Fields and followed the series Fresh Fields, which ran from 7 March 1984 to 23 October 1986. At the end of the last series of Fresh Fields, William accepted a position with a French company. French Fields follows Hester and William after they make the move to Calais. Other regular cast included their French real estate agent Chantal, who was also the Fields' neighbour to the left. On the right, were the horrible and snobbish English couple the Trendles. Hester and William also coped with Madame Remoleux, an unintelligible and ancient French woman who lived in and cared for the estate — called Les Hirondelles — where they all lived. Also, popping in on a regular basis, were local farmer and mayor Monsieur Dax and his daughter Marie-Christine, to whom Hester did her best to teach English. Nicholas Courtney also appeared frequently as the Marquis.

See Detail

French Fields 1989

The Kenny Everett Television Show

Sketch comedy show starring Kenny Everett.

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Terry and June

Terry and June Medford are both middle aged and beginning to find the trials of life are more difficult as they try to succeed in their daily lives. The couple have just moved to Purley, south-east London... Aunt Lucy and the mynah bird had disappeared, as had the occasionally visiting daughters. Terry and June now mixed with a friendly next door neighbour, Beattie; Terry's chatty work colleague, Malcolm; and their gruff boss Sir Dennis Hodge. Otherwise, things were much as before, with Terry's pigheaded childishness causing no end of problems, usually thwarting June's attempts at leading a cosy life.

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Terry and June 1979

Maid Marian and Her Merry Men

Maid Marian and her Merry Men is a British children's sitcom created and written by Tony Robinson and directed by David Bell. It began in 1989 on BBC One and ran for four series, with the last episode shown in 1994. The show was a partially musical comic retelling of the legend of Robin Hood, placing Maid Marian in the role of leader of the Merry Men, and reducing Robin to an incompetent ex-tailor. The programme was much appreciated by children and adults alike, and has been likened to Blackadder, not only for its historical setting and the presence of Tony Robinson, but also for its comic style. It is more surreal than Blackadder, however, and drops even more anachronisms. Many of the show's cast such as Howard Lew Lewis, Forbes Collins, Ramsay Gilderdale and Patsy Byrne had previously appeared in various episodes of Blackadder alongside Robinson. Like many British children's programmes, there is a lot of social commentary sneakily inserted, as well as witty asides about the Royal family, buses running on time, etc. Many of the plots spoofed or referenced film and television shows including other incarnations of Robin Hood in those mediums.

See Detail

Maid Marian and Her Merry Men 1989

Rentaghost

Rentaghost was a British children's television comedy show, broadcast by the BBC between 6 January 1976 and 6 November 1984. The show's plot centred on the antics of a number of ghosts who worked for a firm called Rentaghost, which rented out the ghosts for various tasks.

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Rentaghost 1976

Citizen Smith

Citizen Smith is a British television sitcom. The show was written by John Sullivan, who later wrote Only Fools and Horses. The pilot was transmitted on 12 April 1977 in the Comedy Special series of one-off plays, and the series proper ran from 3 November 1977 to 31 December 1980. Citizen Smith starred Robert Lindsay as "Wolfie" Smith, a young Marxist "urban guerrilla" living in Tooting, South London, who is attempting to emulate his hero Che Guevara. 'Wolfie' is a reference to the Irish revolutionary Wolfe Tone who used the pseudonym Citizen Smith in order to evade capture by the English. Wolfie is the self-proclaimed leader of the revolutionary Tooting Popular Front, the goals of which are "Power to the People" and "Freedom for Tooting". In reality, he is an unemployed dreamer and petty criminal whose plans fall through because of laziness and disorganisation.

See Detail

Citizen Smith 1977