We are feeling nostalgic here at Lifeline24 and in the first of our new ‘Do You Remember’ series we take a look at the best 70s TV shows.
This was the decade where our screens were full of true British comedies and police dramas. Here are just a few of the most-liked shows from the 70s.
Fawlty Towers
There may have only been two seasons and 12 episodes of Fawlty Towers but went down as one of Britain’s most-loved comedies. The show was written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, both of who appear in the show as two of the four main characters.
Cleese played the iconic hotel owner Basil Fawlty who tries to keep his hotel in Torquay running smoothly, along with his wife Sybil, chambermaid Polly and hilariously hapless Spanish waiter Manuel.
Each episode saw different guests coming to stay at Fawlty Towers, each of which annoyed Basil one way or another. Add to this the long list or mistakes made by his staff and you have one angry owner who takes his anger out on everybody in hilarious fashion.
Basil wanted to climb the social ladder and make his hotel the best in the location and he would do anything to make it happen – which often led to some great comedy moments that will never be forgotten.
It has been said that Fawlty Towers was not only the best of all the 70s TV shows – but also the best of all time.
The Sweeney
On the other end of the scale we had the hard-hitting police drama. The Sweeney. This show focused on two members of the Metropolition Police’s Flying Squad as they fought back against armed robberies and other serious crimes. The show’s name comes from the Cockney Rhyming Slang term ‘Sweeny Todd’ which means Flying Squad.
The show starred John Thaw and Dennis Waterman, both of which had a tough attitude in order to catch the bad guys. They were both heavy drinkers, heavy smokers and didn’t mind getting into a scrap. The London setting also looked brilliant on camera and really set the scene for all the drama that was about to take place.
It is a show that people can still happily watch today and The Sweeney repeats are often shown on digital channels.
Some Mothers do ‘Ave’ Em
You can’t talk about the best 70s TV shows with mentioning Some Mothers do ‘Ave’ Em. This programme gave the country a hilarious character in Frank Spencer, AKA Micheal Crawford.
Some Mothers do ‘ave’ em follows the life of Frank and his wife Betty in the town of Bedford. The show followed the clumsy and accident-prone Frank as he tried his best to keep a job and look after his family – usually failing in the most hilarious ways.
Some of the most iconic ‘disaster’ scenes involved Frank sliding down a bowling lane and getting stuck in the pin replacement mechanism and also the infamous roller skating incident when he ends up attached to the back of a double-decker bus.
Scenes like this still gets thousands of Youtube views each year. It wasn’t just Franks clumsiness that viewers loved though, it was also his squeaky, nasal voice as he tried to get himself out of trouble with his boss.
Rumours of a one-off special are circulating and its no surprise given the huge popularity this show had back in the day.
Are you being served?
Another popular comedy from the 70s was the department store-based show: Are you being served? This programme followed the members of staff in the fictional store called Grace Brothers.
Starring the likes of John Inman, Frank Thornton, Mollie Sudgen and Wendy Richard the show become a hit due to its risque comedy that really pushed the limits at the time. The outrageous comments and jokes made the show more appealing and viewers just didn’t know what would happen next.
The show ended up lasting for 13 years and 69 episodes, which included five Christmas specials. A spin-off sitcom was then launched in 1992 called Grace and Favour.
There was also a feature-length movie made of the series which was set in the wonderfully named fictional resort of Costa Plonka. The film sees the department store staff members going on holiday as the shop is refurbished.
Watch with peace of mind
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