Don't Wait Up

Not a classic like Blackadder or Only Fools and Horses, but quite good all the same. This was very much a sitcom for the Thatcher era in which it was made. The doctors Latimer were always sniping at each other. Dr Tom Latimer (Nigel Havers) was an NHS General Practitioner, a position which he passionately believed in, whilst father Dr Toby Latimer (Tony Britton) was in private practice as a dermatologist.

As well as the private medicine vs NHS jokes, the series also dealt with relationships: Tom's relationships with his ex-wife Helen and his girlfriend Madeleine whom he later married, and Toby's relationship with estranged wife Angela, as well as the (usually strained) father-son interplay, made for some good story lines. The characters were well drawn, and as one would expect from such a stellar cast, beautifully portrayed. But it didn't make it into the Top 100 in the BBC's "Britain's Best Sitcom", a few years ago.

When the series was originally shown, there was one thing that perplexed me: Eagle-eyed viewers will remember that the opening titles and the closing credits were run within a photo album. As the closing credits came to an end, the album closed to reveal the producer / director's name (Harold Snoad) and the copyright. Due to an oversight by the BBC, the same photo album was used throughout the series' run, so unofficially all episodes are (c) BBC MCMLXXXIII [1983], but later episodes feature tell-tale signs like cars and registration plates that weren't available then. They must have thought that no-one would notice!!