Review for My Old Man - The Complete Series 1

"40 years - 40 years you live in a house then suddenly someone decides it's a slum. So down it comes and out you goes. Daft beggars!"

The 1973 series 'My Old Man' started out as one of seven 45 minute 'pilots' which made up the Ronnie Barker series 'Seven of One' which also piloted 'Porridge' and 'Open All Hours'. But the writer of 'My Old Man', Gerald Frow, took his property to Yorkshire TV who decided to produce it with the ever-popular 'granddad' himself in the main role, Clive Dunn most famed for his role as Corporal Jones in 'Dad's Army' as well as the early seventies top ten hit, 'Granddad'. It should have been a big hit but wasn't. Maybe too much competition for quality sit-com comedy at the time.

Curiously, Dunn was only 48 when he started in Dad's Army but with plenty of make-up, and an 'old' demeanour he soon made the part his own, which could have been the problem with 'My Old Man'. Despite being a very fine comedy, maybe too many folk thought it was a follow-up to the previous act. After all, the clothing and the look was the same.

Dunn had actually started his trademark doddery old man routine in an early 1960's series, 'Bootsie and Snudge', itself a spin-off from 'The Army Game'. During this time he also popped up in shows with Tony Hancock, Michael Bentine, Dora Bryan and Dick Emery.


In the 'Seven of One' pilot Ronnie Barker played Sam Cobbett, a veteran of two world wars, who is forced to move out of his condemned two-up, two down terrace on Ironmonger Row to live in a skyscraper block being put up in its place. "They're building five hundred new homes on this site. They don't tell you they're pulling down 700 to make room for them." Sam doesn't like the new world he finds himself in and the series sets out to puncture the rising middle-class pomposity he sees slowly replacing the good old fashioned working class values that he fought two world wars for.


As a result, doesn't like central heating ("dries you out"), he doesn't like his new 'local' ("looks like a Nancy-boy's bedroom") and he doesn't really like his son-in-law Arthur (played by Edward Hardwicke, best known for being Watson to Jeremy Brett's Holmes), a snobbish middle class social climber. Which is especially awkward when Arthur's wife Doris (played by Clive Dunn's real-life wife Priscilla Morgan) insists that they give up the spare room in their modern flat to accommodate the old man.

This makes life especially difficult for both of them as they are now living under the same roof, Arthur having been forced to give up the spare room in his high-rise flat at the behest of his wife, Doris.
The only person Arthur seems to get on with, ironically, is the baby of the family, the teenage son played by a cheeky young Keith Chegwin. ('Cheggers').

There are plenty of stereotypical gags, with plenty of politically un-PC poofter jokes at the bar man's expense, as well as plenty of situations that bring out the worst of all involved, with Sam frequently embarrassing the deluded Arthur, much in the mould of the Steptoe duo.

Like many, I assumed that this was just another vehicle for the slightly tiresome Dunn, but actually its far better than just that, and Clive Dunn shows that, whilst there may be similarities to earlier roles, he could still turn on the steely Yorkshire man resolve when required and the whole series is a remarkably satisfying watch.

Picture quality is 'fair' with interiors on video and exteriors on 16mm, usual for the time as video cameras were just too unwieldy for exterior use. Despite a wildly variable look between the two formats, as most series were filmed this way, I guess we all just got used to it as I don't recall ever giving it much thought at the time.


It's a shame that the Barker original pilot couldn't be licensed and included on the set for the sake of completion and context, though it is available as part of the 'Seven of One' series DVD published by the BBC. As the first episode on this set is a virtual re-telling of that, with Dunn in Barker's role, it makes for a fun comparison, though at the time cause upset with Barker fans who thought he was much more suited to the role.

Whilst time has chosen to forget the series in large part, it did actually run for two seasons though failed to ignite the comedy world enough to get into a longer run.

For my part, despite having seen the equally good Barker pilot some years ago, I thoroughly enjoyed it and it was a lot of fun just to soak in the early seventies fashions and taste in interior decor as much as enjoying the show itself. Worth a punt.

Now to get that Dunn sung theme song out of my head...

"My old man, are you off to get your pension, my old man? With your sandwiches curled, your brolly badly furled, you're off to change the world, my old man.'.