Overview
Plot
On Howard Road, traveling stationery salesman Sid Abbott and his wife, Jean, struggle to understand the permissive ways of their teenage children, Mike and Sally.
- Directors
- Harry Driver, Vince Powell
- Cast
- Sidney James, Diana Coupland, Robin Stewart, Sally Geeson
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Genre
- Comedy
- First aired
- 1971-02-02
- Studios
- Thames Television
Episodes
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Episode 1 The Generation Gap Sid tries desperately to understand his two teenage children, but the more he tries, the less he understands them.
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Episode 2 Mum's the Word Sid overhears a conversation between the doctors and, as usual, gets crossed messages.
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Episode 3 Father's Day Sally has a date with a mystery man, and Jean has a surprise for Sid for Father's day; but Sid's suspicious mind throws a spanner in the works.
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Episode 4 Be It Ever So Humble Sid tells Mike to find a job, but much to Jean's dismay, Mike announces he is leaving home. Sally is so upset that she decides she is leaving too. How will Jean react to her children both leaving? And how will Sid cope with the fall out?
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Episode 5 Another Fine Mess Sid's boss asks him to look after a special gift that he has bought for his wife for a special anniversary. What could possibly go wrong?
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Episode 6 For Whom the Bells Toll Dinner time at the Abbotts turns into a debate about the generations, and the morals of meat eating, as Sally and Sid lock horns. Sid and Jean suspect Mike is planning to elope.
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Episode 7 A Woman's Place After many years as a stay at home mother, Jean decides she wants to get a job. She knows the family will struggle without her though, so she hires a cleaner.
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Episode 8 The Day of Rest It's Sunday, and Sid wants a day of rest, but with the sink blocking, and Mike creating his sculpture, a day of rest is the last thing he's going to get. Jean and Sid meet their new neighbors.
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Episode 9 Make Love ... Not War! Betty and Trev have a huge row, and Trev decides he wants to come stay at Sid and Jean's house. However, this doesn't make everyone happy, and trouble ensues. Mike meanwhile, decides he wants to be spiritual.
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Episode 10 Charity Begins At Home. Mike and his friends decide to spend the weekend living on bread and water, and give what they would have spent on food to charity. He encourages his parents to join him. They do; but Sid finds it a lot harder than he expected it to be.
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Episode 11 If the Dog Collar Fits, Wear It Sally has been looking after the elderly in the area, and brings a dog home to stay, as one of the men she has been caring for has had to get rid of him. Sally, Jean, and Mike love 'Fred' the mongrel, and want him to stay, but Sid has other ideas.
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Episode 12 The Morning After the Night Before Sid wakes up with a hangover after a night with the guys. He has no memory of what happened the night before, and is stunned to see an array of items that don't belong to him. Meanwhile, Mike advertises his sculptures to raise some money.
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Episode 1 Two Heads Are Better Than One. Something is missing from Sid's garden, and he has his suspicions as to who is responsible....
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Episode 2 Love Me, Love My Tree. Sid's problems start when the family returns from holiday. Apart from having nothing to wear, everything seems as it was before they left - or is it?
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Episode 3 It's All In The Mind It doesn't often happen that Sid is able to get home from work early, but when he can, he does - and this time it doesn't do him much good.
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Episode 4 Another Lost Weekend Of course Sid doesn't have to ask Jean if he can go fishing for the weekend. But Jean is expecting Sid to be home - after all, Sid never plans anything without consulting her.
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Episode 5 Parents Should Be Seen And Not Heard When Sid gets home after a hard day's work, he's perfectly right in expecting his dinner to be waiting for him - but circumstances dictate otherwise...
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Episode 6 Strangers In The Night Sid and Jean's reminiscences of what happened just after the war make "The Naked Flesh" seem like the epilogue.
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Episode 7 Get Me To The Match On Time Sid's plans for the Saturday afternoon do not include Jean's sister; and if she can't make arrangements to fit in then the only course for Sid is to take to his bed - dangerously ill.
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Episode 8 Wives And Lovers If Jean hadn't started checking up on Sid, because he was late home for supper, then she wouldn't have discovered that he had a date the following evening.
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Episode 9 Never Again On Sunday It's not often that Sid agrees with Jean about anything, and when he does it usually takes her by surprise and ends in disaster.
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Episode 10 People In Glass Houses... It comes as quite a surprise to Sid to discover Mike would rather not have a gold watch for his birthday - but what he wants instead comes as an even bigger surprise.
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Episode 11 A Rolls By Any Other Name Sid waits in trepidation when he finds out that Mr Marshall, his boss, is coming round on Saturday morning. Of course, nothing goes to plan.
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Episode 12 A Touch Of The Unknown Sid's problems start when Betty brings something into the house. Mike also brings something into the house and things get worse.
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Episode 1 It Comes to Us All in the End Sid brings another feathered friend along to keep their budgie company, but they very quickly regret their decision. Meanwhile, Mike tries to avoid getting a parking ticket, and Sally has a mishap when trying to move Sid's car.
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Episode 2 Tea for Two and Four for Tea The family are curious about the lady Mike is dating, and are keen to meet her, but when Sally blurts out the lady's age, they're astounded. However, they accept her into their home politely. But is she really Mike's new girlfriend?
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Episode 3 To Tell or Not to Tell Jean's having a bad week, being rather disenchanted with her housewife lifestyle. She is stunned, and a little bit envious, when she sees what appears to be Betty having a fling with another man.
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Episode 4 Blood Is Thicker Than Water The Abbotts are stunned when a long-lost cousin of Sid's turns up unexpected, and uninvited, from America. What does he want, and how on earth can they get rid of him?
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Episode 5 One Good Turn Deserves a Bother Sid's boss goes on holiday and asks him to look after his 250-year-old Georgian tea set. Sid not only does his best to protect the valuable antique set, he ends up treating it like a newborn baby.
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Episode 6 The Loneliness of the Short Distance Walker Much to Sid's surprise, Mike has taken up running, and is planning a run to raise money for the hospital. Sid knows this is out of character; what is Mike up to?
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Episode 7 Watch the Birdie Mike wants to start a career as a photographer, but much to his father's dismay, he wants to use the garage as his studio. However, things don't go quite as smoothly as Mike expects them to.
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Episode 8 Atishoo! Atishoo! We All Fall Down There's total mayhem in the Abbott household when Jean and the kids come down with flu, and Sid struggles to cope. A woman's work is never done.
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Episode 9 Entente Not So Cordiale Sid receives a letter from Henri and Odette, who he met in France during the war. He reminisces about his time with them, and then decides to visit, and bring Jean along.
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Episode 10 Will the Real Sid Abbott Please Stand Up? Much confusion ensues when a doppelganger of Sid's is on the prowl; especially as he is something of a womaniser. Thanks to him, Sid has a lot of explaining to do.
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Episode 11 I'm Not Jealous, I'll Kill Him Jean is surprised when an old flame reenters her life, and asks her to go for dinner. Sid is absolutely fine with this. Or is he?
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Episode 12 A Girl's Worst Friend Is Her Father Sally is enraged when her father decides to intrude on her job interview. Although Sid means well, he soon comes to regret his meddlesome actions.
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Episode 1 Money Is the Root of... Jean buys a new coat, but Sid says she must return it as they have a load of bills to pay. However, the family's financial situation may be about to change, but unfortunately, there is a catch.
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Episode 2 And They Will Come Home Jean is upset when the kids announce they're leaving home, but cheers up when she discovers they haven't gone far. Then Sid thinks 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em,' and decides to say he's leaving too. Will he actually depart though?
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Episode 3 Who's Minding the Baby? Betty comes around to borrow something, yet again, and Jean and Sid somehow get roped into looking after Betty and Trev's newborn for two days. They agree, but it's not long before they regret it. Was it this hard with their two children?
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Episode 4 A Beef in His Bonnet Sid is selling his old car and is hoping to get the best price he can. Meanwhile, Mike and Sally come home with Sid's car with a big dent in it, after a huge crate of corned beef fell onto the car. Will he be able to sell now?
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Episode 5 The Bells Are Ringing At long last, Mike seems to have found his true love, and he announces that he's getting married. To Sid and Jean's dismay, it's not long before Sally announces she has fallen for Mike's girlfriend's father. Can either relationship last?
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Episode 6 The First 25 Years Are the Worst Sid and Jean plan a party for their 25th wedding anniversary, and Mike gets his friend to make up some invitations. Unfortunately, the invitation has the wrong date. Meanwhile, the kids have an idea for a new career.
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Episode 7 Episode 7
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Episode 1 They Don't Write Songs Like That Anymore Sid decides to enter a songwriting competition with his un-acknowledged classic 'You Can Have My Welks and Cockles But Leave My Winkles Alone'. However, he's not exactly in the same league as Lennon-McCartney, especially when inebriated.
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Episode 2 The Gypsy's Warning After getting a warning from a gypsy, that someone she loves will be involved in a water related accident, Jean tries to prevent Sid from going fishing. But is this the accident that the gypsy spoke about?
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Episode 3 The Biggest Woodworm in the World Sid brings home an old wodden chair, but there's something wrong with it. Meanwhile, Mike's dancer girlfriend comes to stay, but Mike doesn't explain what sort of dancer she is.
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Episode 4 Home Tweet Home Sid isn't too fond of his kids' latest scheme to raise some money to go on holiday.
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Episode 5 You're Never Too Old to Be Young Jean feels like a frumpy boring housewife, and as much as she loves Sid, she feels that their marriage has gone stale. She has a plan to spruce it up but Sid is far from keen on the idea though.
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Episode 6 The Policeman, the Paint and the Pirates Sid's boss wants Jean to star in his production of 'The Pirates of Penzance'. Sid is OK with this, but then he discovers his boss wants him in the show too. Meanwhile, Sally starts chatting with a policeman and Trev brings some paint home for Sid.
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Episode 7 Happy Birthday Sid What should a husband do if his family give him a birthday present he can't use?
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Episode 8 Freedom Is Sid doesn't like the idea of Sally and Mike befriending a tramp. He likes it even less when Sally brings him home and everyone takes the tramp's side.
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Episode 9 'Mr Chairman...' Disillusioned with the local Residents Association, Sid leads a revolt against the Chairman. Then Trevor takes things one step too far.
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Episode 10 ...And Afterwards At... Sid is asked by Jean's cousin to organise a wedding for her daughter. He refuses, until he realises that there may be something in it for him.
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Episode 1 The Frozen Limit Sid has more than a few problems when Jean convinces him to buy a deep freeze.
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Episode 2 Beautiful Dreamer Sid has a series of restless nights.
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Episode 3 Fish With Everything Sid is feeling a bit off colour and his doctor suggests he find himself a hobby.
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Episode 4 The Naked Paperhanger When Mike moves into a flat of his own Jean decides to re-decorate his old room.
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Episode 5 Remember Me ? Sid's sponging family are anxious to share in his bonus and commission.
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Episode 6 Something Of Value When Sid's Uncle Percy dies, he leaves Sid two large packing cases and a small brown parcel.
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Episode 7 Men Of Consequence Sid is awake night after night worrying about the countries troubles.
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Episode 8 Skin Deep Sid tells Jean he has a temporary promotion at work. But soon Jean is beginning to doubt what he told her.
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Episode 9 Friends And Neighbours Jean is worried about strange noises coming from next door.
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Episode 10 Well, Well, Well. A damp patch on the living-room carpet doesn't bother Sid - until he takes the skirting board off.
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Episode 11 The Phantom Pools Winner Sid wins a large export order, but Jean's plan for Mike to take a photograph of him for the local paper goes awry.
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Episode 12 A Matter Of Principle Sid discovers where the money for his birthday party has come from, and he doesn't like it.
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Episode 13 Some Enchanted Evening When Sid discovers why Jean is sulking and Sally and Mike won't talk to him, he goes to the pub with Trevor where they devise a plan to set things right.
Plot
Warning: spoilers
Bless This House Plot and Cast
Sid Abbott, a traveling stationery salesman, lives with his wife, Jean, on Howard Road, where the couple continually tries to make sense of the permissive attitudes and behavior of their teenage children, Mike and Sally.
Did you know...
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Goofs
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