Lovable, bumbling Harry Worth is barely remembered now, yet in the '60's and '70's he was one of British television's brightest comedy stars. With his trademark trilby and spectacles, he was a walking disaster area.
This Yorkshire T.V. sitcom cast him as Harry Matthews, a middle-aged widower struggling to raise two children - the good-looking Martin, and Shirley, a precocious schoolgirl. It was not easy. As Harry sang each week: "She's growing up so incredibly fast, he seems to think I live in the past'.
It was basically 'Father Dear Father' by another name, even the title was the same as a Michael Robbins I.T.V. sitcom from 1975. In the first episode, Harry is concerned at the prospect of Martin dating an older woman. A later ( and rather funny ) instalment saw Shirley announce her wedding to a drippy mummy's boy.
Fanny Carby played a nosey next-door neighbour ( as she seemed to do in most I.T.V. sitcoms of the period ).
Harry for the most part was in fine form, although a little unsteady in some scenes ( absentmindedly referring to Shirley as Debby in one episode ).
It was cosy domestic sitcom fare - the sets were cardboard, the plots contrived, the characters too nice to be credible - far removed from the awfulness of the real world. Maybe that was why it was so enjoyable.
This Yorkshire T.V. sitcom cast him as Harry Matthews, a middle-aged widower struggling to raise two children - the good-looking Martin, and Shirley, a precocious schoolgirl. It was not easy. As Harry sang each week: "She's growing up so incredibly fast, he seems to think I live in the past'.
It was basically 'Father Dear Father' by another name, even the title was the same as a Michael Robbins I.T.V. sitcom from 1975. In the first episode, Harry is concerned at the prospect of Martin dating an older woman. A later ( and rather funny ) instalment saw Shirley announce her wedding to a drippy mummy's boy.
Fanny Carby played a nosey next-door neighbour ( as she seemed to do in most I.T.V. sitcoms of the period ).
Harry for the most part was in fine form, although a little unsteady in some scenes ( absentmindedly referring to Shirley as Debby in one episode ).
It was cosy domestic sitcom fare - the sets were cardboard, the plots contrived, the characters too nice to be credible - far removed from the awfulness of the real world. Maybe that was why it was so enjoyable.
