Full House has done the rounds a few times on Forces TV (Sky 181, Freeview 96, Freesat 165, Virgin 274) but this time I’m hopping on board. It’s not available on DVD which raises the interest level a little for me, as does the cast list.
Running for three series (20 episodes) between 1985 and 1986, Full House features actors familiar from previous sitcoms, such as Christopher Strauli (Only When I Laugh) and Sabina Franklyn (Keep It In The Family), who presumably were recruited in the hope that comedy lightning would strike twice.
Paul and Marsha Hatfield (Strauli and Franklyn) are a young married couple, desperate to escape from the clutches of Paul’s ever-complaining mother. They find a house that seems ideal, but the asking price of £70.000 (this was a long time ago, remember) is too much for them.
But Marsha’s old friend, Diana (Natalie Forbes), and her partner Murray (Brian Capron) are also looking for somewhere to live. So the four decide to jointly buy the house and share it. With, it’s hoped, hilarious consequences ….
Strauli, best known for playing the rather wet Norman Binns in Only When I Laugh, has to tackle a very similar role here. Paul is pernickety to the nth degree, which makes you wonder exactly what the lovely Marsha ever saw in him.
Murray, a freewheeling artist, is completely the opposite and it’s their clash of personalities which dominate this opening episode (Franklyn and Forbes take something of a back seat).
Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke had plenty of sitcom hits on their cv (Man About The House, George and Mildred, Robin’s Nest) but you get the sense that their careers were winding down by this point. This debut episode of Full House was competent enough to make me return for the next one, but I’m not expecting anything especially innovative.
But that no doubt would also have been the case for the audience back when the series was originally broadcast. It can be accepted for what it is (an undemanding 25 minutes enlivened by the regular cast and the occasional guest – today it was Milton Johns as a pushy estate agent).
Archive Television Musings 
So that’s what Mr Hopwood was up to after he quit Grange Hill
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I actually did a double take thinking it was the American sitcom lol plus a young Richard Hillman there.
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Is Full House (the British version pictured above) available on DVD or anywhere else on any format where the picture is watchable? I love this show and can’t understand why it’s never been released by a company like Simply Media now that Network have gone bust which was a big loss. I was after all 13 episodes of Bottle Boys but I’ve put the bottom lid on that.
Full House (British version) was produced by Thames Television originally. All their archive output is now owned by Fremantle, so is this owned by Fremantle as well? If anybody has good copy of all 20 episodes (3 Series) please let me know. I can’t see it under Simple Media but I might be wrong.
Thank you
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Never released on DVD I’m afraid. It did air on Forces TV which means there would be decent quality copies in circulation, it’s just whether anyone’s uploaded them to the usual places (YouTube, DailyMotion, ok.ru)
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I’m sure I’ve come across your name before somewhere else online. “archivetvmusings”. I can exactly think where.
I’ve got Series 2 & 3 now of Full House UK. It looked at bit juddery so I turned up the FPS to 60. That did the trick. I’m wondering if upscaling them to 1920 x 1080p HD would help even more. I’ve never really believed that upscaling really changes anything and any improvement you do see is due to less compression. You need less compression at 1080p, but it is pretty compressed already. No harm in trying.
Do you have all 13 episodes of the 1984/85 comedy series Bottle Boys? If you do have Bottle Boys I’ve bet you’ve got 9 episodes? 4 episodes have never been seen, one featuring the character of Margaret Thatcher apparently.
ITV Sales want £2060 for all 13 episodes. Only one episode has been digitalised and the rest are still on an format of tape they don’t use anymore, but they still have a player for this format so they can digitalise tapes from that era.
Anyway, thanks for the reply,
Andrew
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Although I have an almost unlimited appetite for archive television, I’ve yet to acquire Bottle Boys. Part of me would be intrigued to discover whether it’s as bad as its reputation suggests, but with so many other programmes available in one form or another, it’s a low priority for me.
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