User Reviews

I only learned recently that George & Mildred ended after the tragic death of Yootha Joyce. It would have been hard to imagine the series continuing sans Yootha, although a new actress could have been cast maybe. But that may have been an insult to the legendary Yootha.

The humor in George & Mildred is gentle and funny, and a bright way to brighten the skies of the UK.

Classic comedy with the brilliant Yootha Joyce, such a tragic loss when she sadly passed away, curtailing the show after the 5th series. Brian Murphy is excellent as always as George, they are both great underated actors, and should really have been better used in more comedies. They really work well together seamlessly as actors, making us really believe that they are the squabbling long suffering Ropers.

The Ropers first appeared as the landlords in another sitcom Man about the House, initially I think they were only intended to be cameo parts, as they were scarcely heard let alone seen. But their appearances however brief proved so popular that the parts were very quickly written up, personally they then made an otherwise mediocre programme really worth watching.

George and Mildred started with the Ropers having to move, as the Council made a compulsory purchase order on the house. Mildred always has aspirations well above George's abilities or inclinations, she insists on them moving upwardly into a posher neighbourhood. While George wanted to accept the Councils offer of moving to what Mildred calls a high rise slum.

The new house is next door to that of the estate agents the Fourmile's, husband Jeffrey is pompous, opinionated and a member of the local Conservative party. He can't abide George but doesn't mind Mildred, and he went out of his way to make out the house had been sold, in the vain hope of them not moving in.

Ann Fourmile is a warm friendly woman who likes both Mildred and George, unlike her husband she is far from being stuck up or pompous. She is beautifully played by the absolutely gorgeous Sheila Fearn, who I've frankly always fancied from first seeing her, in one of my all time favourite comedies the Likely Lads.

Tristan Fourmile is the neighbours little nipper with an invisible pet dog niff niff, played with perfection by Nicholas Bond Owen. He is as his mum so aptly described him to Mildred, as "my little monster" and gets some of the shows best lines.

The show is topped off by Mildred's relatives especially the obnoxious and snooty sister Ethel, and her husband Humphrey the Offal King. They are wonderfully portrayed by Avril Elgar and Reginald Marsh, who are certainly believable as the smarmy avaricious wife and the husband trying vainly to keep up with her expensive tastes.

George and Mildred is a brilliant classic comedy show, and easily one of the best ever to grace the ITV schedules, in the entire history of their broadcasting.

George and Mildred (the 1st and best spin-off off man about the house) was the story of the ropers (the landlord's from man about the house) and their move to a much posher area. Next door live the fourmile's Ann, Geoffery and their irritating little boy Tristram. The fourmile's are a very posh family (especially the rather pompous Geoffery) and are usually one the receiving end of one of Georges scams.

George and Mildred was produced at a time when the class structure in the U.K was very much still in existence and enjoyed poking fun at the middle class style 'tory twits' as George would say that were in existence at the time. The main battle was always between Geoffrey and George and always ended up with a minor victory for George.

That though was the series strong point. The acting was nothing short of superb and the programme spawned a further M.A.T.H spin-off the rather dire robin's nest which examined what had happened to robin Tripp but the sad news was that Yootha Joyce Died on August 26th 1980 from liver failure before filming a sixth series. Her character was easily the strongest in the show and the way she always had the upper hand on George was hilarious. Recent repeats on digital show that the comedy hasn't dated and is still as fresh as ever. All 5 series are available on the network DVD label.

'George & Mildred' was the first of two spin-offs from the hugely successful 'Man About The House' ( the other being 'Robin's Nest' ). It saw George and Mildred Roper leave their run-down house at Mydelton Terrace after it is listed for demolition and move into a Surburban house at Peacock Crescent. Their next door neighbours are snobbish estate agent Jeffrey Fourmile ( who was the very man who sold them the house ), his gorgeous wife Ann and their precocious son Tristram. Indeed, much of the humour stems either from the class conflict between Roper and Fourmile or Mildred's attempts to get a foot on the social ladder, only for George to come along and mess things up.

Both Yootha Joyce and Brian Murphy were yet again brilliant as the warring Ropers. Norman Eshley ( who appeared three times in 'Man About The House' ) and sexy Sheila Fearn also in their own right were superb, though Nicholas Bond Owen upstaged them all as little Tristram ( remember that hilarious moment where he beat George at poker? ). Avril Elgar and Reginald Marsh surfaced from time to time as Mildred's vain sister Ethel and her hen-pecked husband Humphrey as did Roy Kinnear as George's hapless friend Jerry ( Kinnear later starred with Roper in another Thames show entitled 'The Incredible Mr. Tannner' ). Looked at now, 'George & Mildred' was a kind of hybrid of 'Terry & June' and 'Keeping Up Appearances' and while not especially great was nevertheless harmless fun. In 1980, the obligatory feature film was made but it was not popular with fans or critics ( though I personally preferred it to the series ). A sixth and final series was to be made after the film's release but sadly the project was dropped after Yootha Joyce died from liver failure.