| Goodnight Sweetheart |
Article Index for Goodnight |
Shopping Goodnight |
Articles about Goodnight Sweetheart |
Website Links For Goodnight Sweetheart |
Information AboutGoodnight Sweetheart |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT GOODNIGHT SWEETHEART | |
| 1993 television program debuts | |
| bbc television sitcoms | |
| british science fiction television programmes | |
| period piece tv series | |
| time travel television series | |
|
''Goodnight Sweetheart'' was a British Sitcom that was broadcast between 1993 and 1999 starring Nicholas Lyndhurst , in which Lyndhurst's character '''Gary Sparrow''' comes across a Time Portal in the East End of London which allows him (and only him) to travel between the modern day and World War 2 . The time in both periods progresses at a steady rate so during the six series of the programme the whole of the war is seen out. The show is essentially a Science Fiction Nostalgia vehicle. The series was created by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran . PLOT During the course of the series' six programmes the plot changes quite a lot. Originally Gary's life in the late 20th Century is a difficult one, struggling for money, not making quite enough in his job as a television repair man to comfortably support himself and his wife Yvonne who is studying an Open University Psychology course which Gary believes will get her nowhere. The couple are finding themselves unable to have a child despite all attempts. During a service call out to a part of the East End that Gary is not familiar with, he unknowingly walks through the portal to 1940s London . He does not realise what has happened to him and thinks he is simply in a Theme Pub ; however, after an Air Raid , he realises the truth. The rest of the first series involves Gary largely playing around with wartime London with the aid of his best friend Ron Wheatcroft (the only modern person he tells) and trying to start a cross-time affair with barmaid Phoebe Bamford. Ron, a professional printer whose marriage disintegrates at the same time Gary is repeatedly exploring the time portal, provides Gary with reproductions of WWII items (e.g., ration cards, identity papers, money). Phoebe works at her father's pub; her father takes a quick dislike to Gary, as Phoebe is married to a British soldier and Gary looks like a 'slacker' by comparison. Gary plays well-known songs on the pub's piano (for example Beatles songs) that his 1940s audience would never have heard. In one episode George Formby wants to cover one of his songs, ''When I'm 64'' (although he wants to change "bottle of wine" to "bottle of stout"). At the end of the first series, Gary decides not to return to the 1940s again. When the second series begins, Ron persuades him to go back in time to invest some money so that they will be rich in the 1990s . This scheme fails--but, while there, Gary accidentally meets Phoebe and rekindles their relationship. Phoebe's father has died in an air raid, and her husband has been imprisoned in a POW Camp; Gary's emotional and business support to her advances his prospects with her. Later, Gary discovers another way to use his time travelling ability to make money: taking ordinary objects from the 1940s, and selling them as mint-condition antiques in the 1990s for a huge profit. In the third series, he opens a shop (called ''Blitz and Pieces'') to sell his World War II memorabilia, though buying this shop was mainly a cover for the fact that the row of shops had been built on the Time portal, which was located in the back yard of the shop. Gary's 'travels' all over England, supposedly to buy new antiques, provide a 'cover' to explain his trips back in time to Phoebe. In the 1940s, he has convinced Phoebe that he has secret wartime spy assignments, which are his 'cover' for his returns to Yvonne and Ron in the 1990s. At the end of the third series, both the women in Gary's life reveal that they are pregnant. However, Yvonne later has a miscarriage, while Phoebe gives birth to a boy they call Michael. Ironically, Gary's son is actually older than Gary, since Michael Sparrow was born in the 1940s, more than a decade before Gary himself will be born. Gary and Phoebe later get married. In his conversations with Ron, Gary rationalises that he is not a bigamist, even though he is married to two different women: since Yvonne was not born yet during World War Two (when Gary is married to Phoebe), and since Phoebe appears to have died at some point before the present (when Gary is married to Yvonne), Gary considers himself faithful to both wives. Eventually, Gary meets his own adult son in the present -- a man considerably older than Gary -- and is dismayed to learn that Michael Sparrow is a pauper. Gary proceeds to alter events in the past so that Michael will have an ongoing income. The fifth and sixth series expanded the Science-fiction premise beyond basic time-travel. In one notable development, the portal splits Gary into good and evil selves. Later episodes in the series found both of Gary's wives gaining notable success. In the present, Yvonne became a millionaire through the beauty-aids business she founded. In the past, Phoebe became a night-club singer, as she and Gary became acquainted with Noel Coward . Ironically, many viewers found these plot developments much more implausible than the original time-travel premise. At the end of the final series, Gary prevents an assassination attempt on Clement Attlee in the 1940s, which leads to the time portal closing, trapping him in the past forever. He paints a final message to Ron and Yvonne on the same Mayfair flat wall that Yvonne will one day strip old wallpaper from, and discover. EPISODES Note: Two different episodes are both titled "In the Mood" (one in Series 1, one in Series 4). Series One ( 1993 ) #"Rites of Passage" (18 Nov 1993) #"Fools Rush In" (25 Nov 1993) #"Is Your Journey Really Necessary" (2 Dec 1993) #"The More I See You" (9 Dec 1993) #"I Get Along Without You Very Well" (16 Dec 1993) #"In The Mood" (23 Dec 1993) Series Two ( 1995 ) #"Don't Get Around Much Anymore" (20 Feb 1995) #"I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good" (27 Feb 1995) #"Just One More Chance" (6 Mar 1995) #"Who's Taking You Home Tonight?" (13 Mar 1995) #"Wish Me Luck" (20 Mar 1995) #"As You Wave Me Goodbye" (27 Mar 1995) #"Would You Like To Swing On A Star" (3 Apr 1995) #"Nice Work If You Can Get It" (10 Apr 1995) #"Let Yourself Go" (24 Apr 1995) # "Don't Fence Me In" (1 May 1995) Christmas Special ( 1995 ) #"Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea" (26 Dec 1995) Series Three ( 1996 ) #"It Ain't Necessarily So" (1 Jan 1996) #"One O'Clock Jump" (8 Jan 1996) #"It's A Sin To Tell A Lie" (15 Jan 1996) #"Change Partners" (22 Jan 1996) #"Goodnight Children Everywhere" (29 Jan 1996) #"Turned Out Nice Again" (5 Feb 1996) #"There's Something About A Soldier" (12 Feb 1996) #"Someone To Watch Over Me" (19 Feb 1996) #"The Yanks Are Coming" (26 Feb 1996) #"Let's Get Away From It All" (4 Mar 1996) Series Four ( 1997 ) #"You're Driving Me Crazy" (3 Mar 1997) #"In The Mood" (10 Mar 1997) #"Out Of Town" (17 Mar 1997) #"And Mother Came Too" (8 Apr 1997) #"The Leaving of Liverpool" (15 Apr 1997) #"How Long Has This Been Going On" (15 Apr 1997) #"Easy Living" (22 Apr 1997) #"Come Fly With Me" (29 Apr 1997) #"Heartaches" (6 May 1997) #"Careless Talk" (13 May 1997) #"The Bells Are Ringing" (20 May 1997) Series Five ( 1998 ) #"A Room With A View" (23 Feb 1998) #"London Pride" (2 Mar 1998) #"When Two Worlds Collide" (9 Mar 1998) #"Mairzy Doats" (16 Mar 1998) #"Pennies From Heaven" (23 Mar 1998) #"We Don't Want To Lose You" (30 Mar 1998) #"But We Think You Have To Go" (6 Apr 1998) #"Have You Ever Seen A Dream Walking" (13 Apr 1998) #"Love The One You're With" (20 Apr 1998) #"My Heart Belongs To Daddy" (27 Apr 1998) Series Six ( 1999 ) #"Mine's A Double" (18 Apr 1999) #"All About Yvonne" (25 Apr 1999) #"California Dreamin'" (2 May 1999) #"Grief Encounter" (16 May 1999) #"The 'Ouses In Between" (23 May 1999) #"Just In Time" (30 May 1999) #"How I Won The War" (6 Jun 1999) #"Something Fishie" (13 Jun 1999) #"Flash Bang Wallop" (21 Jun 1999) #"Accentuate The Positive" (28 Jun 1999) CAST
EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|