Goodnight Sweetheart (TV series)

Goodnight Sweetheart
Series title card
Genre	Comedy-drama Science fiction
Created by	Laurence Marks Maurice Gran
Developed by	Alomo Productions
Directed by	Terry Kinane Robin Nash Nic Phillips Martin Dennis
Starring	Nicholas Lyndhurst Victor McGuire Christopher Ettridge Michelle Holmes Dervla Kirwan Emma Amos Elizabeth Carling
Theme music composer	David Harsent Anthony Sadler Gaynor Sadler Nick Curtis Ray Noble Jimmy Campbell Reg Connelly
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	6
No. of episodes	59 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Claire Hinson Allan McKeown Jon Rolph
Producer(s)	John Bartlett Nic Phillips Humphrey Barclay
Location(s)	London, England
Running time	30–45 mins
Distributor	FremantleMedia
Release
Original network	BBC 1
Picture format	576i (4:3 SDTV) (1993–1999) 1080i (16:9 HDTV) (2016)
Original release	Original Series: 18 November 1993 – 28 June 1999 Special: 2 September 2016

Goodnight Sweetheart is a British sitcom that ran for six series on BBC1 from 1993 to 1999 and a one-off special that aired on 2 September 2016. It starred Nicholas Lyndhurst as Gary Sparrow, an accidental time traveller who leads a double life after discovering a time portal allowing him to travel between the London of the 1990s and the same area during the Second World War.^[1]

The show was created by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, also creators of Birds of a Feather and The New Statesman. The creators wrote the first series, while subsequent episodes were by a team of writers (including Marks and Gran).^[2]

Although originally made for the BBC the series has subsequently been repeated on ITV3. The show has also been repeated on Gold, Drama, and most recently Yesterday.

For his starring role, Lyndhurst won the Most Popular Comedy Performer at the National Television Awards twice in 1998 and 1999.^[3]

Filming location

The original entrance to Duckett's Passage, leading to The Royal Oak, is located at Ezra Street, London, E2 7RH. The Royal Oak is located just down from Ezra Street, at 73 Columbia Road, E2 7RG.

Plot summary

Gary Sparrow is a somewhat disillusioned TV repairman, in a drab marriage with his ambitious wife Yvonne, and best friends with Ron, a printer whose marriage is on the brink of breakdown. While on a TV repair call-out in East London, Gary accidentally discovers a time portal which leads to war time London. There he meets Phoebe, a pretty barmaid who works in the Royal Oak pub, and Reg Deadman, a dim-witted but friendly policeman.

Gary strikes up a friendship with Phoebe, and makes repeated trips through the time portal, gradually establishing a second life for himself in the 1940s. In this life, he claims to be both a secret agent (aided by his knowledge of future wartime events) and a singer-songwriter, in fact passing off modern day pop songs as his own, particularly songs by The Beatles. He impresses Phoebe by bringing her goods which are widely available in the present day, but were rationed in wartime Britain, such as chocolate, bacon, and nylons and they begin a romance.

Throughout the series, Gary flits between both time periods, struggling to balance his two lives and keep Yvonne and Phoebe happy, getting tangled in webs of lies and deceit as he invents cover stories to explain away his constant absences to both. Most episodes centre on a dilemma for Gary caused by his dual life, often having to choose between letting Yvonne or Phoebe down. Ron is the only other character who knows of his double life – he helps Gary by printing 1940s five pound notes and ID documents for him – and it is to him who Gary usually turns when in a predicament, even if helping him is to Ron's detriment.

As the series progresses, the characters are developed further. Gary and Phoebe eventually marry and they have a son, Michael. Yvonne also becomes pregnant, but suffers a miscarriage. Gary opens a shop in the present day, named "Blitz and Pieces", selling goods he acquires in the 1940s as rare memorabilia. Ron and his wife Stella separate and divorce. Gary and Phoebe move to a luxury flat in Mayfair, where they befriend Noël Coward. Yvonne becomes a millionairess with a successful organic beauty products company, and a personal friend of Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife Cherie. In the final episode, set on VE Day, Gary finds that the time portal has closed, trapping him in the past for good, leaving Ron to explain the truth to Yvonne.

2016 episode

In the 2016 special, Gary is happily married to Phoebe, with whom he has a teenage son named Michael. On his birthday in 1962, he visits the hospital where his younger self is being born and after briefly holding his infant self, is thrown back into the future, also reopening the time portal, which is now in the bathroom of a trendy East London burger joint where Blitz and Pieces used to be. During his time in the future, he learns that Ron is now living in Yvonne's basement, that multimillionaire Yvonne is now an investor on the BBC's Dragon's Den, and that he and Yvonne have a 16-year-old daughter named Ellie. He returns to the past, but decides on living a double life again so that he can get to know his daughter.

Episodes

A total of 59 episodes were made, including a Christmas special. Marks and Gran, the creators, wrote the first series; some later episodes were written by other writers.

As in Marks and Gran's sitcom Get Back, most episodes of Goodnight Sweetheart — and the programme itself — were named after popular song titles. The show is named after the song Goodnight, Sweetheart, a popular song of the 1930s and 1940s, popularized by Al Bowlly in 1931; it was later sung by Nick Curtis as the series signature tune. During one episode Gary and Phoebe refer to Bowlly's death during World War II.

Because of a script-editing error, two different episodes (series one, episode six and series four, episode two) were both titled "In the Mood". There is no special connection between these two episodes.

Cast

Actor	Role	Episodes	Series	Years
Nicholas Lyndhurst	Gary Sparrow	59	1–6 and 1 special	1993–99, 2016
Victor McGuire	Ron Wheatcroft
Christopher Ettridge	P.C. Reg Deadman	56	1–6 and 1 special (Not in 1x02, 1x04, 2x04)
Elizabeth Carling	Phoebe Bamford	32	4–6 and 1 special	1997–99, 2016
Dervla Kirwan		27	1–3	1993–96
Emma Amos	Yvonne Sparrow	31	4–6 and 1 special (Not in 4x04)	1997–99, 2016
Michelle Holmes		27	1–3	1993–96
David Ryall	Eric	6	1	1993
David Benson	Noël Coward	6	5–6	1998–99
Tim Preston	Michael Sparrow	1	1 special	2016
Esme Coy	Ellie	1	1 special	2016

DVD releases

All six series and the 1995 Christmas Special have been released on DVD in the UK (Region 2), the Christmas special was released on the third series DVD. The first five series have been released in Australia (Region 4).

DVD Title		No. of discs	Year	No. of episodes	DVD release		DVD Interview
					Region 2	Region 4
	Complete Series 1	1	1993	6	4 February 2005	3 June 2009	Laurence Marks & Maurice Gran (Creators)
	Complete Series 2	2	1995	10	26 September 2005	3 June 2009	Christopher Ettridge (Reg Deadman)
	Complete Series 3	2	1995 & 1996	11	23 January 2006	17 September 2009	Dervla Kirwan (old Phoebe)
	Complete Series 4	2	1997	11	22 May 2006	2 June 2011	Emma Amos (new Yvonne)
	Complete Series 5	2	1998	10	24 July 2006	2 August 2011	David Benson (Noël Coward)
	Complete Series 6	2	1999	10	18 September 2006	—	Elizabeth Carling (new Phoebe)
	Complete Series 1–6	11	1993–99	58	23 October 2006	—	All of the above

Historical figures

Although the main characters are fictional, some real people have been portrayed in the wartime sequences. These include King George VI, Wilfred Pickles, Winston Churchill, Ed Murrow, Guy Burgess, George Formby, Noël Coward (played by David Benson), Celia Johnson, the Kray twins, Trevor Howard, Alfred Lennon, David Lean, Clement Attlee, Adolf Hitler and Cecil Beaton. Rolf Harris also appears as himself in a daytime dream sequence. Jack the Ripper features in one episode. Vera Lynn is also mentioned in the episode "When Two Worlds Collide" when Phoebe hears modern music, while John Lennon is mentioned as a local boy who can write better songs than Gary's modern compositions when he and Phoebe visit Liverpool in the episode "The Leaving of Liverpool". Also, The Beatles are mentioned numerous times throughout the show as Gary is a fan and during the wartime sequences, Gary plays many of their songs on the pub piano, while claiming to have written them.

Future

There was talk of Goodnight Sweetheart being brought back and/or being made into a musical^[4] in 2014. The show's writers and producers have stated they have received thousands of emails and letters regarding the show wishing for its return to the small screen. Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran have both stated that while there are no plans to bring the series back, it might possibly come back if the planned musical is made and is a success.

On 5 July 2016 it was announced that the show would be returning to BBC One for a one-off special episode, as part of the BBC's "landmark sitcom season". Original writers Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran wrote the script, and original star, Nicholas Lyndhurst, returned to the role of Gary Sparrow.^[5]

The one-off special episode aired on 2 September 2016 on BBC One. It received overwhelming praise by fans of the show and was trending on Twitter for six hours after it aired. Writers Marks and Gran announced on Twitter on 6th October that the BBC had passed on making a new series. ^[6]

References

1. Masters, Tim. "BBC News – Goodnight Sweetheart: Musical future for time travel show?". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-11-17.
2. "BBC – Comedy Guide – Goodnight Sweetheart". Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on 2004-12-05. Retrieved 2013-11-17.
3. "Winners – The National Television Awards". Nationaltvawards.com. Retrieved 2013-11-17.
4. Masters, Tim (2013-11-17). "BBC News – Goodnight Sweetheart: Musical future for time travel show?". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-03-12.
5. "Goodnight Sweetheart is coming back with Nicholas Lyndhurst returning to star". Retrieved 2016-07-05.
6. Kitchener, Shaun. "BBC 'would be CRAZY' not to make full series of Goodnight Sweetheart after reboot special". Retrieved 2016-09-02.

External links

• Goodnight Sweetheart at BBC Programmes
• Goodnight Sweetheart at the British Film Institute
• Goodnight Sweetheart at the Internet Movie Database
• Goodnight Sweetheart at British Comedy Guide
• Goodnight Sweetheart at British TV Comedy Guide