Dear John (UK TV series)
Encyclopedia
Dear John is a British sitcom
, written by John Sullivan
. Two series and a "special" were broadcast between 1986 and 1987.
This sitcom's title referred to letters sent by girls to their boyfriends breaking off the relationship, known as "Dear John" letters
. In the opening episode, John discovers his wife is leaving him for a friend, and he is forced to find lodgings. In desperation, he attends the 1-2-1 Singles Club and finds the other members mostly social misfits.
It was re-made for the U.S. market.
, who was also writer of the series. The theme tune was arranged by Ronnie Hazlehurst
who was a composer for many BBC sitcoms. Joan Baxter provided the vocals to the song.
Acorn Media UK
released both series of Dear John on DVD in the UK in 2010.
British sitcom
A British sitcom tends, as it does in most other countries, to be based on a family, workplace or other institution, where the same group of contrasting characters is brought together in each episode. Unlike American sitcoms, where twenty or more episodes in a season is the norm, British sitcoms...
, written by John Sullivan
John Sullivan (writer)
John Richard Thomas Sullivan OBE was an English television scriptwriter responsible for several popular British sitcoms, including Only Fools and Horses, Citizen Smith and Just Good Friends....
. Two series and a "special" were broadcast between 1986 and 1987.
This sitcom's title referred to letters sent by girls to their boyfriends breaking off the relationship, known as "Dear John" letters
Dear John letter
A "Dear John letter" is a letter written to a husband or boyfriend by his wife or girlfriend to inform him their relationship is over, usually because the author has found another lover. Dear John Letters are often written out of an inability or unwillingness to inform the person face to face...
. In the opening episode, John discovers his wife is leaving him for a friend, and he is forced to find lodgings. In desperation, he attends the 1-2-1 Singles Club and finds the other members mostly social misfits.
It was re-made for the U.S. market.
Major characters
- John Lacey (Ralph BatesRalph BatesRalph Bates was an English film and television actor, known for his role in the British sitcom Dear John and for being one of Hammer Horror's best-known actors from the latter period of the company....
) — John is a secondary school teacher whose wife leaves him for his best friend, Mike. He is thrown out of his home and has to continue paying the mortgage while living in a bedsit. Although John's wife is manipulativePsychological manipulationPsychological manipulation is a type of social influence that aims to change the perception or behavior of others through underhanded, deceptive, or even abusive tactics. By advancing the interests of the manipulator, often at the other's expense, such methods could be considered exploitative,...
and John the victim, he admits he neglected his wife emotionally. He feels cut off from his son, to whom he has access only on Sundays. They end up at the zoo because it's the only place open, his son saying they've seen one penguin so many times that the first time they came "he was an egg". John's problems come from inability or unwillingness to confront someone or from being too nice - situations rebound in unexpected ways.
- Kate (Belinda LangBelinda LangBelinda Lang is an English actress, best known in the United Kingdom for her role as Bill Porter in the long running BBC sitcom 2point4 children .-Television:...
) — A "frigid" woman with three failed marriages. She spars with Kirk, whose lust for her becomes a theme. She ends up in bed with John although it is suggested there was no sex as they were both drunk. Eventually she goes to Greece with her new boyfriend (to the chagrin of Kirk) only to reappear in the final episode.
- Ralph (Peter DenyerPeter DenyerPeter John Denyer was an English actor who was perhaps best remembered for playing Dennis Dunstable in London Weekend Television's Please Sir!, and its spin off series The Fenn Street Gang, taking on the role of a teenager when already into his 20s.Another semi-regular role, again for LWT, was as...
) — A misfit who married a Polish immigrant who left him as soon as she got a British passport. He has a close friendship with Kirk even though Kirk holds him in disdain. He often gives Kirk a lift home on his motorcycle combination. In series two, Ralphy (as Kirk calls him) surprises everyone by becoming Dazzlin' Darren the Night Club DJ. Unfortunately his microphone patter is not as glitzy as his name.
- Kirk St Moritz / Eric Morris (Peter BlakePeter Blake (actor)Peter Blake is a British actor. He was trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. First professional appearance at the Edinburgh Festival in Frank Dunlop's production of The Winter's Tale in 1966...
) — Dressed in the style of John TravoltaJohn TravoltaJohn Joseph Travolta is an American actor, dancer and singer. Travolta first became known in the 1970s, after appearing on the television series Welcome Back, Kotter and starring in the box office successes Saturday Night Fever and Grease...
in Saturday Night FeverSaturday Night FeverSaturday Night Fever is a 1977 drama film directed by John Badham and starring: John Travolta as Tony Manero, an immature young man whose weekends are spent visiting a local Brooklyn discothèque; Karen Lynn Gorney as his dance partner and eventual friend; and Donna Pescow as Tony's former dance...
, crass, chauvinist and tactless Kirk (who claims to be a spy) is shown at the end of series one to be a fictional personality created by someone called Eric who, though mid-thirties, lives in squalor with an overbearing mother who call him Big EarsBig EarsBig Ears is a 1931 Our Gang short comedy film directed by Robert F. McGowan. It was the 108th Our Gang short that was released.-Plot:...
. His room is filled with toy guns and The A-TeamThe A-TeamThe A-Team is an American action adventure television series about a fictional group of ex-United States Army Special Forces personnel who work as soldiers of fortune, while on the run from the Army after being branded as war criminals for a "crime they didn't commit". The A-Team was created by...
posters. The long, rambling and often preposterous anecdotes of Kirk about his "experiences" seducing nuns and the Vietnam War are contrast with our knowledge that Eric is likely a virgin and has done next to nothing. Eric claims to John in private that Kirk represents all he aspires to and also that he has other personas - suggesting Eric has become a persona he presents to his mother, just as Kirk is the persona he presents to the 1-2-1 Club - while Kirk explains Eric in public as an undercover version of Kirk and his mother as his controller in disguise. In the final episode, Eric is returning with Kirk's dry-cleaned outfit when he sees his friends about to be beaten by Hells AngelsHells AngelsThe Hells Angels Motorcycle Club is a worldwide one-percenter motorcycle gang and organized crime syndicate whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporation. Their primary motto...
. In a homage to SupermanSupermanSuperman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
films, he retreats into the pub toilet and (after the Superman theme is played) emerges as Kirk. Kirk beats up the Hells Angels. Eric has a fascination with "Tiger" Kate, whom he insults and who insults him back, although he claims that under the surface he is "kind of fond of her" and tries to get John to organise a date for him.
- Louise (Rachel BellRachel BellRachel B. Bell is a British actress.Bell has many television credits to her name and has been associated as a long-running character with three series: Margaret Holmes in Grange Hill ; Edith Pilchester in The Darling Buds of May ; and Louise, the overbearing chair of the divorcee support group in...
) — The leader of the group divorced her husband because of his fetishistic tendencies and remains obsessed with other people's sex lives - this may be her reason for organising the group and certainly the cause of her catchphrase "Were there any sexual problems?"
- Sylvia (Lucinda Curtis) — A late addition, Sylvia was a nervous woman with an irritating laugh who divorced her husband because of his transvestismTransvestismTransvestism is the practice of cross-dressing, which is wearing clothing traditionally associated with the opposite sex. Transvestite refers to a person who cross-dresses; however, the word often has additional connotations. -History:Although the word transvestism was coined as late as the 1910s,...
.
Minor characters
- Mrs Arnott (Jean Challis) — Quiet, hat-wearing Mrs Arnott (who has depression) sits at the back dressed in dowdy, functional clothing occasionally chipping in with unexpected comments such as that her husband used to make her play hoopla with ring doughnuts. Eventually she leaves to look after her daughter's children when her daughter goes to work in Africa for VSOVSOVSO is a three-letter acronym with multiple meanings, as described below:* Voluntary Service Overseas, an international development charity* Valdosta Southern Railroad...
.
- Toby Lacey (William Bates) — Ralph Bates' real-life son portrays his screen son, Toby.
- Wendy (Wendy Alnutt) — John's sexually manipulative and bossy ex-wife.
- Mike Taylor (Darren Traynor) — Wendy's live-in lover. He was later played by Roger Blake.
- Ken (Terence EdmondTerence EdmondTerence Edmond was an English actor, who played PC Ian Sweet in 78 episodes of Z-Cars between 1962 and 1964....
) — Ken is John's work colleague who, in contrast to John's desire to have a loyal partner, desires to spread his oats and has nothing but envy for what he imagines is John's new life of sexual freedom. He and his wife have children whose upkeep and company he finds a drain. It is insinuated that she forces him to have a vasectomy.
- Maggie (Sue HoldernessSue HoldernessSue Holderness is an English actress. Since 1985 she has played the role of Marlene Boyce in the British sitcom Only Fools and Horses and its spin-off The Green Green Grass .-Career:...
) — Ken's wife.
- Mrs Lemenski (Irene Prador) — An older Polish woman who occupies the bedsit next to John's and catches him in humiliating circumstances such as hitting his head on the wall in frustration. She refers to him as "you loony person" or "fruitcake person". She reveals herself to be a lonely woman who lost her husband in the Second World War.
- Mrs. Morris (Sheila ManahanSheila ManahanSheila Manahan was an Irish actress. Among her film roles were Ann Willingdon in Seven Days to Noon , Esther's mother in The Story of Esther Costello , and Mrs. Jenkins in Only Two Can Play , with Peter Sellers and Mai Zetterling. She was married to the Scottish actor, Fulton Mackay.-External links:...
) — Kirk/Eric's overbearing Irish mother
- Ricky Fortune (Kevin LloydKevin LloydKevin Reardon Lloyd was a British actor, born in Derby, and trained at East 15 Acting School, London. Best known for his part of DC Alfred "Tosh" Lines in Thames Television's The Bill....
) — A one-hit-wonder in Iceland, Ricky Fortune joins only to be mocked by Kirk for his anonymity, and leaves.
Episode list
All episodes thirty minutes, apart from episode 2.7, which was a 50 minute Christmas special.| Episode # | Title | Original airdate |
|---|
Title Music
The title music was composed by John SullivanJohn Sullivan (writer)
John Richard Thomas Sullivan OBE was an English television scriptwriter responsible for several popular British sitcoms, including Only Fools and Horses, Citizen Smith and Just Good Friends....
, who was also writer of the series. The theme tune was arranged by Ronnie Hazlehurst
Ronnie Hazlehurst
Ronald "Ronnie" Hazlehurst was an English composer and conductor who, having joined the BBC in 1961, became its Light Entertainment Musical Director....
who was a composer for many BBC sitcoms. Joan Baxter provided the vocals to the song.
VHS & DVD
Dear John appeared on video in 1998, three cassettes with both series and the Christmas special, under Playback Entertainment.Acorn Media UK
Acorn Media UK
Acorn Media UK is a DVD publisher which distributes and sells home video products with a particular focus on British television.- Company history :The company was founded in 1997 when Lesley Fromant set up a branch of parent company Acorn Media in the UK....
released both series of Dear John on DVD in the UK in 2010.
External links
- Dear John at the BBC Comedy Guide