Happy Families (TV series)
Encyclopedia
- This article is about the 1985 comedy series written by Ben Elton. Happy Families is also a series of children's storybooksHappy Families (books)Happy Families is a series of children's books written by Allan Ahlberg, inspired by the traditional card game Happy Families. Ahlberg worked with a number of illustrators and the books were published by Puffin Books. The series form a transition for children between picture books and chapter books...
by Allan Ahlberg, which were also converted into a television programme. Happy Families (CBBC TV series)Happy Families (CBBC TV series)Happy Families is a children's television series made in the late 1980s based on the Happy Families series of books by Janet and Allan Ahlberg ....
Happy Families was a rural
Rural
Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
written by Ben Elton
Ben Elton
Benjamin Charles "Ben" Elton is an English comedian, author, playwright and director. He was a leading figure in the British alternative comedy movement of the 1980s, as a writer on such cult series as The Young Ones and Blackadder, as well as also a successful stand-up comedian on stage and TV....
which appeared on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
in 1985
1985 in television
The year 1985 involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1985.For the American TV schedule, see: 1985-86 United States network television schedule.-Events:*January 1 – VH1 launches in the United States....
and told the story of the dysfunctional
Dysfunctional family
A dysfunctional family is a family in which conflict, misbehavior, and often abuse on the part of individual members occur continually and regularly, leading other members to accommodate such actions. Children sometimes grow up in such families with the understanding that such an arrangement is...
Fuddle family.
It starred Jennifer Saunders
Jennifer Saunders
Jennifer Jane Saunders is an English comedienne, screenwriter, singer and actress. She has won two BAFTAs, an International Emmy Award, a British Comedy Award, a Rose d'Or Light Entertainment Festival Award, two Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards, and a Peoples Choice Award.She first came into...
as Granny Fuddle, Dawn French as the Cook and Adrian Edmondson
Adrian Edmondson
Adrian Charles "Ade" Edmondson is an English comedian. He is probably best known for his comedic roles in the television series The Young Ones and Bottom , for which he also wrote together with his long-time collaboration partner Rik Mayall.-Early life:Edmondson, the second of four children, was...
(Saunders' real-life husband) as her imbecilic grandson Guy. The plot centred around Guy's attempts to find his four sisters - also played by Saunders - for a family reunion.
Visual style
The most innovative thing about the series was the "style" of film in which each sister's story was shot; for example, Cassie's story was shot on 16mm to make it appear to be a U.S. soap opera, Madelaine's story was shot in soft focus to make it appear to be a French film, Roxeanne was filmed as though appearing in a gritty BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
documentary, and Joyce's story was filmed like an Ealing comedy.
Introduction (AKA Edith)
The first episode focuses on Edith Fuddle (SaundersJennifer Saunders
Jennifer Jane Saunders is an English comedienne, screenwriter, singer and actress. She has won two BAFTAs, an International Emmy Award, a British Comedy Award, a Rose d'Or Light Entertainment Festival Award, two Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards, and a Peoples Choice Award.She first came into...
), who is told by the tactless Doctor De Quincy (Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry
Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...
), that she is dying. Although, in a bitter feud with her grandson (Edmondson
Adrian Edmondson
Adrian Charles "Ade" Edmondson is an English comedian. He is probably best known for his comedic roles in the television series The Young Ones and Bottom , for which he also wrote together with his long-time collaboration partner Rik Mayall.-Early life:Edmondson, the second of four children, was...
), she enlists his help to go out into the world to find his four sisters, her granddaughters, and to bring them back to her.
Cassie
The second eldest, Cassie, has become a huge star in Hollywood under the name Cassie Epris-Curtis. Pampered by everyone who surrounds her, Cassie has cut off all ties with her British heritage. Although, as Guy arrives, Cassie is revealed to be a stressed, spoiled actress who throws tantrums over tiny flaws, and after ruining a scene of the show where she has gained her fame, she is fired, and reluctantly takes up Guy's offer to return to her grandmother.Madeleine
In the third episode, the life of Madeleine, the second youngest granddaughter is revealed. Now living in the house of a renowned poet, Dalcroix (Jim BroadbentJim Broadbent
James "Jim" Broadbent is an English theatre, film, and television actor. He is known for his roles in Iris, Moulin Rouge!, Topsy-Turvy, Hot Fuzz, and Bridget Jones' Diary...
). Naive, and now with a French accent, Madeleine is loyal to her adopted housefather, unaware that he is a peeping tom. Guy arrives to the town where Dalcroix resides, and finds that the town (made up of Nazis) hates Dalcroix, and all that he stands for. Their anger finally bubbles over, after a postcard featuring Madeleine in a suggestive pose finds Guy, and led by their local Priest (Rik Mayall
Rik Mayall
Richard Michael "Rik" Mayall is an English comedian, writer, and actor. He is known for his comedy partnership with Ade Edmondson, his over-the-top, energetic portrayal of characters, and as a pioneer of alternative comedy in the early 1980s...
) the town revolts and burns Dalcroix at the stake. Now, without purpose, Madeleine agrees with Guy's proposals to return to her childhood home.
Joyce
Episode 4 sees the life of Joyce, the eldest, who is now a Catholic nun, after a miracle featuring the Madonna Mary, a tree and a conker. Joyce, who has been a novice for 19 years, is regularly punished by the sadistic Sister Prudence. Although she fancies herself as a jolly, upbeat joker, everyone who encounters Joyce finds her irritating and thick. However, Joyce proves to be a brilliant sleuth (unintentionally) and foils the Mother Superior's (Una StubbsUna Stubbs
Una Stubbs is an English actress and former dancer who has appeared extensively on British television and in the theatre, and less frequently in films. She is particularly known for her roles in the sitcom Till Death Us Do Part and Aunt Sally in the children's series Worzel Gummidge.-Film and...
) plan to take over England, and reinstate the Catholic Monarchy, with the help of Guy, who fools Joyce into leaving the nunnery and return home, disguised as the angel Gabriel. Joyce announces her plans to vacate the convent to all the other nuns, much to their delight.
Roxanne
The penultimate episode focuses on the youngest sister, Roxanne, who at 20 years old, is now in HMP Long Mangley serving 50 Years for contributory negligence. Obsessed with the documentary "On the Mangle", which focuses on the inmates of Long Mangley, Guy hatches a plan to spring Roxanne by using a giant chocolate box, which, surprisingly, works, although all the prisoners are released for a "stroll". An emotional Guy and a bewildered Roxanne are finally able to go home.Reunion
The final episode reunites all of the family together back in Fuddlewich -- the four granddaughters return by various means of transport to their childhood home, and they all encounter one sister, although none of them recognise the other.Joyce returns by train, and has a brief meeting with Madeleine, and they both leave the train station, neither recognising the other. Cassie has caught a cab from America, which is breaking down by the time it nears Fuddlewich. Roxanne, who has walked from her prison, is stopped by Cassie who notes that it is a coincidence that they both have double syllable Christian names (despite Roxanne stating that her name is Fuddle, the same to Cassie).
The granddaughters return to the home of their grandparents, and are placed in the dining room, and starved until Edith is ready to see them. They are then brought into the billiard room, where they all conference, and Edith tells them why she has brought them back together. Edith reveals that she has not brought them back out of love (as Guy first thought), she hates them all deeply. She reveals that Harold (her husband, who died 9 months previously), was a pervert and "loved" as his granddaughters deeply. Not wanting to lose her husband, Edith called social services and reported the incident, which allowed Edith to get rid of the girls. She also reveals the fate of their mother, who died destitute in a ditch of a broken-heart, after being hit by a car (presumably driven by Edith).
Edith was left with her husband, and Guy, who was hated even as a child. She also tells the girls that on the same day that Guy began his search, she had been told that she was suffering from Corringtons Disease, which kills the victim in 9 months. She reveals this as the reason she has brought the girls back. She tells her granddaughters, that the only cure is to get one organ from four donors of the same bloodline and gender, and offers to give them all one quarter of her entire estate, in order to get her vital operation. All of them agree, however just as the operation is about to begin, Flossy the maid barges in to tell them that Cook has died after turning blue (a symptom of Corringtons). Doctor De Quincy comes to the conclusion that he must have mixed up the urine samples, and that Edith must be pregnant (at nearly 80 years of age). Edith suddenly goes into labor, and shortly afterwards gives birth to a baby boy. Still bitter and resentful, she dismisses the girls to return to their pathetic existence. Cassie, however challenges her, saying they still have the documents, and want their inheritance now. Edith reluctantly agrees, and also offers to give them her newborn as well. None of the girls want him, but offer their grandmother a 50 GBP a week allowance, for the sake of their newborn uncle. The episode ends with Edith left in an empty house, with Guy who is to be wed to Flossy.
Cast
- Jennifer SaundersJennifer SaundersJennifer Jane Saunders is an English comedienne, screenwriter, singer and actress. She has won two BAFTAs, an International Emmy Award, a British Comedy Award, a Rose d'Or Light Entertainment Festival Award, two Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards, and a Peoples Choice Award.She first came into...
as Granny, Cassie, Madeleine, Joyce and Roxanne Fuddle (6 episodes) - Adrian EdmondsonAdrian EdmondsonAdrian Charles "Ade" Edmondson is an English comedian. He is probably best known for his comedic roles in the television series The Young Ones and Bottom , for which he also wrote together with his long-time collaboration partner Rik Mayall.-Early life:Edmondson, the second of four children, was...
as Guy Fuddle (6 episodes) - Dawn French as Cook (6 episodes)
- Stephen FryStephen FryStephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...
as Dr. De Quincy (6 episodes) - Helen LedererHelen LedererHelen Lederer is a Welsh comedienne, writer and actress who emerged as part of the alternative comedy boom at the beginning of the 1980s.-Career:...
as Flossie (5 episodes) - Jim BroadbentJim BroadbentJames "Jim" Broadbent is an English theatre, film, and television actor. He is known for his roles in Iris, Moulin Rouge!, Topsy-Turvy, Hot Fuzz, and Bridget Jones' Diary...
as Dalcroix (3 episodes) - Hugh LaurieHugh LaurieJames Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE , better known as Hugh Laurie , is an English actor, voice artist, comedian, writer, musician, recording artist, and director...
as Jim (2 episodes) - Una StubbsUna StubbsUna Stubbs is an English actress and former dancer who has appeared extensively on British television and in the theatre, and less frequently in films. She is particularly known for her roles in the sitcom Till Death Us Do Part and Aunt Sally in the children's series Worzel Gummidge.-Film and...
as Mother Superior (2 episodes) - Christine Edmunds as Maxine (2 episodes)
- Ceri JacksonCeri JacksonCeri Jackson is a British actress who was active on television and in films from 1981 to 1994. She is the daughter of producer T. Leslie Jackson and the sister of fellow producer Paul Jackson....
as Sister Ophelia (2 episodes) - Claudette Williams as Jill (2 episodes)
Critical reception
The programme was a cultCult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
hit though not an enormous ratings winner and strayed away from bonafide sitcom by being shot entirely on location and without a live audience. Critics didn't know what to make of it on its first broadcast - was it a comedy or a comedy drama...? The Critical response was generally negative with the consensus being that which was expressed on the BBC critics programme Did you See...?
Did You See...?
Did You See...? was a long-running British television documentary series which began on the BBC in 1980. The programme took a look back at the week's television with a discussion between the presenter and three guests. In the first run there was also an item on related issues...
that the programme was an attempt by management at the BBC to keep the talent from the Young Ones
The Young Ones (TV series)
The Young Ones is a British sitcom, first broadcast in 1982, which ran for two series on BBC2. Its anarchic, offbeat humour helped bring alternative comedy to television in the 1980s and made household names of its writers and performers...
without actually understanding the humour and forcing it into a more mainstream avenue.
It also made Elton the youngest lone BBC script
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
writer on a mainstream programme at the age of 26. He had shot to prominence three years earlier as the chief writer on The Young Ones
The Young Ones (TV series)
The Young Ones is a British sitcom, first broadcast in 1982, which ran for two series on BBC2. Its anarchic, offbeat humour helped bring alternative comedy to television in the 1980s and made household names of its writers and performers...
. Despite the fact that it was not a critical success, Elton still considers it to be one of the best things he has ever written.
It has not, to date, been officially released on either VHS or DVD.
Trivia
- A budget was allocated for a second series, which was never commissioned. As a result, the money was used to produce the first series of Red DwarfRed DwarfRed Dwarf is a British comedy franchise which primarily comprises eight series of a television science fiction sitcom that aired on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999 and Dave from 2009–present. It gained cult following. It was created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, who also wrote the first six series...
.