Two's Company was a British television situation comedy series that ran from 1975-79. Produced by London Weekend Television

London Weekend Television

London Weekend Television was the name of the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties including south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Warwickshire, east Dorset and...

 for the ITV Network, the programme starred Elaine Stritch

Elaine Stritch

Elaine Stritch is an American actress and vocalist. She has appeared in numerous stage plays and musicals, feature films, and many television programs...

 and Donald Sinden

Donald Sinden

Sir Donald Alfred Sinden CBE is an English actor of theatre, film and television.-Personal life:Sinden was born in Plymouth, Devon, England, on 9 October 1923. The son of Alfred Edward Sinden and his wife Mabel Agnes , he grew up in the Sussex village of Ditchling, where their home doubled as the...

.

Premise

Dorothy McNab (Stritch) is an American author living in London. As she spends most of her days writing, she hires an English butler, Robert Hiller (Sinden), to help run her Chelsea home. Being the epitome of the English gentleman, Robert does not approve of Dorothy's lurid thriller novels or her American ways. Much of the comedy stems from the banter between the two, as they continually disagree due to their cultural differences and try to outwit each other.

Series History

Two's Company was created by Bill MacIllwraith, who also wrote all of the episodes. The series was shown in a late (post 10pm) Sunday night slot in the UK throughout its run. It was nominated for a BAFTA Award for "Best Comedy" programme in 1977, and was nominated for four BAFTA Awards in 1979, including "Best Comedy", "Best Graphics" (opening credits sequence) and Stritch and Sinden were each nominated for "Best Light Entertainment Performance".

Stritch and Sinden also performed the series theme song, with lyrics written by Sammy Cahn

Sammy Cahn

Sammy Cahn was an American lyricist, songwriter and musician. He is best known for his romantic lyrics to films and Broadway songs, as well as stand-alone songs premiered by recording companies in the Greater Los Angeles Area...

 and music by Denis King

Denis King

Denis King is an English Ivor Novello award-winning composer, singer and actor.As a writer he composed music for the British television series The Adventures of Black Beauty, Within These Walls, Lovejoy and Worzel Gummidge amongst others. He also composed the theme to the 1992 series The New...

, which played during the animated opening credits sequence where Stritch's character is portrayed as a brassy American eagle and Sinden's as a snooty British lion.

After its success in the UK, the series was remade for US television in 1981 as The Two Of Us starring Peter Cook

Peter Cook

Peter Edward Cook was an English satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He has been described by Stephen Fry as "the funniest man who ever drew breath," although Cook's...

 and Mimi Kennedy

Mimi Kennedy

Mimi Kennedy is an American actress, author and activist.-Early life:Kennedy was born Mary Claire Kennedy in Rochester, New York, the daughter of Nancy Helen and Daniel Gerald Kennedy. She got her start in theater with the Rochester Community Players, appearing in Agatha Christie's "Spider Web"...

, though this version was less successful and was cancelled the following year.

DVD release

The entire series of Two's Company has been released on DVD in the US and Australia. In the UK, Network DVD

Network DVD

Network DVD is a DVD publishing company that specialises in classic British television. In particular, it has the rights to a number of well-known ITV programmes...

have now released all four series, along with a 4-disc box set featuring all four series of the show.