Bless This House-Series 1: Part 1 (1971)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Main Menu Audio & Animation Gallery-Photo-9 Trailer-George and Mildred,LoveThy Neighbour,Man About The House Trailer-Kenny Everett - The Complete Naughty Bits!
Rating
Year Of Production	1971
Running Time	146:48 (Case: 150)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	William G. Stewart
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Sid James Diana Coupland Robin Stewart Sally Geeson
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$29.95	Music	None Given

    Bless This House was one of a succession of British TV comedy series which were very popular in Australia in the 1970s and 1980s. It comes from the same era as shows such as Man About The House, Love Thy Neighbour and George and Mildred. The show ran for 6 years and also spawned a movie adaptation. The domestic scale of the show did not suit the big screen, but the more intimate nature of TV does.

    Sidney James is the star of the show, and it seems to have been crafted around his screen persona. A veteran of over 200 movies, most of them comedies, he gives a great performance here as Sid Abbott, travelling salesman and harried father of two teenagers. Diana Coupland plays his wife Jean, and while she is some years younger than Sid, the on-screen chemistry is ideal. Robin Stewart plays their 19 year old son Mike, and Sally Geeson is their 16 year old daughter Sally.

    I was about 15 when I first saw the show. From what I remember my friends and I thought Mike was a bit of a drip. His character in the show is a bit of a left-over 60s hippie. On the other hand, I do remember being most impressed by Sally and her miniskirts, and while reviewing the show my wife commented on her nice legs. Ah, memories!!

    Many of the TV comedies from this era don't hold up very well after 30 years, but like the better 'Carry On" films (which frequently starred Sidney James), Bless This House is still quite funny. Part of the reason for this is that the generation gap is always fertile ground for comedy. The director, William G. Stewart, had served a long apprenticeship on other British comedies and coupled with a team of experienced writers produced a show which, while not a classic, will surely please.

    The first six episodes of the series are on this disc. Due to a technicians' strike they were produced in black and white. The first colour episode was number 8 in the series. As a result, they are rarely screened on TV, which adds interest to their presentation here. I should also note that they are presented as originally broadcast, which means they are each in two parts. Advertising on commercial TV in Britain at the time was strictly regulated (hooray), so a half-hour show would only have ads in one set break in the middle. The program here preserves the break in the middle of each episode, along with the lead-in to Part 2.

    The plot of most of the episodes revolves around Sid trying to manage a family crisis, generally caused by his overreaction to the actions of one or more of his family members. On this disc we have:

    Episode 1 (running time 24:40) - The Generation Gap
    We are introduced to the family. Sid is trying to cope with his daughter wearing a padded bra and the fact that his son appears to be dating a male ballet dancer. Sid also finds that Sally is taking sex education lessons at school, as he notes "It's not the lessons I'm worried about, it's the homework".

    Episode 2 (running time 25:04) - Mum's The Word
    Jean develops a rash. Due to a mix-up with the doctor's report, Sid thinks he is going to become a father again.

    Episode 3 (running time 25:12) - Father's Day
    Mike is brought home by the police after being picked up at a demonstration. Sally is dating the doctor's son (he is apparently "crumpet mad"). Father's Day this year is not shaping up too well.

    Episode 4 (running time 25:23) - Be It Ever So Humble
    Sid wants Mike to get a job, he wants to do his "own thing". One thing leads to another and soon the whole family have left home.

    Episode 5 (running time 24:12) - Another Fine Mess...
    Sid insults his boss, unaware that he has entered the room behind him. The day gets worse when the boss asks Sid to mind a mink coat for him, and Jean thinks it's her birthday present.

    Episode 6 (running time 22:17) - For Whom The Bells Toll
    When Mike starts wearing a tie and behaving oddly, Sid and Jean think he is in love and about to elope. Sally becomes a vegetarian and labels the meat-eating, coffee-drinking Sid a "flesh-eating junkie".

    Technical Note - I was unable to play the last three episodes on my Toshiba SD-K350 DVD player (it gave me a "Disc Error" message). Episodes 4-6 were reviewed on an LG V782W player.

Video

    This series appears to have been videotaped rather than filmed, and it is starting to show its age. While the picture is generally clear, and at times crisp, there are frequent signs of damage to the source.

    The aspect ratio is 1.33:1, and naturally not 16x9 enhanced, which is the original ratio.

    While reasonably sharp at most times, some episodes were a little lacking in detail. Episode 2 in particular was blurred at times, but also had less of the problems exhibited in the other episodes. Shadow detail was very good in all episodes.

    As mentioned, these episodes are all in black and white. They all exhibit a nice bright picture, with a very good range across the scale from the black, through numerous nicely presented tones of grey, to the white. At times there is some minor variation in shade during a scene. The Thames TV logo which accompanies each episode is badly faded.

    The picture on this disc is riddled with frequent artefacts and other damage. There are persistent positive artefacts in most episodes - see the top right of the screen at 3:05 in episode 5 as a good example. Episode 4 appears to have persistent video tracking problems, with horizontal bars showing frequently (see 11:34 and 16:05, amongst others). There is minor aliasing in all episodes (see Jean's jacket at 6:25 in episode 5). In spite of all the faults, the picture is still bearable.

    Each of the episodes also have some visible flaws I have not seen before. They occur around a minute before the end of each of the two Parts of the episode and take the form of a small rectangular area of interference at the top right of the picture. They reminded me of the reel change markings on some films, and are most likely some sort of timing signal to trigger the upcoming advertisements at the end of the Part.

    There are no subtitles on this disc.

    No layer change was observable - it is most likely placed between episodes 3 and 4.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Compared to the video, the sound on the disc holds up well. The only time the quality varied was in episode 6, when the audio level was noticeably lower in the second half of the episode.

    There is only 1 audio track present, an English Dolby Digital 2.0 (mono) soundtrack.

    The dialogue quality is good at all times, with speech easy to understand. Surprisingly, there is also very little background noise. Audio sync is also good.

    The only music is found over the credits. The main accompaniment is the laughter of the audience, which sounds canned.

    As this is a mono soundtrack there is no surround presence and little subwoofer activity. The sound is nicely positioned in the centre of the listening field.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    There is a small selection of extras, and they are not of much interest, but at least the distributors made an effort (though not much of a one).

Menu

    The menu is animated and has some accompanying audio, and allows selection of each episode or the extras. Within each episode, 5 scenes can be selected.

Gallery

    A small collection of 9 pictures, some in colour.

Trailers

    A mixed bag of trailers for other British comedy shows, (all presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1):

• George and Mildred (0:40 running time) - The opening credits from the series with very poor picture quality.
• Love Thy Neighbour (2:52 running time) - an excerpt from what appears to be the first episode, out of context.
• A very unfunny excerpt from the Kenny Everett show Complete Naughty Bits! (running time 2:14), and
• The opening credits from Man About The House (running time 1:05).

    This disc does not appear to be available in Region 1.

    Overall this is an enjoyable DVD. As with many TV shows of this era, the picture varies in quality but the sound is quite acceptable. The extras are hardly worth the space, but at least there are some. If you liked the show on TV, or would like to see what we were all laughing at back then, this one might be worth a look.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall