Goodnight Sweetheart - Series 1 (DVD)

Written by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran (The New Statesman), 'Goodnight Sweetheart' is a memorable rom-sitcom that ran for six consecutive series through the nineties, and was the first major role for Nicholas Lyndhurst after 'Only Fools and Horses' ceased production as a regular series and moved into the realm of sporadic Christmas specials. Slightly similar to the more recent 'Life on Mars,' the premise involves 1990s television repairman Gary ...
...accessed through an alleyway in East London. At first believing the archaic decor and characters of The Royal Oak indicate the pub's unusually serious commitment to a 1940s theme, Gary soon has the truth thrust upon him by a devastating air raid. After acclimatising himself to the bizarre situation, Gary develops a habit of travelling back and forth between the two eras on a regular basis, fuelled to no small degree by his developing love for the ... more

Written by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran (The New Statesman), 'Goodnight Sweetheart' is a memorable rom-sitcom that ran for six consecutive series through the nineties, and was the first major role for Nicholas Lyndhurst after 'Only Fools and Horses' ceased production as a regular series and moved into the realm of sporadic Christmas specials. Slightly similar to the more recent 'Life on Mars,' the premise involves 1990s television repairman Gary Sparrow (Lyndhurst) accidentally stumbling across a gateway to the past, accessed through an alleyway in East London. At first believing the archaic decor and characters of The Royal Oak indicate the pub's unusually serious commitment to a 1940s theme, Gary soon has the truth thrust upon him by a devastating air raid. After acclimatising himself to the bizarre situation, Gary develops a habit of travelling back and forth between the two eras on a regular basis, fuelled to no small degree by his developing love for the landlord's daughter.

The first and probably best series ran for the customary BBC sitcom span of six episodes at the end of 1993, and aims to tell a complete and self-contained story arc from start to finish, providing a satisfying ending while also leaving the series open for the future continuation that eventually ran it into the ground. These six half-hour shows were clearly thoughtfully written to explore this unique time travel concept to its full potential, and each idea - from stunning the past with rare gifts of now widely-available chocolate to the idea of buying dead-cert shares to invest in the future - is handled tastefully, and at a realistic pace.

Despite being labelled as a sitcom, the humour is entirely character-based, and more in the 'Birds of a Feather' league (another Marks and Gran creation) of occasional and extremely contrived witty retorts from the more sarcastic characters, though there are a few attempts at silliness through the use of repeated jokes, particularly the random background extra who chastises characters for using coarse language (i.e. 'bloody') when ladies are present. Naturally, much of the humour is based on the ironic differences between customs fifty-three years apart, and although this leads to some jokes being repeated a fair few times, particularly Gary's passing off songs by the Beatles and other late twentieth century artists as his own, the intended weekly gap between each episode serve to make each instance a nice reminder of quite a good joke rather than an annoying repetition. The audience always seems to love that joke in any case.

Well conceived, this series is primarily an angst-ridden tale of romance and infidelity, with comedy and science fiction overtones, and it seems to be based on a deliberately 'modern' attitude that adultery is really okay, if you're stuck in a bit of a loveless marriage. The premise is quite morally confusing, particularly as the audience is expected to sympathise with Gary even as he attempts to seduce 1940s Phoebe (Dervla Kerwan), herself married to an enlisted soldier serving in Tunisia, and then returns to his present-day wife Yvonne (Michelle Holmes) for banter and sex. Despite his evident frustrations with Yvonne across this series, feeling that her career ambition and involvement in an Open University psychology course have led to her neglecting him, it's obvious that there's still much love between them, and she genuinely attempts to solve their obvious differences as the series progresses, as she sees Gary become increasingly distracted by his odd newfound hobby of collecting 1940s literature and memorabilia. For some reason.

Worse are Gary's rather unforgivable and frequent lies to both the women in his life, often using his friend Ron - the only person who knows the truth about his time travels - to cover for his absence in 1993, and concocting an elaborate tissue of lies when caught out by Phoebe in the past, culminating in Gary's 'admission' that he is married to an actress named Marilyn Monroe whose glamorous lifestyle has put insurmountable strain on their marriage. Most hypocritical of all is Gary's unjustified jealousy when he momentarily suspects Yvonne of cheating on him with her college professor, making him an equally sympathetic and despicable character. Shallow attempts are made to justify his actions concerning the time difference - after all, it's not really cheating on Yvonne if neither of them have been born yet, is it? - and Ron effectively sums up that school of thought when he points out how Gary is living "every man's dream": an affair with an untraceable bit-on-the-side.

Although this is far from a typical BBC period drama, the production values are still quite impressive, particularly in terms of the indoor and outdoor sets that authentically reflect the period and convince the viewer that they are momentarily inhabiting the war-torn East End, from the cosy public house to more elaborate ballrooms, hospitals and restaurants. One scene in which Ron unsuccessfully attempts to accompany Gary on his journey sees him enter the market square in its present-day incarnation, which fully demonstrates the great job done by the production team. It's a necessary cliché that each jaunt back to the past is accompanied by some historical news breaking while Gary is there, but this acts as quite an enjoyable history lesson for viewers unfamiliar with the period, while the occasional songs and exploration of customs and culture provide some nostalgia for people like my grandparents. (Oddly, watching the series back provided me with my own sense of nostalgia as I was eight years old when it was first broadcast).

The performers are all hired as professional actors rather than comedians, and although some characters are played largely for laughs, such as the slightly nerdy Ron and dim-witted police constable Reg (Christopher Ettridge, playing both the regular 1940s character and his lesser seen grandson who is still serving in the police force), others such as Phoebe's father (David Ryall, who would not return after the first series) offer a more serious and antagonistic presence. There's no faulting the acting of the regulars, particularly as this is a sitcom and they are expected to carry both drama and punchlines, and Gary's two women are well written as natural opposites beyond simply having different regional accents and hair colour. Even the music fits the tone perfectly, ranging from the traditional songs and orchestrated score of the 1940s scenes to more chirpy and very typical early 90s sitcom melodies in the present.

As a serial, the first series consists of six fairly independent plots all participating in the larger story arc of Gary's discovery of the time portal, acclimatisation to the period, and developing and deteriorating relationships in both eras. Unlike most sitcoms that will achieve the status quo and rigid character dynamics by the end credits of episode one, developments take several episodes to really come into place, such as Ron's gradual awareness of what Gary is up to, and Gary's own efforts to acquire authentic 1940s clothing and documentation in the present, and this makes it far more interesting to watch. The final few episodes see the development of a rough formula, with Gary visiting the past under false pretences with the intention of returning to his wife shortly, being detained overnight in the 1940s one way or another, and having to provide a desperate explanation to the agitated and suspicious Yvonne upon his late return, often through the hapless Ron, whose fabrications become increasingly elaborate and embarrassing for Gary, perhaps by intent. Despite the formulaic comedy, Gary's relationship troubles follow a natural and enjoyable curve, and even though I normally avoid romantic comedies as much as I avoid anything produced by Channel 4, it is touching and compelling to see him come to his final decision in episode six (even if the whole thing is morally flabbergasting).

This first classic series is recommended to all fans of science-fiction-tinged romantic sitcom (there must be some of you out there), and fortunately approachable even by fans of period dramas or sitcoms in general. Some of the humour is sexual in nature, though I wouldn't suggest that this makes it unsuitable for children (such as the young version of me who really enjoyed it), though less open-minded parents will perhaps take issue with its adulterous nature; on the whole, this is fairly typical late evening/early watershed material, a time slot Lyndhurst fans will be very familiar with. It's nice to see the past both mocked for its backwardness and celebrated for its strong character, and although the writers avoid some of the typical dramatic clichés associated with time travel, they are at least acknowledged by the characters, as we see Gary return to the past with news of an impending surprise air raid, and contemplating the possibility of his actions affecting the present, particularly concerning the potential of whether Phoebe is still alive in 1993.

Marks and Gran have a lot to work with, and by spreading it out in this way they avoid over-using or running out of ideas, while crediting viewers with some intelligence by presenting themes that are never specifically addressed in so many words, most evident in the falsity of Gary's double life that allows him to escape the tedium of a dead-end job and unappreciative wife by becoming revered as a knowledgeable, generous and awe-inspiring hero simply due to his roots in an advanced culture. It's easy for Gary to win friends and affection by living a lie, but at a significant cost to his character and personal values, and it leaves the series open for interesting future developments in that area.

The DVD release is a fairly budget affair, currently available on Amazon for £7.97 or as part of the complete series collection for a discounted £34.97, but it commendably features audio commentaries from the writers on all six episodes, as well as brief interviews with the cast and crew on its creation and development at this early stage. Oddly, the episodes are missing the standard chapter selection option, each playing as an entire half-hour chapter that perhaps better serves to make this a longer, multi-part story arc rather than a series of individual episodes... or am I just making excuses for them now? Whether Lyndhurst has successfully left Rodney behind is up to each individual viewer to decide, but his 'Only Fools and Horses' character became increasingly reminiscent of Gary Sparrow thereafter, as he began the slow march into middle age. 

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