You Rang M'Lord? - Series 1-4: The Complete Box Set (DVD)

...my favourite situation comedies was You Rang M’Lord and for Christmas Dave bought me the entire set of four series on DVD.

The series was penned by Jimmy Perry and David Croft which, if you know anything about sit coms, means that it is going to be funny with a capital F! Intermingled with the humour are various touching moments which even managed to bring a tear to my eye - but then I am a big softie!

He reunited ...
...One

You Rang M’Lord Pilot – sets the scene as Alf arrives at the Meldrum house as butler and finds James there

The Phantom Sign Writer – Sir Ralph suspects his wife of having an affair

A Deed of Gift – Lady Lavender makes an important and unpopular business decision

Love and Money – Romance is blossoming and Cissy’s fancy dress party reveals some surprises

Fair Shares ... more

Back in the early nineties one of my favourite situation comedies was You Rang M’Lord and for Christmas Dave bought me the entire set of four series on DVD.

The series was penned by Jimmy Perry and David Croft which, if you know anything about sit coms, means that it is going to be funny with a capital F! Intermingled with the humour are various touching moments which even managed to bring a tear to my eye - but then I am a big softie!

He reunited Paul Shane, Jeffrey Holland and Su Pollard who had performed so well together in many series of Hi De Hi and added Bill Pertwee from Dad’s Army and Donald Hewlett and Michael Knowles from It Ain’t Half Hot Mum and the result was a nucleus of excellent actors with comedy timing par excellence.

As I said I have the entire set of all four series which means that I am able to explain the circumstances that have brought about the set up in the household.

Alf Stokes (Paul Shane) and James Twelvetrees (Jeffrey Holland) served together in the trenches in World War I and were instrumental in saving the life of Teddy Meldrum (Michael Knowles) albeit after Alf, believing him to be dead robbed him of his ring, much to James’ disgust! When they realised that he was in fact still alive they carried him to safety and he told them that he was forever in their debt.

The ‘debt’ is repaid 10 years later when as James is already Footman at the home of Teddy’s brother, Lord George Meldrum (Donald Hewlett), the butler dies leaving a vacancy. Alf Stokes, tired of his life in the circus, turns up to claim his half of the deal and is given the job of butler much to James’ annoyance. He thought that he was ready to be promoted to butler and does not like the idea of his shifty former comrade being his senior.

Alf brings with him his daughter Ivy (Su Pollard) who pretends to have experience as a maid to get a job in the Meldrum house. She suffers a few teething problems but soon settles down into life below stairs although she never quite manages to be the humble parlour maid that she is employed to be.

So the set up in the house is as follows:

Above stairs Lord George Meldrum is the head of the house and lives with his brother the Honourable Teddy Meldrum, his two daughters Miss Poppy (Susie Brann) and Miss Cissy (Catherine Rabett) and his eccentric mother-in-law Lady Lavender (Mavis Pugh).

Below stairs Alf Stokes is the butler, James Twelvetrees is the Footman, Mrs Lipton (Brenda Cowling) is the cook, Ivy is the parlour maid and Henry (Perry Benson) is the long suffering boot boy. The remaining member of staff is Mabel (Barbara New) and she is the scullery maid. Constable Wilson (Bill Pertwee) often pops in to check all is well and to have something to eat and drink.

Lord Meldrum is having an affair with Lady Agatha (Angela Scoular) which he pretends is not happening but everyone else knows exactly what is going on.

The Honourable Teddy has a soft spot for maids with ‘their shiny scrubbed faces’ and has already got five in the family way. His brother George is trying to make him marry Madge Cartwright (Yvonne Marsh) to keep him out of further trouble.

Miss Cissy is always dressing in men’s clothes and taking part in men’s activities such as flying. Her chum Penelope (Sorel Johnson) often stays at the house and shares a room with Miss Cissy. The obvious implication is that they are lesbians although this is never directly stated.

Miss Poppy is the feminine one although she is quite a snob. She has a crush on James manipulating him into situations where he gets very uncomfortable as he struggles with his crush on Miss Poppy which goes against his strict rules separating ‘upstairs’ from ‘downstairs’.

Lady Lavender is the eccentric mother-in-law who lives upstairs with her parrot, Captain. She is very well off and regularly gives money away much to Lord Meldrum’s concern. She also has a habit of throwing her food at Ivy, whom she always calls Ethel for some reason.

Alf Stokes has his feet under the table with Mrs Lipton who thinks that he intends to marry her although he usually only borrows money from her. He is always looking for ways to fiddle a bit of extra cash for himself and he helps himself to wine form the cellar at every mealtime.

James Twelvetrees is the somewhat stern footman with a strong sense of honesty often siding with the gentry against his own class. He has a crush on Miss Poppy and is the object of Ivy’s affection which is not reciprocated.

Mrs Lipton is under the impression that she and Alf have an understanding and she also seems to have another understating with Constable Wilson who regularly calls for a meal or for tea and some of ‘Mrs Lipton’s most excellent cherry cake’.

Ivy tries very hard to do her job well but often forgets herself and talks to the gentry as though they are her friends. She also tries to get a fair deal for Mabel the scullery maid who is never included with the rest of the staff.

Henry is the boot boy who is the lowest of the regular staff and sometimes forgets his place making what are perceived to be cheeky remarks. He regularly gets cuffed round the ears by James, Alf and Mrs Lipton.

Mabel is the lowest of the low in the house and is responsible for the washing up and scrubbing the floors. She never gets to eat with the rest of the staff but is given scraps from the table and expected to be grateful! This prompts her catchphrase ‘That’ll be nice’ said in a tone of voice meaning just the opposite.

The boxed set consists of all four series each having six or seven episodes of 50 minutes duration. These are spread over two discs per series. The classification is PG as there are very mild sexual references in places. Although each episode can be watched in isolation there is a story running through the entire set.

Series One

You Rang M’Lord Pilot – sets the scene as Alf arrives at the Meldrum house as butler and finds James there

The Phantom Sign Writer – Sir Ralph suspects his wife of having an affair

A Deed of Gift – Lady Lavender makes an important and unpopular business decision

Love and Money – Romance is blossoming and Cissy’s fancy dress party reveals some surprises

Fair Shares – The party’s over and everyone’s talking about who exposed the affair to sir Ralph

Beg, Borrow or Steal – Is Alf about to get his comeuppance?

Series Two

Labour or Love – Teddy is forced to make a decision between marrying Madge Cartwright and working in his brother’s factory while Alf is after Lady lavender’s hidden money.

Trouble at the Mill – The worker’s at Lord Meldrum’s factory stage a strike in retaliation to Teddy’s flirtatious behaviour.

Money Talks – Alf is in the right place at the right time when Lady Lavender throws her money out of the window.

The Meldrum Vases – As Lord Meldrum donates an antique vase to the bishop’s charity auction, Alf discovers he has chosen the wrong hiding place for Lady Lavender’s money.

The Wounds of War – Alf covers for Lord Meldrum when he tells Sir Ralph that he can’t be having an affair with Lady Agatha because of a war wound.

Stranger in the Night – The servants help James when his father gets into bother. Lady Lavender tries to elope.

Royal Flush – Lord Meldrum holds a grand dinner, but Mrs Lipton is upset to find she will not be doing the catering.

Series Three

Please Help the Orphans – Alf is doing good business with the sunshine pantry as long as Mrs Lipton still thinks the cakes are for the orphanage.

Current Affairs –Pestered by Mrs Lipton to get a divorce, Alf gets an old music hall friend to pose as his wife.

Mrs Lipton’s Nasty Turn – Alf’s deception causes Mrs Lipton to break his Lordship’s crockery while Ivy finds out the truth about Miss Potter’s cherry cake.

Meet the Workers – Lord Meldrum wants to learn more about the lower classes so he invites some of his workers to dinner.

Gretna Green or Bust – Miss Poppy and Dickie Metcalf elope to Gretna Green, can the rest of the family stop them in time?

The Night of Reckoning – James Twelvetrees gets an offer from Sir Ralph and Alf comes up with a drastic solution to teddy’s problem.

A Day in the Country – Lord Meldrum treats the servants to a picnic in the country, but its no surprise to find Sir Ralph and Lady Agatha there with their staff too.

Series Four

Yes Sir That’s My Baby - Alf tries to devise a plan to help Teddy escape the clutches of Madge Cartwright by showing her all his illegitimate children by the previous parlour maids.

Requiem for a Parrot - Captain, Lady Lavender’s parrot dies and is buried with full military honours.

Come to the Ball - Sir Ralph throws a ball for the staff of the two households. Lady Lavender adds some ‘extras’ to the punch and a good time is had by all.

The Truth Revealed - the Meldrum household are invited to Sir Ralph’s country home for the weekend where a series of events ends up with Sir Ralph finding out about his wife’s affair with Lord Meldrum.

The Fall of The House of Meldrum - follows from the previous episode and sees a curse on the house of Meldrum by Sir Ralph. The rubber plantation fails and the family face financial ruin.

The final episode of series four and of the whole story is Well There You Are Then….! The Meldrum family fortune hits rock bottom and Lord Meldrum is forced to sell the family silver.

I have thoroughly enjoyed watching all these episodes again after all these years and, surprisingly, I don’t think they have dated. They really are just as good now as they were over 10 years ago.

There are plenty of sellers on EBay selling brand new DVD’s of this and many other TV programmes, but cheaper prices can sometimes be found at Play.com.

As usual some of the questions that I have had to answer in order to post this review don't make sense.

 

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