This was Lionel Jeffries' third of four TV sitcoms, and came hot on the heels of his second, Father Charlie for ATV (which I've also covered for these Forgotten Sitcoms). 

​

Tom, Dick & Harriet was made by Thames for ITV and had already started recording before Father Charlie started airing, going out 6 months after the earlier sitcom making it a busy time for Jeffries. In fact Tom, Dick & Harriet came first, as an unbroadcast pilot was recorded in early 1981, never intended for screening and Thames were keen enough to commission a series. In that unbroadcast pilot Jeffries and Forsyth were present but son Richard/Dick was played by Martin Jarvis. Then Jeffries also signed up for ATV's Father Charlie which was recorded in late 1981 and screened in early 1982 as Jeffries got to work on Tom, Dick and Harriet. Thames were so keen on T,D&H that they commissioned a second series as soon as they finished filming the first in May 1982 before the first series had even aired, a risky strategy that a few ITV networks came a cropper with around this time. That second series started recording in October 1982 as the first series was going out.

​

In Tom, Dick & Harriet, Jeffries plays Thomas Maddison, who has just become a widower. He'd lived a quiet but henpecked life for 40 years with his bit of a dragon wife Agnes in Winkle Bay, Cornwall where he'd not been allowed to smoke, drink or so much as look at another woman. Immediately following his wife's funeral he heads for the bright lights of London, throwing himself on his married son Richard (Ian Olgilvy, star of Return of the Saint) and his wife Harriet (Brigit Forsyth, 6 years on from last playing Thelma in the Likely Lads film). Tom is a bit crude, common and coarse and intent on making up for lost years whereas Dick and Harriet are both well-manicured middle-class professional business executives, he in advertising, her in magazine publishing, and disapprove of the old man's disgusting habits and his new active life living it up in town with various women, enjoying life to the full, taking the opportunity to be the old rogue he always wanted to be. In the second series Harriet becomes pregnant and by the end of the series had made Tom a grandfather.

​

The series was created and written by prolific sitcom writers Johnnie Mortimer & Brian Cooke, who had written amongst other things hit sitcoms such as Father Dear Father, Man About the House, George & Mildred, Robin's Nest and Never the Twain.

​

The theme tune was done by big band maestro Syd Lawrence and his Orchestra, who'd got their big break on TV in Les Dawson's Sez Les, with singing by Stephanie Lawrence, who that year, 1982, took over from Elaine Paige in the West End production of Evita.

​

Unlike a lot of the series I've covered in this Forgotten Sitcoms strand that were often passed by unnoticed at the time, T,D&H did very well in the ratings at the time. For the first series all but one episode were in the Top 5 in their respective weeks' ratings, garnering between 11.3 and 13.75 million viewers each. That risky strategy of recording a second series before the first went out seeming to pay off here. However, the second series didn't do so well in the ratings with the first 5 episodes of Series 2 failing to make the Top 10 in their weeks although the final episode then charted 4th for its week with an impressive 14.6 million viewers. Quite why most skipped the second series but more than ever tuned in for the last is rather baffling. But it wasn't enough to warrant a third series.

​

Another thing likely preventing a third series was that Lionel Jeffries didn't enjoy the sitcom format having worked on Father Charlie and T,D&H in quick succession. In particular he wasn't keen on working with a studio audience. Being a theatre and film man he gave a few interviews later on where he said he could work with a live theatre audience laughing where he could concentrate on timing with the audience as well as his lines, and he could work on filming where he could focus on his lines and where the cameras were and where to stop on his marks etc. But he found it too much to have to focus on all three with finding his marks and looking at the right camera in a traditional 3-camera studio sitcom, remembering his lines and trying to cope with the audience participation. Although he'd done a very basic sitcom back in 1960 it was only 4 episodes and he was a lot younger. He otherwise wasn't used to working sitcom over his long career with audience laughter interrupting his flow and being set in his ways later in life coming to these he just wasn't keen on the format. Jeffries would only do one further sitcom, Rich Tea and Sympathy, with Patricia Hodge in 1991, but his condition for doing that was that it was to be filmed without a live studio audience, which it was.

​

Another put off for Jeffries doing more was a near-fatal accident during filming of the last episode of Series 2 that affected him for years to come. The episode involved son Dick teaching his father how to drive. On 28th October 1982, ten days after the last episode of the first series aired, they were filming a scene at a flooded gravel pit at Thorpe Park where Olgilvy and Jeffries were supposed to drive a Vauxhall Viva slightly in to the water and get out in shallow water. With Jeffries driving he was going a bit too fast and went further into the water than planned and the car floated further out then started to sink into deeper water! Olgilvy got out his passenger door and onto the roof but 56 year old Jeffries had trouble opening his door and was up to his mouth in freezing water before he finally had to climb out of the open window with Olgilvy's help as the car sank, and swim back to the bank in freezing water with seconds to spare before Jeffries might have gone under with the car. He was taken to St Peter's Hospital, Chertsey for observation suffering with shock. Although Jeffries was driving he sued Thames for negligence and amicably settled for an undisclosed sum by the end of the year. He still brought up the incident a decade later when doing publicity for Rich Tea and Sympathy about how much it affected him.

​

The series ran on ITV as follows;

​

Pilot

Tom, Dick & Harriet - Unbroadcast

Unknown content but given the set up required it was likely an earlier draft of what we got in Ep 1, the funeral of Agnes and Tom descending on London.

​

Series 1

1.1 On The Town - 13/09/1982

Henpecked Tom buries his wife in Cornwall after 40 years of being domineered by the strict wife and immediately moves to London, in with his son Dick and daughter-in-law Harriet. Free at last to do as he pleases, Tom hits the town for wine, women and song, annoying middle class executives Dick and Harriet.

 

1.2 Where There's A Will - 20/09/1982

The reading of Agne's will brings expectations for Tom, Dick and Harriet with Tom expected a nice bit of compensation for years of repression, but things do not go quite as they had foreseen.

 

1.3 Currying Favour - 27/09/1982

Tom tries to curry favour with Harriet by preparing an Indian meal from a recipe he picked up whilst serving in the army in India.

 

1.4 The Last Time I Saw Paris - 04/10/1982

Dick and Harriet plan a romantic break for two in Paris and make other arrangements for Tom but when Tom learns of their holiday he wants to come along to Gay Paree too.

 

1.5 Dog In The Manger - 11/10/1982

Every dog must have its day and when Lady's days look like being numbered Tom steps in to save her, which spells trouble for Dick as his lease specifies no pets.

 

1.6 Paternal Triangle - 18/10/1982

When Harriet invites her editor and a guest to dinner she is determined to make it a civilised occasion by bribing Tom to stay away for the evening. But Tom arrives back in time for the After Eights and his outrageous behaviour spoils the cultured evening.

 

Series 2

2.1 A Room With A View - 13/01/1983

Harriet is expecting a baby so will need Tom's room as a nursery. Meanwhile Tom goes to a regimental reunion and comes back with another potential lodger, old army pal Major Hamble (Joseph O'Connor).

 

2.2 Baby Blues - 20/01/1983

Dick is ordered by his employer to take a lovely model out to supper. Harriet does not understand that his interest is purely professional. Unfortunately, Tom is on hand to make matters even worse.

 

2.3 Country Life - 27/01/1983

Dick and Harriet have the chance to buy a country cottage and escape from the terrible Tom if they can raise the cash.

 

2.4 From Here To Maternity - 03/02/1983

Dick and Harriet are supposed to be going to an advertising conference in Brighton but with the baby imminent the doctor advises Harriet to stay behind, spoiling Tom's plans as he'd made a date with Gloria (Jo Rowbottom) from the local corner shop. Then the baby arrives early.

 

2.5 None Shall Sleep - 10/02/1983

When Harriet returns from the hospital with the new baby Tom decides to move out into his own flat as the noisy baby is making life intolerable for him. But Dick and Harriet's joy is short lived.

 

2.6 Get Out And Get Under - 17/02/1983

Dick and Harriet are delighted when Tom buys an old car as they envisage care-free days possibly weeks, without Tom as he travels through the English countryside in his pride and joy. But things don't quite work out that way.

 

The whole series, including the unbroadcast pilot, survives in the archives but has not been repeated nor released commercially on VHS or DVD.

 

But for a British series not hugely known here it sort of got to live on abroad. Like a lot of Cooke & Mortimer sitcoms such as Man About the House, George & Mildred and Robin's Nest (adapted as Three's Company, The Ropers and Three's A Crowd respectively) Tom, Dick & Harriet also got adapted into a US sitcom, called Foot in the Door which lasted one series on CBS in 1983 but was cancelled after 6 episodes. In the US version, the widower was named Jonah Foot, played by Harold Gould. Foot had lived in New Hampshire, and following his wife's death he moved to New York City, living in the Manhattan apartment of his son Jim, played by Kenneth Gilman, and his wife Harriet, played by Diana Canova. But ten years later in 1993 it was also bought and adapted by the Netherlands, the Dutch version was called Het Zonnetje in Huis (The Sun in the House), with this popular Dutch version lasting ten years till 2003, so someone made a success of it! In the Dutch version, the widower was named Piet Bovenkerk, played by John Kraaijkamp, Sr., who moved to the Amsterdam apartment of his son Erik, played by Kraaijkamp, Sr.'s son Johnny Kraaijkamp, Jr., and his wife Catharina, played by Martine Bijl.