Dad

Dad, 1997

Proving there’s life after Minder, here’s another of those great sitcoms that largely seems to have been forgotten about.  Dad starred George Cole and ran for two series and a Christmas Special, thirteen episodes in total, between 1997 and 1999.

It was written by the same writer as 2 point 4 Children, but did not receive the same critical acclaim.  Despite this the show was a success and seemed to be going from strength to strength, certainly the writer Andrew Marshall was convinced the show would go to a third series. Cole’s co-star Kevin McNally also believed they’d be doing the show for quite a while.  However after a second series and a Christmas Special the series was axed.

Kevin McNally commented at the time that the show got ‘somehow lost’, and he felt its cancellation was to do with a regime change at the BBC.  George Cole believed the shows cancellation was down to focus groups that began to decide what TV shows should be axed.

Surprisingly the show made it to DVD, but only in Australia.  To date the show has never had a repeat screening either here in the UK or the USA.

Summary

The series centres around the trials and tribulations of Alan Hook (Kevin McNally) and his father Brian (George Cole). Alan often finds himself becoming increasingly frustrated with the endeavours of his Father, whilst the world seems to be forever against him.

Clips

 

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Cast

George Cole
Kevin McNally
Julia Hills
Toby Ross-Bryant

Details

Channel: BBC!
Written By: Andrew Marshall
Original Transmission Dates: 25th September 1997 – 21st December 1999