Bread

Bread is a British television sitcom, written by Carla Lane, about a close-knit, working-class family in Liverpool. During the course of the show, 74 episodes aired over 7 series and 3 specials, between May 1, 1986 and November 3, 1991. Like most BBC sitcoms, this sitcom was filmed in front of a live studio audience, although the studio audience laughter track is still included.
==Plot summary==
The series focused on the extended Boswell family of Liverpool, in the district of Dingle. The family were Catholic and working class, and led by the acid-tongued matriarch Nellie Boswell (Jean Boht) who ruled over her family with an iron fist. Early series focused on her children attempting to make enough money (in English slang, "bread") to support the family through various illicit means. Later series saw less emphasis on moneymaking schemes, and more storylines focusing on the characters' love lives and marriages.
==Characters==
The Boswell family consisted of Nellie's philandering, free-spirited husband Freddie (Ronald Forfar) who spent most of the series with one foot in the family household, and the other with his mistress, the red-haired Irish siren Lilo Lil (Eileen Pollock). This union led to one of the series' most famous catchphrases, which Nellie frequently declared about Lilo Lil in a storm of rage: "She is a tart!"
Eldest child Joey (Peter Howitt/Graham Bickley) was essentially the level-headed household head, with his leather trousers, classic Jaguar, and charming demeanor ("Greetings!" was his catchphrase), Joey was involved in tax fraud after making a fortune selling personalised number plates and not declaring this to the taxman. Throughout the series, Joey was in love with dour, demanding divorcee Roxy (Joanna Phillips-Lane), whom he finally married in the final series. The character was extremely popular for the first four series, and Peter Howitt was considered the series' heartthrob and breakthrough star. When he decided to leave Bread to concentrate on directing and other acting opportunities, his replacement was not as popular with viewers, so the character wasn't as prominent in the later series.
Second-eldest child Jack was the thoughtful, sensitive type who ran an antique-dealing business, often with disastrous results. Actor Victor McGuire was absent in series 4, and Jack went to America for a year. He returned in series 5 and eventually fell in love with an older woman, Leonora (Deborah Grant), who moved in across the road. Adrian (Jonathon Morris) was the theatrical poet, who had his poetry published ('My Granny's Bucket'). His real name was Jimmy, but he changed his name to Adrian which he considered "less common". He endured relationships with several highly-sexed women and was frequently seen emerging red-faced from the bushes. The youngest Boswell son, Billy (Nick Conway), was loud-mouthed, annoying, and immature. He somehow managed to father Francesca with his miserable mistress Julie (Caroline Milmoe/Hilary Crowson) who lived across the road. Billy married Julie in series 3, but they were divorced by series 5, and Julie moved to Sefton Park (and left the series), leaving Billy devastated. Billy drove an old Volkswagen Beetle which constantly backfired when driven, as well as a van from the back of which he sold sandwiches.
The only Boswell daughter was Aveline (Gilly Coman/Melanie Hill), a colourful, enduring model who married Protestant vicar Oswald Carter (Giles Watling) at the end of series 4 (to staunchly-Catholic Nellie's outrage); after trying to conceive throughout series 5, Aveline gives birth to Ursula in series 6.
Next door is grumpy, permanently-hungry Grandad (Kenneth Waller). The series doesn't make explicitly-clear whether he is Nellie's or Freddie's father, as he is only ever referred to and called Grandad. However, in a fleeting sequence in a series-4 episode, Freddie is arrested for stealing his rubbish cart. When the family arrive at the Police Station to collect him, Nellie refers to Freddie as Grandad's son-in-law for the only time, confirming that he is, in fact, her own father. In later series we are told Grandad's name is William Duvall and Nellie refers to her maiden name of Duvall. This confirms that Grandad was Nellie's father. He appeared in all seven series and was in the last episode's final scene, alongside Jean Boht. Grandad was frequently seen telling people to "Piss off!" and reminiscing about his childhood sweetheart Edie Matteson. However, in the spin off book "Mrs Boswells Slice of Bread", it is confirmed that Grandad is Nellie's father. Grandad speaks in a noticeable Lancashire accent rather than his family's distinctively Liverpudlian tones, suggesting that the Duvall clan may originate outside of Liverpool.
There are also several notable supporting characters seen throughout the series: the deadpan Department of Health and Social Security clerk Martina (Pamela Power) spent all seven series enduring the various tales the Boswells spun to get more dole money. She perfected her catchphrase "Next!" but ultimately failed to snare her favourite Boswell, 'Shifty' (Bryan Murray), after several attempts at a relationship with him. Shifty arrived in series 4, ostensibly to cover Jack's absence in the series, but he stayed on in Bread after Jack's return and lived next door with Grandad until the end of the sixth series.
Other neighbours include Celia Higgins, played by Rita Tushingham during series 4; in series 6 and 7, Leonora Campbell (Deborah Grant) moved into Julie's old house and eventually began dating Jack. The Boswells had a mongrel dog as a pet, called Mongy, who was run over and killed in one episode, leading to the family scattering his ashes into the Mersey.
The show's title is a reference to "bread" meaning "money"; though this is not a Liverpudlian Scouse expression but cockney rhyming slang ("bread and honey"). Liverpudlians at the time largely referred to money as "dough". A regular scenario in each episode was that of Nellie opening a cockerel-fashioned kitchen egg-basket prior to the evening meal into which the family would place money for their upkeep. The amount of money placed in the pot by each depended on how successful a day they'd had. The pot would be at the forefront of the screen at the end of every episode as the closing credits rolled. In some episodes, the studio audience claps sound over the first half of the closing credits and the studio audience clapping fades out, leaving the show's theme tune.
Other frequently-seen scenarios included Nellie answering a cordless phone (a newfangled item in the mid-1980s) which she kept in the pocket of her pinny (she always said "Hello, yes?" when answering, followed by a series of frantic "Thank you"s when it was Derek (Peter Byrne), Nellie's secret park-bench pal, on the other end); also ensuring the parking places outside the terraced house were kept free for the family's many vehicles, by putting out illicitly-acquired police traffic cones.
The show featured soap opera-style cliffhangers, meaning that viewers had to watch each week to see how the previous week's cliffhanger would be resolved. This also meant that each episode was not self-contained, but the plot unfolded as the series progressed. This was unusual for a comedy at the time, but has been used to great effect by comedies since.
==Episodes==
The debut series, consisting of 6 episodes, was broadcast from 1st May to 5th June 1986.
For this series, the episodes were filmed in 1985, but aired in 1986. Therefore, at the end credits, the year reads as MCMLXXXV (1985) and not MCMLXXXVI (1986).
===Series 1===
Premiere Date	Ep No.	Name
May 1, 1986 	1 	Episode 1
May 8, 1986 	2 	Episode 2
May 15, 1986 	3 	Episode 3
May 22, 1986 	4 	Episode 4
May 29, 1986 	5 	Episode 5
June 5, 1986 	6 	Episode 6
===Series 2===
The second series, consisting of 6 episodes, was broadcast from 8th January to 19th February 1987.
For this series, the episodes were filmed in 1986, but aired in 1987. Therefore, at the end credits, the year reads as MCMLXXXVI (1986) and not MCMLXXXVII (1987).
Premiere Date 	Ep No.	Name
January 8, 1987 	7 	Episode 1
January 15, 1987 	8 	Episode 2
January 22, 1987 	9 	Episode 3
February 5, 1987 	10 	Episode 4
February 12, 1987	11 	Episode 5
February 19, 1987	12 	Episode 6
===Series 3===
The third series, consisting of 13 episodes, was broadcast from 6th September to 29th November 1987.
Premiere Date 	Ep No.	Name
September 6, 1987 	13 	Episode 1
September 13, 1987	14 	Episode 2
September 20, 1987	15 	Episode 3
September 27, 1987	16 	Episode 4
October 4, 1987 	17 	Episode 5
October 11, 1987 	18 	Episode 6
October 18, 1987 	19 	Episode 7
October 25, 1987 	20 	Episode 8
November 1, 1987 	21 	Episode 9
November 8, 1987 	22 	Episode 10
November 15, 1987 	23 	Episode 11
November 22, 1987 	24 	Episode 12
November 29, 1987 	25 	Episode 13
===Series 4===
Premiere Date 	Ep No.	Name
September 18, 1988	26 	Episode 1
September 25, 1988	27 	Episode 2
October 2, 1988 	28 	Episode 3
October 9, 1988 	29 	Episode 4
October 16, 1988 	30 	Episode 5
October 23, 1988 	31 	Episode 6
October 30, 1988 	32 	Episode 7
November 6, 1988 	33 	Episode 8
November 13, 1988 	34 	Episode 9
November 20, 1988 	35 	Episode 10
November 27, 1988 	36 	Episode 11
December 4, 1988 	37 	Episode 12
December 11, 1988 	38 	Episode 13
===Special 1988===
Premiere Date 	Ep No.	Name
December 25, 1988	39 	Christmas Special
===Series 5===
Premiere Date 	Ep No.	Name
September 10, 1989	40 	Episode 1
September 17, 1989	41 	Episode 2
September 24, 1989	42 	Episode 3
October 1, 1989 	43 	Episode 4
October 8, 1989 	44 	Episode 5
October 15, 1989 	45 	Episode 6
October 22, 1989 	46 	Episode 7
October 29, 1989 	47 	Episode 8
November 5, 1989 	48 	Episode 9
November 12, 1989 	49 	Episode 10
November 19, 1989 	50 	Episode 11
November 26, 1989 	51 	Episode 12
December 3, 1989 	52 	Episode 13
===Special 1989===
Premiere Date 	Ep No.	Name
December 25, 1989	53 	Christmas Special
===Series 6===
Premiere Date 	Ep No.	Name
September 2, 1990 	54 	Episode 1
September 9, 1990 	55 	Episode 2
September 16, 1990	56 	Episode 3
September 23, 1990	57 	Episode 4
September 30, 1990	58 	Episode 5
October 7, 1990 	59 	Episode 6
October 14, 1990 	60 	Episode 7
October 21, 1990 	61 	Episode 8
October 28, 1990 	62 	Episode 9
November 4, 1990 	63 	Episode 10
===Special 1990===
Premiere Date 	Ep No.	Name
December 25, 1990	64 	Christmas Special
===Series 7===
Premiere Date 	Ep No.	Name
September 1, 1991 	65 	Episode 1
September 8, 1991 	66 	Episode 2
September 15, 1991	67 	Episode 3
September 22, 1991	68 	Episode 4
September 29, 1991	69 	Episode 5
October 6, 1991 	70 	Episode 6
October 13, 1991 	71 	Episode 7
October 20, 1991 	72 	Episode 8
October 27, 1991 	73 	Episode 9
November 3, 1991 	74 	Episode 10
== Locations ==
* Elswick Street
* Elswick Corner Shop
* Elswick Cafe
* Elswick Farm
* Elswick Beach
* Elswick Pool and Gym
* Elswick Shopping Centre
* Elswick Fast Food Restaurants
== Trivia ==
* This and 'Allo 'Allo! are the only BBC sitcoms of the 1980s to use videotaped for outdoor scenes.
* The outdoor scenes in this BBC sitcom, which combines videotaped and 16mm film.
* Like the 1970's drama series All Creatures Great and Small, animals were used in the BBC sitcom.
* Pizza leaflets and letter leaflets were added to the main house setting of Elswick Street starting with season 2.
Category:Shows