Goodnight Sweetheart

**Goodnight Sweetheart** is a British science fiction time travel sitcom, starring Nicholas Lyndhurst, created by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, and produced by the BBC. The sitcom focuses on the life of Gary Sparrow, an accidental time traveller who leads a double life through the use of a time portal, which allows him to travel between the London of the 1990s and the London of the 1940s during the Second World War. The sitcom's creators, who also created *Birds of a Feather* and *The New Statesman*, wrote most of the plots for the episodes.

The sitcom premiered on BBC One in 18 November 1993, and ran for six series until its conclusion on 28 June 1999, with subsequent repeats after this date being aired on ITV3, Gold, Drama, Yesterday and Forces TV on Sky Digital. Lyndhurst's involvement in the sitcom allowed him to win the Most Popular Comedy Performer at the National Television Awards twice in 1998 and 1999. On 2 September 2016, the sitcom received a one-off special entitled *Many Happy Returns*, focused on events after the final episode. The sitcom itself later received a musical in 2017, while plans for a future sequel by Marks and Gran remain active as of 2019.

## Premise

*Main article: List of Goodnight Sweetheart characters*
*Goodnight Sweetheart* focuses on the life of Gary Sparrow (Nicholas Lyndhurst). In 1993, Gary works as a TV repairman, who struggles with his life and the marriage to his ambitious wife Yvonne, while being best friends with Ron Wheatcroft, a printer whose marriage is on the brink of breakdown. On attending a TV repair call-out in London's East End, Gary accidentally discovers a time portal at *Duckett's Passage*, which leads to war time London. The incident leads him to encountering Phoebe Bamford, a pretty barmaid who works in the "Royal Oak" pub, her father Eric who runs the pub, and Reg Deadman, a dim-witted but friendly policeman. The meeting with Phoebe leads Gary to strike up a relationship with her, and upon finding he can use the time portal to travel between this time period and the present, uses it to continue seeing Phoebe. To ensure his visits don't interfere with history, Gary brings in assistance from Ron as a confidant, not only to aid him with problems, but also to supply him with 1940s five-pound notes and ID documents.

Gary finds himself soon leading a double life as a result of using the time portal. When visiting Phoebe, he explains his absences through working as a secret agent, using his knowledge of future wartime events to his advantage in the deception, while also claiming to be a singer-songwriter, passing off modern-day pop songs as his own, and supplying many items from the present that were rationed in wartime Britain. When with Yvonne, Gary initially claims his absences to be major call-outs for his work, but after quitting his job in 1995 to buy and run a shop called "Blitz and Pieces" – selling goods he acquires in the 1940s as rare memorabilia, to maintain access to the time portal in the present – he uses it to lie that he has to be absent to conduct buying trips for stock.

Over the next five years, life for Gary is further complicated by his relationship to the two women. Phoebe eventually takes over the running of the Royal Oak, later marrying Gary, despite him knowingly committing bigamy. The pair's marriage results in them having a son, before moving into a luxury flat in Mayfair, with Reg becoming a doorman in their building after retiring from the police. Although Yvonne becomes pregnant, only to suffer a miscarriage in the process, she later manages to become a success with her organic beauty products, opening a company and transforming into a millionaire, allowing her and Gary to own a luxury apartment. In addition, Ron later faces a divorce, losing both his home and control of his printing company, adding to Gary's problems, who eventually allows him to have the lease for his Mayfair flat in the present. During his time in the past, Gary has encounters with several historical figures of the period, including Winston Churchill, George Formby, and Noël Coward, while also dealing with some of the peculiar effects of time travel during various trips.

*Goodnight Sweetheart* eventually comes to its conclusion when the war in Europe comes to its conclusion on VE Day. By this time, Yvonne becomes suspicious of Gary's reasons for being absent and discovers him using the time portal. However, Gary becomes trapped in the past when the portal closes, following his actions in protecting Clement Attlee from an assassination attempt. Deciding to stay with Phoebe and their son, he leaves a message on the wall of his Mayfair flat, knowing Ron will find it, advising him to tell Yvonne the truth.

## External links

* *Goodnight Sweetheart* at the British Film Institute
* *Goodnight Sweetheart*  at the Internet Movie Database
* *Goodnight Sweetheart* at British TV Comedy Guide

Fools Rush In ·
The More I See You ·
I Get Along Without You Very Well ·
I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good ·
Just One More Chance ·
Who's Taking You Home Tonight? ·
Wish Me Luck... ·
As You Wave Me Goodbye ·
Would You Like to Swing on a Star ·
Nice Work If You Can Get It ·
Let Yourself Go ·
Don't Fence Me In ·
One O'Clock Jump ·
It's a Sin to Tell a Lie ·
Change Partners ·
Goodnight Children Everywhere ·
Turned Out Nice Again ·
There's Something About a Soldier ·
Someone to Watch Over Me ·
The Yanks Are Coming ·
In the Mood ·
Out of Town ·
And Mother Came Too ·
The Leaving of Liverpool ·
How Long Has This Been Going On ·
Easy Living ·
Come Fly with Me ·
Heartaches ·
Careless Talk ·
London Pride ·
When Two Worlds Collide ·
Mairzy Doats ·
Pennies from Heaven ·
We Don't Want to Lose You... ·
But We Think You Have to Go ·
Have You Ever Seen a Dream Walking ·
Love the One You're With ·
All About Yvonne ·
California Dreamin' ·
Grief Encounter ·
The 'Ouses in Between ·
Just in Time ·
How I Won the War ·
Something Fishie ·
Flash Bang Wallop ·
Accentuate the Positive ·
Many Happy Returns (2016 special)