Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em (TV Series 1973–1978) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em 30min Accident-prone Frank Spencer fails to navigate the simplest tasks of daily life, while also trying to look after his wife and baby. Stars: Frank boards the train for his second honeymoon -the first time he landed in the wrong town. At the hotel, things start go really wrong when he tries to push the single beds together, gradually ... 8.6 The Spencers are moving, as the council sees no other hope for the house Frank has been wrecking with his 'repairs' for years, as dramatically proven when they leave. Betty drives too fast, so the ... 8.5 Because Frank passed out in the only fatherhood class he attended, after one minute of the 'dirty film', Betty takes him along to a cousin's daughters, who only enjoy his inadvertent monkey-business,...

8.4 a list of 30 titles created 12 Jun 2011 a list of 33 titles created 27 Sep 2012 a list of 35 titles created 03 Jan 2013 a list of 24 titles created 26 Dec 2013 a list of 33 titles created 15 Oct 2014 Title: Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em (1973–1978) 7.7/10 Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Classic 1960s British comedy series about a middle aged man and his elderly father who run an unsuccessful 'rag and bone' business (collecting and selling junk). Harold (the son) wants to ... See full summary » Stars: Wilfrid Brambell, Harry H. Corbett, Frank Thornton Victor Meldrew is a retiree who attracts bad luck. If he's not driving his long suffering wife Margeret crazy with his constant moaning, he's fighting with neighbors.

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See full summary » Stars: Ronnie Barker, Ronnie Corbett, The Fred Tomlinson Singers Terry and Bob from The Likely Lads (1964) continue their life after Terry arrives home from serving in the Army to discover that Bob is about to marry his girlfriend Thelma. Can Thelma lead... See full summary » Stars: James Bolam, Rodney Bewes, Brigit Forsyth A working-class Cockney bigot with a biased and expirienced opinion of everything shares them bluntly and almost carelessly. Stars: Warren Mitchell, Anthony Booth, Una Stubbs During WW2, in a fictional British seaside town, a ragtag group of Home Guard local defense volunteers prepare for an imminent German invasion. Stars: Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier, Clive Dunn A satire show using puppets that are charicatures of major public figures. Stars: Steve Nallon, Kate Robbins, Chris Barrie Alf and Elsie are getting old, Rita's left home, Elsie's confined to a wheelchair. Alf must now do battle with the Social Security system. Stars: Warren Mitchell, Carmel McSharry, Arthur English BBC Television comedy detailing the fortunes of Reginald Iolanthe Perrin.

Disillusioned after a long career at Sunshine Desserts, Perrin goes through a mid-life crisis and fakes his own ... See full summary » Stars: Leonard Rossiter, Pauline Yates, John Barron Edit Storyline Frank Spencer is more than just a complete klutz. Everything he touches falls apart, and he can't keep a job for more than a day. The only thing that keeps him going is his long-suffering wife Betty, who somehow manages to cope with his disaster-prone life-style. Written by Mike Konczewski 15 February 1973 (UK) See more » Also Known As: Anyám büszke lehet See more » Filming Locations: Did You Know? Trivia In 2016, Michael Crawford and Michele Dotrice returned as Frank and Betty for the first time in 38 years for Sports Relief. Which Frank and Betty attend Jessica's cycle race. See more » Goofs Christmas '75 - Learning to Drive (special episode). When Frank is driving the white mini in the country lane, trying to overtake the lady on the bike, there is nothing behind the mini, but then a split second later he is being followed by a silver Renault.

As he tries to overtake the cyclist, Frank is followed by a brown Triumph, then a second later a yellow Ford Anglia is following him. Frank also appears to drive along the same stretch of road several times, as he keeps passing the same parked cars. See more » Connections BBC - Comedy - Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em "Ooh Betty, the cat's done a woopsie on the floor". That single phrase, repeated across the country throughout the 1970s by impressionists dressed in dark beret and raincoat, probably did more to harm the reputation of one of the decade's most successful sitcoms than the arrival of punk and alternative comedy ever could. Written by Raymond Allen, Some Mothers was the story of Frank Spencer, the well-meaning, ineffectual and utterly accident-prone mummy's boy of the title. Endowed by star Michael Crawford with an effete manner, a nervous laugh and a desperate need to please, Frank was the sweetest walking disaster area you could ever want to meet.

Though the BBC had wanted Norman Wisdom or Ronnie Barker for the role, Crawford was the perfect choice, combining an air of innocence with the youth and athleticism necessary to perform some of the biggest and most dangerous stunts British comedy would ever see. He and Allen also improvised many of Frank's mannerisms, from the bug-eyed smile that causes a shop assistant to leap back in horror (incidentally destroying a window display) early in the very first episode to the dreaded "Ooh Betty" catchphrase that was to become lodged in Britain's collective psyche. The show's storylines amounted to little more than set-ups for a series of increasingly spectacular stunts. Many episodes begin with Frank at home with long-suffering wife, Betty. Ably played by Michelle Dotrice, Betty's deep love for her husband was never quite enough to cover the constant anxiety she (like anyone else) felt in his presence, leading many of her lines to begin with a high-pitched "Ohhhhh Fraaaa-aaank". From this domestic bliss Frank would be catapulted into the world of disaster by the search for a new job, the need to pass a driving test, a sudden enthusiasm for DIY or even, on one occasion, an RAF reunion.

The stunts these set-ups led to rivalled anything from Buster Keaton or Harold Lloyd. Among the most memorable were an audition to be a holiday camp "bluecoat" that ended with a life-threatening human fireworks display, a daytrip that culminated in Frank hanging from the exhaust of his little Morris Minor as it teetered on a cliff edge and an extended roller-skate ride that saw our hero crashing through doors, smashing through shops and even skating under a passing lorry. Some Mothers ran for only 22 episodes over three series from 1973. By the end of series two Frank had become the doting father of baby Jessica. Apart from two Christmas specials, the show then had a long gap to its final series in 1978 while Crawford went off to pursue other projects. In his last outing, Frank the dad was a noticeably more self-confident and rather less sympathetic character than before; given to pompous turns of phrase and frequent malapropisms ("I was ejaculated from my home"). The times had also changed and Frank's physical comedy was beginning to seem old-fashioned. And then there were all those dreadful impressions.

Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em (Series) - TV Tropes Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em You need to login to do this. Get Known if you don't have an account Share Series / Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em × Timeline Uh-oh, we're in trouble/Something's come along and it's burst our bubble. Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em was a British Sitcom that originally aired on the BBC from 1973 to 1978, starring Michael Crawford as the hapless Frank Spencer. It was written by Raymond Allen, based on his own experiences as a single man . However, upon seeing the first draft for the script, Michael Crawford insisted that Frank have a wife. Michele Dotrice was then cast as the long-suffering Betty. The series saw the well-meaning but disaster-prone Frank Spencer get himself into sticky situations, often causing someone else to break down or causing an unintentional path of destruction . Usually the episodes contained a character who is familiar with Spencer warning another character about working with him, but Frank always proves to be more of a burden than initially feared. The series also focussed on Frank's role as a family man.

Hence, it featured a Story Arc where Betty becomes pregnant and eventually gives birth to a girl, Jessica. Episodes generally include stunt work performed by Crawford himself, often highly physical, that today would be unusual in an inexpensive half-hour Sitcom . With such a denouement in mind, typical plot lines involve picnics on high cliffs, driving lessons by the sea, household repairs, or a wide variety of new jobs such as motorcycle courier or high-rise window cleaner. It returned for a sketch in 2016's Sports Relief telethon, with the 74 year old Crawford still doing his own stunts, as he attempted to get to the London Velodrome to see Jessica (now an adult) take part in a cycle race. It was voted #22 in Britain's Best Sitcom . This series provides examples of: Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable : Frank uses "Ha-RASS-ed" instead of the traditionally British "HA-rassed". The effect of the joke has somewhat weakened in recent years due to the growing usage of the American pronunciation. Accidental Pun : In "The Job Interview": "I do try Betty...

no-one can be more trying than me..." Adorkable : Frank is this — his persistent optimism and unwillingness to cause any harm to others exemplify this trope. Badass Longcoat : Frank's trademark trenchcoat. British Brevity : The entire series is composed of three seasons (Season 1 had seven episodes, the other two had six) and three Christmas specials - a grand total of 22 episodes . Captain Obvious : "Does he know what time it is?! The only reason I'm still awake is because I'm not asleep." The Cast Show Off : Michael Crawford performed all his own stunts in the show, also demonstrating his singing chops in "Frank and Marvin". Character Development : Frank receives some in Season 3, becoming more self-assured and sophisticated as well as slowly growing into his role as a husband and father. His voice even becomes a little deeper . Christmas Episode : "Jessica's First Christmas", "Learning to Drive" and "Learning to Fly" — although "Learning to Fly" has no Christmas theme and is deemed to be a Christmas special simply because it aired during the Christmas period.

Corpsing : One noticeable example occurs in "Wendy House" where Richard Wilson plays an insurance assessor who calls on Frank and Betty. All three sit on a sofa to discuss the situation and Wilson slowly sinks down into it so that he barely manages to come up to Crawford's shoulders. Michele Dotrice cannot stifle her laughter and this, in turn, causes both Crawford and Wilson to corpse. After a few seconds all three manage to pick up the script again and the take is retained in the finished edit. Crash Course Landing : Frank is forced to make one after his instructor passes out mid-flight in "Learning to Fly". Critical Psychoanalysis Failure : A psychiatrist tries to goes to convince Frank that he's not a failure. By the end of the episode, the psychiatrist is a nervous wreck, and Frank is delighted to have been proved right - he is a failure. Disaster Dominoes : Every. Single. Time . In "George's House" from Series 1, Frank and Betty are staying with Betty's brother George, whose house is completely fitted with gadgets that work using motion sensors .

While trying to use the toilet without triggering the sensor that opens the door, Frank accidentally sets off the automatic flush, which gets stuck in the "on" position. His attempts to find the cistern cause the toilet to become blocked, until water pours into the bathroom and ultimately into the house's main control room. The circuits short out and the gadgets go haywire, just as George's boss is trying to persuade an American client to sign a contract to build other houses like George's. As the episode ends, the American client has driven off in a rage, George's wife is stuck in a downstairs window, smoke is pouring out of one upstairs window, and a jet of water is shooting out of another upstairs window, while Frank and Betty wonder if anyone noticed anything. Perhaps the crowning example is the Series 1 episode "Have a Break, Take a Husband"; Frank and Betty go to a seaside B&B for a second honeymoon, but their room has twin beds rather than a double bed, and Frank, having already inadvertently led the proprietor to suspect that he and Betty are not really married, decides to push the beds together rather than asking for a different room.

However, the bed snags on the cheap linoleum and tears a hole in it, which Frank tries to cover up. By the end of the episode, through a combination of his own ineptitude and the room's shoddy construction, he has torn a floor mat in half, broken several drawers apart, broken the door off the wardrobe, smashed a hole through the floor in the middle of the room, convinced a nervous fellow guest that his dead grandfather is trying to contact him, put two more holes in the floor under the bed, ripped the washbasin from the wall, and demolished the hotel bar as he and Betty make a midnight getaway. Drives Like Crazy : In "Learning To Drive", when Frank takes his Driving Test (for the tenth time) but ends up driving the car off a pier into the sea. Also, the famous motorbike sequence in "King of the Road". Men Can't Keep House : Invoked in "The Job Interview" and in the flashbacks of "The Psychiatrist". Mooning : An unintentional example. At the very end of "Scottish Dancing", Frank's kilt suddenly falls down to reveal he is not wearing any underwear.

Michael Crawford and the director of the episode initially rehearsed the scene with Crawford wearing Union Jack underwear to elicit the right reaction from the rest of the cast during filming. Moral Guardians : Mary Whitehouse was an outspoken critic of Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, at one point calling Frank Spencer a "purveyor of pornography"... just because he alluded to some downstairs trouble in one episode. Frank does indeed (unknowingly) become a literal purveyor of pornography during his job as a motorbike carrier. Frank also quietly assumes this role in "Men as Women" when he discovers Dr Mender, in full drag, in his house. Studio Audience Title Theme Tune : The theme tune is the show's title in Morse Code. Trash the Set : Practically in every episode, but this trope is the focal point of the episode "Have a Break, Take a Husband", where the hotel room starts with torn linoleum and ends up with several holes in the floor, most of the furniture destroyed, and finally the sink ripped off the wall. The Un-Smile : Frank's attempt at practising a polite smile in "The Job Interview" manages to knock an employee into the pipes display.

Vandalism Backfire : The series used this trope several times in episodes where Frank accidentally provokes someone to a destructive but inaccurately targeted fit of anger. In "The Public Relations Course", while spending the night at the house at which the title course is being held, Frank sits on his hot water bottle, causing it to spring a leak. He leaves the room to take a phone call, leaving the hot water bottle on a chair next to the bed of Eddie, a coursemate who has taken Frank under his wing. When he comes back, he accidentally squirts water from the leak into a militant coursemate's face, and in revenge, the militant empties the bottle all over what he thinks is Frank's bed, ignoring Frank's protests as Eddie returns from the bathroom. As Frank sheepishly gets into his own bed and wishes Eddie good night, Eddie attacks the militant for soaking his bed. In the 1974 Christmas special, "Jessica's First Christmas", Frank gets a job at the same firm as his neighbour, Mr Jackson, who is already angry at Frank over the fact that his one-year-old daughter cries loudly every night.

At one point, Frank finds Jackson's folded coat and thinks he sees something moving under it, so he puts a lit pipe under it to smoke out the "animal", setting fire to it, and then further ruining it by soaking it in water. When Jackson sees the damage done to his coat, he empties tea into the bag Frank is carrying... which turns out to be the head of the firm's bag. In "Australia House", an argument between Frank and his next-door neighbour, Mr Lewis, results in the two of them demanding the return of borrowed gardening implements, including a hoe Frank borrowed from Mr Lewis. After the argument escalates to the point that Frank accidentally knocks down the fence Mr Lewis put up between their gardens to keep the Spencers' dog from defecating in his garden, Mr Lewis grabs the hoe and saws it in half, not realising it is his own until Frank points it out. Enraged, Mr Lewis throws the pieces aside... straight through the glass of his greenhouse. Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em - Season Two VTR: 9/9/73. Ratings: 15.9 million.

Cast: Michael Crawford (Frank Spencer), Michele Dotrice (Betty), Vernon Dobtcheff (Henry), Hazel Bainbridge (Miss Partridge), Elissa Derwent (Joan), Peter Leabourne (Rugby Player), action by HAVOC, Ned Hood (Old Man in Library), Stenson Falke, Nancy Adams, Barbara Bernel, John Tatham, Zelda Tatham, Jim Delany (in Library), Eddie Noades, Joan Noades (Picnickers on cliff edge), Swanage & Wareham RFC. Crew: Raymond Allen (Writer) [from an idea by Howard Dell], James Balfour (Film Camera), Ron Blight (Film Sound), Steve Samson (Film Editor), Lisa Benjamin (Costumes), Jan Harrison (Makeup), Derek Slee (Lighting), John Lloyd (Sound), Bernard Wilkie (Visual Effects), Ken Starkey (Design), Michael Mills (Production). Frank is looking after his neighbour's chickens and visits the public library to find a book on the subject. He has lost his ticket but believes he has spotted it in the tray of tickets on the counter. The result is 200 tickets all over the library floor.

Hastily, Frank returns home to feed the chickens. Trying to force the fowl into the daylight, Frank knocks down the chicken house surrounding him. Though he hastily rebuilds it in a ramshackle fashion, one of the chickens later decides to shift position slightly and it collapses again. Using his newly acquired knowledge of poultry, Frank attempts to bluff his way through a job interview with a local farm-supply firm. Amazingly he gets the job and is given the use of a car. That weekend, Frank takes Betty on a picnic atop some cliffs on the coast. As they start to drive back home, the car jolts to a halt and the pair peer out to discover the car is hanging precariously over the edge of the cliff. They both manage to climb out of the car but Frank decides to climb over the top of the car in order to ditch some heavy fertiliser that he has in the boot. This results in him slipping off the car and he is left hanging onto the bumper with the sea many feet below him. Betty runs off to phone for assistance but, being a weekend, nobody will help. Luckily a coach of rugby players stops and hauls the car away from the cliff and Frank to safety.

The Spencers return home in the car... but with it strapped to the roof of the coach. A great episode with exactly the right mixture of dialogue and action. Frank's character is slightly more headstrong in this series which results in two very funny dialogue scenes in this episode. In the first, Frank tries to pretend he has knowledge of chicken breeding to get a job ("A good cockerel always faces a north wind... legs apart") and, later, he tells a confused Betty that he would "like to start breeding" (she is talking about babies; him, chickens). The much-loved car-hanging-over-the-cliff sequence (filmed near Swanage) is well executed, though the climactic gag of the car being strapped to the top of the coach – with Frank giving hand signals out of the window – seems very forced. Look out for a continuity error: the librarian knows Frank wants a book on chickens without him even asking for it – it looks like some material has been edited at this point. This episode is also known as Frank Goes over the Edge. Audio clips: VTR: 20/9/73. Ratings: 15.9 million.

Cast: Michael Crawford (Frank Spencer), Michele Dotrice (Betty), Stuart Fell, Marc Boyle, Allan Chuntz (Three GIs), David Rowley (Pianist), Desmond Llewelyn (Air Commodore Drew), Norman Shelley (Group Captain Firth), John Pollendine (Harris), Roger Dene (Roberts), Leonard Gregory (Horace), Richard Eden, Mark Allington, Michael Reeves, Chris Sullivan (Airmen in Billet), David Quilter (Pilot Officer Baker), Blain Fairman (Flight Sergeant), Michael Gwynn (Wing Commander Day), Kenneth Watson (Orderly), Robert Samson (Carter), Ben Aris (Brown), Richard Blomfield (Hayward), Richard McNeff (Squadron Leader), Fulton Mackay (Fowler), action by HAVOC, Nick Thompson Hill (Barman), David Bache, Patrick Wright, Richard Sheekey, Joe Santo, Frederick Woolf, Arthur Parry (at the Reunion).

Crew: Raymond Allen (Writer), James Balfour (Film Camera), Ron Blight (Film Sound), Steve Samson (Film Editor), Lisa Benjamin (Costumes), Jan Harrison (Makeup), Derek Slee (Lighting), John Lloyd (Sound), Bernard Wilkie (Visual Effects), Bryan Ellis (Design), Michael Mills (Production). Frank is getting overexcited because of his forthcoming RAF reunion evening. During a restless night, he dreams that he is a World War II pilot, heroically rescuing Betty from the rough antics of some American soldiers. As he wrestles with them, he wakes to find himself fighting with the sofa. As in previous years, when he arrives at the reunion he fails to introduce himself to the Air Commodore, which leads the Commodore to wonder what exactly Frank got up to in his days in the RAF. As it happens, even Frank's first night in his billet started badly, with him caught changing his trousers in the middle of an inspection. Trying to hide, he got stuck in a locker which ended up plummeting down a flight of stairs. After explaining to a recruitment officer that he joined the air force mainly because he liked the uniform ("a nice blue"), Frank was sent for an air-crew medical.

During this, he managed to think the hearing test was some sort of whispering game, and fainted when he was administered some simple eye drops. Frank also succeeded in breaking the gymnasium equipment when he was being tested on his team-leadership skills. Later, when asked to perform a simple fit-the-shapes-in-the-correct-holes test, Frank successfully used all the pieces of wood... but jammed them in all the wrong holes! Bells sound and Frank wakes to find himself in bed, having returned home from the reunion in a drunken state causing him to put on one of Betty's nightdresses by mistake! The majority of this story is a too episodic to allow it to build up to many big laughs, but the extended sequence with Frank struggling with some simple intelligence tests is very amusing, trying the patience of his instructor (played by Fulton Mackay, better known as the chief warder from Porridge) to the utmost. Another famous face here is Desmond Llewelyn, who played Q in the James Bond films. Audio clips: VTR: 28/8/73. Ratings: 17.7 million.

Cast: Michael Crawford (Frank Spencer), Michele Dotrice (Betty), James Cossins (Watson), Zulema Dene (Miss Gibbons), Mark Griffith (Lang), Robin Halstead (Roberts), Christopher Biggins, Jill Damas (Students), Ralph Watson, Kevin Moran (Workmen at manhole), David Kitchen, Kevin Savage, Kelly Varney, Eddie Sommer, Stephanie Marrian, Lee Patrick, Giles Melville (Students), Rosina Stewart (Cashier), Patricia Gordeno, Irene Peters (Two assistants in cafeteria), Susie the Dog. Crew: Raymond Allen (Writer), James Balfour (Film Camera), Ron Blight (Film Sound), Steve Samson (Film Editor), Lisa Benjamin (Costumes), Jan Harrison (Makeup), Derek Slee (Lighting), John Lloyd (Sound), Bryan Ellis (Design), Michael Mills (Production). After being sacked from his job with the water board for getting stuck down a sewer, Frank attends a residential course in public relations. On his first evening, Frank joins the other students in an automated canteen which dispenses food from a machine. Frank gets an unwanted plate of baked beans by mistake and attempts to stuff it back inside the machine.

This causes the machine to malfunction and cover everybody in food. Later, in the dormitory, Frank bursts his hot-water bottle and accidentally manages to squirt the contents over a co-attendee on the course. The angry student retaliates by emptying the rest of the water over Frank's bed. However, he has got the wrong bed and a free-for-all fight ensues. The following morning, the students are nursing their wounds as the first session begins. Frank is selected to take a part in a role-play exercise. Getting carried away in the role, the lesson descends into a fiasco when he starts throwing random insulting phrases at the course instructor ("hypocritical charlatan... reprobate... educational hoodwinker... grovelling, servile, sycophantic scamp"). Convinced the instructor is a quack, the other students walk out of the course. Frank is chased out of the grounds by the angry instructor. A funny episode but let down by the contrived canteen sequence which depends on that tired comedy fallback: a malfunctioning machine which, in this case, unconvincingly hurls food in people's faces.

It would be better if the machine was something we could relate to, but this plate-dispensing device is totally illogical. Fortunately, the rest of the episode is better and it's amusing to hear Frank develop his own catchphrase (albeit one pinched from psychologist Émile Coué – "Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better") which he repeats after every calamity he causes. With this story, Christopher Biggins makes the first of two appearances in the show (the other being in Learning to Fly) and was one of the celebrities interviewed as part of the Selection Box (q.v.) retrospective in 1997. A slightly longer version of the scene where Frank is chased out of the grounds of the house survives in the BBC archives. It includes a couple of extra shots of Frank and the fuming Watson, and after the line, "I'm waiting... for Betty," Frank adds by way of explanation, "She's my wife – going to drive me home." This episode is also known simply as The PR Course. Audio clips: VTR: 2/10/73. Ratings: 16 million.

Cast: Michael Crawford (Frank Spencer), Michele Dotrice (Betty), Anthony Woodruff (Dr Smedley), Sydney Tafler (Lockwood), Christopher Timothy (Roy), Pamela Binns (Mrs Jones), Julia Breck (Mrs Ford), Charles Lamb (Skipper), Christopher Holmes (Boatman). Crew: Raymond Allen (Writer), James Balfour (Film Camera), Ron Blight (Film Sound), Steve Samson (Film Editor), Lisa Benjamin (Costumes), Jan Harrison (Makeup), Derek Slee (Lighting), John Lloyd (Sound), Bernard Wilkie (Visual Effects), Ken Starkey (Design), Michael Mills (Production). Frank is working as a captain on board a riverboat. He beaches the boat on a mudflat and is sacked. Meanwhile at home, Betty makes a secret appointment with Doctor Smedley who confirms that she is pregnant (Betty: "I can hardly believe it" / Dr Smedley: "I can hardly believe it myself"). Betty returns home and tries to break the news to Frank who thinks the "little addition" to the family is some sort of reference to getting a pet.

Eventually the news sinks in to the shocked Frank and he vows to try to win the football pools to get enough money to support the child. Frank visits Dr Smedley's maternity clinic in order to get some advice on the pregnancy and to show Dr Smedley the somewhat under-sized crib he has built (Smedley: "It's hardly big enough to take a sausage roll"). That afternoon, Frank attends an audition for an entertainer at a holiday camp. His first act is a ventriloquist's dummy called Marvin: a gorilla with a human head – Frank having reversed his car over the proper head. After managing to destroy a microphone, he also demonstrates the rest of his act: singing an appalling rendition of Early One Morning while doing a twee dance. Reaching into his pocket for the lyrics, he accidentally sets off his "Vesuvius" – a human firework display. He is extinguished by gallons of foam pumped over him from a foam-generating machine. Frank and Marvin is the first in the Frank-has-a-baby trilogy and a very funny individual episode. There is little slapstick here but this episode contains some of the series' best dialogue scenes, particularly the sequence in which Betty announces her pregnancy to Frank.

Already agitated by Frank continually failing to understand what she is trying to tell him, she grabs his pullover and says, in exasperated tones, "Don't you understand Frank? I'm going to have a baby!" Frank takes in the news slowly and then brusquely brushes her away: "Well you might have asked me first!" Classic stuff! The only let-down in this episode is the forced climax: what exactly is this huge foaming machine doing in a ballroom at a holiday camp? Also watch out for a continuity error in the sequence with Marvin the monkey: the empty glass on the stool next to Frank suddenly becomes filled with beer and Spencer remarks that he is "a little damp". Presumably some material was cut here prior to transmission. The Bluecoat in the holiday camp is played by a young Christopher Timothy who would later go on to play James Herriot in All Creatures Great and Small for many years. Audio clips: VTR: 15/10/73. Ratings: 17.6 million.

Cast: Michael Crawford (Frank Spencer), Richard Pescud (White), Michele Dotrice (Betty), Lajla Lund (Alison), Cynthia Lund (Judy), Seymour Green (Charles), David King (Dr Powell), Brian Osborne (Jordan), Tony Hazel (Hamilton), Cynthia Powell (Lucy), Taiwo Ajai (Sally), Geoffrey Chater (Bank Manager), action by HAVOC, Claire Campbell, Helen Burnat, Josephine O'Sullivan, Bernice Spivack, Martin Clark, John Cash, Ricky Newby (Expectant mothers and fathers), Lola Morice (Manageress of 'Motherhood' shop), Shirley English (Assistant), Vanessa Dodd (Mother), Emmett Hennessey (Policeman), Ray Miller (Workman), Marc Boyle, Val Musetti (Stunt Drivers), Sue Bishop, Tony Woolley (Couple outside 'Motherhood'). Crew: Raymond Allen (Writer), James Balfour (Film Camera), Ron Blight (Film Sound), Steve Samson (Film Editor), Lisa Benjamin (Costumes), Jan Harrison (Make-up), Derek Slee (Lighting), John Lloyd (Sound), Bernard Wilkie (Visual Effects), Bryan Ellis (Design), Michael Mills (Production).

Chimpanzee sequences filmed at Twycross Zoo Leicestershire. Frank is sacked from yet another job – this time working in a photographic lab, where he manages to spill acid down the legs of his supervisor. Back at home, Frank is showing signs of stress so Betty suggests he gets himself involved with her work looking after two children whose mother is in hospital. Franks goes to meet the children but wrongly assumes them to be babies, hence his presents for them – a plastic duck and a rattle – are somewhat inappropriate. That lunchtime, after shaking off the advances of a homosexual businessman whom he meets in the street, Frank attends his prenatal class. But after Frank accidentally makes a suggestive comment to one of the women attendees, the class breaks up in chaos. Frank's next port of call is the bank where he attempts to get a loan. This is refused when the only reference he can offer the bank manager is from his psychiatrist, and when he attempts to put up his council house as security. That afternoon, Frank goes to the zoo with the two children in Betty's care. Much to the kids' amusement, a chimp steals Frank's beret and Frank enters the monkey enclosure to retrieve it.

Later, they all go roller-skating but Frank builds up too much speed and smashes through the rink's fire exit out into the street. After a hair-raising roller-skate ride around town, Frank crashes through a baby-ware shop, wrecking most of the shop's contents in the process. The roller-skate ride is arguably Some Mother's Do 'Ave 'Em's best-remembered set piece, but suffers from a clumsy change from film to videotape near the end as Frank crashes through the shop (how exactly do you roller-skate up stairs anyway?) The sequence is also slightly marred by jumpy cuts and sudden changes of location. The other action sequence – in the chimps' cage – is also implausible: are the doors to animal cages usually left unlocked in zoos?

The best dialogue sequence is when Frank attends his baby class and fails to grasp the location of a baby's soft spot (Doctor: "When you were a baby, you had a soft spot, didn't you?" / Frank: "I was very fond of treacle pudding.") As with a few other episodes, there is evidence that material has been cut from this episode: the bank manager knows that Frank has no job and a baby on the way without being told. This episode is also known as Frank is Introduced to Fatherhood. Audio clips: VTR: 21/10/73. Ratings: 15.7 million. Cast: Michael Crawford (Frank Spencer), Michele Dotrice (Betty), Eric Francis (Hospital Porter), Alison Coleridge (Nurse Moore), Diane Holland (Receptionist), John D Collins (Dr Boyde), Richard Caldicot (Sir John Gifford), Anthony Woodruff (Dr Smedley), Cyril Luckham (Fr O'Hara), Della Flinch, Lorna Leech (Nurses), Martin Terry (Doctor), Maureen Purkiss, Gay Desser, Amanda Carlson (Patients).

Crew: Raymond Allen (Writer), James Balfour (Film Camera), Ron Blight (Film Sound), Steve Samson (Film Editor), Lisa Benjamin (Costumes), Jan Harrison (Make up), Derek Slee (Lighting), John Lloyd (Sound), Bernard Wilkie (Visual Effects), Ken Starkey (Design), Michael Mills (Production). Frank rushes into his local hospital crying, "She's having it." After being examined, it turns out Betty has nothing but cramp. It is the fifth such false alarm in a week and the doctors' patience is wearing thin. The hospital's top obstetrician, Sir John Gifford, arrives to find Frank's car in his private space. Frank attempts to remedy the situation and this results in Gifford crashing his car. Later at home, Dr Smedley pops into the Spencer household to see how things are going but is not impressed when he finds out that Frank wishes to attend the birth. After reluctantly agreeing to this, Dr Smedley gives Frank a lift to his local church ("...of the The Immaculate Conception"). The irritated Father O'Hara is none too pleased to see Frank who has already been to confession many times that week.

Frank confesses to the sin of envying his comparatively well-off neighbours and is told to do penance (Father O'Hara: "Say three Hail Marys and four Our Fathers." / Frank: "Ooh, that's a bit harsh!") Later that night, Betty starts getting her contractions and Frank rushes her to hospital, losing the house keys and breaking a window in the process. With an excited Frank (still in his beret) looking on, the Spencer child is born – it is a girl. Overcome with emotion, Frank passes out on the delivery-room floor. Later, the Spencers leave the hospital with their baby, who now also has her own mini-beret. They find their cat has also given birth on the back seat of their car. Everything is obviously going too well to last; Frank reverses his car out of the hospital and crashes it. The last episode in both the trilogy about the Spencers' baby, and in the second season, sees Frank finally (and incredibly) getting a baby daughter. Crawford based the whole birth sequence on his own experiences during the birth of his second daughter, Lucy, a few years previously.

We see Frank reach a new level of naïvety when he can't even manage to determine the sex of his newly born child (Frank: "It's a boy! I've got a boy!" / Doctor: "It's a girl, Mr Spencer." / Frank: "Well, what's that then?" / Doctor: "That is the umbilical cord." / Frank: "Ooh I say!") Frank is also revealed to be Catholic and we meet his priest, the irascible Father O'Hara (played by the late Cyril Luckham), for the first time. Look out also for the hospital receptionist played by Diane Holland, who would later play snooty ballroom dancer Yvonne Stuart-Hargreaves in the holiday-camp sitcom Hi-De-Hi. Audio clips: VTR: 16-17/11/74. Ratings: 23.6 million.

Cast: Michael Crawford (Frank Spencer), Michele Dotrice (Betty), Emma Ware (Jessica Spencer), Bryan Pringle (Jackson), Brian Hayes (Hudson), Cyril Luckham (Father O'Hara), Bartlett Mullins (King Herod), Alan Bowerman (First Shepherd), Ian Milton (Second Shepherd), Tony Bateman (First Wise Man), Peter Mackriel (Second Wise Man), Bruce Callender (Third Wise Man), Marjorie Hogan (Miss Murphy), action by HAVOC, Reginald Thomason (Joseph (Mr Hunter)), Ricky Laney (Innkeeper), John Cannon, Stephen Kane, David Nichol, John Watkins (Dockers), David Kitchen (Stand-in for Michael Crawford), Marcia King (Stand-in for Michele Dotrice), Alan Bowerman (Stand-in for Bryan Pringle).

Crew: Raymond Allen (Writer), James Balfour, Pat Turley (Film Camera), Colin March, Bill Meekums (Film Sound), Bill Symon (Film Editor), Jim Acheson (Costumes), Ann Briggs (Makeup), Derek Slee (Lighting), John Lloyd (Sound), Bernard Wilkie (Visual Effects), John B Hobbs (Production Assistant), Bryan Ellis (Design), Michael Mills (Production). Frank's daughter Jessica is now one year old and is having trouble sleeping at nights. The noise is waking the entire street and annoying the Spencers' new neighbour, Mr Jackson, who has to be up early for his job in a warehouse. A new employee is due to start at the warehouse the following day and Jackson is infuriated to find out that it is Frank who has been taken on to help him. Meanwhile, Father O'Hara is organising the Christmas nativity play and is finding it difficult to make it sink in with Frank that his acting skills are not required this year due to the chaos he has caused in previous years. Eventually, as a compromise, Frank is told that he can design the scenery. Christmas wouldn't be complete without a tree...

and indeed the tree Frank brings home is nothing like complete – it is missing its top half which was torn off by a passing lorry as he was bringing it home. Things are not going any better at Frank's new job in the warehouse where Frank has already managed to knock Jackson over a wall with the end of a plank of wood. Later, Frank spots a movement under Jackson's folded coat and, suspecting a rat, puts a lighted pipe under the coat in an attempt to smoke out the animal. This sets fire to the coat which Frank ruins further by soaking it with water. Jackson attempts revenge by emptying a flask of tea into a bag that Frank is holding but, unfortunately, the bag does not belong to Frank but to the head of the firm! Later at the church, Frank shows his scenery to the, initially impressed, Father O'Hara. He has also made a mechanical lift for the Angel of the Lord to descend from heaven. Demonstrating this, Frank is hurled into the rafters of the church. He plummets to the stage and his scenery falls around his ears.

The next day at work, Frank offers to drive a forklift truck to cover for the absent Jackson who is busy elsewhere in the warehouse pilfering goods for his own use. The forklift runs out of control and smashes up the warehouse, before driving itself onto a lorry which promptly departs up the street. Both Spencer and Jackson are fired. At the final dress rehearsal of the nativity play, Frank is delighted to be asked to play the Angel of the Lord due to the sickness of the original choice of actor. However, the person helping with Frank's new pulley system doesn't understand its workings properly and loads a weight onto the system that is too heavy. This causes Frank to be catapulted through the roof of the church. A helicopter is called to rescue him as he holds on for dear life. There was no new series of Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em in 1974, so this extended Christmas special was a welcome chance for viewers to catch up on Frank's exploits. There are basically two plots spread over the episode: Frank's new job in the warehouse, and his participation in his church's nativity play.

For my part, though, it is once again the less obvious dialogue sequences that bring the biggest laughs. This episode contains the first of a run of amusing sequences where Frank would be shown alone with his daughter, trying to entertain her with, variously, games of I spy, his "impressonations" (which include Prime Minister Harold Wilson – to which the baby emits an intentionally ridiculous electronic burp) or, in later episodes, by singing invented nursery rhymes. Audio clips: Tx: 25/12/75: 1855-1940. Ratings: 25.6 million.

Cast: Michael Crawford (Frank Spencer), Hazel Bainbridge (Mrs Perkins), George Sewell (Wheeler), Alrich Riley, Chris Leonard (Rude Boys), Michele Dotrice (Betty), Campbell Singer (Finney), David Jacobs (TV Interviewer), Michael Angrave (Cameraman), Wendy Gilmore (Linda), Richard Latham (Neville), David Woodcock (Clapper Boy), Peter Jeffrey (Hayes), action by Marc Boyle, Marc Boyle (Father Christmas stunt artist), Andrew Porter, David Weare, Joseph Clark, Emma Tandy, Mark Herman, Mark Farmer, Rosemary Leonard (Children at toy fair), Eileen Winterton, Juliet St David, Vivienne Clifford, Ken Tracey, Helen Bernat, Gill Goldstein, Janet Seager, Marianne Leigh, Jules Walter (Parents at toy fair), Tony Christopher (Stand-in for Michael Crawford), Michael Angrave (Stand-in for George Sewell), Wendy Gifford (Stand-in for Hazel Bainbridge).

Crew: Raymond Allen (Writer), James Balfour (Film Camera), John Jarvis (Film Editor), Nicholas Rocker (Costumes), Judy Cain (Makeup), Derek Slee (Lighting), John Lloyd (Sound), Bernard Wilkie (Visual Effects), John B Hobbs (Production Assistant), Rochelle Selwyn (Design), Michael Mills (Production). Frank's current job is helping out as a pixie in Santa's grotto at a local department store, but things have not been going too well. After Father Christmas makes numerous complaints about Frank, the manageress threatens him with the sack if there are any more mistakes. The grotto includes a mechanical device which lowers Santa to the shop floor and the awaiting kids. Frank is in charge of operating this but unfortunately he manages to ruin the mechanism and Santa plummets to the ground. Frank is sacked. Later, Frank is taking his last driving lesson before his test. Remarking that the road seems very wide, Frank and his instructor find themselves on an airport runway! Later in the lesson, Frank gets out of the car for a second but accidentally leaves the handbrake off and the vehicle starts rolling down the street, out of control.

Frank gives chase and manages to climb on top of the speeding car which finally stops when it runs straight into the open back of a horsebox. Back at home, Frank is excited to have been chosen to feature in a TV programme about DIY. David Jacobs arrives from the BBC together with a cameraman (Frank: "He's got a funny walk, hasn't he?" / Jacobs: "He's actually got quite a lot of heavy equipment.") Frank introduces Jacobs to his DIY masterpieces: a wonky bookshelf, a standard lamp made from a length of plastic gutter pipe, and a sofa which goes "boing" every time somebody sits on it. An attempt at filming a simple sequence – with Frank coming home and greeting Betty after a day's work – results in his lamp blowing up, his bookshelf collapsing and his sofa sprouting rogue springs. The unfortunate experience forgotten, Frank is now taking his 10th driving test. When Frank stops in the middle of a river bridge as it is in the process of opening, this is the last straw for the examiner and he asks to be driven straight back to the test centre.

Frank thinks he knows a short cut, but unfortunately his route takes the speeding car off the end of a quayside into the sea. The examiner swims back to the shore with Frank inquiring from the sinking car, "Have I passed?" This extended Christmas episode doesn't start too well as it veers dangerously into the old Perry/Lloyd/Croft sitcom standby of getting a cheap laugh by having the carefully built characters prostitute themselves by coming on in "funny" costumes (cf. Are You Being Served?, Hi-De-Hi et al.) This sequence – already rather stagey – isn't helped by being carelessly shot, with the top of the studio's cyclorama coming into view on several occasions (just how high is this shop's ceiling anyway?) Fortunately, after we are clear of the department store, things begin to warm up. Frank is amusingly trying to advertise his skills on a postcard in a shop window (Frank: "I am willing to offer my services." / Betty: "No!" / Frank: "No – one of them funny ones might read that.") before finding out he is to appear on TV which results in him opening an exploding bottle of home-made wine to celebrate.

One strange, presumably unnoticed goof left in the finished episode occurs when Frank is running through the start-up procedure for the car with his instructor – put it in gear and then depress the clutch? Has Frank himself been repairing this vehicle? The making of the action sequences concerning Frank's erratic driving was covered in the documentary To Be Perfectly Frank (q.v.), belatedly screened in April 1977. Preserved therein is an amusing gaff which occurred during the filming of one of these sequences with Frank and his instructor driving along a country lane. After Crawford has already fluffed a take of the scene by collapsing in giggles, attempts to do a second take are ruined when the car is suddenly plunged into darkness as it passes under a bridge (Crawford: "The bloody sun's gone in!") Audio clips: Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em characters - British Comedy Guide Played by: Michael Crawford Accident-prone Frank lives with his wife Betty and in the third series, with their baby daughter Jessica. No matter what he's doing or what job he's in, Frank always manages to cause chaos, with hilarious consequences. His marriage to Betty seems solid enough, but Frank's relationship with his mother-in-law has never exactly been a good one.

Betty Spencer Played by: Michele Dotrice As Frank's long suffering wife, Betty manages to keep her cool thoughout Frank's various harrassments and situations. Betty's mother, Beryl Fisher, wanted her to marry someone other than Frank (in fact anyone but Frank). BFI Screenonline: Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em (1973-75, 1978) Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em (1973-75, 1978) 19 x 30 min plus 3 specials, colour Throughout the 1970s, no impressionist's act, from Mike Yarwood and Lenny Henry to countless lesser-known performers, was complete without a Frank Spencer. A brown raincoat, black beret tugged down to one side, and a fey "Ooh, Betty..." was about all that was needed to invoke Raymond Allen Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em , their first choice for the role - perhaps thinking back to his 'gump' persona - was Norman Wisdom . When both actors turned down the part, the corporation plumped for Michael Crawford , at the time a relative unknown.

Crawford 's hands-on approach to the script, character and, famously, stunts came together to create a series that spanned five years and 22 episodes, becoming a major feature of the '70s television landscape. Perfectly introduced by Ronnie Hazelhurst 's down-at-heel piccolo theme (for which he earned £30), Frank Spencer was a character very much of his time, with loftier aspirations than Reg Varney 's jack-the-lad Stan Butler in On the Buses (ITV, 1969-73), and not yet of an age where politics could define a layabout like Wolfie in Citizen Smith (BBC, 1977-80). Frank was a man adrift: unemployed, unemployable, as ineffectual in his efforts as a handyman as in his manliness, driving everyone he meets towards a nervous breakdown with his incompetence, naivety, trivial asides and tedious references to his (deceased) mother. Spencer was an unlikely comic icon, but whether attempting to mend a leaking pipe or build sets for a nativity play, the chaos that ensued from introducing the character into an everyday situation had audiences convulsed with laughter.

While most sitcoms of the period were largely enclosed, Frank's misadventures frequently took him outside the studio, involving brilliantly choreographed stunts that largely hold up today. Many, like his manic roller-skate ride through the streets, are burned into the memory of a generation. To the surprise of many, at the end of the second series Frank's wife, Betty, gives birth to a daughter, Jessica. Aside from indicating a maturing of the characters, this introduced a musical element to 1978's third series, in which Frank sings a lullaby to his daughter. This both showed a more sympathetic side to Spencer and highlighted Crawford 's undoubted vocal abilities, pointing to his second wave of fame as a star of stage musicals such as Andrew Lloyd Webber 's The Phantom of the Opera. John Innes

Question: What is the name of Frank and Betty Spencer's daughter in Some Mothers Do Have Em?
Answer: Jessica