You Rang M'Lord Wiki

You Rang M'Lord? is a BBC television sitcom written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, the creators of Dad's Army, It Ain't Half Hot Mum and Hi-de-Hi!. It was broadcast between 1990 and 1993 on the BBC (although there had earlier been a pilot episode in 1988). The show was set in the house of an aristocratic family in the 1920s, contrasting the upper-class family and their servants in a house in London, along the same lines as the popular drama Upstairs, Downstairs.

The series featured many actors who had also appeared in their earlier series, notably Paul Shane, Jeffrey Holland and Su Pollard, all of whom had previously been Hi-de-Hi!; also featured were Donald Hewlett and Michael Knowles from It Ain't Half Hot Mum, and Bill Pertwee and—occasionally—Frank Williams from Dad's Army. Numerous small parts were played by other alumni of David Croft and/or Jimmy Perry shows. The memorable 1920s-style theme tune was sung by Bob Monkhouse.

Episodes of You Rang M'Lord? were fifty minutes long, rather than the usual thirty (for BBC sitcoms), and attempted to introduce a more reflective approach and more complex plotting than other Croft and Perry series. There was also less reliance on filmed location sequences.

Synopsis

 * Alf Stokes and James Twelvetrees first meet as soldiers in the trenches of France during the First World War. They find the body of a seemingly dead officer and to James’s horror; Alf robs him of his valuables. Then they find that the officer, the Honourable Teddy Meldrum, is still very much alive and they carry him off to a field hospital. Nine years later, the story is set in a stately home in 1927, where James is working as the footman in the household of Teddy's brother, Lord Meldrum. Alf turns up unexpectedly and, due to his heroic part in the saving of Teddy’s life, is taken on as the new butler, against James' wishes. Alf's daughter, Ivy also starts working in the household as a parlour maid, though her relationship to Alf is kept secret. The series follows the various relationships between the upper-class and their servants below stairs, in this Upstairs Downstairs take-off, as well as Alf's scheming and James' frantic attempts to stop him.

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Trivia

 * The theme song was composed by Jimmy Perry & Roy Moore and performed by Bob Monkhouse and Paul Shane.

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