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UK / BBC1 / 13x30m-e 1x45m-e / 1986-87 Season 1:17 Feb - 31 Mar 86 Season 2: 7 Sep - 12 Oct 87 Special: 21 Dec 1987 Writer: John Sullivan / Producer: Ray Butt / Theme sung by Paul Nicholas Language teacher John Lacey had a shock on returning home from work one day. He found a note from his wife, Wendy, revealing that she had left him for his best friend, taking Toby, their eight-year-old son, with her. In the subsequent divorce proceedings, John lost his house and was forced to move into a crummy bedsit. Among his new neighbours was the elderly Mrs Lemenski, a foreign immigrant who was sure John was crazy.His social life in tatters, John spotted an advert in a newspaper for The 1-2-1 Club, a divorced persons' encounter group, and decided to give it a go. The class was run by officious beauty consultant Louise Williams, whose chief interest was in her members' sexual problems and fetishes. Joining John in the group was Ralph Dring, one of life's great bores and the proud driver of a motorcycle combination. His Polish wife had married him to avoid extradition and had left him during their wedding reception. Also seen was Kate, an attractive but uptight girl whose three marriages had broken down because of her frigidity. This also seemed to prevent her warming to John. While other minor characters hovered in the background (including the virtually silent Mrs Arnott, Sylvia with the silly laugh and faded rock star Ricky Fortune - of Ricky Fortune and the Fortunates), the other main protagonist was Kirk St Moritz, a John Travolta lookalike, who had not even been married, let alone divorced, and attended simply to pick up 'frustrated chicks'. This spinner of exotic yarns, who claimed to be a spy, turned out to be a dowdy mummy's boy whose real name was Eric Morris. Writer John Sullivan sold the idea to an American company and spent some time as a consultant and writer on their version of the series. This aired in the UK as Dear John: USA and starred Judd Hirsch.
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