Get Well Soon (BBC-1 1997, Matthew Cottle, Eddie Marsan)

Period sitcom Get Well Soon took us back to 1947 when two young lads, Roy Osborne and Brian Clapton share a room in a TB Sanitarium in Surrey. Roy is newly admitted and thinks he won’t be there long, he quickly has his eyes opened that it could be years before he leaves.

Regular visits include Roy and Brian’s mums as well as Jilly Howell who is the widow of the man who used to be in Roy’s bed. Meanwhile Sister Shelley rules the hospital with a rod of iron.

The series is based on the real life meeting between Ray Galton and Alan Simpson (who would go on to create Hancock’s Half Hour and Steptoe and Son amongst many others).

production details
UK / BBC One / 6×30 minute episodes / Broadcast 2 November – 7 December 1997 Sundays at 6.40pm/6.30pm

Writers: Ray Galton, John Antrobus / Theme Sung by Aled Jones / Producer: Philip Kampff / Director: Christine Gernon

cast
Matthew Cottle as Roy Osborne
Eddie Marsan as Brian Clapton
Anita Dobson as Ivy Osborne
Samantha Beckinsale as Jilly Howell
Robert Bathurst as Sqdn Ldr Harry ‘Gribble’ Fielding
Patsy Rowlands as Mrs Clapton
Kate O’Toole as Sister Shelley
William Osborne as Jeffry
Michael Troughton as Padre Donald Peters
Hugh Bonneville as Norman Tucker
Neil Stacy as Bernard Walpole