Goodnight Sweetheart (BBC-1 1993-1999, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Liz Carling)

In popular scifi sitcom Goodnight Sweetheart married TV engineer Gary Sparrow wanders down an alley that is actually a time hole, he ends up in the 1940’s where he falls for barmaid Phoebe Bamford.

As the series progressed Gary kept flitting between the two era’s. In the nineties he opened a shop selling 1940’s artifacts and in the forties led a double life as a secret agent (pretend) and songwriter of popular music (Sparrow sang hits by the Beatles and the like claiming them as his own.) Eventually Gary married Phoebe and the pair even had a child so that in best Dominick Hyde he is actually his own grandfather.

In the final episode Gary ends up trapped in the past when the portal closes on VE day.

After the third series, Dervla Kirwan left and was replaced by Liz Carling. Michelle Holmes also left, to be replaced by Emma Amos.

There was a surprise one off revival on 2 September 2016 which caught up with Gary and his discovery of the time portal again. This time in the past it was 1962, the year Gary was born.

The cast with Liz Carling and Emma Amos who joined from season four as the second wives of Gary Sparrow.

production details
UK / BBC One – SelecTV – Alamo / 57×30 minute episodes 1×50 minute episodes / Broadcast 18 November 1993 – 28 June 1999 and 2 September 2016

Creators: Laurence Marks, Maurice Gran / Music: Anthony & Gaynor Sadler / Sung by Nick Curtis / Executive Producer: Allan McKeown

cast
Nicholas Lyndhurst as Gary Sparrow
Michelle Holmes as Yvonne Sparrow (series 1-3)
Emma Amos as Yvonne Sparrow (series 4-6)
Dervla Kirwan as Phoebe Bamford (series 1-3)
Elizabeth Carling as Phoebe Bamford (series 4-6)
Victor McGuire as Ron Wheatcroft
Christopher Ettridge as PC Reg Deadman
David Ryall as Eric Bamford (series 1)
Yvonne D’Alpra as Mrs Bloss (series 2 & 3)
David Benson as Noel Coward (series 5 & 6)

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• Dead Ernest (ITV 1982, Andrew Sachs, Ken Jones)

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• Taking The Floor (BBC-1 1991, Matthew Cottle, Barbara Durkin)

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• Hamlet at Elsinore (BBC 1964, Christopher Plummer, Robert Shaw)

• A Handful of Thieves (BBC One 1969, Helen Worth, Martin Ratcliffe)

• Hands Across the Sea (BBC, 1938, Nadine March, Nicholas Phipps)

• My Son Reuben (Thames 1975, Bernard Spear, Lila Kaye,)

• The Franchise Affair (BBC 1962, Rosalie Crutchley, Michael Aldridge)

• The Galactic Garden

• The Sentimental Agent (ATV 1963)