Sorry, I’m A Stranger Here Myself (ITV Sitcom, Robin Bailey)

In sitcom Sorry, I’m A Stranger Here Myself, ageing librarian Henry Nunn (Robin Bailey) moves into the house left to him in his Uncle’s will, the house was where he spent his formative years growing up.

The Stage of 26 Feb 1981 had a short piece about the production of the show: Robin Bailey is to appear in another Thames production, Sorry I’m A Stranger Here Myself, to be transmitted on the network, possibly in April. He plays the part of Henry, a man who has the chance to escape from his boring, Home Counties way of life when he inherits the provincial house in which he grew up. Rather than peace, however, he discovers a punk squatter, a militant trade unionist next door and an unusual Asian for a local shopkeeper. This series of seven programmes has Anthony Parker as producer and director and is being filmed and recorded in studio at the moment, for transmission in a half-hour slot. Others in the cast are Christopher Fulford, Diana Rayworth, David Hargreaves and Nadim Sawalha. The writer is Peter Tilbury, who also wrote Shelley for Thames.

Hilary Kingsley was less than impressed reviewing the sitcom in the Daily Mirror Sat 20 Jun 1981: THE fact that Sorry, I’m a Stranger Here Myself was part-written by the man who created Shelley and stars Robin Bailey, the man who was a hoot over on the BBC, doesn’t excuse it. Monday’s opening episode was hopeless. And I can’t see it improving. The trouble is that this comedy is a patch-work job. Scraps from other comedy hits have been reworked and stitched together with long, laboured jokes. Robin’s mildly rebellious librarian hero who ditches convention and a nagging wife is a snatch of Reggie Perrin crossed with Harry Worth. The poor Indian shop-keeper shows that Mind Your Language has no monopoly on racist rubbish. And that green haired punk, spouting out-of-date cockney slang, proves how brilliantly Alf Garnett’s punk grand son in Till Death is written and played. Till Death, for all its faults, has a bite to it. It tosses real ideas around, just as Shelley did. If there’s an idea worth making in this drivel, sorry but I missed it.

RATINGS: The first season made it into the top ten JICTAR ratings average around the 11 million viewers mark when it made number seven for the period 27 July – 2 August.

Cast: Robin Bailey (Henry Nunn), David Hargreaves (Tom), Christopher Fulford (Alex), Diana Rayworth (Doreen), Nadim Sawalha (Mumtaz)

Writers: David Firth, Peter Tilbury / Producer and Director: Anthony Parker

UK / Thames / 13×30 minute episodes / Broadcast 1981 – 1982 Season 1: 15 June – 27 July 81 / Season 2: 13 April – 18 May 82