As Time Goes By (TV series)
As Time Goes By is a British romantic sitcom that aired on BBC One from 12 January 1992 to 30 December 2005, running for nine series and two specials. Starring Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer, it follows the relationship between two former lovers who meet unexpectedly after losing contact for 38 years.
The series originated as an idea by Colin Bostock-Smith. It was produced and directed by Sydney Lotterby and was written by Bob Larbey, who had co-written both The Good Life and Ever Decreasing Circles with John Esmonde. In 2004, As Time Goes By was ranked No. 29 in Britain's Best Sitcom. The programme's original working title had been Winter with Flowers but was changed during its first day of filming because of the cast's protests. The new title was taken from the 1931 Herman Hupfeld song "As Time Goes By", and the recorded version by Joe Fagin was used as the title music.
The series was produced by Theatre of Comedy Entertainment in association with DLT Entertainment Ltd. for the BBC.
Dench's real-life daughter Finty Williams appeared in the title sequence as the young Jean in one of the two pictures. The other was Palmer's son, Charles Palmer, as the young Lionel.
Cast
Main
- Jean Mary Pargetter – a former nurse who now owns and runs a secretarial agency in London, "Type for You". Jean was married to David Hanson, who died young, leaving Jean a widowed single mother.
- Lionel Hardcastle – a retired coffee planter who spent most of his adult life in Kenya. Having sold his coffee plantation and divorced his wife, Lionel has returned to the UK to write his memoirs, entitled “My Life In Kenya”.
- Judith Hanson – daughter of Jean and her late husband David. A two-time divorcee, Judy has moved back into her mother’s house while working at her mother’s secretarial agency.
- Alistair Deacon – the smooth-talking, wealthy and well-connected publisher who is overseeing the release of Lionel’s memoirs.
- Sandy – Jean's personal secretary and receptionist at Type for You as well as Judy’s best friend.
Recurring
- Penny – Jean's condescending, self-absorbed sister-in-law from her first marriage.
- Stephen – Penny's entertainingly dull husband, who works as a dentist.
- Richard "Rocky" Hardcastle – Lionel's irrepressible upper-class father who owns a country home in the Hampshire countryside. Vivacious and young at heart, Rocky is the opposite of his son.
- Madge Darbley – Rocky’s equally high-spirited fiancée and subsequent wife, who is seven years his junior. As Sims died in 2001, she does not appear past series 7 although Sims was alive when series 8 was broadcast.
- Harry – a rugby-obsessed policeman who starts dating Sandy.
- Mrs Bale – Rocky’s eccentric, very precise housekeeper who is interested in the shipping forecast and Australian Rules Football.
- Lol Ferris – Rocky’s amiable, decidedly rural gardener. Lol has six brothers, all of whom become interested in Sandy.
In the March 2011 PBS pledge drive programming special Behind the Britcoms: from Script to Screen hosted by cast members Moira Brooker and Philip Bretherton, the series creator/producer revealed that Jean Simmons had declined the first offer of the role of Jean due to her reluctance to uproot her life, specifically mentioning her dogs, garden, and family, in California.
Plot
Second Lieutenant Lionel Hardcastle and Middlesex Hospital nurse Jean Pargetter met in the summer of 1953 and fell head over heels in love, but then Lionel was posted to Korea. When he wrote to give her his mailing address there, the letter went astray. Jean assumed he had lost interest in her and stubbornly refused to ask the army to locate him; he, in turn, decided she must have lost interest in him.After his war service, Lionel emigrated to Kenya, became a coffee planter, and married Margaret, whom he later divorced due to "mutual boredom". Some time after his divorce he returned to England. Meanwhile, Jean had also married and borne one child, Judith. After her husband's death, Jean opened "Type for You", a secretarial agency. Judith, 35 years old during the series, is twice divorced ; during most of the series, she lives with her mother and works at the secretarial agency.
Lionel, now writing his memoir, My Life in Kenya, hires a typist through "Type for You", unaware that Jean owns the agency. He and Jean first meet again when Lionel picks up Judith for a dinner date. Although Lionel and Jean's reunion is full of missteps and miscues, their romance gradually rekindles. In the third series, Lionel moves into Jean's house in Holland Park, London; they marry during the fourth series.
Lionel's memoir is published by Alistair Deacon, a go-getting entrepreneur much younger than Lionel. When pressed by Lionel, Alistair eventually admits that he only agreed to publish the book as a favour to Lionel's father, whose loan to Alistair's father was the foundation of Alistair's wealth; but he works hard for the success of the book and over time he becomes good friends with Lionel and Jean. Alistair is a vain ladies' man and likes to call Lionel "Li", but he is also good-hearted and energetic, and proves resourceful enough to handle many situations that arise.
In the first series, Judith develops a crush on Lionel while Alistair takes a similar interest in Jean and likes to call her "lovely lady". Both crushes are brief; eventually, Judith and Alistair fall for each other and, in the final series, marry. Other story arcs feature Lionel being asked to write an American TV mini-series, Just Two People, based on his early romance with Jean. The mini-series fails after much rewriting and network interference. Jean eventually retires from "Type for You" and later volunteers at a charity shop.
Jean's very efficient secretary and Judith's best friend is Sandy, who eventually moves in with the Hardcastles after splitting with her boyfriend Nick. After Jean's retirement, Judy and Sandy become co-managers of "Type for You". Sandy dates Harry, a policeman and amateur rugby player, whom she marries at the end of the series. Sandy's last name is never revealed on the show.
Other notable characters include Lionel's irrepressible father Rocky, whose favourite saying is "Rock on!" and who owns a large country house in Hampshire, which he later gives to Lionel; Rocky's housekeeper, Mrs. Bale, who has an unusual interest in the Shipping Forecast and gives exact times that meals will be ready; Rocky's gardener, Lol Ferris, who says Jean is a "tender woman"; and Lionel's glamorous young secretary Daisy, who firmly repels Alistair's clumsy efforts to chat her up every time they meet. In series 3 of the show, Lionel is told by Rocky's physician that his father has less than a year to live, but this plotline was dropped and Rocky continued to appear throughout the show's later series, including the final "Christmas Specials" in 2005.
Rocky marries Madge, who is as much a character as Rocky is, when he is 85 and she is 78. They travel the world, are country and western music fans, tool about in Madge's classic Cadillac convertible, and hang out at the local pub, where Madge sings. In series nine, Madge is mentioned as being on an archaeological dig in Egypt; in reality, Joan Sims died before filming began. Also appearing many times are Penny, the meddling, neurotic sister of Jean's late first husband, who calls Jean "poor Jean", and Penny's well-meaning but dull dentist husband, Stephen, who once accidentally declined an OBE.