It Takes a Worried Man


It Takes a Worried Man is a British TV sitcom. It was made by Thames Television and ran for three series, broadcast from to. The first two series were broadcast on the ITV network, and the third and final series on Channel 4. Most episodes were written by the star, Peter Tilbury, who played office worker Philip Roath. The title comes from a line in the folk song Worried Man Blues. The series was based on the writings about the male menopause by novelist Philip Roth, after whom Tilbury named the main character. He also took inspiration from his own life for the character of Roath.

Premise

Philip Roath is a middle-aged and divorced office worker who is highly intelligent, but suffering a midlife crisis, and completely bored
with his job. He is never seen doing any actual work, just conversing
with his colleagues about his boredom and frustrations with life.
His boss suspects that Philip does little work, but is powerless to prove it or to do anything about it.
Philip is also seen in psychoanalysis sessions with his analyst, Simon, who has worse emotional issues than Philip does.

Cast list

DVD Release

All three series of It Takes a Worried Man have been released individually on DVD by Network. In 2024, a complete boxset was released by Old Gold Media.
DVDRelease date
The Complete Series 131 October 2011
The Complete Series 225 February 2013
The Complete Series 314 October 2013
The Complete Series 1 to 3 Boxset2024 Old Gold Media