Marriage Lines


Marriage Lines is a British television sitcom first broadcast between 1963 and 1966. The series gave Richard Briers and Prunella Scales, its lead stars, a significant boost in their careers. At first titled The Marriage Lines, the programme was written by Richard Waring, and was later adapted for radio.

Cast

  • Richard Briers as George Starling
  • Prunella Scales as Kate Starling
  • Edward de Souza as Miles
  • Ronald Hines as Peter
  • Christine Finn as Norah
  • Diana King as Mrs Starling
  • Geoffrey Sumner as Mr Starling
  • Dorothy Black as Kate's mother
  • Juliet Harmer as Sandra
  • Tony Wright as Harry
  • Derek Benfield as Harold
  • Katy Wild as Ethel
  • Jonathan Cecil as Dave

    Background

When Richard Waring was writing Marriage Lines, he had Richard Briers in mind, and also worked with him on Brothers in Law. Graeme Muir, the producer of Marriage Lines, also worked on Brothers in Law. In early episodes, The Marriage Lines was subtitled A Quizzical Look at the Early Days of Married Life.

Plot

George and Kate Starling are a newly married couple, and the comedy comes from many ordinary domestic situations. George is a junior clerk in an office and wants the public house camaraderie of the single man in his office, while Kate gets increasingly frustrated by her domestic duties. In the third series, Kate gives birth to a daughter, Helen. The last episode of the fourth series, "Goodbye George – Goodbye Kate", shows the couple going to live in Lagos, Nigeria because of George's job. This was meant to be the last episode, however a fifth series was commissioned. The Starlings return to England as Kate is pregnant again, and gives birth in the final episode.

Episodes

All episodes are 25 minutes, except the fifth series, when the episodes are 30 minutes long. Many episodes are missing from the television archives.

Series One (1963)

  1. "The Threshold"
  2. "Trial Separation"
  3. "The Bed"
  4. "The Parting"
  5. "Four-Part Harmony"
  6. "The Old Flame"
  7. "The Good Neighbours"
  8. "Party Mood"
  9. "The Anniversary"
  10. "The Old Place"

    Christmas Special (1963)

  • Short special as part of ''Christmas Night with the Stars''

    Series Two (1964)

Entire series not known to survive.
  1. "The Job"
  2. "The Loan"
  3. "Among Our Souvenirs"
  4. "The Move"
  5. "The Convention"
  6. "Happy Birthday"
  7. "Celebration Night"
  8. "The Patient"
  9. "The Martyr"
  10. "Holiday Attractions"
  11. "Financial Consideration"
  12. "The Divorce"
  13. "A Nice Surprise"

    Christmas Special (1964)

  • Short special as part of ''Christmas Night with the Stars''

    Series Three (1965)

  1. "The Cuckoo"
  2. "The Waiting Game"
  3. "And Baby Makes Three"
  4. "Nest of Starlings"
  5. "The Ladies' Man"
  6. "The Homecoming"
  7. "Night of Nostalgia"

    Series Four (1965)

Entire series not known to survive.
  1. "What's in a Name"
  2. "The Dinner"
  3. "Serenade in Two Flats"
  4. "Tropical Magic"
  5. "Migration of Starlings"
  6. "Goodbye George – Goodbye Kate"

    Series Five (1966)

Entire series not known to survive, except where noted.
  1. "The New Start"
  2. "Back to the Beginning"
  3. "Home Market"
  4. "Big Business"
  5. "Alarums and Excursions"
  6. "First House"
  7. "And Then There Were Five"

    DVD releases

Series One & Three were released on 4 February 2013.

Radio series

Marriage Lines was adapted for radio from 1965 to 1967, with Richard Briers and Prunella Scales once again starring. The scripts were also written by Richard Waring. The first series, of 13 episodes, ran from 21 May to 13 August 1965 and the second series, of 13 episodes, from 19 March to 11 June 1967.
The series was repeated on BBC Radio 4 Extra from 13 October 2014 onwards.