Me Mammy


Me Mammy is a British sitcom that aired on BBC1 from 1968 to 1971. Starring Milo O'Shea, it was written by Hugh Leonard.

Background

Me Mammy first aired as a pilot within the seventh series of the BBC's Comedy Playhouse. The pilot and first series were made in black-and-white. Despite playing his mother, Anna Manahan was only two years older than her on-screen son played by Milo O'Shea. Many of the episodes are missing and presumed wiped. Only the first episode of the first series and the entire third series survive, However, although recorded in colour, the last series only survives in black and white.

Cast

  • Milo O'Shea as Benjamin "Bunjy" Kennefick
  • Anna Manahan as Mrs Mary Kennefick
  • Yootha Joyce as Miss Eunice Argyll
  • Ray McAnally as Father Patrick
  • David Kelly as Cousin Enda

    Plot

Bunjy Kennefick is an Irish mother's boy living in London. He is a top executive of a company and aspires to live a bachelor lifestyle. However, his old-fashioned Catholic mother often puts a stop to his plans, many of them involving his secretary and girlfriend, Miss Argyll. Other characters include Father Patrick, often mocked for his dubious morality, and Cousin Enda.
The episodes feature some surreal elements, such as "Catholic Chess", which pits pieces modelled on prominent Catholic figures against one modelled on prominent Protestant figures. On the Catholic side of the board are buttons which can drop opposing pieces through trapdoors, "sending them to Hell". Another example was the board game 'Popopoly'. Bunjy's mother would pray to bizarrely named saints.

Episodes

Pilot (1968)

  • Pilot

    Series One (1969)

  1. "The Day We Blessed the Bench"
  2. "The Day Verilia Went to Pieces"
  3. "The Night Me Mammy Snuffed It"
  4. "The Day the Saints Went Marching Out"
  5. "The First Time I Saw Paris"
  6. "The Day Concepta Got England"

    Series Two (1970)

  7. "The Night Miss Argyll Got Canonised"
  8. "Me Mammy's Tomb"
  9. "The Night We Saw Old Nick"
  10. "The Last of the Red-Hot Mammies"
  11. "The Night Edna Entered a Convent"
  12. "The Night I Left the Church"
  13. "The Morning After Finnegan's Wake"

    Series Three (1971)

  14. "The Day We Went Dutch"
  15. "The Night The Banshee Brought Me Home "
  16. "The Day I Got Engaged"
  17. "The Day I Went Commercial"
  18. "The Sacred Chemise of Miss Argyll"
  19. "The Mammy Murder Case"
  20. "How To Be A Mammy in Law"

    Surviving episodes

Series No'Ep No'TitleBroadcastNotes
Series 1Episode 1The Day We Blessed the Bench15 September 1969
Series 3Episode 1The Day We Went Dutch23 April 1971
Series 3Episode 2The Night The Banshee Brought Me Home30 April 1971
Series 3Episode 3The Day I Got Engaged7 May 1971
Series 3Episode 4The Day I Went Commercial14 May 1971
Series 3Episode 5The Sacred Chemise of Miss Argyll21 May 1971
Series 3Episode 6The Mammy Murder Case28 May 1971
Series 3Episode 7How To Be A Mammy-In-Law11 June 1971