Beggar My Neighbour
Beggar My Neighbour featured two families; The Garveys -
Gerald (Peter Jones) was an underpaid junior executive married to
Rose (June Whitfield) - and The Butts - skiving fitter Harry (Reg
Varney) and wife Lana (Pat Coombs). The Garveys and the Butts
lived next door each other in Larkworthy Road, Muswell Hill (North
London) and the two wives were actually sisters.
Much of the comedy stemmed from the differing financial status of
the two couples, with the Garveys eternally struggling while The
(unfortunately named) Butts were quite comfortable and enjoyed
foreign holidays, flashy cars and all mod-cons.
Gerald's upbringing had made him something of a snob and he
refused to admit that his brother-in-law could afford the things
that he couldn't. This led to problems as the Garvey's tried to
keep up with the Butt's, especially Lana, who would often put on
airs and graces. This in turn would lead the usually reserved Rose
to make exaggerated boasts about their lifestyle, which they would
then have to try and live up to.
Peter Jones left after the first series saying that he didn't want
to get stuck with another long-running role as he had with The
Rag Trade (in which he had also co-starred with Reg Varney).
For series two and three Desmond Walter-Ellis played Gerald.
Beggar My Neighbour was yet another BBC1 sitcom
originally shown as a Comedy Playhouse production.
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