Dear Mother, Love Albert
Three years after the end of The Likely Lads Rodney
Bewes again tasted sitcom success, this time with a series which
he not merely starred in but also (with Derrick Goodwin) wrote and
produced. He also sang the theme song which he co-wrote with Mike
Hugg.
 The
concept came from Bewes' real-life letters home to his mother,
reporting on recent events in his life.
Correspondingly, the series cast him as bemused Albert
Courtenay, a 24-year-old innocent northern lad who moves to London
and manages to scrape a living, but romanticises and exaggerates
his success and experiences in letters home to his mum.
Albert eventually found regular work with a confectionery
company, and at the end of the second series he moved into a flat
with two dolly birds. At the start of the third series he was in
love and about to become engaged to Doreen Bissel.
Unusually, Dear Mother, Love Albert switched production
companies, from Thames to Yorkshire TV during its run.
It also spawned a 1972 sequel - titled simply Albert! (7
x 30 minute episodes) and made by Yorkshire Television - by the
end of which Courtenay had been given the sack from the
confectioner's and Doreen had severed their engagement.
Garfield Morgan co-starred as Albert's boss, A.C.Strain.
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