Father Dear Father

1 9 6 8 - 1 9 7 3 (UK)
45 x 25 minute episodes
4 x short specials

Patrick Glover, writer of Bond-style spy novels, was divorced and a free spirit - in principle. 

However, plagued by his dotty mother, his agent (Georgie), his ex-wife (Barbara), her new scrap-metal-merchant husband (Bill), a fussy nanny and two nubile trendy daughters (Anna and Karen), his life was never really his own.

Although he drove a sports car and lived in a spacious, well-appointed house in Hillsdown Avenue, Hampstead, complete with a cuddly St Bernard dog called H.G. Wells, his peace and privacy were constantly being shattered by the household entourage. 

The end of the sixth series saw eldest daughter Anna marry her boyfriend, Timothy Tanner, but the couple move in during the seventh and final series, preserving the domestic flavour of the comedy.

In the fashion of US sitcoms, many episodes of Father, Dear Father featured a guest star, and among those who appeared (some more than once) were Eric Barker, Rodney Bewes, June Whitfield, Richard O'Sullivan, Bill Fraser, Donald Sinden, Dandy Nichols, Beryl Reid, Ian Carmichael, Hugh Paddick, Bill Pertwee, Peter Jones, Joan Sims, Richard Wattis, Leslie Phillips, Jack Hulbert, Hugh Paddick and Roy Kinnear.

This archetypal Thames TV farce first aired on November 5th, 1968, and was written by Johnny Mortimer and Brian Cooke, and produced by William G Stewart. 

A spin-off feature film was released in 1973 which, typically, failed to amount to very much, and then there was an Australian-made version of the TV series Father, Dear Father In Australia.

Patrick Cargill, Ann Holloway and Natasha Pyne made a special appearance, in character, on the March 1st 1970 edition of the ATV game-show The Golden Shot. 

The three also turned up in Thames TV's The Edward Woodward Hour on 4 August 1971, in a sequence where the Glovers met Woodward's British secret agent Callan. 

Thames Television also networked a one-hour Patrick Cargill special, Patrick, Dear Patrick, on 26 January 1972, part of which was set in the Glover household of Father, Dear Father.

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Patrick Glover Patrick Cargill Karen Glover Ann Holloway Anna Glover Natasha Pyne Matilda 'Nanny' Harris Noel Dyson Bill Mossman Patrick Holt (1) Tony Britton (2) Tim Tanner Jeremy Child Mrs Glover Joyce Carey Barbara Mossman Ursula Howells Howard Richard O'Sullivan Georgie Thompson Sally Bazely (1) Dawn Addams (2)