In Loving Memory (TV series)
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| In Loving Memory | |
 Thora Hird and Christopher Beeny |
|
| Format | Comedy |
|---|---|
| Created by | Dick Sharples |
| Starring | Thora Hird Christopher Beeny Colin Farrell Avis Bunnage Sherrie Hewson Rose Power |
| Country of origin |  United Kingdom |
| No. of episodes | 37 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Thames Television (pilot), Yorkshire Television (series) |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ITV |
| Original run | 4 November 1969 – 27 March 1986 |
In Loving Memory was a British period sitcom set in an undertakers business that starred Thora Hird and Christopher Beeny. A pilot aired in 1969, and it further ran for five series between 1979 and 1986. It was made by Yorkshire Television with the 1969 pilot episode made by Thames Television.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The year is 1929 and in the opening episode Jeremiah Unsworth (Freddie Jones), the proprietor of the undertakers, dies. This leaves his widow Ivy (Thora Hird) and gormless nephew Billy (Christopher Beeny) to take over the business.
As might be expected, the accident-prone Ivy and Billy have numerous mishaps, and hardly a funeral goes by without something untoward occurring.
The setting for the show is the fictional Lancashire town of Oldshaw during the 1930s. The writer Dick Sharples chose this period as this was the time when undertakers were switching from horse drawn hearses to mechanical ones.
[edit] Trivia
- The pilot for the show aired on November 4, 1969 as part of a series of six one-off situation-comedies. The producers, Thames Television elected not to take the series any further. It was almost ten years later when fellow ITV company Yorkshire Television commissioned a series.
- Luddenden, Yorkshire was where the location shooting took place.
- Syd Little, in one episode, played a doubting neighbour character who once heard a sheep say, "hello".
- That's Your Funeral was a sitcom based on a similar premise, but it only lasted for one series.
- Thora Hird and Dick Sharples worked together on another ITV comedy series, Hallelujah!, which was also produced by Yorkshire Television and ran concurrently with In Loving Memory.
[edit] Transmission dates
Pilot (B&W)
(1 x 30 min) 4 Nov 1969 · Tues 8.30pm
Series One
(7 x 30 min) 21 May - 2 Jul 1979 · Mon mostly 8pm
Series Two
(7 x 30 min) 27 Oct - 8 Dec 1980 · Mon 8pm
Series Three
(7 x 30 min) 12 Oct - 23 Nov 1982 · Tue 8.30pm
Special
24 Dec 1982 · Fri 8pm
Series Four
(7 x 30 min) 28 Nov 1983 - 6 Feb 1984 · Mon 8pm
Series Five
(7 x 30 min) 13 Feb - 27 Mar 1986 · Thu 9pm
[edit] DVD Release
The first two series of In Loving Memory has been released so far by Network.
| DVD | Release date |
|---|---|
| The Complete Series 1 | 18 February 2009 |
| The Complete Series 2 | 6 July 2009 |
| The Complete Series 3 | TBA |
| The Complete Series 4 | TBA |
| The Complete Series 5 | TBA |
| The Complete Series 1 to 5 Box Set | TBA |
