All at No 20

All at No 20
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Richard Ommanney
Starring	Maureen Lipman Lisa Jacobs Martin Clunes
Theme music composer	Denis King
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	12
Production
Producer(s)	Thames Television
Running time	30 minutes
Release
Original network	ITV
Original release	10 February 1986 – 1 December 1987

All at No 20 is a British sitcom that aired on ITV from 10 February 1986 to 1 December 1987. Starring Maureen Lipman, it was written by Richard Ommanney, Ian Davidson, Peter Vincent and Alex Shearer. It was made for the ITV network by Thames Television and ran for two series. After the second series was slated by critics, a planned third series was cancelled.

Cast

• Maureen Lipman – Sheila Haddon
• Lisa Jacobs – Monica Haddon
• Martin Clunes – Henry
• Gary Waldhorn – Richard Beamish (series 1)
• Gabrielle Glaister – Carol (series 1)
• Gregory Doran – Chris Temple (series 1)
• David Bannerman – Hamish McAlpine (series 1)
• Carol Hawkins – Candy (series 2)
• Desmond McNamara – Frankie Lomax (series 2)

Plot

Maureen Lipman played Sheila Haddon, whose husband had died 18 months before the start of the first series. He died without any insurance, so on top of her grief she has to pay off the mortgage of her house (No 20). To do this, rather than ask for help, she decides to take in young lodgers. Monica, her twenty-year-old student daughter, is asked to help. She brings back her fellow art student Carol, a doctor called Henry, as well as Chris, Hamish, Candy and Frankie. Sheila also gets many part-time jobs, while her old friend Richard Beamish proposes marriage to her.

Episodes

Series One (1986)

• 1 "Episode One" (10 February 1986)
  • The house is up for sale, but Sheila had had second thoughts. She decides to take in lodgers to help with the mortgage: Carol (a fellow art student of daughter Monica) and Chris (an unsuccessful DJ).
• 2 "Episode Two" (17 February 1986)
  • Sheila has a meeting with her bank manager who says that she faces repossession. To remedy this she takes in two more lodgers: Hamish (an airline steward) and Henry (a medical student). Her friend Richard agrees to stand as her guarantor.
• 3 "Episode Three" (24 February 1986)
  • Chris is unhappy that Hamish is moving into his room as he fears that Hamish is gay. Sheila gets fired from her job, but is hired by Richard to type his latest novel. Later, Hamish plays up to Chris's fears, much to his unease.
• 4 "Episode Four" (3 March 1986)
  • Sheila needs to pay her electricity bill and latest bank installment. Chris needs money also and attempts to sell his van. Sheila raises the money and he drives her to the bank. Her bank manager crashes into Chris's van and so he gains on insurance.
• 5 "Episode Five" (10 March 1986)
  • Hamish, a budding chef, cooks a meal for the housemates. Richard, eager to help Sheila financially, pays a woman to hire her typing services. Sheila is furious when she finds out, but they make up as they all enjoy Hamish's meal.
• 6 "Episode Six" (17 March 1986)
  • Chris gets a 'high profile' job as a male model. Carol falls for Henry, while Henry falls for Monica. Richard proposes to Sheila but she turns him down. Later, while watching TV, the housemates discover that Chris's modelling job was for a tacky advertisement.

Series Two (1987)

• 1 "Now We Are Four" (27 October 1987)
  • Now down to just one lodger (Henry), Sheila must find another. Henry has a crush on Monica, much to her annoyance. To help, Sheila manages to talk him out of it, but Henry then falls for Sheila. Richard writes to say that he has proposed to another woman.
• 2 "Three in a Bed" (3 November 1987)
  • New lodger Candi moves in. Monica becomes jealous at the attention she gets from Sheila. In temper, Monica threatens to move out and to spend the night in a seedy bar. Sheila goes to rescue her but is arrested when the bar is raided by Police.
• 3 "My Kitten, Right Or Wrong" (10 November 1987)
  • Monica is depressed that none of her art college paintings have sold. Sheila secretly buys one, but Monica finds out and is furious. Meanwhile, a cat the housemates have adopted has kittens.
• 4 "Warts and All" (17 November 1987)
  • Sheila is dreading an old schoolmate visiting as she has always been made feel inferior to her. On the day after a lot of panic, her husband shows up to say that she can't make it due to a migraine, but he tells her that she has always been jealous of Sheila.
• 5 "The Tea Leaf" (24 November 1987)
  • In search of another lodger, Sheila decides to take in an ex-convict, Frankie. The others are not so happy about this, but soon warm to him.
• 6 "The Prowler" (1 December 1987)
  • Alerted by a prowler outside, Sheila calls the Police. The Officer takes a shine to her and they go out on a date. Sheila finds him boring and tries to avoid him, but to her relief he tells her his estranged wife has returned. The prowler turns out to be a stray fox.

DVD release

The Complete Series of All at No 20 was released by Network DVD in the UK (Region 2) on 15 June 2015.

References

• Mark Lewisohn, "Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy", BBC Worldwide Ltd, 2003
• British TV Comedy Guide for All at No 20

External links

• All at No 20 at the Internet Movie Database
• All at No 20 at British Comedy Guide