Goodnight Sweetheart

For other uses, see Goodnight Sweetheart (disambiguation).

Goodnight Sweetheart
Series title card
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Laurence Marks Maurice Gran
Developed by	Alomo Productions
Starring	Nicholas Lyndhurst Victor McGuire Christopher Ettridge Michelle Holmes Dervla Kirwan Emma Amos Elizabeth Carling
Theme music composer	David Harsent Anthony Sadler Gaynor Sadler Nick Curtis
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
No. of series	6
No. of episodes	58 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Claire Hinson Allan McKeown
Producer(s)	John Bartlett Nic Phillips
Running time	30.45 minutes
Distributor	FreemantleMedia
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC One
Picture format	4:3
Original run	18 November 1993 (1993-11-18) – 28 June 1999 (1999-06-28)

Goodnight Sweetheart is a sitcom that ran for six series on BBC1 from 1993 to 1999. It stars Nicholas Lyndhurst as Gary Sparrow, an accidental time traveller who leads a double life after discovering a time portal allowing him to travel between the London of the 1990s and the same area during the Second World War.

The show was created by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, also creators of Birds of a Feather and The New Statesman. The creators wrote the first series, while subsequent episodes were by a team of writers (including Marks and Gran).

Although originally a BBC programme the series has subsequently been repeated on ITV3.

Plot Summary

Main article: List of Goodnight Sweetheart characters

Gary Sparrow is a somewhat disillusioned TV repairman, in a drab marriage with his ambitious wife Yvonne, and best friends with Ron, a printer whose marriage is on the brink of breakdown. While on a TV repair call-out in East London, Gary accidentally discovers a time portal which leads to war time London. There he meets Phoebe, a pretty barmaid who works in the Royal Oak pub, and Reg Deadman, a dim-witted but friendly policeman.

Gary strikes up a friendship with Phoebe, and makes repeated trips through the time portal, gradually establishing a second life for himself in the 1940s. In this life he claims to be both a secret agent (aided by his knowledge of future wartime events) and a singer-songwriter, in fact passing off modern day pop songs as his own, particularly by The Beatles. He impresses Phoebe by bringing her goods which are widely available in the present day, but were rationed in wartime Britain, such as chocolate and bacon, and they begin a romance.

Throughout the series Gary flits between both time periods, struggling to balance his two lives and keep Yvonne and Phoebe happy, getting tangled in webs of lies and deceit as he invents cover stories to explain away his constant absences to both. Most episodes centre on a dilemma for Gary caused by his dual life, often having to choose between letting Yvonne or Phoebe down. Ron is the only other character who knows of his double life - he helps Gary by printing 1940s five pound notes and ID documents for him - and it is to him who Gary usually turns when in a predicament, even if helping him is to Ron's detriment.

As the series progresses, the characters are developed further. Gary and Phoebe eventually marry and they have a son, Michael. Yvonne also becomes pregnant, but suffers a miscarriage. Gary opens a shop in the present day, named "Blitz and Pieces", selling goods he acquires in the 1940s as rare memorabilia. Ron and his wife Stella separate and divorce. Gary and Phoebe move to a luxury flat in Mayfair, where they befriend Noel Coward. Yvonne becomes a millionairess with a successful organic beauty products company, and a personal friend of Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife Cherie. In the final episode, set on VE Day, Gary finds that the time portal has closed, trapping him in the past for good, leaving Ron to explain the truth to Yvonne.

Episodes

Main article: List of Goodnight Sweetheart episodes

A total of 58 episodes were made, including a Christmas special. Marks and Gran, the creators, wrote the first series; episodes thereafter were written by other writers as well as the creators themselves.

As in Marks and Gran's sitcom Get Back, most episodes of Goodnight Sweetheart — and the programme itself — were named after popular song titles. The show is named after the song Goodnight, Sweetheart, a popular song of the 1930s and 1940s, performed by Al Bowlly on the series signature tune (it had previously appeared in The City On The Edge Of Forever, a time-travel-themed episode of Star Trek). Bowlly's death, during World War II, is referred to by Gary and Phoebe during an episode. Due to a script-editing error, two different episodes (series one, episode six and series four, episode two) were both titled "In the Mood". There is no special connection between these two episodes.

Cast

Actor	Role	Episodes	Series	Years
Nicholas Lyndhurst	Gary Sparrow	58	1-6	1993–1999
Victor McGuire	Ron Wheatcroft
Christopher Ettridge	P.C. Reg Deadman	56	1 (Not in 1x02, 1x04) 2-6 (Star)
Elizabeth Carling	Phoebe Bamford/Sparrow	31	4-6	1997–1999
Dervla Kirwan		27	1-3	1993–1996
Emma Amos	Yvonne Sparrow	31	4-6	1997–1999
Michelle Holmes		27	1-3	1993–1996
David Ryall	Eric Bamford	6	1	1993
David Benson	Noel Coward	6	5-6	1998–1999

DVD releases

All six series and the 1995 Christmas Special have been released on DVD in the UK (Region 2), the Christmas special was released on the third series DVD. The first five series have been released in Australia (Region 4).

DVD Title		No. of discs	Year	No. of episodes	DVD release		DVD Interview
					Region 2	Region 4
	Complete Series 1	1	1993	6	4 February 2005	3 June 2009	Laurence Marks & Maurice Gran (Creators)
	Complete Series 2	2	1995	10	26 September 2005	3 June 2009	Christopher Ettridge (Reg Deadman)
	Complete Series 3	2	1995 & 1996	11	23 January 2006	17 September 2009	Dervla Kirwan (old Phoebe)
	Complete Series 4	2	1997	11	22 May 2006	2 June 2011	Emma Amos (new Yvonne)
	Complete Series 5	2	1998	10	24 July 2006	2 August 2011	David Benson (Noel Coward)
	Complete Series 6	2	1999	10	18 September 2006	—	Elizabeth Carling (new Phoebe)
	Complete Series 1–6	11	1993–1999	58	23 October 2006	—	All of the above

Historical figures

Although the main characters are fictional, some real people have been portrayed in the wartime sequences. These include "Ludo" (possibly a young Robert Maxwell), King George VI, Wilfred Pickles, Winston Churchill, Ed Murrow, Guy Burgess, George Formby, Noël Coward (played by David Benson), Celia Johnson, the Kray twins, Trevor Howard, Alfred Lennon, David Lean, Clement Attlee, Adolf Hitler and Cecil Beaton. Rolf Harris also appears as himself in a daytime dream sequence. Jack the Ripper features in one episode. Vera Lynn is also mentioned in the episode "When Two Worlds Collide" when Phoebe hears modern music.

Legacy

Several fan sites have surfaced since the final episode and many fan fiction forums. There have also been attempts by fans of the series to reboot the series.^[1]

References

1. ^ "Main Page - RevisitingGoodnightSweetheart". Revisitgoodnightsweetheart.wikinet.org. 2011-08-01. http://revisitgoodnightsweetheart.wikinet.org/wiki/Main_Page. Retrieved 2011-08-18. 

External links

• Goodnight Sweetheart at BBC Programmes
• Goodnight Sweetheart at the British Film Institute
• Goodnight Sweetheart at the Internet Movie Database
• Goodnight Sweetheart at the British Comedy Guide
• Goodnight Sweetheart at British TV Comedy Guide