Only When I Laugh (TV series)

Only When I Laugh
Genre	Sitcom
Written by	Eric Chappell
Directed by	Vernon Lawrence Graeme Muir
Starring	James Bolam Peter Bowles Christopher Strauli Richard Wilson Derrick Branche
Theme music composer	Ken Jones
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
No. of series	4
No. of episodes	29 (List of episodes)
Production
Producer(s)	Vernon Lawrence
Editor(s)	Phil Cooke Keith Coppock Jim Molyneux Trevor Pugh Stuart Quarmby Lance Tattersall
Running time	30 minutes
Production company(s)	Yorkshire Television
Broadcast
Original channel	ITV
Picture format	4:3
Original run	29 October 1979 (1979-10-29) – 16 December 1982 (1982-12-16)

Only When I Laugh is a British television sitcom made by Yorkshire Television for ITV between 29 October 1979 and 16 December 1982. It was set in the ward of an NHS hospital. The title is the answer to the question, "Does it hurt?"

It starred James Bolam, Peter Bowles, and Christopher Strauli as patients Roy Figgis, Archie Glover, and Norman Binns. Mr. Gordon Thorpe, their consultant surgeon, was played by Richard Wilson; and Gupte, the staff nurse from Delhi, was played by Derrick Branche.

The show was one of many successes for writer Eric Chappell, and was rerun on ITV3 in 2007.

Cast

• James Bolam as Roy Figgis
• Peter Bowles as Archie Glover
• Christopher Strauli as Norman Binns
• Richard Wilson as Gordon Thorpe
• Derrick Branche as Gupte

Guest appearances

• John Quayle
• Patrick Troughton
• Moira Lister
• Pat Ashton
• Pamela Cundell
• Brenda Cowling
• Reginald Marsh
• Rosalind Ayres

Episodes

Main article: List of Only When I Laugh episodes

Overall 29 episodes were broadcast over four series including a Christmas special.

DVD release

• In region 2 all four series of Only When I Laugh have been released on DVD by Network, and a complete series box set has also been released.
• In region 1 series 1 & 2 have been released in individual DVDs (now discontinued). A complete 5 disc box set was released on March 10, 2009 ^[1].
• Region 4 has only released the complete series box set.

DVD Title		No. of Discs	Year	Episodes	DVD release
					Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
	Complete Series 1	1	1979	7	23 September 2003	8 July 2006	—
	Complete Series 2	1	1980	7	16 September 2003	15 November 2007	—
	Complete Series 3	1	1981	8	—	21 July 2008	—
	Complete Series 4	1	1982	7	—	15 September 2008	—
	Complete Series 1–4	4	1979–1982	29	10 March 2009	15 September 2008	12 April 2008

References

1. ^ News on "Only When I Laugh" DVD release

External links

• Only When I Laugh at the Internet Movie Database
• Only When I Laugh at the British Comedy Guide
• Only When I Laugh at TV.com