2point4 Children: Difference between revisions
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===Main characters=== | ===Main characters=== | ||
* | * [[Belinda Lang]] as Wilhelmina "Bill" Porter | ||
* | * [[Gary Olsen]] as Ben Porter | ||
* | * [[Georgina Cates|Clare Woodgate]] (series 1 and 2) and [[Clare Buckfield]] (series 3 onward) as Jenny Porter | ||
* | * [[John Pickard (British actor)|John Pickard]] as David Porter | ||
* | * [[Julia Hills]] as Rona Harris | ||
*Christine Atkins | * Kim Benson as Christine Atkins | ||
===Supporting characters=== | ===Supporting characters=== | ||
* | * [[Liz Smith (actress)|Liz Smith]] as both Bette and Aunt Belle, Bill's mother and her twin sister | ||
* | * [[Annette Kerr]] as Dora Grimes, the Porter family's neighbour | ||
* [[Patricia Brake]] (series 1) and [[Sandra Dickinson]] (series 2 onward) as Tina Porter, Ben's sister | |||
* | * Leonard O'Malley (series 1) as Gerry | ||
* [[Andrew Hall]] (series 2) as Gordon, Rona's fiancé | |||
* | * [[Barbara Lott]] (series 2 to 6) as Auntie Pearl, Rona's biological mother | ||
* | * [[Roger Lloyd-Pack]] (series 3 to 6) as Jake "The Klingon" Klinger, Ben's business rival | ||
* | * Tom Roberts (series 3 onwards) as Tony, Rona's DJ boyfriend | ||
* | * Nathan Valente (series 4 to 7) as Clive, Jenny's boyfriend | ||
* Arbel Jones (series 4 to 6) as Laura, Clive's mother | |||
* Mitchell Ray (series 7) and Alex Kew (series 8) as Declan, a homeless boy fostered by the Porters | |||
===Guest appearances=== | ===Guest appearances=== | ||
{{cast list| | {{cast list| | ||
* [[Annette Badland]] | * [[Annette Badland]] as Dawn | ||
* [[Ed Bishop]] | * [[Ed Bishop]] as Chet | ||
* [[Owen Brenman]] as a yuppy | |||
* [[Owen Brenman]] | * [[Dominic Brunt]] as a petrol station attendant | ||
* [[Dominic Brunt]] | * [[Patsy Byrne]] as Peggy | ||
* [[Patsy Byrne]] | * [[Peter Cartwright (actor)|Peter Cartwright]] as an auctioneer | ||
* [[Peter Cartwright (actor)|Peter Cartwright]] | * [[Mark Charnock]] as Duane | ||
* [[Mark Charnock]] | |||
* [[Nathan Constance]] | * [[Nathan Constance]] | ||
* [[Windsor Davies]] | * [[Windsor Davies]] as Uncle Lon, Ben's uncle | ||
* [[Sharon Duncan-Brewster]] | * [[Sharon Duncan-Brewster]] as Maureen | ||
* [[Richard Durden]] | * [[Richard Durden]] as John Crudaal | ||
* [[Idris Elba]] | * [[Idris Elba]] as a parachute instructor | ||
* [[Jeremy Hawk]] | * [[Jeremy Hawk]] as Fletcher | ||
* [[Don Henderson]] | * [[Don Henderson]] as Frank Porter, Ben and Tina's father | ||
* [[David Kelly (actor)|David Kelly]] as Paddy | |||
* [[David Kelly (actor)|David Kelly]] | * [[James Lance]] as Keith | ||
* [[James Lance]] | * [[Stephen Lewis (actor)|Stephen Lewis]] as a driving instructor | ||
* [[Stephen Lewis (actor)|Stephen Lewis]] | * [[Victor McGuire]] as Doctor Brook | ||
* [[Ursula Mohan]] as a market researcher | |||
* [[Victor McGuire]] | * [[Deborah Norton]] as Martha Christie | ||
* [[Ursula Mohan]] | * [[Julie Peasgood]] as Pauline | ||
* [[Deborah Norton]] | * [[Anneka Rice]] as herself | ||
* [[Julie Peasgood]] | * [[Michael Troughton]] as Mr Barstow | ||
* [[Anneka Rice]] | * [[Nina Wadia]] as Sharma | ||
* [[Michael Troughton]] | * [[Danny Webb (actor)|Danny Webb]] as Malcolm | ||
* [[Nina Wadia]] | * [[Tessa Wyatt]] as Carol | ||
* [[Danny Webb (actor)|Danny Webb]] | |||
* [[Tessa Wyatt]] | |||
}} | }} | ||
Latest revision as of 00:00, 24 June 2025
Template:Short description Template:More citations needed Template:EngvarB Template:Infobox television
2point4 Children is a BBC Television sitcom that was created and written by Andrew Marshall. It follows the lives of the Porters, a seemingly average, working-class London family whose world is frequently turned upside-down by bad luck and bizarre occurrences.[1]
The show was originally broadcast on BBC One from 1991 to 1999, and ran for eight series, concluding on 30 December 1999 with the special episode "The Millennium Experience". The show is regularly repeated in the UK. In Australia showings are on UKTV. The name of the show comes from the stereotypical average size of a typical nuclear family in the UK at the time of the writing of the first series.[2]
The show regularly picked up audiences of up to 14 million throughout the 1990s, with an average of between 6 and 9 million.[3] The final episode was viewed by 9.03 million people.[4]
Lead actor Gary Olsen died in 2000, effectively ruling out a return of the show for any further series.[5]
Plot summary
The Porters are a working-class family who live in Chiswick, London who at first seem normal enough. Bill is the sensible, level-headed mother who does the cooking and housework whilst working for a bakery with her highly sexed best friend Rona. Ben is the father, who is often just as immature as the children. He runs a heating repair business with his moody and sarcastic assistant Christine.
Jenny is the typical teenage daughter, keen on boys, music and vegetarianism, and David is the mischievous younger brother, who enjoys horror films, aliens and annoying his older sister.
However, the Porters' world is frequently upended by bizarre occurrences and bad luck. Whether it is dealing with flatulent dogs, a frozen body in a freezer in the front room, or even stumbling across a warehouse filled with Shirley Bassey's cast-off ballgowns, anything seems possible in the Porters' world. Traditionally Christmas episodes would feature characters collectively performing a musical number.[6]
Cast
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Main characters
- Belinda Lang as Wilhelmina "Bill" Porter
- Gary Olsen as Ben Porter
- Clare Woodgate (series 1 and 2) and Clare Buckfield (series 3 onward) as Jenny Porter
- John Pickard as David Porter
- Julia Hills as Rona Harris
- Kim Benson as Christine Atkins
Supporting characters
- Liz Smith as both Bette and Aunt Belle, Bill's mother and her twin sister
- Annette Kerr as Dora Grimes, the Porter family's neighbour
- Patricia Brake (series 1) and Sandra Dickinson (series 2 onward) as Tina Porter, Ben's sister
- Leonard O'Malley (series 1) as Gerry
- Andrew Hall (series 2) as Gordon, Rona's fiancé
- Barbara Lott (series 2 to 6) as Auntie Pearl, Rona's biological mother
- Roger Lloyd-Pack (series 3 to 6) as Jake "The Klingon" Klinger, Ben's business rival
- Tom Roberts (series 3 onwards) as Tony, Rona's DJ boyfriend
- Nathan Valente (series 4 to 7) as Clive, Jenny's boyfriend
- Arbel Jones (series 4 to 6) as Laura, Clive's mother
- Mitchell Ray (series 7) and Alex Kew (series 8) as Declan, a homeless boy fostered by the Porters
Guest appearances
Episodes
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The show originally ran from 1991 to 1999. 56 episodes were made over eight series, including six Christmas specials in which the cast performed carols or original theme songs. Although the series was made over the course of eight years, the show's in-universe timeline appears to be much shorter, with Jenny Porter stated to be 14 in series one, yet only just starting university at age 18 in the final series.
Andrew Marshall wrote all of the episodes, except for three in series seven which were written by Paul Alexander, Simon Braithwaite and Paul Smith.
Reception
2point4 Children was met with mixed to positive reviews. In a 1994 article for The Independent, Jim White is critical of Andrew Marshall's scriptwriting saying that Marshall "[...] appears to labour under the belief that by grafting a few stock comedy moments on to his parade of the ordinary he can pass the thing off as a fully integrated sitcom", and White calls the show "unrelentingly average."[7] A 1999 review from the Guardian is positive, writing that "it's odd but when people asky why the BBC doesn't make decent mainstream sitcoms anymore, Andrew Marshall's glorious saga of the hapless Porters rarely gets a mention. Going strong since 1991, the new series is as sharp as ever".[8]
In 2004, the series ranked #44 in the BBC television poll, Britain's Best Sitcom.[9]
Home media
BBC Enterprises released a video in 1993, comprising the first three episodes of the series, which are known as: Leader of the Pack, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, and When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Go Shopping.
The first three series were released on Region 2 DVD by Eureka Video in 2005. A box set of the first three series was also made available in 2008, again through Eureka Video, with music changes within the episodes. Eureka Video stated that "sales were not good" and they released no further series. 2Entertain, part of BBC Worldwide, say they have tried many times to license the series for distribution by a third party but the high clearance costs for music and imagery used has been the main deterrent.
A Facebook campaign for a release of the whole series was started in 2009.
The series was added to Britbox on 16 December 2021[10] In March 2022, all 56 episodes were made available on the BBC iPlayer for one year, however as of 27 July 2024, all 8 series' are still available to watch on BBC iPlayer.[11]
| Title | Format | Release date | Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2point4 children – Leader of the Pack | VHS | 26 February 1996 | <templatestyles src="Template:Hidden begin/styles.css"/>
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| 2point4 children – The Complete Series One | DVD | 24 January 2005[12] | <templatestyles src="Template:Hidden begin/styles.css"/>
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| 2point4 children – The Complete Series Two | DVD | 25 April 2005 | <templatestyles src="Template:Hidden begin/styles.css"/>
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| 2point4 children – The Complete Series Three | DVD | 22 August 2005 | <templatestyles src="Template:Hidden begin/styles.css"/>
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| 2point4 children – Series One to Three | DVD | 22 September 2008 | <templatestyles src="Template:Hidden begin/styles.css"/>
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Remake
In 1997 a remake of the show debuted in the Netherlands: Kees & Co starring Simone Kleinsma.[13] The remake ran for eight series between 1997 and 2006. The first five series were adapted from the original English-language scripts, whilst the last three series featured original storylines and characters. In 2018 it was announced that the remake would return for a ninth series with Kleinsma reprising her role.[14]
References
External links
- Template:BBC programme
- Template:BBC Online Comedy Guide
- Template:British Comedy Guide
- 2point4 Children at Phill.co.uk Comedy Guide
- Template:Trim/ Template:Trim at IMDbTemplate:EditAtWikidataScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Template:WikidataCheck
- Template:Epguides
- 2point4 Children at BFI Screenonline
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- Pages with script errors
- 1991 British television series debuts
- 1999 British television series endings
- 1990s British multi-camera sitcoms
- 1990s British sitcoms
- BBC television sitcoms
- Chiswick
- British English-language television shows
- Television series about dysfunctional families
- Television series about marriage
- Television series about siblings
- Television shows set in London
- Television series by BBC Studios