One year after 'The Young Ones' came to an end, Ben Elton tried following up the success of his first hit with this quirky piece, broadcast from BBC Manchester. 'Happy Families' was a curious comedy serial charting the life of Edith Fuddle, a cantankerous old witch with no conscience and who treats her family and servants ( note that she is extremely wealthy ) like dirt. Elton tried to make his new creation appear more like a drama in that it was shot on location and did not feature the use of a studio audience. Unfortunately, 'Happy Families' was not the success he must have hoped it would be.
An aged-up Jennifer Saunders takes on the leading role of Granny Fuddle, who after being diagnosed by her Doctor De Quincy ( a character played by Stephen Fry who had earlier been used in Ben Elton's Granada shows 'There's Nothing To Worry About! And 'Alfresco' and who would later be used in 'A Bit Of Fry & Laurie' ) that she has contracted Corringtons disease and will be dead within nine months lest all of her organs can be replaced by individual donors. With this piece of news, she entrusts her gormless twit of a grandson Guy ( Ade Edmondson ) to set out and track down her four lost granddaughters - film star and first rate diva Cassie, dumb beauty Madeline ( who is in a relationship with a lecherous French poet named Dalcroix, played by Jim Broadbent ), convict Roxanne and boisterous novice nun Joyce ( all of which are played by Jennifer Saunders ) - and bring them back to Fuddlewich ( oh how subtle! ).
However, this is not an act of love as it seems to the gullible Guy but in fact a plan hatched by Edith to get her estranged grandchildren to donate an organ each to save her. The girls agree to do so, on the condition that she sign over to them a share each of her estate, a deal which Edith reluctantly accepts. However, it turns out that she has been misdiagnosed and is in fact pregnant and it is in fact her cook that has contracted the disease, which she eventually succumbs to, much to the distress of the parlour maid Flossie. Regardless of the situation, her vainglorious granddaughters take their share of Edith's estate, leaving her and her newborn son destitute and homeless.
Critics at the time were unimpressed with the show and the viewing figures were unremarkable, meaning that the allegedly planned second series did not go ahead ( the budget for that series seemingly was instead used for the first series of 'Red Dwarf' ). To date it has never been officially released on DVD and apart from sporadic reruns on the now defunct Paramount Comedy channel about ten years ago, has virtually been forgotten. Well, the first thing to say about it is that it is no 'Young Ones' but then none of Elton's other shows ever were either but it was worth watching, brought to life by the central performances of husband and wife Ade Edmondson and Jennifer Saunders. The gorgeous Helen Lederer was hilarious in the role of Flossie ( how hot did Helen look in that maid's outfit? ). Many fine guest appearances were made including Una Stubbs as the overwrought sister superior of a dreary convent, Rik Mayall as a psychopathic priest, Chris Barrie as a camp producer and Lenny Henry as an American tramp.
Elton's next attempt at replacing 'The Young Ones' came with 'Filthy, Rich & Catflap', which teamed Edmondson up once again with Rik Mayall and Nigel Planer. Despite being a ratings success, it too only ran for a single series.
'Happy Families' is no classic, that's for sure, but as I said before, the cast made it watchable. David McNiven's dramatic theme tune caught the flavour of the show too.
An aged-up Jennifer Saunders takes on the leading role of Granny Fuddle, who after being diagnosed by her Doctor De Quincy ( a character played by Stephen Fry who had earlier been used in Ben Elton's Granada shows 'There's Nothing To Worry About! And 'Alfresco' and who would later be used in 'A Bit Of Fry & Laurie' ) that she has contracted Corringtons disease and will be dead within nine months lest all of her organs can be replaced by individual donors. With this piece of news, she entrusts her gormless twit of a grandson Guy ( Ade Edmondson ) to set out and track down her four lost granddaughters - film star and first rate diva Cassie, dumb beauty Madeline ( who is in a relationship with a lecherous French poet named Dalcroix, played by Jim Broadbent ), convict Roxanne and boisterous novice nun Joyce ( all of which are played by Jennifer Saunders ) - and bring them back to Fuddlewich ( oh how subtle! ).
However, this is not an act of love as it seems to the gullible Guy but in fact a plan hatched by Edith to get her estranged grandchildren to donate an organ each to save her. The girls agree to do so, on the condition that she sign over to them a share each of her estate, a deal which Edith reluctantly accepts. However, it turns out that she has been misdiagnosed and is in fact pregnant and it is in fact her cook that has contracted the disease, which she eventually succumbs to, much to the distress of the parlour maid Flossie. Regardless of the situation, her vainglorious granddaughters take their share of Edith's estate, leaving her and her newborn son destitute and homeless.
Critics at the time were unimpressed with the show and the viewing figures were unremarkable, meaning that the allegedly planned second series did not go ahead ( the budget for that series seemingly was instead used for the first series of 'Red Dwarf' ). To date it has never been officially released on DVD and apart from sporadic reruns on the now defunct Paramount Comedy channel about ten years ago, has virtually been forgotten. Well, the first thing to say about it is that it is no 'Young Ones' but then none of Elton's other shows ever were either but it was worth watching, brought to life by the central performances of husband and wife Ade Edmondson and Jennifer Saunders. The gorgeous Helen Lederer was hilarious in the role of Flossie ( how hot did Helen look in that maid's outfit? ). Many fine guest appearances were made including Una Stubbs as the overwrought sister superior of a dreary convent, Rik Mayall as a psychopathic priest, Chris Barrie as a camp producer and Lenny Henry as an American tramp.
Elton's next attempt at replacing 'The Young Ones' came with 'Filthy, Rich & Catflap', which teamed Edmondson up once again with Rik Mayall and Nigel Planer. Despite being a ratings success, it too only ran for a single series.
'Happy Families' is no classic, that's for sure, but as I said before, the cast made it watchable. David McNiven's dramatic theme tune caught the flavour of the show too.