After Henry (1988–1992) User Reviews

One of ITV's best

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 9 October 2017]

After Henry is a show I loved as a youngster, and have enjoyed rewatching over the years. As a sitcom it isn't one you could say is loaded with belly laughs, it contains no slapstick, but what it does have is a very strong sense of realism. The humour is very dry, very witty, a brand of humour that seems to have vanished off our screens. For me the enjoyment of the show comes from the often moving moments when Henry is remembered.

Prunella Scales and Joan Sanderson are both superb, both have great timing, superb actresses, they make the show. Janine Wood is good also, but the character of Clare is just a little less interesting then her more mature family members. The best laughs come from Eleanor, and her caustic comments, her delivery was always perfect.

Series one is very good, but in this case I feel that it gets into its stride in the second and third series. The forth is a little pale in comparison. Sad that Joan Sanderson died before it's transmission in 1992.

At times it feels a bit middle class only, but the eighties were a different time altogether. The awful fashion and hideous decor prove that. A lot of quality comedy also came from that era.

After Henry goes to show that when a radio show is made into TV, it can work. 8/10

Predictable but amusing

[evans-15475 · 8/10 · 11 March 2021]

After the first few sentences of each episode you can see how it's going to unfold,more amusing than laugh out loud funny and I doubt you will remember any highlights but as in the 70s and 80s women in British comedies were little more than eye candy this must have been a major departure with 3 leading ladies.

Sometimes touching, often surprisingly biting and poignant

[smurfboy · 28 January 2005]

A sitcom about a widow, her mother and her daughter living in three flats under one roof would never get made today - some producer with an eye on the under 25 market would probably insist on it being three young girls flatsharing. But back in the 80s, After Henry was the sort of gentle yet clever sitcom that thrived on British screens. The relationships between Sarah, Eleanor and Claire were so realistic you could imagine they really were related, with Prunella Scales successfully shaking off memories of Sybil Fawlty. Joan Sanderson as Eleanor is the real star here though. Sanderson may have ended up typecast as the slightly snooty, abrupt old woman, but like many typecast actresses, she ended up that way because she played that part so well.

The show seemed to be running slightly short on ideas in its final run, but was still well worth watching. Sadly, Joan Sanderson died just before the 1992 run was transmitted, so the decision over whether to commission a further series was made for ITV. In a way, this may have saved the show from an undignified end, as suburban sitcoms suddenly became very unfashionable in the recession struck early 90s. A shame really, as all ITV's attempts at 'modern' urban sitcoms were appalling.

Rare wit and sensitivity

[banshee-liam · 9/10 · 15 February 2009]

I discovered this show by chance on a trip to Ireland and was exhilarated by its comic freshness and unexpected poignancy. The three lead actresses and one lead actor had terrific chemistry, and the writing could make you belly laugh and sob almost simultaneously. It is a mystery to me that "After Henry" has not made its way to these shores, where I'm confident it would join the top ranks of most beloved Britcoms. Are the programmers at PBS all dead in their offices at this point? They would do well to retire their endless reruns of jukebox "specials" and seek out savvy, unfamiliar programs like "After Henry." (If I hear "Amazing Grace" warbled just one more time, there will be havoc in Mudville.)

A lovely, very witty comedy

[istara · 10/10 · 8 September 2019]

After Henry is a very well-written, amusing and also touching comedy, about a widowed grandmother, widowed mother and daughter living in three flats in a single house. They navigate various friendships and relationships throughout the four series.

Joan Sanderson is an absolute treat in whatever she's in: she alone would be enough to make this worth watching. But add in the always delightful Prunella Scales, and you have a real winner. Janine Wood also plays the rather prickly daughter very competently.

The best bits by far are those with Joan Sanderson, but the whole series is enjoyable. It is rather a product of its time: there are a lot of contemporary references to Australian soaps such as Neighbours (which was a craze among UK viewers at the time).

Sadly the final series (4) doesn't reach any real conclusion, but the show was cancelled due to the death of Joan Sanderson.

The series that teaches us that you can love someone and also find them incredibly irritating

[gee-15 · 9/10 · 15 January 2024]

Prunella Scales plays a recently widowed woman living with her 18 year old daughter in the flat above and her 70 something mother in the flat below. Sarah's husband's death (the titular Henry) has somewhat destabilized life for these women and while they most definitely care for one another, they also get on each other's nerves on a regular basis. Joan Sanderson is absolutely hilarious playing Scales' interfering mother with an incredible ability to either blissfully ignore personal criticism directed at her (usually from "Sarah dear") or tartly respond to it. Scales is also funny as she trods angrily down to her mother's flat or tentatively and carefully up to her daughter's. She often finds herself torn between maternal concern for her flighty daughter (nicely played by Janine Wood) and fear of turning into her own mother. She creates a very human character in Sarah who makes as many mistakes as she does wise choices in restructuring her life without her husband. And despite the grim subject matter, the series is much more funny than sad.

And Sarah makes three!

[Rabical-91 · 5/10 · 24 August 2017]

Simon Brett's 'After Henry' was one of three BBC Radio 4 sitcoms that made a successful transfer to visual media ( the other two being the patchy 'Up The Garden Path' and the dreadful 'Second Thoughts' ), albeit on ITV. Despite its massive success on radio, the BBC felt it had limited visual potential and so passed on the idea. Far from giving up, Brett then took it to ITV, where it was picked up and made by Thames Television.

It was all about middle aged widow Sarah France. Her husband Henry has recently died and she tries her best to cope without him, a task not helped by the burdening presence of her interfering mother Eleanor Prescott ( who lives in the flat below Sarah in their large three storey house ) and her insecure daughter Claire ( who lives in the flat above Sarah ). Sarah works in a second hand bookstore named Bygone Books where her employer is Russell ( who is openly and unashamedly gay ), the only person in Sarah's life whom she feels she can truly open up to.

As if the interference from her mother is'nt bad enough, her ( Eleanor's, that is ) friends, whom Sarah calls 'the geriatric mafia', particularly the nosy Vera Polling, are not backwards in coming forwards in regards to poking their noses into Sarah's affairs.

Prunella Scales, who played Sarah, signed up for the role as she did not wish to be typecast as tyrannical Sybil Fawlty from 'Fawlty Towers'. I don't think it would be inaccurate nor unjust to say Scales will always be remembered as Sybil ( even her appearances on the Tesco commercials are better remembered than this ). That said, 'After Henry' was a ratings success and proved popular enough to run on ITV for four series. Sadly, it on the whole was not very good. Many of Pru's best scenes were with the priceless Joan Sanderson as Eleanor ( one likes to wonder whether Sanderson got the part after appearing with Pru in the classic 'Fawlty' episode 'Communication Problems' ). Jonathan Newth was impressive as Russell whilst the gorgeous Janine Wood made the heart beat as the sexy Claire.

Joan Sanderson died in 1992, whilst the fourth ( and as it turned out, final ) series was being screened so it was brought to an end after that. The show was repeated on UK Gold in the early '90's but for some time remained forgotten until it was released on DVD in 2008.

One of Britians Best

[duchowy · 8 August 2000]

I enjoyed this show very much and only wish it would be running again. Very humorous with a good mix of characters. The lives of a grandmother, mother and daughter all living in a 3 storey flat. One of the Britian's BEST comedies ever made.

Better in its original form as a BBC radio series.

[ffranc · 21 October 2002]

Television chiefs in Britain, desperate for new comedy ideas, seize on any successful radio series. When it first appeared, the idea of three generations of women under the same roof, and the sympathetic depiction of a gay man not in the first flush of youth were quite fresh. "After Henry" lost something in the transfer to TV, possibly because on TV it made fewer demands on the imagination. The cast, principally Joan Sanderson (qv) as Prunella Scales's mother and Benjamin Whitrow (qv) as the bookshop owner, were fresher, too.

Passable, But Not Exceptional

[supahz · 20 March 2001]

The Bottom Line - 2.5 out of 5

"After Henry" is a mid-grade Britcom. Britcom fans such as myself will enjoy seeing Prunella Scales (Mrs Fawlty from "Fawlty Towers"), as she is a fine actress and does admirably here. However, the show isn't memorably funny, the premise of multi-generational households is a well-tilled one and there's little new here, and the remaining cast is mediocre. The general impression left on the viewer after several episodes is that it's a rather run-of-the-mill program.

As an American who loves Britcoms, I try to watch and rent all that I can find on telly and in vid shops. I don't have the luxury of comparing "After Henry" to the regular programming that British viewers see each night. My comments on the show are in relation to the shows I have seen. The best shows would include "One Foot in the Grave", "Blackadder", "Fawlty Towers" and "Red Dwarf". "After Henry" is clearly not in that lofty class, but is passable. You could certainly find yourself watching worse... and better.