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 Some Mothers Do 'Ave
'Em
The Comedy series Some Mothers Do 'Ave
'Em was produced by the BBC. The show ran from 1973 to 1978 and
starred Michael Crawford as the accident prone Frank Spencer, a man who
always did his best, but seemed to have an almost supernatural talent for
getting it wrong.
Frank always difficulty in finding and
keeping a job, but he always tried to keep himself bust around the home.
The only problem was that, for Frank, DIY invariably ended up becoming a
case of Destroy It Yourself. A fact that was just as frustrating for Frank
as it was for his long suffering wife Betty, played by Michele
Dotrice.
It is hard for me to imagine anyone else other than
Crawford playing the role of Spencer and yet he was not the BBC's first
choice to play Frank. Originally they wanted either Norman Wisdom or
Ronnie Barker.
Apart from his great talent for comedy, Crawford
was also very athletic and rarely used a stunt man. Something that he is
to be admired for because a lot of the stunts were very dangerous, if not
potentially life threatening.
If Frank was the funny guy, though,
Betty was, in a way, his straight man (okay, woman), always trying to
maintain a sense of normality as her husband destroyed the world around
them. Michele Dotrice made a perfect Betty and I don't think that the show
would have been the same without her squeaky voice crying out, "Ohhh,
Frannnk!" whenever something went badly wrong, which of course it always
seemed to do, and in spectacular fashion as well.
The BBC made a
total of three series of Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em and three Christmas
Specials.
At the moment only series one is listed on Class TV. I
will add an episode guide for the rest of them as and when time permits me
to do so and they will all be accessible from the menu at the left of the
screen. 
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