Blast from the Past: George And Mildred
Earlier this week it was announced that George And Mildred star Brian Murphy had died at the age of 92.
The talented actor, who also starred in Man About The House and Last of the Summer Wine, was much loved for his role as George Roper, Mildred’s hen-pecked husband in the classic TV sitcom.
George And Mildred was a televisual phenomenon. Playing alongside Mildred (Yootha Joyce, who died in 1980), the constantly-sparring pair represented repressed suburbanites never happy with their lot.
Having moved to a new home in surburbia, Mildred is delighted to be climbing the social ladder at last.
Work-shy George, meanwhile, is having trouble with his posh new neighbours the Fourmiles.
In the first series, George buys Mildred a Terrier called Truffles after the Ropers are unable to adopt a child (Mildred later registers her with the kennel club as "Truffles duBorbon Fitzwilliam III"). Mildred was a boozier, more glamorous Thatcher figure, whilst George was her sexually incompetent, good-for-nothing other half, who buys a motorbike and sidecar in an attempt to keep up the metaphorical Jones’s.
George And Mildred was TV gold, which still resonates. And, let’s face it, we all probably know a ‘George’ and ‘Mildred’.