
My Family
My Family is a British sitcom created and initially co-written by Fred Barron, which was produced by DLT Entertainment and Rude Boy Productions, and broadcast by BBC One for eleven series between 2000 and 2011, with Christmas specials broadcast from 2002 onwards. My Family was voted 24th in the BBC's "Britain's Best Sitcom" in 2004 and was the most watched sitcom in the United Kingdom in 2008.[1] As of 2011, it is one of only twelve British sitcoms to pass the 100-episode mark.[2] In April 2020, BBC One began airing the series from the first episode in an 8 pm slot on Friday nights; along with this all 11 series were made available on BBC iPlayer.[3]
This article is about the British sitcom. For other uses, see My Family (disambiguation).My Family
Fred Barron
Baz Taylor
Jay Sandrich
Dewi Humphreys
Nic Phillips
Ed Bye
"My Family"
Graham Jarvis
United Kingdom
English
11
120 (+ 1 short) (list of episodes)
Donald Taffner Jr.
Geoffrey Perkins (2000–01)
Fred Barron (2000–08)
Sophie Clarke-Jervoise (2002–04)
Ian Brown (2003–04)
James Hendrie (2003–04)
Tom Leopold (2006)
Michael Jacob (2006–09)
Tom Anderson (2007–11)
John Bartlett
Chiswick, London, England
113x 30 minutes
3x 50 minutes
4x 60 minutes
Rude Boy Productions
DLT Entertainment
19 September 2000
2 September 2011
The show chronicles the lives of the Harpers, a fictional middle-class British family. Set in Chiswick in west London, it stars Robert Lindsay and Zoë Wanamaker as husband and wife Ben and Susan Harper, with Kris Marshall, Daniela Denby-Ashe and Gabriel Thomson as their children Nick, Janey and Michael.
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Background[edit]
In 1999, Fred Barron was considering producing a British sitcom the same way sitcoms were produced in the U.S. My Family was to feature a group of writers in a writers' room rather than the standard one or two, something that had been attempted in the UK with shows including Goodnight Sweetheart and On the Buses, but was nevertheless atypical. My Family was consciously designed to have wide appeal, featuring characters with whom viewers could build relationships similar to the earlier BBC sitcom 2point4 Children which was also concentrated around a family unit.
The show chronicles the lives of the Harpers, a fictional middle-class British family who live at 78 Lancaster Road, Chiswick, London. Dentist Ben and his wife Susan, a tour guide who later works for an art gallery, have three children: Nick, Janey, and Michael, who endanger their lives. Susan is a control freak, but Ben prefers to leave the children to it and stay as uninvolved as possible. Janey later goes to University, but drops out and moves back in later, while Nick finally gets his own place.
Mainly focusing on Ben and Susan, the show featured sub-stories ranging from Nick's schemes to Abi and Roger's love life. It is described as a "dysfunctional family"-style sitcom; however, many of the episodes feature the family working together to get one another out of trouble. Nick's bizarre jobs became a major feature of the first four series. After the departure of Nick, more prominence was given to Abi and Roger's love life, Michael's misadventures, Janey's endless list of boyfriends, and Alfie's dream of musical stardom.
The show saw considerable development and change in its characters' lives, seeing Janey turn from teenage rebel to loving mother, Nick turn from slacker to a mature adult, Abi marry Roger, and Michael go through and beyond his school days. Meanwhile, Ben remained the same grumpy dentist, Susan remained the same control freak, and Alfie remained the same slow-witted lodger.
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Reception[edit]
Critical reception[edit]
Initially, the show received a poor critical response, and many dismissed its humour as mundane and dated. In spite of this, the programme received above average audience ratings, and further series were commissioned, with critical approval gradually improving as the series progressed.[9] Bruce Dessau, writing on the 100th episode, noted that it was a comedy that "the critics hate, but the public love", on the basis of ratings.[10]
Zoë Wanamaker said in 2007 that she was no longer happy with the quality of the writing, claiming she and co-star Robert Lindsay even refused to film one episode because it was so poor.[11] In May 2009, the two stars revealed they were still unhappy with the writing quality, with Lindsay stating "There's some real dross (in the scripts) and we're aware of it". He later admitted that the eleventh series might be the last stating "As far as Zoë (Wanamaker) and I are concerned, we will do a tenth series of 16 episodes, which the BBC will probably split into a tenth and eleventh, then that will be it."[12]
In 2004, the show came 24th in Britain's Best Sitcom.
Cancellation[edit]
BBC One controller Danny Cohen, when commenting on the decision to axe the series, said "Now that all the Harper children have flown the nest we feel it's time to make room for new comedies". Robert Lindsay said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph: "I'm amazed by the public's love for the series [...] When Kris Marshall left in 2005 I was convinced that was it. But somehow Zoë and I have kept the essence of it together."[23]
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