Clarence (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Clarence is a 1988 BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 situation comedy starring Ronnie Barker
Ronnie Barker
Ronald William George "Ronnie" Barker, OBE was a British actor, comedian, writer, critic, broadcaster and businessman...

 and Josephine Tewson
Josephine Tewson
Josephine Tewson is an English actress. Tewson is perhaps best known for her roles as Elizabeth in the British television series Keeping Up Appearances and as Miss Davenport in the British television series Last of the Summer Wine.-Early life:Tewson was born in Hampstead, London. Her father was a...

, written by Ronnie Barker under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...

 "Bob Ferris". It was Barker's final sitcom appearance before his retirement.

Barker had previously faced criticism over his employment of a stammer
Stuttering
Stuttering , also known as stammering , is a speech disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words or phrases, and involuntary silent pauses or blocks in which the stutterer is unable to produce sounds...

 for comedic effect in Open All Hours
Open All Hours
Open All Hours is a BBC sitcom written by Roy Clarke which ran for four series a first run in 1976, a second run in 1981, third in 1982 and finally with a fourth run in 1985, with a pilot episode from the Seven of One series in 1973...

. However, the slapstick
Slapstick
Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated violence and activities which may exceed the boundaries of common sense.- Origins :The phrase comes from the batacchio or bataccio — called the 'slap stick' in English — a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in Commedia dell'arte...

 potential of a short-sighted furniture shifter must have seemed irresistible. The series was inspired by The Removals Person by Hugh Leonard
Hugh Leonard
Hugh Leonard was an Irish dramatist, television writer and essayist. In a career that spanned 50 years, Leonard wrote more than 18 plays, two volumes of essays and two autobiographies, one novel and numerous screenplays and teleplays, as well as writing a regular newspaper column.-Life and...

, an earlier programme in the 1971 LWT
London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television was the name of the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties including south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Warwickshire, east Dorset and...

 comedy series, Six Dates With Barker
Six Dates With Barker
Six Dates with Barker is a series of six one-off, half hour situation comedies showcasing the talents of Ronnie Barker. All were broadcast by London Weekend Television early in 1971.Writers on the series included John Cleese and Spike Milligan...

.

Only one series of Clarence was made, which is now available on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

. The series is also available in Region 4 Australia with the same cover art. The house of Jane Travers, which inspired the opening titles, is located on Malvern Road in Cheltenham

Plot

In 1937, on the day of King George VI's coronation, Clarence Sale, a myopic
Myopia
Myopia , "shortsightedness" ) is a refractive defect of the eye in which collimated light produces image focus in front of the retina under conditions of accommodation. In simpler terms, myopia is a condition of the eye where the light that comes in does not directly focus on the retina but in...

 removal man is clearing the house of a snooty upper-class lady who is moving abroad. There, he meets Jane Travers, her maid
Maid
A maidservant or in current usage housemaid or maid is a female employed in domestic service.-Description:Once part of an elaborate hierarchy in great houses, today a single maid may be the only domestic worker that upper and even middle-income households can afford, as was historically the case...

. The pair are mutually attracted and soon Clarence proposes to her. Jane decides that they should have a trial period of living together in a small cottage she has been given in an inheritance to see if they are compatible, with a bolster in the bed to preserve her chasteness. The series followed this unconventional relationship, as well as Clarence's attempts at his furniture-moving profession.

External links

Comedy Guide
  • Clarence at the British Film Institute
    British Film Institute
    The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...

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