Marriage Lines


Marriage Lines is a British television sitcom first broadcast between 1963 and 1966. The series gave Richard Briers and Prunella Scales, its lead stars, a significant boost in their careers. At first titled The Marriage Lines, the programme was written by Richard Waring, and was later adapted for radio.

Cast

When Richard Waring was writing Marriage Lines, he had Richard Briers in mind, and also worked with him on Brothers in Law. Graeme Muir, the producer of Marriage Lines, also worked on Brothers in Law. In early episodes, The Marriage Lines was subtitled A Quizzical Look at the Early Days of Married Life.

Plot

George and Kate Starling are a newly married couple, and the comedy came from many ordinary domestic situations. George was a junior clerk in an office and wanted the public house camaraderie of the single men in his office, while Kate gets increasingly frustrated by her domestic duties. In the third series, Kate gives birth to a daughter Helen. The last episode of the fourth series, Goodbye George – Goodbye Kate, showed the couple going to live in Lagos, Nigeria because of George's jobs. This was meant to be the last episode, however a fifth series was commissioned. The Starlings' returned to England as Kate was pregnant again, and gave birth in the final episode.

Episodes

All episodes were 25 minutes, except the fifth series when the episodes were 30 minutes long. Many episodes are missing from the television archives.

Series One (1963)

  1. The Threshold
  2. Trial Separation
  3. The Bed
  4. The Parting
  5. Four-Part Harmony
  6. The Old Flame
  7. The Good Neighbours
  8. Party Mood
  9. The Anniversary
  10. The Old Place

    Christmas Special (1963)

Entire series not known to survive
  1. The Job
  2. The Loan
  3. Among Our Souvenirs
  4. The Move
  5. The Convention
  6. Happy Birthday
  7. Celebration Night
  8. The Patient
  9. The Martyr
  10. Holiday Attractions
  11. Financial Consideration
  12. The Divorce
  13. A Nice Surprise

    Christmas Special (1964)

  1. The Cuckoo
  2. The Waiting Game
  3. And Baby Makes Three
  4. Nest of Starlings
  5. The Ladies' Man
  6. The Homecoming
  7. Night of Nostalgia

    Series Four (1965)

Entire series not known to survive
  1. What's in a Name
  2. The Dinner
  3. Serenade in Two Flats
  4. Tropical Magic
  5. Migration of Starlings
  6. Goodbye George – Goodbye Kate

    Series Five (1966)

Entire series not known to survive, except where noted
  1. The New Start
  2. Back to the Beginning
  3. Home Market
  4. Big Business
  5. Alarums and Excursions
  6. First House
  7. And Then There Were Five

    DVD releases

Series One & Three were released on 4 February 2013.

Radio series

Marriage Lines was adapted for radio from 1965 to 1967, with Richard Briers and Prunella Scales once again starring. The scripts were also written by Richard Waring. The first series, of 13 episodes, ran from 21 May to 13 August 1965 and the second series, of 13 episodes, from 19 March to 11 June 1967.
The series was repeated on BBC Radio 4 Extra from 13 October 2014 onwards.