The series followed the various ups and downs of a middle-aged married couple. Of the two, Fred was the "straight man". He was a plumber who liked a bit of betting and a drink before coming home. His wife, Thora, was noted for her incessant talking while giving her husband a hard time. The couple had at least two children, one named Peter who is now 23 and married. The series has much in common with the later BBC sitcom Keeping Up Appearances, except that the central couple were unmistakably working class while in Appearances social climbing was a central element of the programme. The catchphrases of the series were both Thora's. The first occurred whenever the socially-aspiring Thora introduced her husband, when she would snobbishly pronounce his name "Frayed", remarking that he was "a Master plumber", with the emphasis on the wordMaster. The other was to throw an irate accusative tantrum at poor, downtrodden Fred, with the words, "Every time , you always go berserk" The word berserk was given great emphasis, as "Ber-Serk", and always had a successful comedic effect as Fred would wilt under the onslaught. Fred also had a catchphrase; always uttering an affected, over-the-top, supposed-upper class "Yai-sss", accompanied by tilted head, sycophantic smile and rapid eye-blinking, in response to Thora's request for confirmation on some point she was making to any member of the group she was aspiring to equal socially.
Episodes
Pilot
The pilot episode, titled "The Bed", was first broadcast in series three of Comedy Playhouse on 28 December 1963. Fred and Thora have been using the same bed for 25 years and it is lumpy and past its best. Thora decides it's time to get not just a new bed but two separate beds, because Fred keeps taking the bed clothes, etc. However two beds cost much more than one so she settles on a nice bed but that night makes Fred's life a nightmare as she tries to get settled, so Fred goes to the spare room to sleep on the old bed. While still nagging him though he's now in another room, Thora finds his present and card for their Silver Anniversary tomorrow, costing the £15 she thought he'd wasted. She grabs the bed clothes and goes to the other room and gets in bed with Fred. Brian Oulton was the bed salesman.
In common with many other British television series and sitcoms of this era, not all episodes have survived. Only 17 episodes exist in the BBC archives as of June 2020. The following are currently thought to still exist:
Pilot
Series 1: 1-7
Series 2: 1-2
Series 4: 1-6
Series 5: 7
The first and the fourth series both exist in their entirety but Series 2 and Series 5 remain incomplete with the entire third series still missing from the TV archives as of 2020. The following episodes are now available to view on YouTube:
