As Time Goes By - BBC1 Sitcom - British Comedy Guide (original) (raw)

As Time Goes By. Image shows from L to R: Lionel (Geoffrey Palmer), Jean (Judi Dench). Copyright: DLT Entertainment Ltd.

Genre

Sitcom

Broadcast

1992 - 2005

Channel

BBC One

Episodes

66 (9 series), plus 1 highlights special

Creator

Colin Bostock-Smith

Stars

Judi Dench, Geoffrey Palmer, Moira Brooker, Jenny Funnell and Philip Bretherton

Writer

Bob Larbey

Director

Sydney Lotterby

Producers

Sydney Lotterby, Philip Jones, John Reynolds, Donald Taffner Jr., Trevor McCallum and Clive Hedges

Companies

Lionel Hardcastle, a young man in the army, and Jean Pargeter, a nurse, are madly in love until Lionel is sent away to the Korean War and, through a lost love letter, they lose touch.

Thirty-eight years later Lionel, a curmudgeonly divorcee, is writing a book about his subsequent years spent living in Kenya and Jean, a no-nonsense widow, is running a secretarial agency in London. When Lionel requires a secretary to assist him with his book revisions he unwittingly contacts Jean's agency and the pair are reunited.

Gradually, after some reluctance and hesitation on both sides, Jean and Lionel begin to rekindle their old romance. Alongside this main story a more tempestuous relationship between Jean's daughter Judith and Lionel's publisher Alistair plays out.

This popular BBC sitcom draws humour from the ups and downs of unexpected romance in later life.

Stream and download

Additional details

Production

Studio

Camera set-up

Multi-camera

Picture

Colour

Soundtrack

Theme tune is a version of As Time Goes By, originally written by Herman Hupfeld in 1931. This version is performed by Joe Fagin and arranged by David Mackay.

Broadcast details

First broadcast

Sunday 12th January 1992 at 8:35pm on BBC One

Most recent repeats

View all 3,623 repeats