End of Part One

Bringing the Pythonesque humour of cult Radio 4 series The Burkiss Way to television, this surreal, satirical soap opera/sketch show was the first TV series from multi-award-winning screenwriters Andrew Marshall and David Renwick - one of the most successful writing teams of the last 30 years whose combined credits include Whoops Apocalypse, Jonathan Creek, One Foot in the Grave and Hot Metal, among many others. Series One centres on Vera and Norman Straightman, a couple whose efforts to live a quiet life are constantly shattered by the unwelcome intrusions of guests from the world of television, while Series Two's combination of short, sharp sketches and inspired, mildly deranged slapstick prefigured Not the Nine o' Clock News, to which the writers would contribute; both afford ample opportunity to parody the style and content of late '70s television (continuity announcements and adverts included).