Life of Riley, The – Nostalgia Central

1 9 7 5 (UK)
7 x 30 minute episodes

This short comedy series from Granada starred Bill Maynard – in the first series of his own – as Frank Riley, an insurance agent for Lancastrian Assurance and a widower of 18 years with a roving eye for the ladies, especially his secretary Ethel Goodchild (Eileen Kennally) and his typist Janice (Susan Littler).

Into his “hip” and somewhat sinful world walks his puritanical God-fearing son, Brian (Frank Lincoln).

Innocent, chapel-reared Brian had lived with his grandparents in an obscure corner of Wales until their recent death (of simultaneous heart attacks on a bus), and had now come back to live with his father – threatening Frank’s cosy, womanising, bachelor life.

Two things happened on Brian’s first Sunday in this sinful northern metropolis: he met Polly Pickles (Maureen Pryor), a 75-year-old habitué of a way of life that was new to him, and he discovered that his father was a knight in shining armour.

John McKelvey played Frank’s disinterested, green-fingered boss, Clifford Pringle. Maynard’s real-life daughter, Jane, featured in the episode ‘Oh! Sister’ as a nursing nun.

Frank Riley
Bill Maynard
Brian Riley
Frank Lincoln
Ethel Goodchild
Eileen Kennally
Janice Butcher
Susan Littler
Clifford Pringle
John McKelvey
George Pollitt
John Comer
Polly Pickles
Maureen Pryor
Mr Pickles
Michael Atha

Episodes

The Arrival | The Undead | The Staff Dance | Oh! Sister | The Visitors | Uneasy Riders | Double Time

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