In Sickness and in Health
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- For the Demented Are Go album, see In Sickness & In Health.
In Sickness and in Health was a BBC television sitcom sequel to the highly successful Til Death Us Do Part.
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[edit] The first series
This weekly, comedy series debuted in 1985 and took the former Til Death Us Do Part characters Alf Garnett, played by Warren Mitchell and Else Garnett (Dandy Nichols) from their Wapping slum to a middle class retirement house in the East End. Else is now confined to a wheelchair and Alf grumbles about having to push her around everywhere. Alf hires a black, gay man named Winston, played by Eamonn Walker, to do housework and help care for a sick Else. Despite Alf's dual-prejudices against Winston, eventually the two became used to one another, and Winston took Alf to watch his beloved West Ham United. Alf nevertheless gave Winston the nickname Marigold.
Alf and Else's daughter Rita (played by Una Stubbs) occasionally appeared, and often Alf was seen drinking with his friend Arthur (played by Arthur English) in the local pub.
[edit] Dandy Nichols's death
The first series ended on October 13, 1985 and was very popular in the ratings. On Boxing Day a Christmas special was aired with huge success. But just as plans for a second series began tragedy struck. Dandy Nichols died on February 13, 1986. At first the BBC was going to pull the plug, but Johnny Spieght decided to continue and write Else's death into the scripts.
[edit] After Dandy Nichols died
The first show of Series Two dealt with Else's death and Alf facing the future alone. In later episodes Alf found a new thorn in his side when the building acquired a new landlady, the rich and pompous Mrs. Sherry Hollingberry, who was constantly sticking her nose in Alf's business.
After the Third Series Eamonn Walker left the show and Mrs. Hollingberry was forced to look after Alf. Eventually, Alf began courting her and they travelled to the Outback to be married. But Alf got jilted and moved back to London.
In 1992 after two years off the air the sitcom returned for one last season of six episodes in which Alf discovers a ton of banknotes and becomes very rich. He and Miss Hollingberry make up and became engaged again. The last episode aired on April 3, 1992.
[edit] After the cancellation
The series had 47 episodes and, unlike its predecessor, all the episodes are known to have survived. The show pops up from time to time on satellite and cable stations in the UK. Network DVD has considered releasing the first series to DVD, although it hasn't announced any release date.
Although the final show was originally broadcast on April 3, 1992, Warren Mitchell would continue to perform as Alf Garnett on special sets; this meant on stage in front of a live audience, and similarly to an invited audience consisting largely of celebrities and public figures. In 1997, a number of shows were arranged for ITV (Granada). Mitchell also returned to the studio set to act in a number of mini-shows consisting of one scene per presentation; these would either be in his front room in the company of Mrs.Hollingberry or in the pub with a drinking partner. The material was written by Johnny Speight after the end of In Sickness and in Health and is clear from many of Alf's dialogues, these include a reference to the Labour Party returning to power in 1997 with Tony Blair. Following the death of Speight in 1998, Mitchell announced that he would retire from performing as Alf Garnett.
[edit] Theme tune
The theme tune to the programme was written and performed by Chas and Dave, although they changed the lyrics when the character of Else died and Alf was left alone.
[edit] International versions
In 1991 a Dutch version of the series, In voor en tegenspoed ("In good times and in bad"), debuted on Dutch TV. 25 episodes were broadcast; 12 of them based on Speight's original scripts. The Dutch Alf Garnett is called Fred Schuit (played by Rijk de Gooijer). He lives in Amsterdam, supports AFC Ajax, drinks jenever for medicinal reasons, and doesn't trust a TV-set unless it's made in Eindhoven. The series was awarded two Awards of the Dutch Academy. It was a minor success with the viewing audience.
