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Only When I Laugh. Image shows from L to R: Gloria Robins (Moira Lister), Archie Glover (Peter Bowles). Image credit: Yorkshire Television (YTV).

Only When I Laugh

Roy Figgis, Norman Binns and Archie Glover are long-term residents of the NHS. Despite this, they never fail to get themselves into trouble

Genre:
Sitcom
Broadcast:
1979 - 1982  (ITV1)
Episodes:
29 (4 series)
Starring:
James Bolam, Peter Bowles, Christopher Strauli, Richard Wilson, Derrick Branche
Writers:
Eric Chappell
Production:
Yorkshire Television (YTV)

James Bolam plays Roy Figgis, a long-term NHS hospital bed occupant. Archie Glover (Peter Bowles) and Norman Binns (Christopher Strauli) are his wardmates, all suffering from extreme cases of hypchondria.

Despite being apparently 'ill', the three don't just get themselves into trouble, but seem to have difficulty behaving.

Richard Wilson plays Dr Gordon Thorpe, and Derrick Branche is Gupte, the ward orderly, who are both the bane of the three's lives, and they the bane of theirs.

Our Review: This late 1970s and early 1980s sitcom is an example of the latter end of classic ITV comedies. Although it can be slightly depressing at times - particularly the theme tune - it is all round a good laugh, which still more than holds its own against many sitcoms of the 2000s.