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2point4 Children | |
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Genre | Sitcom |
Created by | Andrew Marshall |
Written by | Andrew Marshall |
Directed by | Richard Boden |
Starring |
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Theme music composer | Howard Goodall [1] |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of series | 8 |
No. of episodes | 56 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Producer | Richard Boden |
Camera setup | Video; Multiple camera |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Original release | |
Network | BBC One |
Release | 3 September 1991 – 30 December 1999 |
2point4 Children is a BBC Television sitcom that was created and written by Andrew Marshall. It follows the lives of the Porters, a seemingly average, working-class London family whose world is frequently turned upside-down by bad luck and bizarre occurrences. [2]
The show was originally broadcast on BBC One from 1991 to 1999, and ran for eight series, concluding on 30 December 1999 with the special episode "The Millennium Experience". The show is regularly repeated in the UK. In Australia showings are on UKTV. The name of the show comes from the stereotypical average size of a typical nuclear family in the UK at the time of the writing of the first series. [3]
The show regularly picked up audiences of up to 14 million throughout the 1990s, with an average of between 6 and 9 million. [4] The final episode was viewed by 9.03 million people. [5]
Lead actor Gary Olsen died in 2000, effectively ruling out a return of the show for any further series. [6]
The Porters are a working-class family who live in Chiswick, London who at first seem normal enough. Bill is the sensible, level-headed mother who does the cooking and housework whilst working for a bakery with her highly sexed best friend Rona. Ben is the father, who is often just as immature as the children. He runs a heating repair business with his moody and sarcastic assistant Christine.
Jenny is the typical teenage daughter, keen on boys, music and vegetarianism, and David is the mischievous younger brother, who enjoys horror films, aliens and annoying his older sister.
However, the Porters' world is frequently upended by bizarre occurrences and bad luck. Whether it is dealing with flatulent dogs, a frozen body in a freezer in the front room, or even stumbling across a warehouse filled with Shirley Bassey's cast-off ballgowns, anything seems possible in the Porters' world. Traditionally Christmas episodes would feature characters collectively performing a musical number. [7]
The show originally ran from 1991 to 1999. 56 episodes were made over eight series, including six Christmas specials in which the cast performed carols or original theme songs. Although the series was made over the course of eight years, the show's in-universe timeline appears to be much shorter, with Jenny Porter stated to be 14 in series one, yet only just starting university at age 18 in the final series.
Andrew Marshall wrote all of the episodes, except for three in series seven which were written by Paul Alexander, Simon Braithwaite and Paul Smith.
2point4 Children was critically acclaimed. [8] [9]
In 2004, the series ranked #44 in the BBC television poll, Britain's Best Sitcom . [10]
BBC Enterprises released a video in 1993, comprising the first three episodes of the series, which are known as: Leader of the Pack, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, and When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Go Shopping.
The first three series were released on Region 2 DVD by Eureka Video in 2005. A box set of the first three series was also made available in 2008, again through Eureka Video, with music changes within the episodes. Eureka Video stated that "sales were not good" and they released no further series. 2Entertain, part of BBC Worldwide, say they have tried many times to license the series for distribution by a third party but the high clearance costs for music and imagery used has been the main deterrent.
A Facebook campaign for a release of the whole series was started in 2009.
The series was added to Britbox on 16 December 2021 [11] In March 2022, all 56 episodes were made available on the BBC iPlayer for one year, however as of 27 July 2024, all 8 series' are still available to watch on BBC iplayer.
Title | Format | Release date | Features |
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2point4 children – Leader of the Pack | VHS | 26 February 1996 |
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2point4 children – The Complete Series One | DVD | 24 January 2005 [12] |
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2point4 children – The Complete Series Two | DVD | 25 April 2005 |
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2point4 children – The Complete Series Three | DVD | 22 August 2005 |
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2point4 children – Series One to Three | DVD | 22 September 2008 |
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In 1997 a remake of the show debuted in the Netherlands: Kees & Co starring Simone Kleinsma. [13] The remake ran for eight series between 1997 and 2006. The first five series were adapted from the original English-language scripts, whilst the last three series featured original storylines and characters. In 2018 it was announced that the remake would return for a ninth series with Kleinsma reprising her role. [14]
Dad is a BBC1 sitcom that ran for 13 episodes over two series and a Christmas special. Described by the BBC as a 'generation-gap comedy', it centered on the trials and tribulations of Alan Hook and his father Brian. Alan would often find himself getting increasingly frustrated with the endeavours of his father, whilst the world seemed to be forever against him.
The Brittas Empire is a British sitcom created and originally written by Andrew Norriss and Richard Fegen. Chris Barrie played titular character Gordon Brittas, the well-intentioned but hugely incompetent manager of the fictional Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre. The show ran for seven series and 52 episodes – including two Christmas specials – from 3 January 1991 to 24 February 1997 on BBC1. Creators Norriss and Fegen co-wrote the first five series. The series peaked at 10 million viewers.
My Family is a British sitcom created and initially co-written by Fred Barron, which was produced by DLT Entertainment and Rude Boy Productions, and broadcast by BBC One for eleven series between 2000 and 2011, with Christmas specials broadcast from 2002 onwards. My Family was voted 24th in the BBC's "Britain's Best Sitcom" in 2004 and was the most watched sitcom in the United Kingdom in 2008. As of 2011, it is one of only twelve British sitcoms to pass the 100-episode mark. In April 2020, BBC One began airing the series from the first episode in an 8 pm slot on Friday nights; along with this all 11 series were made available on BBC iPlayer.
Andrew Paul Marshall is a British comedy screenwriter, most noted for the domestic sitcom 2point4 children. He was also the inspiration for Marvin the Paranoid Android in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Although he had also previously adapted stories for Agatha Christie's Poirot, in 2002 he made a further move into writing "straight" drama, with the fantasy horror series Strange. He has also written several screenplays.
Gary Olsen was an English actor. He played Ben Porter on the BBC television sitcom 2point4 Children from 1991 to 1999.
Christopher David Addison is a British comedian, writer, actor, and director. He is perhaps best known for his role as a regular panellist on Mock the Week. He is also known for his lecture-style comedy shows, two of which he later adapted for BBC Radio 4.
Pauline Perpetua Sheen is an English retired actress. She began her career with roles on various television series, before fronting her own comedy sketch show, Pauline's Quirkes, in 1976. She later starred as Vicky Smith on the BBC drama series Angels (1982–1983), and achieved fame with her portrayal of Sharon Theodopolopodous on the long-running sitcom Birds of a Feather, for which she won a British Comedy Award and was nominated on three occasions for a National Television Award. In 1997, she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress for her role in the BBC miniseries The Sculptress. Between 2010 and 2012, Quirke played Hazel Rhodes on the ITV soap opera Emmerdale.
Belinda Lucy Lange Fraser, known professionally as Belinda Lang, is an English actress. She is known for playing Liza in the ITV sitcom Second Thoughts (1991–94), and Bill Porter in the BBC sitcom 2point4 Children (1991–99). Her theatre credits include London productions of the Noël Coward plays, Present Laughter (1981), Blithe Spirit (1997), and Hay Fever (2006). Her radio/audio credits include voicing narrator Madeleine in the podcast Wooden Overcoats.
Annette Badland is an English actress known for a wide range of roles on television, radio, stage, and film. She is best known for her roles as Charlotte in the BBC crime drama series Bergerac, Margaret Blaine in the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who, Mrs Glenna Fitzgibbons in the first season of Outlander, Babe Smith in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, Dr Fleur Perkins on the ITV mystery series Midsomer Murders, and as Mae Green in the Apple TV+ comedy-drama Ted Lasso. She was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in 1993 for her performance as Sadie in Jim Cartwright's play The Rise and Fall of Little Voice; a role she reprised in the 1998 film adaptation Little Voice.
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Julia Hills is an English actress, known for portraying the role of Rona in all eight series of the BBC sitcom 2point4 Children. She also portrayed various roles in Channel 4's first late night satirical sketch show Who Dares Wins, Beryl in two series of the sitcom Dad and Caroline Joyner in Casualty.
Justin Matthew Edwards is an English actor and writer.
Clare Buckfield is an English actress, best known for playing the role of Jenny Porter in the BBC sitcom 2point4 Children for most of the nineties and Natasha Stevens in the CBBC series Grange Hill.
John Pickard is an English actor, best known for playing David Porter in the BBC sitcom 2point4 Children, and Dominic Reilly in Channel 4's Hollyoaks.
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Paul Alexander is a British comedy writer. He has written or contributed to My Hero, Red Dwarf, The 10%ers, My Spy Family, Babes in the Wood, Lovejoy, Horrid Henry, Bedsitcom, Goodnight Sweetheart, The Green Green Grass, My Parents Are Aliens, 2point4 Children, Neighbors from Hell, Summer in Transylvania and Emmerdale.
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