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Outside Edge is a British sitcom by Richard Harris that starred Brenda Blethyn, Robert Daws, Josie Lawrence and Timothy Spall. Three series and a Christmas special were produced by Central Independent Television and were broadcast on ITV from 24 March 1994 to 13 February 1996. The series was adapted from Harris' original stage play which premiered in 1979; upon adapting it for television, Harris expanded on the characters' back stories and introduced more plot lines that were absent in the original play. The series focuses on the lives of two couples with contrasting attitudes, the uptight and conservative Roger (Daws) and Miriam Dervish (Blethyn) with the bohemian and adventurous Kevin (Spall) and Maggie Costello (Lawrence) and their involvement with the local Brent Park Cricket team who meet every Saturday. Other members of the cricket team are also dealt with, from the lecherous womaniser Dennis Broadley, timid and naive Nigel, snobbish solicitor Alex Harrington and browbeaten husband and later father Bob Willis, along with a number of other characters who also regularly appear through the series' run. The series was one of the more successful ITV sitcoms during the 1990s, and it won a number of awards at the time, it won awards for Best Comedy Drama and Best Actress in 1994 for Brenda Blethyn at the British Comedy Awards in 1994, as well as a Writer's Guild of Great Britain award for best situation comedy in 1994 for its writer/ creator Richard Harris. Moreover, both Robert Daws and Josie Lawrence were nominated for Best Actor and Best Actress at the British Comedy Awards in 1995. The series was not the first time that the play had been adapted for television: it had been previously adapted as a one-off television play that was shown in 1982, which starred Paul Eddington (Roger), Prunella Scales (Mim), Jonathan Lynn (Kevin) and Maureen Lipman (Maggie) in the principal roles.
References
- Mark Lewisohn, BBC Online Comedy Guide/Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy
- British TV Online Resources