Marriage Lines: The Complete Series 1 and 2

A BBC Radio 4 Comedy

De: Richard Waring

Narrado por: Full Cast, Prunella Scales, Richard Briers

All 26 episodes of the much-loved 1960s sitcom, as heard on BBC radio

Kate and George Starling are just beginning their lives as young newlyweds, and are already experiencing the frustrations, as well as the joys, of marriage. But although they have their ups and downs, their mutual love and mistrust gets them through.

In these two series, they experience the downsides and delights of domesticity: from getting locked out of their new flat, sparring over nights out and coping with the next-door neighbours, to planning a holiday together and looking forward to a new arrival. Parenthood brings further challenges – including organising baby Helen’s christening and finding a family home – but a job abroad could offer new opportunities for the Starlings...

Originally broadcast on BBC TV between 1963 and 1966, this absorbing comedy by Richard Waring was so popular that it was adapted on radio for the BBC Light Programme. It stars Richard Briers as George and Prunella Scales as Kate, with guest stars including Heather Chasen, Derek Waring, Joan Sanderson, Wallas Eaton and Derek Fowlds.

Written by Richard Waring

Produced by Charles Maxwell

Recorded at the BBC Paris Studio in London

First broadcast BBC Light Programme: 21 May-13 August 1965 (Series 1), 19 March-11 June 1967 (Series 2)

Cast
George – Richard Briers
Kate – Prunella Scales
Norah – Heather Chasen
Peter – Geoffrey Matthews
John – David Morton
Miles – Rodney Diak/Derek Waring
Ossie – David Graham
Mr Reynolds – Leon Thau
Ronald – Terence Alexander
George’s father– Geoffrey Sumner
Kate’s mother– Joan Sanderson
Mr Cartwright – Wallas Eaton
Mr Renfrew Smith – Felix Felton
Arthur – Frederick Treves
Denis – Peter Hawkins
Jeanie – Audrey Nicholson
Murray – Penny Morrell
Mother – Diana King
Pauline – Rosalind Knight
Ronald – William Fox

With John Baddeley, Norma Ronald, Philip Guard, Isabel Rennie, Elizabeth Morgan, Jo Kendall, Nigel Graham, John Graham, Charlotte Mitchell, Rosemary Miller, Peter Gilmore, James Taylor, Clive Morton, Noel Hood, Edward de Souza, Beth Boyd, Carol Marsh, Wilfred Babbage, Pearl Hackney, Ronald Hines, Fraser Kerr, Carole Boyd, Robert McBain, Lockwood West, Tim Barrett, Doris Rogers, Anna Gilchrist, Derek Fowlds, Gretchen Franklin, Alec Bregonzi

©2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Irredeemably, Unforgivably Dated. I Loved It.

“Don’t let anybody fool you”, a work colleague some thirty years older than me said, some thirty years ago, “the Fifties were great. Drinks this tall” (he stretched his thumb and index finger as far apart as they would go), “and steaks this thick” (he kept his thumb and finger in the same position). And the same conditions seem to have prevailed in 1960’s London as well.

Gender roles, let alone gender assignments, were straightforward and unvexed. Drinking was an indoor sport. A certain decorum in dress and behavior was expected of everybody; much of the comedy here springs from witting or, more often, unwitting breaches of those rules. And it was a treat to hear some of Prunella Scales’ and Richard Briers’ early work.