Don't Wait Up
Series charting the history of the best of British comedy looks at 1980s sitcom Don't Wait Up, which starred Nigel Havers as a young doctor living with his father.
Don't Wait Up has been described as the Rolls-Royce of British sit-com, but in this episode of Comedy Connections we discover some of the cast preferred to think of it as. ... a Bentley.
Don't Wait Up was the show that helped a young Nigel Havers become a heart throb of the home counties. He played young, idealistic Dr Tom Latimer, who, just as he was coping with his own divorce, had to deal with the break up of his parents' marriage along with a new flat mate, his posh doc dad Dr Toby Latimer, played by Tony Britton.
The show will always be associated with Nigel Havers but this episode of Comedy Connections reveals that he wasn't first choice for the part. We discover that casting was the key to Don't Wait Up's success: Tony Britton was the master at playing comedy posh dads, and Dinah Sheridan, who played Tony's wife, was a film veteran with decades of experience, including the classics Genevieve and The Railway Children.
Comedy Connections reveals that although the initial idea was based around father and son both going through a marriage split and being forced together as a result, after 3 or 4 series the life and loves of Dr Tom Latimer brought an element of soap opera to the show. Of course it did help that the part was played by one of the country's best loved young actors, Nigel Havers, whose own movie career developed alongside the success of Don't Wait Up: at one point the actor was juggling calls from the Don't Wait Up team while on set with Stephen Spielberg.
Comedy Connections is narrated by Doon Mackichan, the show includes exclusive interviews with Nigel Havers, Tony Britton, Dinah Sherridan, Jane How, Susan Skipper, Simon Williams, Tricia George, Jane Booker, George Layton and producer Harold Snoad.
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