First viewed : 22 September 1983
I'm not going to spend too long on this one because I only watched the pilot episode and decided it wasn't for me. It was a John Sullivan effort, prompted by a rebuke from actress Cheryl Hall ( who'd been in the first two seasons of his Citizen Smith ) that he didn't write good parts for women. Just Good Friends therefore featured an independent woman Penny Warrender ( Jan Francis, now in her mid-thirties and looking rather plain although the haircut didn't help ) who bumps into the man who jilted her at the altar years before , the slightly seedy Vince ( mid-seventies pop star and film actor Paul Nicholas ) . She's willing to take him back but on her own terms and their on-off romance played out over three seasons.
I simply didn't find the first episode funny enough though I accept that millions disagreed and made this a big hit .
Sullivan put the series to bed with the two getting wed in a Christmas Day special in 1986. However, after the success of Just Good Friends, Sullivan began to weave romantic threads into the storylines of his other big TV hit which we'll be discussing before too long.
I'm surprised this originally ran from 83-86, as it seemed to be on a lot after those years. It's success must have made it an easy repeat option.
ReplyDeleteI seem to remember my dad not taking it all seriously on the basis he thought Paul Nicholas was a bit of a plank. He enjoyed getting a cheap laugh from saying he looked like the Brighton/Watford winger Neil Smillie and that both were crap at their respective roles.