Keep It in the Family (1980)
Keep It in the Family is a British sitcom that aired for five series between 1980 and 1983. It is about a likable and mischievous cartoonist, Dudley Rush. Also featured were Dudley's wife, Muriel and their two daughters, Jacqui and Susan. Dudley's literary agent, Duncan Thomas, was also featured. It was made by Thames Television for the ITV network. A remake of Keep It in the Family was produced in the United States under the title Too Close for Comfort, starring Ted Knight.
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Episode 1 - In the Camera Club
Release Date: 1982-10-19Whilst Dudley attempts to service an alarm clock, Muriel borrows Duncan's brand-new £300 camera to take some photographs of Jacqui and Susan to send to her mother is Australia. Susan reads an article by a woman who claims she can speak to the dead and thinks it quite possible she could be a medium herself, trying to foretell her sister's future with the aid of a dead light bulb. They go shopping with their mother whilst Dudley takes a sly kip instead of working on his cartoons, and return home to find burglars have gotten in through the window of the downstairs bathroom and ransacked the place. Muriel telephones the police, and Duncan pays a call. Muriel finds his camera has been stolen from the bun tin where she hid it from Dudley, but bottles-out of telling him. She suggests to Dudley that they buy him a new one, and claim the money back on their insurance. A good-looking policeman named Rodney - who previously gave Dudley a ticket for parking his car on a double yellow line outside
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Episode 2 - The Longest Night
Release Date: 1982-10-26Duncan has acquired a new housekeeper in the attractive Mrs. Morgan; a marvelous cook who unfortunately can't keep her hands off him. His bragging of her culinary skills results in Dudley dropping a few subtle hints [backed up by a jab from a knife and fork] that he should invite himself and Muriel round for a meal. Duncan reluctantly concedes - insisting on dinner jackets being worn in a last attempt to put them off - and Dudley starves himself all day in order to enjoy the full benefit of this most rare occurrence. Meanwhile, the sports club at Jacqui's firm is holding a Tramps and Tarts fancy dress party, and she and Susan are all set to be dropped off on the way: although Dudley doesn't approve of their outfits. Mrs. Morgan leaves dinner in the oven for Duncan and his guests before heading off to Eastbourne to spend the weekend with her sister. Dudley, for his part, is bringing a bottle of nonspecific burgundy; a £1 unlabeled item salvaged from the flooded cellar of a little wine m
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Episode 3 - Job References
Release Date: 1982-11-02Muriel tries to get Dudley up a ladder to touch up the paintwork on the front windows, whilst Susan attempts to fulfill a lifelong ambition by mastering the technique of hand-rolling cigarettes. Muriel then decides to get a job - despite protests from her husband - and applies for a vacancy in personnel, narrowly avoiding the lecherous advances of a Mr. Foster. She then lands a job as secretary to Duncan, leaving Dudley to cope with the household chores; he proves to be as inapt at ironing as he is at everything else, blowing all the electric circuits in the house. Dudley gets so far behind with his cartoons that Duncan comes up with a compromise; he will pay Muriel to stay home and nag him.
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Episode 4 - A Snap Decision
Release Date: 1982-11-09Dudley and Muriel are about to depart for a two week holiday in Portugal, the former insisting on taking a garish shirt and trousers along with him. Dudley then comes across a holiday snap of Susan sunbathing topless in Monte Gordo, and is disturbed by the fact that he can't see anything wrong with it. When Jacqui jokingly comments that she finds it filthy and that her father should be hopping mad, Dudley risks the adverse effects of bromide by tearing the photograph to shreds and eating it! Meanwhile, Susan decides to have fun with some 'This poster degrades women' stickers given to her by butch friend Jenny Mason, and buys a 'glamour' poster to practice on. Duncan - fancying a brief taste of family life - offers to put Dudley's mind at rest by moving into the Rush house whilst he and Muriel are away in order to keep an eye on their daughters and expand their minds with the theatre and ballet. Jacqui and Susan, however, have made their own arrangements to travel up to Manchester for a
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Episode 5 - Piano Blues
Release Date: 1982-11-16Duncan gets a new secretary; a rangy young woman named Wilma. He's due to depart on the 7 p.m. flight to Hamburg to attend a conference of comic book editors, but first he has to collect a page of artwork from the Rush house. Dudley - who hasn't even started on it - decides some delaying tactics are called for and telephones Duncan's office using a phoney German tongue, telling him to stay put. Jacqui and Susan, meanwhile, have decided to go punk and form a rock group with their upper class friend Hugo; 'Hugo and the Harlots'. They borrow a piano from Anne, a friend of Susan's, to rehearse with. It's delivered by Fred and Ron Cash - an apt surname, since they demand £20 as compensation for industrial injuries received in the process - and Dudley promptly hurts his drawing hand in it. Hugo arrives with his latest composition, and the girls fantasize about making it to number one on ""Top of the Pops""; it hardly seems likely with a song like 'Anna Key', though! Dudley telephones Duncan ag
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Episode 6 - Alien Friends
Release Date: 1982-11-23When an unidentified flying object is spotted over Hampstead Heath, Dudley becomes obsessed with UFOs and the idea of photographing one from his bedroom window. When he disturbs daughter Jacqui's front porch romancing with her boyfriend Peter, she borrows her sister's old luminous Frisbee to play a prank on him, throwing it past his window; taking it for a UFO, he clicks his shutter. Susan, meanwhile, dons a devil costume as she practices her role as assistant to her stunt man boyfriend Vincent, alias Vince Vampire. The next day Dudley is hosing down the car when Jacqui and Vincent exit the house in costume and ride away on Vincent's motorcycle, and hoses his leg by accident. Duncan arrives with some good news; an American editor and his wife are coming to see him, and Mr. Millington is willing to inject some money into The Wowser if they feature one of his cartoon strips, which he wants Dudley to draw - and it could mean some extra money for him. The Americans are arriving on Friday,