ITV1

5.2

Andy Capp

Andy Capp is a British sitcom based on the cartoon Andy Capp. It starred James Bolam and ran for one series in 1988. It was written by Keith Waterhouse. Unusually, for a sitcom, there was no studio audience during the filming of Andy Capp. It was made for the ITV network by Thames Television. Andy Capp is a slothful man from Hartlepool, whose life consists of drinking, sleeping, watching TV, betting, going to the pub and occasionally playing football. His wife, Flo, is constantly annoyed by her lazy husband and frequently uses a rolling pin as a weapon.

7.5

You Bet!

You Bet! is a British game show based around the format of the German show Wetten, dass..? developed by Frank Elstner. You Bet! ran on ITV, mostly on Saturday nights but sometimes on Fridays, between 20 February 1988 and 12 April 1997, initially hosted by Bruce Forsyth from 1988 to 1990, then by Matthew Kelly from 1991 to 1995 and finally by Darren Day from 1996 to 1997. It was replaced the following year by Don't Try This At Home!, which emulated the challenges of You Bet!, but were considerably more risky and dangerous.

A Kind of Living

Trevor Beasley (Richard Griffiths), a schoolteacher, has his head stuck firmly in the past, despite having a new house, a new job, and a new baby. Also stars Frances de la Tour, Tim Healy, Anita Carey, and C.J. Allen.

The Fear

The story follows Carl Galton, an ambitious leader of an outlaw gang, who wants to expand his criminal empire.

6.0

Singles

Singles is a British sitcom set in a singles bar produced by Yorkshire Television. It aired for 3 series and 22 episodes on the ITV network between 1988 and 1991. Main character Malcolm, played by Roger Rees, was written out in the final series after Rees relocated to the United States, with Simon Cadell joining the cast in his place as Dennis Duval.

That's Love

That's love! is a British television sitcom about the domestic problems of a young married couple, lawyer Donald and designer Patsy.

6.2

Wish Me Luck

A secret organisation called The Outfit recruits and trains civilians, sending them undercover to aid in the war effort, or placing them in administrative tasks to aid the group. Each person arrives at The Outfit by a different route: Mathilde ('Matty') escaped to London from France and wants desperately to contribute to the war effort; Liz, whose husband is serving overseas and whose brother has just died in the war, stumbles into the group almost by accident. Former actor Colin Beale also trains for undercover work. Vivien's husband was executed when his work with The Outfit was uncovered. But they all come together against the common enemy.

Hannay

Hannay is a 1988 spin-off prequel series to the 1978 film adaptation of John Buchan's novel The Thirty-Nine Steps which stars Robert Powell as Richard Hannay, a role which he reprises in the series, an Edwardian mining engineer from Rhodesia of Scottish origin. It features his adventures in pre-World War I Great Britain. These stories had little in common with Buchan's novels about the character, although some names are taken from his other novels.

5.7

After Henry

After Henry is a British sitcom written by Simon Brett, and starring Prunella Scales and Joan Sanderson. Originating as a radio programme on BBC Radio 4 from 1985 to 1989, it was adapted for television by Thames Television. Sarah is the 42-year-old widow of GP Henry France. She lives in an often volatile family situation with her elderly mother Eleanor Prescott, and her daughter, 18-year-old Clare, with both of whom she shares a house. Following Henry's death, the family have to find a way to cope with each other as best they can. The BBC was initially hesitant to produce a series but after three successful runs on BBC Radio 4, it was commissioned for the small screen. The series was surprisingly popular, attracting over 14 million viewers. Four seasons were made, with the last transmitted after the death of Sanderson, who died on 24 May 1992.

I Can Do That

I Can Do That was a quiz programme for children that was produced by Yorkshire Television and aired for 4 series on the ITV network from 1988 until 1991, the original host was Simon O'Brien who for the final series was replaced by Bruno Brookes.

7.0

Clive James in Japan

Clive James finally travels to Japan and finds out for himself what it's like to participate in the kind of crazy game show he has observed for so long when he is a contestant on Takeshi's Castle. Clive also discovers what the Japanese 'salaryman' does to let off steam at the end of his record-breaking productive day. Culture shock hits Clive hard, sitting cross-legged for hours on end, being fed raw fish by Geisha girls and attempting to navigate the Tokyo subway system. All this on top of jet lag! Clive's culture shock worsens as he continues his journey through Japan and is almost flattened by a 35-stone Sumo wrestler and then travels to the health spa of Beppu to be voluntarily buried up to his neck in volcanic sand and simmered like a potato in a boiling sulphur bath, inexplicably full of grapefruits. See what Japan was like back in 1987, with Clive's unique, clever and humourous observations.

6.6

The Beiderbecke Tapes

The Beiderbecke Tapes is a two-part 1987 British television comedy-drama serial written by Alan Plater. The second installment in The Beiderbecke Trilogy, it stars James Bolam and Barbara Flynn as schoolteachers Trevor Chaplin and Jill Swinburne. When a tape recording of a conversation about nuclear waste inadvertently falls into Chaplin's hands, he and Swinburne find themselves being pursued by national security agents.

2.3

The Charmer

The Charmer was a 1987 British television serial set in the 1930s, and starring Nigel Havers as Ralph Ernest Gorse, a seducing conman and murderer, Rosemary Leach as Joan Plumleigh-Bruce, the smitten victim widow and Bernard Hepton as Donald Stimpson, Plumleigh-Bruce's would-be beau, who vengefully pursues Gorse after he has conned her. It was made by London Weekend Television for ITV, and based on the 1953 novel Mr. Stimpson and Mr. Gorse by Patrick Hamilton, the second work in the Gorse Trilogy. The series was repeated in February and March 1990. ITV3 also repeated the series in full at 01:45am from 5 September 2009. Narrative repeats were on Mondays from 7 September 2009 at 10:05am.

6.0

Runway

Runway was a daytime quiz programme that was produced by Action Time in association with Granada and ran on the ITV network from 12 October 1987 until 19 February 1993. It was originally hosted by Chris Serle in 1987, then Richard Madeley hosted from 1988 until it ended in 1993.

7.6

Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow

A series about the life, career and works of the movie comedy genius.

7.4

The New Statesman

The New Statesman is a British sitcom of the late 1980s and early 1990s satirising the Conservative government of the time.

4.0

The Dame Edna Experience

The Dame Edna Experience is a British television comedy talk-show hosted by Dame Edna Everage. It ran for twelve regular episodes on ITV, plus two Christmas specials. The first seven aired for the first time in 1987, the next seven in 1989. It was directed by Ian Hamilton and Alasdair MacMillan and produced by London Weekend Television. Regulars on the program, besides Dame Edna, were her "bridesmaid" Madge Allsop and Robin Houston who was the announcer, with orchestra conducted and arranged by Laurie Holloway. Each program featured several celebrity guests, usually three, but some programs included up to eight guests. There would also be other invited "guests" like Kurt Waldheim and Imelda Marcos who once introduced at stage right would fall victim to a trap door or something similar and fail to make it to their chair. The entire series was released on DVD by BBC Video in June 2004, and can now also be purchased as a complete set including the Christmas specials and the three An Audience with Dame Edna specials, plus other material. The series was released for Region 2 by Network DVD in the UK in 2007, as a 4-disc set. For reasons unknown, the Region 2 release does not include the 1989 Christmas special "The Dame Edna Satellite Experience" that ended the second series and featured Ursula Andress, Yehudi Menuhin, and Robert Kilroy-Silk. It does, however, include the one-off 1990 Christmas special A Night On Mount Edna with guests Mel Gibson, Charlton Heston, Gina Lollobrigida and Julio Iglesias.

Ffizz

8.4

Knightmare