Outside Edge

Outside Edge

1994 - United Kingdom

Comedienne and actress Josie Lawrence teamed up with Timothy Spall as Kevin and Maggie Costello in this award-winning series. She's larger than life, wears big red glasses, get-'em-off clothes and a bright gash of lipstick, he's short, chunky and a whiz at whipping up a gourmet meal. Their bohemian lovenest is in need of repair and so is their battered Renault 4, but it doesn't matter as they are crazy about each other and make love wherever the mood takes them! 

As different as chalk and cheese are Mim and Roger Dervish (Brenda Blethyn and Robert Daws). Once a leading light in the operatic society, Mim's got a good face and figure but dresses in an ordinary way. Husband Roger drives a Volvo, reads the Daily Telegraph and is captain of the local cricket club. He eats, drinks and sleeps the game...and even dreams about it too! 

Outside Edge cast

The village cricket team is the catalyst that brings these two odd couples together in a bitter-sweet comedy that's as sharp on the pitch as it is off. Against the backdrop of a never-ending summer, a close friendship blossoms between the two women. Under Maggie's outgoing influence, prim and proper Mim discovers an independent streak that's been stifled too long by Roger and the shock waves are set to reverberate around cosy suburbia as the two couples are thrust together in a chain of events guaranteed to set the net curtains twitching. For Mim and Roger things will never be the same again. 

The series won the British Comedy Award for best drama in 1995 and 1996 and won it's creator/writer Richard Harris a Writer's Guild of Great Britain award for best situaiton comedy in 1994. Brenda Blethyn won a British Comedy award for Best Actress in 1994 and both Josie Lawrence and Robert Daws were nominated for Best Actress and Actor (respectively) in 1995. 

Outside Edge started life as a play by Richard Harris which opened at the Hampstead Theatre in London on 24 July 1979. The original cast featured Julia McKenzie and Maureen Lipman and a 1982 one-off TV production starred Lipman and Prunella Scales with Paul Eddington and Jonathan Lynn playing the male characters.

Published on January 17th, 2019. Written by Laurence Marcus for Television Heaven.

Read Next...

Vicar of Dibley

Sitcom set in the fictional village of Dibley, which is assigned a female vicar, much to the consternation of the Chairman of the Parish Council.

Also released in 1994

The Adventures of Brigadier Wllington Bull

Sitcom following the adventures of a retired Army Brigadier, Garnet Wellington-Bull, a widowed career soldier who, now retired, is trying to come to terms with life on civvy street but not finding it very easy.

Also tagged Britcom

A J Wentworth

The final starring vehicle for the masterful comedic talents of the incomparable, Arthur Lowe.

Also tagged Sitcom

Barney Miller

American sitcom set in a New York City Police Department police station on East 6th St in Greenwich Village.

Also tagged Sitcom

Cadfael TV Series

Period murder mystery series set around a Benedictine Abbey in Shrewsbury in 12th century England. Here resides Brother Cadfael, a former Crusader, a skilled observer of human nature, whose talents are called upon to investigate the most intriguing and murderous crimes.

Also released in 1994

The Fast Show

Full of one-liners and running gags that sent up most forms of stereotypical British society, The Fast Show was pure sketch-comedy gold

Also released in 1994

Vera

Gripping British crime drama set against the scenic landscapes of Northumberland, the series starred Brenda Blethyn as homicide DCI Vera Stanhope, known for her sharp wit, irascible nature and keen instincts - the vital traits required to solve each gruesome case

Also starring Brenda Blethyn

ER TV series

ER first hit the television screens with all the speed and force of an express train in 1994, and immediately earned the label of 'rock 'em - sock 'em' television, hardly giving the viewer a chance to catch breath as each story-line unfolded.

Also released in 1994

Absolutely Fabulous

Developed from a sketch in the TV series French and Saunders in which Saunders played a baseball capped parent berated by her prim and proper daughter (French), the pilot episode was greeted by one TV executive with the comment, "I don't think women being drunk is funny."

Also tagged Sitcom