The Grimleys

If you grew up anywhere near Britain in the 1970s or just enjoy sitcoms that perfectly capture a time and place, then The Grimleys is an absolute gem. Set on a Dudley housing estate, the series follows Gordon Grimley (James Bradshaw), the painfully awkward but academically gifted teenager stuck in a chaotic working-class family that feels hilariously authentic from the very first episode.

Gordon is the heart of the show: intelligent, frail, hopelessly self-conscious, and completely besotted with his teacher, Miss Geraldine Titley (Samantha Janus in the 1997 pilot, Amanda Holden in three series that followed beginning in 1999). What makes the series work so well is that his crush is played sincerely rather than just for cheap laughs. Geraldine is warm, lively and genuinely kind, which makes Gordon’s obsession oddly touching. Unfortunately for him, she’s dating the monstrously unpleasant PE teacher Doug Digby (Jack Dee in the pilot, Brian Conley in the series), whose sadistic treatment of Gordon becomes one of the show’s running battles. Doug is exactly the kind of swaggering bully you love to hate, and Gordon’s utter disbelief that Geraldine could see anything in him is consistently funny.

Around Gordon sits a brilliantly dysfunctional family. Baz Grimley (Nigel Planer), a bone-idle British Leyland car worker, who injured his back on his first day at the Longbridge plant, went on strike on the second and is now welded to his armchair, is a wonderfully cynical creation — the sort of layabout who somehow convinces himself he’s making a political stand while his exhausted wife Janet (Jan Ravens) keeps everything afloat. The tangled relationships involving Big Reg Titley (Paul Angelis) being Gordon’s real father, while Reg’s son, Shane (Simon Lowe) dates Gordon’s sister Lisa (Corrieann Fletcher), adds an extra layer of soap-opera absurdity to the comedy.

The cast are excellent across the board, but Noddy Holder, the former front man of 70s pop group Slade, deserves special mention as teacher Neville Holder (Noddy’s own real name). It’s inspired casting. He brings real warmth and comic timing to a character who could easily have faded into the background, and the later series wisely gives him more to do.

What’s surprising is how much emotional depth the show develops as it goes on. Geraldine’s accident and coma at the end of the second series could have felt melodramatic, but instead it pushes the characters into new territory. By the third series, after Doug’s death and Gordon’s return to the school as a trainee teacher, where he is bullied and insulted by the pupils, many of whom, including his brother, Darren (Ryan Cartwright), are dressed as punks, the comedy becomes more bittersweet. Geraldine’s transformation into a more confident and sexually liberated woman is handled with far more maturity than you might expect from a sitcom of the era.

The arrival of scheming woodwork teacher Dave Trebilcock (Craig Kelly) gives Gordon yet another romantic rival, and once again the poor lad finds himself agonisingly close to happiness before it slips away. That combination of hope, humiliation and persistence is really what defines Gordon as a character, and why the audience roots for him so strongly.

One of the smartest things about the series is how vividly it recreates the 1970s without constantly shouting about it. The clothes, the attitudes, the school environment, the industrial gloom of the Midlands — it all feels lived in rather than forced. The narration from Gordon or Darren neatly frames each episode and, along with a soundtrack that includes songs from such acts as T.Rex, Alvin Stardust, Suzi Quattro, 10CC and Pilot, gives the show a warm nostalgic tone.

The scripts by Jed Mercurio are sharp, packed with quotable lines, and capable of switching from crude humour to genuine poignancy without missing a beat. It’s cynical in places, affectionate in others, and consistently funny throughout.

In the end, The Grimleys was one of those rare things: an ITV comedy with real class. Warm, witty, superbly acted and dripping with atmosphere, it remains a wonderfully observed portrait of 1970s Britain and deserves to be remembered far more often than it is.