Father, Dear Father
Father, Dear Father is a British television sitcom produced by Thames Television for ITV from 1968 to 1973 starring Patrick Cargill. It was subsequently made into a spin-off film of the same title released in 1973.
An Australian sequel series of the same name followed in 1978.
Premise
The original series focused on divorced British novelist Patrick Glover and his daughters, Karen and Anna, a couple of lively girls in their teens. The family lives in Hampstead, London. Another member of the household is the girls' Nanny. As well as having to deal with his progeny, Patrick also faces frequent hassles with his ex-wife Barbara and her current husband Bill Mossman. There is also his brother Philip, his mother, his agent Georgie Thompson, his publisher Ian Smyth and his pet St. Bernard dog 'H. G. Wells'. At the end of the sixth series Anna marries Tim Tanner, who then became a regular in the last series.Australian version
A few years after Karen and Anna have married and left home, Patrick decides to go to Australia to do some research for a book he is writing and takes Nanny along. He intends to stay with his brother Jeffrey, but Jeffrey unexpectedly has to travel to London for 6 months in connection with his work. Jeffrey comments that he is worried about leaving his daughters, Liz and Sue, to fend for themselves while he is away and asks if Patrick and Nanny can look after them, and Patrick begrudgingly agrees. Liz and Sue had been looking forward to being free of adult supervision while their father was away, so they're initially unimpressed with the idea. 'H.G.Wells' was replaced by two new St.Bernards, a dog named G.K. and a bitch named 'A.C.'. Wallas Eaton appears in two episodes of the second series as Patrick's Australian publisher, Sam Winterton.Two 7-episode series were made by Lyle McCabe Productions in association with the Seven Network; like the original, they were produced and directed by William G. Stewart. Gordon Franks' original title music was also re-used. Mortimer and Cooke wrote the first episode, "Once More With Feeling"; the rest of the episodes were written by writers such as Richard Waring and Donald Churchill.
DVD release
All seven series of Father, Dear Father have been released on DVD by Network, A 7-disc box-set of the complete series has also been released. Both series of the Australian Father, Dear Father series have been released in a 2 disc set by Umbrella Entertainment in Australia.| DVD | Release date |
| The Complete Series 1 | 15 January 2007 |
| The Complete Series 2 | 13 August 2007 |
| The Complete Series 3 | 22 October 2007 |
| The Complete Series 4 | 1 September 2008 |
| The Complete Series 5 | 8 June 2009 |
| The Complete Series 6 | 23 August 2010 |
| The Complete Series 7 The Complete Series 1 to 7 + Movie Box Set | 8 November 2010 |