George and Mildred (film)


George and Mildred is a 1980 British comedy film directed by Peter Frazer Jones. It was an adaptation of the television series of the same name, with Yootha Joyce and Brian Murphy reprising their roles as the two title characters. It was written by Dick Sharples.

Synopsis

Mildred is keen to ascertain whether or not her husband George has remembered their 27th wedding anniversary. Needless to say, he has not. When he finally remembers, he books a table at the restaurant where he first proposed to Mildred. But to his horror, he discovers on arrival that it has been turned into a greasy spoon café run by Hells Angels style bikers. Mildred then decides that she and George will celebrate their 27th wedding anniversary in style at the plush, world famous London hotel - however unhappy George might be at the cost involved. But on arrival, George is mistaken for a ruthless hit-man by a shady businessman, who wants a rival eliminated.

Reception

Released shortly after the death of star Yootha Joyce, the film was neither a commercial nor a critical success. One critic has described the film as "one of the worst films ever made in Britain... so strikingly bad, it seems to have been assembled with a genuine contempt for its audience." A writer for The Guardian stated that the film's failure marked "the death knell" for the 1970s British practice of producing motion picture spinoffs based on sitcoms. The film aired on television on Christmas Day 1980, only a couple of months after its theatrical release.

Cast