Early doors how many series

The show centres on pub landlord Ken John Henshaw , especially his preoccupation with his daughter Melanie Christine Bottomley , and his nervous relationship with barmaid Tanya Susan Cook Read all The show centres on pub landlord Ken John Henshaw , especially his preoccupation with his daughter Melanie Christine Bottomley , and his nervous relationship with barmaid Tanya Susan Cookson.

Ken's wife left him for his best friend. The series reflects more than a little of t The series reflects more than a little of the Northern humour displayed in The Royle Family co-written by Cash. In a similar style Read all. Eddie : Ken, Ken er, Ken? Joan : Hello, Ken, notice anything different? Ken : Hello, Joan, Eddie.

Bloody hell you two look smart, what's the occasion? Tanya : It's their wedding anniversary, Ken. Ken : Is it? Well, congratulations.

Joan : 19 years today. Eddie : The great trainrobbers didn't get that eh, Ken eh? Ken : Has Oscar Wilde come in? Eddie : Ey, are you having that, Tommy? Tommy : I've heard it before Eddie, millions of times. Eddie : Righto, then. Ken : So, what's your secret then, Eddie? Eddie : Always be honest to each other, that's the first thing.

Eddie : And tell her you love her at least once a day. Ken : Oh, well, make your mind up Eddie, it's one or the other. Eddie : Ohm no, well, that's the secret. Tanya : Oh, I think it's lovely. So are you going anywhere nice? Joan : Just in here. We might stop for some chips on the way home. Joe : Bloody hell, Posh and Becks, eat your hearts out.

Joan : [laughs] What is he like? Tanya : Is that all your doing on your wedding anniversary then, Eddie, coming in here and then going for a bag of chips? Eddie : Well, there's nothing wrong with that. Tanya : It's hardly romantic, though, is it? Landlord Ken has been left by his wife for his best friend , but lives with his adopted daughter Melanie and mother Jean. The pub regulars were written and cast to perfection, each instantly believable: cheeky chappies Joe and Duffy, whose close friendship dates back to childhood; dull couple Joan and Eddie: the latter alarmingly knowledgeable about local traffic flow; Old Tommy, the typical grumpy, avaricious old soak; single mother Janice and Phil and Nige: indolent and crooked local Bobbies.

The big theme of series one was Melanie's search for her biological father, which allowed Henshaw to display genuine pathos as he wrestled with his conflicting emotions.

The second series concerned itself with whether the pub would be re-branded beyond recognition: displaying just how much this mini-community relied on the pub and each other. The gently paced yet sharp comedy revolved around such everyday pub occurrences as blocked urinals, drawing the football card and missing Maltesers. When Phil Mealey was asked this week why his early-Noughties sitcom Early Doors never quite achieved the audience numbers many critics felt it deserved, he shrugged for a moment.

This grim northern pub — the fictious Grapes in a fictious part of Stockport — is currently being recreated in arenas across the country. Almost 15 years after the last of its 12 episodes aired in a graveyard slot on BBC2, Early Doors — a show adored by commentators but watched by barely a million people — has been brought back as a most unlikely theatre show.

Not really. Rather, such success is absolutely what this pitch perfect comedy, once described as a cross between Coronation Street and Cheers, always deserved. The Beeb all but declined a third season in and one wonders if commissioners already felt it dated even then. The cast is entirely white, straight and northern, while a certain kind of male chauvinism — a delight at a strip club visit, for instance — is celebrated albeit mockingly in a way that feels out of place post MeToo.

Jokes about Jimmy Savile — made long before he was exposed as a paedophile but still alluding to such rumours — feel vaguely insidious. And yet, somehow, simultaneously, Early Doors is exquisitely timeless.

But the characters, from cleaner Winnie to corrupt bobbies Phil and Nige, remain as real and relevant as ever: lovable, fallible, happy enough but each one quietly nursing their own small-scale failures. Seeing them again, both on stage and in TV repeats, feels like meeting old friends.