"Mother and Son" (1984) TV series 1984-1994

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Release Date:

16 January 1984 (Australia)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Arthur Beare is a 40 something son still living at home taking care of his senile mother Maggie. However...

Plot Keywords:

Mother | Son | Sitcom

Awards:

4 wins

Cast

Ruth Cracknell	...	Maggie Beare (42 episodes, 1984-1994)
Garry McDonald	...	Arthur Beare (42 episodes, 1984-1994)
Henri Szeps	...	Robert Beare (38 episodes, 1984-1994)
Judy Morris	...	Liz Beare (18 episodes, 1984-1994)

Runtime:

30 min (42 episodes)

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:G | Australia:PG (some episodes)

Filming Locations:

ABC TV Studios, Gore Hill, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Company:

Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)

Movie Connections:

Remade as "Glöm inte mamma!" (1998)

Within the stifling confines of genteel middle-class Australian suburbia, a selfish tyrannical widow bullies her neurotic and spineless stay-at-home son.

This is a well written series, whose potential seems to me to be almost completely ruined by its tone and its central performances. Could it have been the writer's intention to create such a depressing sitcom, and the director's intention to have it played out in such mournfully bland surroundings by such unsympathetic actors? As written, the characterisations are interesting, and the situations inventive, but there's a general lack of fun, or joy or even amusement (for me), because the lead characters give such depressing readings. The mother (Cracknell) is unrelentingly cold, bullying and negative, and the son (McDonald) is a constantly anxious and negative loser. There's almost no relief. Every now and then there's some cute or farcical business, and I suspend my overall feeling of how unpleasant and pathetic these people are. Occasionally the other son (Szeps) appears. He's an overly confident dentist, with one of the most annoying personalities ever broadcast (and not funny annoying, just annoying.) The series has been very successful.