Release CalendarDVD & Blu-ray ReleasesTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsIn TheatersComing SoonMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV NewsIndia TV Spotlight
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsBest Picture WinnersBest Picture WinnersEmmysLGBTQ+ Pride MonthSTARmeter AwardsSan Diego Comic-ConNew York Comic-ConSundance Film FestivalToronto Int'l Film FestivalAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

The Ups and Downs of a Handyman

  • 19751975
  • RR
  • 1h 40m
IMDb RATING
4.3/10
242
YOUR RATING
The Ups and Downs of a Handyman (1975)
  • Comedy
The sexually frustrated women of Sodding Chipbury lead a humdrum existence, until Bob, the handsome new handyman, arrives in their picturesque village.The sexually frustrated women of Sodding Chipbury lead a humdrum existence, until Bob, the handsome new handyman, arrives in their picturesque village.The sexually frustrated women of Sodding Chipbury lead a humdrum existence, until Bob, the handsome new handyman, arrives in their picturesque village.
IMDb RATING
4.3/10
242
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • John Sealey
  • Writers
    • Derrick Slater(screenplay)
    • John Sealey(original idea)
  • Stars
    • Barry Stokes
    • Gay Soper
    • Sue Lloyd
Top credits
  • Director
    • John Sealey
  • Writers
    • Derrick Slater(screenplay)
    • John Sealey(original idea)
  • Stars
    • Barry Stokes
    • Gay Soper
    • Sue Lloyd
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 13User reviews
    • 2Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    Trailer
    Trailer 1:43
    Trailer

    Photos15

    The Ups and Downs of a Handyman (1975)
    The Ups and Downs of a Handyman (1975)
    Sue Lloyd, Chic Murray, and Barry Stokes in The Ups and Downs of a Handyman (1975)
    Gay Soper in The Ups and Downs of a Handyman (1975)
    Helli Louise and Barry Stokes in The Ups and Downs of a Handyman (1975)
    Harold Bennett and Valerie Leon in The Ups and Downs of a Handyman (1975)
    Alexandra Dane and Helli Louise in The Ups and Downs of a Handyman (1975)
    Alexandra Dane and Barry Stokes in The Ups and Downs of a Handyman (1975)
    Barry Stokes in The Ups and Downs of a Handyman (1975)
    The Ups and Downs of a Handyman (1975)
    The Ups and Downs of a Handyman (1975)
    The Ups and Downs of a Handyman (1975)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Barry Stokes
    Barry Stokes
    • Bobas Bob
    Gay Soper
    Gay Soper
    • Maisieas Maisie
    Sue Lloyd
    Sue Lloyd
    • The Blondeas The Blonde
    Bob Todd
    Bob Todd
    • Squire Bullsworthyas Squire Bullsworthy
    Chic Murray
    • P. C. Knowlesas P. C. Knowles
    Robert Dorning
    • Newsagentas Newsagent
    Valerie Leon
    Valerie Leon
    • Redheadas Redhead
    Penny Meredith
    • Margarettaas Margaretta
    Helli Louise
    • Newsagent's Daughteras Newsagent's Daughter
    John Blythe
    John Blythe
    • Farmer Elginas Farmer Elgin
    Harold Bennett
    Harold Bennett
    • Gasperas Gasper
    Julia Bond
    • Pollyas Polly
    • (as Julie Bond)
    Jeannie Collings
    • Mrs Wainas Mrs Wain
    Alexandra Dane
    • Mrs Knowlesas Mrs Knowles
    Ava Cadell
    Ava Cadell
    • Schoolgirlas Schoolgirl
    Pauline Letts
    • Motheras Mother
    Nita Lorraine
    • Jenny Elginas Jenny Elgin
    Olivia Syson
    • Mrs. Bullsworthyas Mrs. Bullsworthy
    • Director
      • John Sealey
    • Writers
      • Derrick Slater(screenplay)
      • John Sealey(original idea) (screenplay)
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

    More like this

    Confessions of a Pop Performer
    4.2
    Confessions of a Pop Performer
    Confessions of a Driving Instructor
    4.3
    Confessions of a Driving Instructor
    Can You Keep It Up for a Week?
    4.4
    Can You Keep It Up for a Week?
    The Love Factor
    3.8
    The Love Factor
    The Man Who Had Power Over Women
    5.5
    The Man Who Had Power Over Women
    Confessions from a Holiday Camp
    4.2
    Confessions from a Holiday Camp
    Keep It Up Downstairs
    3.9
    Keep It Up Downstairs
    A Promise of Bed
    4.8
    A Promise of Bed
    Naughty Wives
    4.5
    Naughty Wives
    Confessions of a Window Cleaner
    4.5
    Confessions of a Window Cleaner
    Queen Kong
    3.2
    Queen Kong
    Spaced Out
    4.5
    Spaced Out

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      It was intended to be the first of a series, but the idea was dropped. The sequel would have been called "Ups and Downs of a Soccer Star", and was to star Julie Lee, with a script by John Sealey and Ken Follett
    • Goofs
      In the last shot of the bathroom sequence a crew member's hand can be briefly seen touching actress Mrs Wain's backside, directing her to move out of the way of the camera.
    • Alternate versions
      For the original UK cinema release, cuts were made to the opening sex scene between Bob and Margaretta. The same print was then cut by a further 1 min 17 secs for video with additional edits to a sex scene in a bathtub. The 2009 Odeon DVD features the original cinema version.
    • Connections
      Featured in Twisted Sex Vol. 19 (1998)
    • Soundtracks
      The Ups and Downs of a Handyman
      Music and Lyrics by Vic Elms

      Theme song sung by Barry Stokes

    User reviews13

    Review
    Top review
    Confessions of an Odd-Job Man
    Forget all those Confessions films if future generations ever need to know what a British sex comedy was look no further than The Ups and Downs of a Handyman. Every cliché home grown smut will be remembered/reviled for gets an airing in this world of 'comically' speeded up sex scenes, music hall derived farce, randy heroes, horny housewives, lower than lowbrow humour and Bob Todd. These days you're either likely to find it entertaining, embarrassing, cringe-worthy or somewhere in-between the three.

    Double-entendres feature heavily in Derrick Slater's screenplay and John Sealey's 'final screenplay' even before the opening credits the film exhausts every sexual pun in the book- ('Aren't you up yet', 'Keep him at it', 'Are you under him already'). The subsequent plot as if quotes like those and the title doesn't tell you everything you need to know, finds newlyweds Bob and Maisie relocating from the hustle and bustle of the big city to an inherited cottage in a 'quiet' Surrey village. While the cottage is a blessing for the cash strapped couple Bob finds work hard to come by and turns his hand to being the village odd-job man. A mistake in the advertisement Bob places in the window of a newsagent gives the impression to many a frustrated housewife that Bob's offering a very different kind of 'service'. Cue much misunderstanding as Bob comes knocking on their doors looking to fix a bed or a bath only to be practically raped by his customers. Soon the subject of 'exhausting' the handyman becomes the most hotly talked about gossip at ladies lunches (an alternative title was 'The Happy Housewives'). Their husbands remain, of course, blissfully unaware of whats going on behind their backs, simply because they're too busy with their own little kinky pastimes, there's Arthur the newsagent whose a nudie-photographer on the quiet, Mr.Wain the secret transvestite, the butcher who has a taste for flagellation, and most perverse Bob Todd's bottom fixated Squire who goes out 'hunting' for women to spank and chase around. The Handyman's nemesis is Fred the bungling policeman who for no particular reason makes it his mission to drive Bob out of town, but whose attempts to find incriminating evidence (i.e. catching Bob behaving like a rabbit) usually ends with him falling off his bike or getting caught on fences. (Pete Walker's 'comedy' School for Sex uses a similar clumsy copper running gag with even more dire results). Things go from bad to worse when Maisie, worrying that her husband has been overdoing it at work, hires a senior citizen stand-in to do the handyman jobs, leading to charges of 'false pretences' from the women and angry fist-waiving from their husbands- still in the dark about the sort of work Bob's been up to that his old geezer replacement can't provide. But there is no problem that can't be resolved by that old Benny Hill mainstay the speeded up foot chase, as poor Bob gets pursued across Surrey by the housewives inevitably leading to women's clothes accidentally falling off and the policeman and Bob Todd being pushed into a pool ad-infinitum. With equal groans from the film's one-liners as there are from its handyman hero, on the whole this is a fairly pleasant but minor piece of soft-core slapstick. Although its hard to completely dislike a film that subscribes to the idea that everyone in Surrey is a raving pervert, and no director that assaults an audience with the sight of Bob Todd naked in the shower save a bowler hat spanking a woman about 20 years his junior could be accused of good taste either. Among the women hoping the handyman's brought the right tool are Valerie Leon (wasted in a brief, non-sex role) and Alexandra Dane of 'Corruption' and 'Not on Your Nellie' as the policeman's wife who makes a grab for Bob's crotch only to end up covered in paint. Speaking of Danes, special mention should also go to Copenhagen's own Helli Louise Jacobson- a petite, dark-eyed, actress who plays the newsagent's naughty daughter and features in the bathtub scene- the cleanest and the dirtiest moment in the film. What attributes made Helli so popular among hard and soft-core pornographers (not to mention Benny Hill and The Goodies)? Let's just say she wasn't petite in all departments.

    For the ladies, there's strapping Barry Stokes and Surrey's housewife's favourite 1975 had some odd-jobs in his own career as well, from a part in the original incarnation of Crossroads to the ultra-obscure Iberian horror The Corruption of Chris Miller (La Corruption de Chris Miller, 1972). But by far the most memorable Stokes appearance must be in a little film Norman J Warren made called Prey where he played a rat faced, cannibalistic alien terrorizing a pair of lesbians with throat biting, entrail yanking results (The Ups and Downs of a Handyman and Prey would certainly make a curious double-bill). Strangely this film's initial tape releases, retitled in order to bamboozle late-80's viewers into thinking it was part of the Confessions series went unscathed by the British censor, but when submitted under its real name in 1998 and 1999 suffered 1 minute and 17 seconds of cuts. Having seen neither of these recent releases (on the Cinema Club and Arrow labels respectably) what the censors found so offensive twenty or so years after the fact remains a mystery, was the sight of Bob Todd chasing dollies and indulging in 'le vice anglaise' judged likely to deprave and corrupt? the mind boggles. Oh and if anyone out there decides that the world needs a CD compilation of Themes from British Sex films, along with title tracks from The Sexplorer and The Playbirds I'd nominate the particularly gruesome ditty that opens this film. Sung by Mr Stokes himself 'The Ups and Downs of a Handyman, living my life the best I can… up and down all over town, I can make ya smile, I can make ya frown'- it still sends shivers down my spine.
    helpful•9
    0
    • gavcrimson
    • Dec 9, 2001

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • November 1976 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United Kingdom
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Confessions of a Handyman
    • Filming locations
      • Surrey, England, UK
    • Production company
      • K.F.R. Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 40 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono

    Related news

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    The Ups and Downs of a Handyman (1975)
    Top Gap
    By what name was The Ups and Downs of a Handyman (1975) officially released in Canada in English?
    Answer
    • See more gaps
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    View list
    List
    2022 TV Guide: The Best Shows Coming This Year
    See the full list
    View list
    List
    The Best Movies and Shows to Watch in June
    See the full list

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    • Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • IMDb Developer
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Interest-Based Ads
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2022 by IMDb.com, Inc.