Shortly after 'Up The Elephant & Round The Castle' ended after three series, the leading character of Jim London was back, this time in a new show - 'Home James' - which saw his life take a turn for the better when after his home at Railway Terrace is knocked down, he is taken under the wing of a successful businessman who employs him as a chauffeur. 'Home James' is less well remembered than 'Up The Elephant & Round The Castle' ( and even that is forgotten now! ) despite the fact it lasted fractionally longer, which is unfortunate as I think it is vastly superior.
The first episode opens with a sad looking Jim watching his home being turned into a pile of rubble. Worse to come, he loses his delivery job following an altercation with his boss. However, luck comes his way when as I said he is employed by rich businessman who in this case is Robert Palmer ( no, not the late singer responsible for 'Addicted To Love' ) as his chauffeur. He also gives Jim a place to live in his large house, where the rest of the cast include snooty butler Henry, cook and kitchen-maid Paula and general assistants Connie and Terry ( the latter who brain cells seem not to exist and the former whose master of the English language is none too hot ). Jim becomes good friends with Paula, Connie and Terry, as well as Palmer's gorgeous daughter Sarah. Henry initially does not like Jim, but soon grows fond of him and is even seen rushing to Jim for help when he is trouble.
The first two series were excellent. The early episodes would see Jim often rushing to the aid of his friends and colleagues, such as protecting Sarah from the advances of a brash businessman. Even Palmer is seen to go to Jim for help when his business is in trouble.
Sadly, Sherrie Hewson, Vannesa Knox Mawer, Cecilia Marie Carreon and Owen Whittaker left before the third series, so that was the end of Sarah, Connie, Terry and Paula, leaving only George Sewell and Harry Towb. The third series kicked off with Palmer facing bankruptcy after his business goes into liquidation. Though it was not without its moments, it wasn't as funny as before as one missed the interplay between Jim and the others. The fourth series was marginally better as it saw Palmer's business finding its feet again though still some of the spark was missing.
'Home James finished in 1990. Jim never did sitcom again after this. He instead moved on to front the popular snooker based game show 'Big Break'. All four series were repeated on UK Gold in the late '90's but it has never been made available officially. With Network DVD recently releasing its predecessor ( the Fremantle Media release having gone out of print ), hopefully 'Home James' wont be far away from surfacing.
