Shows that survived... or didn't

[gatchamandave]

Absolutely. Mark McManus died in 1994! (Didn't realise it was so long ago)
The series carried on until 2010.
That's 11 years with the title character, 16 without.


And I don't recall ever watching a single episode. Was there even a classic episode? It just seemed to be for 25 years.

Och aye. There was that wan where folk got sent spiders through the post, and that wan wi' Alan Cumming getting his erse oot, and that sketch wi' Rikki Fulton, and the out take where Mark McManus near set himsel' on fire wi' a dodgy lighter.

Other than that, nut.

[Famous Mortimer]

Chaplin certainly but Enfield? He was very uncomfortable in the role and had zero chemistry with Clunes. With Tony and Gary, you actually believe they're mates.

My only memory of the Enfield series is the credits where he rinsed his razor in the kitchen sink, a visual I found hilarious, but it definitely blossomed when Morrissey was brought in.

I like shows that maje fun of their recasting though - "Roseanne" and "Til Death" spring to mind.

[Jockice]

Bread wasn't exactly great anyway, but when it brought in new actors to play Joey and Aveline in Series 5 the family seemed a lot less likeable and it tipped the balance (for me) from "vaguely enjoyable" to "not worth watching".

My mum actually stopped watching it because she didn't like the new Joey. I didn't get that at all. Mind you, I always thought it was shit

But on the subject of Carla Lane, weren't there several different Liver Birds sharing the billing with Nerys Hughes?

[Andy147]

My mum actually stopped watching it because she didn't like the new Joey. I didn't get that at all. Mind you, I always thought it was shit

But on the subject of Carla Lane, weren't there several different Liver Birds sharing the billing with Nerys Hughes?

Polly James for the first 4 series (and the revival), Elizabeth Estensen for the rest. Though it was Pauline Collins rather than Nerys Hughes in the first series.

I thought that Joey as played by Peter Howitt came across as a likeable cheeky-chappie type (a la Karl Howman in Brush Strokes), whereas as played by Graham Bickley he just seemed rather unpleasant and aggressive, helping to persuade me that I could be doing a lot better things with my time than watch Bread...