That Beryl Marston...! (1981) User Reviews (4)

''Who's a dirty so and so?''

[Rabical-91 · 1/10 · 22 May 2018]

Three years before becoming a household name as Hester Fields in Thames' hit 'Fresh Fields', stage actress Julia McKenzie starred in this short lived Southern Television farce which had her cast put upon Georgie Bodley who runs a novelties shop in Brighton. The show was written by actress Jan Butlin, who had earlier wrote for 'The Benny Hill Show', sadly it happened to be one of the worst sitcoms ever to be shown on British TV.

Georgie is under the suspicion that her husband Gerry ( Gareth Hunt ) is having an affair. Indeed, her suspicions are well-founded. He is having an affair with the infamous Beryl Marston ( who is never seen apart from as a silhouette during the opening credits ).

Their son Phil, done in the form of breaking the fourth wall, tells the viewers of all that goes on between his bickering parents.

I do not think I so much as cracked a smile once at what little I saw of the show. It was just so banal as to beggar belief. Gareth Hunt died not long after while Jonathan Morris, who played Phil, later joined the cast of Carla Lane's 'Bread'.

Beryl The Peril!

[ShadeGrenade · 8/10 · 19 April 2010]

Sky's 'Film 24' channel is currently showing programmes from the Southern television archive, and this short-lived sitcom is amongst them. It was written by the late Jan Butlin, an actress whose credits include the B.B.C. series 'My Wife Next Door' and 'The Benny Hill Show'. She turned to writing in the early '60's, scoring a hit with 1978's 'Life Begins At Forty', a Derek Nimmo/Rosemary Leach vehicle about a middle-aged couple becoming parents.

'That Beryl Marston' is set in sunny Brighton. 'Georgie' ( Julia McKenzie ) and 'Gerry Bodley' ( the late Gareth Hunt ) run a curio shop near the seafront. They are successful in business but not in married life. They still live together, but the marriage has been blighted by Gerry's torrid affair with 'Beryl Marston', the local bike. Beryl is never actually seen, just glimpsed from time to time and her silhouette is in the opening credits. The Bodleys have two children: 'Jane' ( Jayne Stevens ) and 'Phil' ( Jonathan Morris, later to play 'Adrian' in Carla Lane's 'Bread' ) who addresses the audience, commenting on events a la Frankie Howerd in 'Up Pompeii!'.

Peter John played the Bodleys' gay friend 'Harvey'. He was in the very funny 'The Pink Medicine Show', a medically-themed sketch show written by and starring Rob Buckman and Chris Beetles.

'Marston' was amiable middle-of-the-road fluff. The opening theme song ( sung by McKenzie ) had caustic lyrics ( "See her everywhere you go, all her merchandise on show, who's a dirty so and so? That Beryl Marston!" ) by Fran Landesman, who also co-wrote the theme for another Southern sitcom - John Inman's 'Take A Letter Mr.Jones'.

Throughout the show, reconciliation looked to be on the cards for the Bodleys, but then the spectre of Beryl would rear its head and they would break apart. This was McKenzie's first sitcom since 'Maggie & Her' ( which I rather liked ) and would be her last until 'Fresh Fields'. Hunt had been in 'The New Avengers' only three years earlier, and must have hoped the show would pave the way for a new career in sitcom. It did not. When he died a few years ago, several papers reported insultingly that he was best remembered for his coffee adverts.

'Marston' was well received and a second series would have been made had not Southern lost its franchise in one of those complex power games that affects television but which the public seem to have no understanding of nor influence over. A pity as it made pleasant viewing. The sort of show best watched with a cup of tea and a packet of biscuits at hand.

A shame nobody seems to be called Beryl anymore.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 18 July 2018]

This six part family comedy is very much of it's time, it has all the eighties necessities, 2 parents, a boy and a girl, a next door neighbour popping in and out, plus a theme tune sung by the star of the show.

A shame it only lasted the one series as it is a very pleasant show. It does have quite a few laughs, most of them coming in the final part Noel oh hell.

McKenzie is delightful as Georgy, she's charming and likeable the whole way through. Gareth Hunt was well cast, Gerry's character isn't one I could warm to, so he fits in well as the bad guy.

Harvey, may seem over the top now, but I applaud the show for having a gay male character so open, in what would have been prime time family viewing, bold for 1981.

You won't belly laugh, but you'll find it hard not to enjoy. A shame it didn't carry on, but if it had, we may not have had Fresh Fields.

A thumbs up from me, 8/10

Cracking series

[marktayloruk · 8/10 · 29 September 2020]

I just wish it had lasted longer. Programme made me feel bit wistful for personal reasons. Later met Peter John and was told that Beryl the blonde was played by Cardew Robinson's daughter.