Dear Mother...Love Albert later retitled Albert! was a successful British sitcom

Situation comedy

A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...

 broadcast between September 1969 and June 1972. It was created by and starred Rodney Bewes

Rodney Bewes

Rodney Bewes is an English television actor and writer who is best known for playing Bob Ferris in the BBC television sitcom The Likely Lads and its colour sequel Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? , and in the various radio series based on them , and in the big screen film The Likely Lads...

. Bewes co-wrote and produced the series with Derrick Goodwin. The show proved popular and regularly made the TV ratings top ten throughout its three year run.

The theme song was sung by Bewes, co-written by Mike Hugg

Mike Hugg

Mike Hugg is a professional musician and a founding member of the 1960s group Manfred Mann.-Biography:...

. Hugg had also encouraged Bewes to sing the theme to his previous sitcom The Likely Lads

The Likely Lads

The Likely Lads was a black-and-white British sitcom created and written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, and produced by Dick Clement. Twenty episodes were broadcast by the BBC, in three series, between 16 December 1964 and 23 July 1966...

, but Bewes recalls "I think I drank a bottle of port

Port wine

Port wine is a Portuguese fortified wine produced exclusively in the Douro Valley in the northern provinces of Portugal. It is typically a sweet, red wine, often served as a dessert wine, and comes in dry, semi-dry, and white varieties...

 in the end, but I couldn't get it".

There were 26 episodes, including the three Christmas specials, all three broadcast as part of All Star Comedy Carnival. The fourth and final series was broadcast as a sequel entitled Albert!, which ran for a further series of seven episodes. Series 1 was produced by Thames Television

Thames Television

Thames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992....

. The subsequent colour series 2-4 were produced by Yorkshire Television

Yorkshire Television

Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network...

. The first series and the three Christmas specials are all currently missing and believed to have been wiped.

Plot

Albert Courtney (Rodney Bewes) leaves his home in the North of England to live in London. He writes home to his mother, grossly exaggerating the events that have happened to him. Albert finds work in a confectionery

Confectionery

Confectionery is the set of food items that are rich in sugar, any one or type of which is called a confection. Modern usage may include substances rich in artificial sweeteners as well...

 company, moves into a flat he shares with two young ladies and becomes engaged to Doreen Bissel (Liz Gebhardt), however during the fourth and final series albert later loses his job and Doreen (then played by Cheryl Hall) later dumps him, however he still continues his attempts of survival in London.

Regular Cast

• Rodney Bewes
  Rodney Bewes
  Rodney Bewes is an English television actor and writer who is best known for playing Bob Ferris in the BBC television sitcom The Likely Lads and its colour sequel Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? , and in the various radio series based on them , and in the big screen film The Likely Lads...
  
   - Albert Courtnay
• Garfield Morgan
  Garfield Morgan
  Garfield Morgan was an English actor who appeared mostly on TV and occasionally in films.Born in Birmingham, Morgan was apprenticed as a dental mechanic before going to drama school. He started his acting career with the Arena Theatre, Birmingham...
  
   - A C Strain
• Sheila White
  Sheila White (actress)
  Sheila White is an English actress and West End musical star. She is married to the former theatre producer Richard M. Mills and lives in Kingston, Surrey.- Early life and career :White was born in London...
  
   - Vivian McKewan (series 1 & 2)
• Geraldine Newman
  Geraldine Newman
  Geraldine Newman is an English film and television actress who has acted in more than 30 television programmes and films.Her most notable television performance was on the sitcom Ever Decreasing Circles.-Biography:...
  
   - Mrs McKewan (series 1 & 2)
• Liz Gebhardt
  Liz Gebhardt
  Liz Gebhardt was an English actress, best known for playing the part of form 5C student Maureen Bullock in the LWT sitcom Please Sir! and in the subsequent spin-off show, The Fenn Street Gang ....
  
   - Doreen Bissel (series 3)
• Mary Land - Frankie (series 3)
• Luan Peters
  Luan Peters
  Luan Peters , also known as Karol Keyes, is an English actress.Born as Carol Hirsch, she made her stage debut in a pantomime aged four, then went on to win a drama scholarship at aged 16 after a performance of Twelfth Night...
  
   - Lesley (series 3)
• Amelia Bayntun - Ada Bissel (series 3)
• Cheryl Hall
  Cheryl Hall
  Cheryl Hall is a British actress.She is best known for playing the role of Shirley, the girlfriend of Wolfie Smith in the British sitcom Citizen Smith....
  
  - Doreen Bissel (series 4)

Series 1 (1969)

• The Interview (Missing Episode)
• Merely A Formality (Missing Episode)
• In the Field (Missing Episode)
• Knight of the Road (Missing Episode)
• The Good Samaritan (Missing Episode)
• A Commercial Break (Missing Episode)

All Star Comedy Carnival -Christmas Special, Broadcast December 25, 1969 (Missing Episode)

Series 2 (1970)

• Love Is A Many Splendoured Thing
• All The World's A Stage
• Hearts And Flowers
• The Deligate
• I'm Going To Be A Father
• Major Ab Adversis
• All Mod Cons

All Star Comedy Carnival -Christmas Special, Broadcast December 25, 1970 (Missing Episode)

Series 3 (1971)

• A Ring On Her Finger
• The Compulsive Gambler
• Raquel
• De Profundis
• Hold Up, It's A Hand Up
• Lost Weekend

All Star Comedy Carnival- Christmas Special, Broadcast December 25, 1971 (Missing Episode)

Series 4 (1972)

• Hair
• Ghost Train
• Trouble At T'Mill
• Blood Brothers
• Hit Pot!
• If He'd Meant Us To Fly
• Brave New World

DVD release

The first series (produced in B&W by Thames) including the three Christmas specials no longer exist.

However a 3-Disc set containing the subsequent colour series 2-4 (produced in Colour by Yorkshire Television) & broadcast 1970-72 was made available on 14 June 2010.

NOTE: The third series (1971) is actually in black and white. The DVD notes claim that no colour version of this series ever existed; the series was filmed in black and white because of a contemporary strike.

External links

• Dear Mother...Love Albert at Nostalgia Central
• Dear Mother...Love Albert at lostshows.com