Never the Twain is a British sitcom that ran for eleven series from 1981 to 1991. It was created by Johnnie Mortimer

Johnnie Mortimer

Johnnie Mortimer was a British scriptwriter for television.He started out as a cartoonist, which brought him into contact with his writing partner Brian Cooke...

, and was the only sitcom he ever created without his usual writing partner, Brian Cooke

Brian Cooke

Brian Cooke is a British comedy writer who, along with co-writer Johnnie Mortimer wrote scripts for and devised many of the top TV sitcoms of the 1970s, including Man About the House, George and Mildred and Robin's Nest...

. Mortimer wrote the entirety of the first two series and four episodes out of six of the eighth, with the rest being mainly written by Vince Powell

Vince Powell

Vince Powell was a British television writer.Powell was born as Vincent Smith to Roman Catholic parents in Miles Platting, Manchester. When he was five, his mother died; two years later, his father remarried...

 (who, among others, wrote the whole of the last three series) and John Kane

John Kane (writer)

John Kane is an actor and writer.-Career:An associate actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company, he played Puck in Peter Brook's acclaimed production of A Midsummer Night's Dream alongside Ben Kingsley, Alan Howard and Frances de la Tour, before turning to comedy script writing...

.

It starred Windsor Davies

Windsor Davies

Windsor Davies is a British actor, well known for playing the part of Battery Sergeant Major Williams in the 1970s/1980s British sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum.-Early life and career:...

 and Donald Sinden

Donald Sinden

Sir Donald Alfred Sinden CBE is an English actor of theatre, film and television.-Personal life:Sinden was born in Plymouth, Devon, England, on 9 October 1923. The son of Alfred Edward Sinden and his wife Mabel Agnes , he grew up in the Sussex village of Ditchling, where their home doubled as the...

, with Robin Kermode (later replaced by Christopher Morris), Julia Watson (later replaced by Tacy Kneale), Honor Blackman

Honor Blackman

Honor Blackman is an English actress, known for the roles of Cathy Gale in The Avengers and Bond girl Pussy Galore in Goldfinger .-Early life:...

, Teddy Turner

Teddy Turner

Teddy Turner was a Yorkshire-born English actor and comedian who shot to fame as dustbin man, Chalky Whiteley in the top rated ITV1 soap opera, Coronation Street. In the late 1970s he played the part of Mrs...

, Derek Deadman

Derek Deadman

Derek Deadman is a British actor. He appeared as Rankin in two episodes of the RAF sitcom Get Some In! in 1975 and 1978. He played Ringo in 39 of the 66 episodes of the TV series Never the Twain between 1981 and 1991, and appeared as the barman of The Leaky Cauldron, Tom, in Harry Potter and the...

, Maria Charles

Maria Charles

Maria Charles is an English actress who carved a niche for herself on television playing clingy Jewish mothers. She appeared in the memorable Play for Today entry, "Bar Mitzvah Boy", and played Maureen Lipman's character's mother in the sitcom Agony...

 and Zara Nutley

Zara Nutley

Zara Nutley is a British television actress born in New Zealand, well-known for playing the role of Ms. Dolores Courtney, the college principal in the comedy series Mind Your Language and Aunt Eleanor in the comedy series Never the Twain. She also played the role of Mrs...

.

It was made 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....

 for the ITV

ITV

ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 network. Since it finished, it has been repeated a few times on satellite television: first on UK Gold and later on ITV3

ITV3

ITV3 is an entertainment television channel in the United Kingdom that is owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. The channel was launched on 1 November 2004. ITV3 is the second largest UK multi-channel, second only to ITV2.-History:...

.

The title is taken from the Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...

 poem; The Ballad of East and West

The Ballad of East and West

The Ballad of East and West is a poem by Rudyard Kipling. It was first published in 1889, and has been much collected and anthologised since. Its first line is often quoted, sometimes as an example of Kipling's attitudes to race and to the Empire; but those who quote it thus often completely miss...

.

Plot

Oliver Smallbridge (played by Davies) and Simon Peel (played by Sinden) are antiques dealers who are also bitter enemies (after a falling-out having been business partners) and next-door neighbours, both in their homes and shops. They are engaged in a continuous game of one-upmanship, so both of them are shocked when they find out that their respective children (Smallbridge's daughter Lyn - played by Watson and later Kneale - and Peel's son David - played by Kermode and later Morris) are in love and want to marry as soon as possible. The fathers are forced to reluctantly accept the relationship and marriage, which takes place at the end of the first series.

It is the impending marriage of Lyn and David and the early days of their marriage, alongside Oliver and Simon battling over the affection of middle-class widow Veronica Barton (played by Blackman), that provides the basis for the first two series (both written entirely by Mortimer). The third series features a failed attempt by Simon and Oliver to try to renew their business partnership.

After the third series Lyn and David move to Vancouver

Vancouver

Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

 in Canada, leaving the daily goings on at Simon and Oliver's shops and in their private lives as the main themes of the show. Other notable characters in the series are be Simon's butler Banks (played by Turner), a replacement for a foreign au-pair that Simon had requested; Ringo (played by Deadman), Oliver's idiotic assistant in his shop; and Mrs. Sadler (played by Charles), Oliver's clumsy cleaner, who has an annoying tendency to accidentally break things. Banks and Mrs. Sadler's amorous relationship provides humorous material in these series, with both of them marrying and leaving the show at the end of the seventh series. The fourth to seventh series were written by a group of writers, Powell and Me and My Girl

Me and My Girl (TV series)

Me and My Girl was a 1980s British television situation comedy starring Richard O'Sullivanwhich centred on the challenges faced by a widower raising his adolescent daughter. It was broadcast on ITV between 1984 and 1988.-Plot:...

co-creator Kane being the most prominent.

In the eighth series (mostly written again by Mortimer), Lyn and David return from Canada with their son (and Oliver's and Simon's grandson) Martin, who provides a new platform on which Simon and Oliver can develop their long-standing rivalry, fighting over who is the better grandfather. However, at the end of that series, Lyn, David and Martin move to a new flat in Friern Barnet

Friern Barnet

Friern Barnet is a place in the London Borough of Barnet. It is a suburban development situated north of Charing Cross. The centre of Friern Barnet is formed by the busy intersection of Colney Hatch Lane , Woodhouse Road and Friern Barnet Road .-History:Friern Barnet was an...

.

Simon and Oliver's daily personal and business lives are the primary focus of the final three series (all written in their entirety by Powell). In these series, another character (who had already made a one-off appearance in the fourth series) begins to appear regularly: Simon's Aunt Eleanor (played by Nutley, who had also appeared in Vince Powell's earlier sitcom Mind Your Language

Mind Your Language

Mind Your Language is a British comedy television series, that premiered on ITV in late 1977. Produced by LWT and directed by Stuart Allen, it is set in an adult education college in London and focuses on the English as a Foreign Language class taught by Mr. Jeremy Brown, portrayed by Barry Evans,...

), moves near Oliver and Simon.

Also appearing in some episodes of the series were Donald Sinden's sons Marc and Jeremy, while his wife Diana appeared in the last ever episode of the sitcom.

Series 1 (1981)

• 1.1. Families At War (September 7, 1981)
• 1.2. Of Meissen Men (September 14, 1981)
• 1.3. A Night At The Opera (September 21, 1981)
• 1.4. A Matched Pair (September 28, 1981)
• 1.5. Nothing But The Truth (October 5, 1981)
• 1.6. Father Of The Groom (October 19, 1981)

Series 2 (1982)

• 2.1. Who's Been Sleeping In My Bed? (September 7, 1982)
• 2.2. As Young As You Feel (September 14, 1982)
• 2.3. A Woman's Place ... (September 21, 1982)
• 2.4. Blood Brothers (September 28, 1982)
• 2.5. lf You Knew Susan (October 5, 1982)
• 2.6. The More We Are Together (October 12, 1982)

Series 3 (1983)

• 3.1. Taking Stock (October 10, 1983)
• 3.2. Partners (October 17, 1983)
• 3.3. A Nose For Quality (October 24, 1983)
• 3.4. The End Of The Line (October 31, 1983)
• 3.5. The Welsh Connection (November 7, 1983)
• 3.6. Not On The Same Wavelength (November 14, 1983)

Series 4 (1984)

• 4.1. A Home Of Your Own (November 8, 1984)
• 4.2. The Royal Connection (November 15, 1984)
• 4.3. Words And Music (November 22, 1984)
• 4.4. No Flame Like An Old Flame (November 29, 1984)
• 4.5. Love's Neighbours Lost (December 6, 1984)
• 4.6. Come Fly With Me (December 13, 1984)

Series 5 (1986)

• 5.1. In Whom We Tryst (January 8, 1986)
• 5.2. Going, Going, Gone (January 15, 1986)
• 5.3. Thicker Than Water (January 22, 1986)
• 5.4. Kung Who (January 29, 1986)
• 5.5. Reading Between The Lines (February 5, 1986)
• 5.6. Definitely Not Cricket (February 12, 1986)

Series 6 (1987)

• 6.1. Feed A Cold (January 15, 1987)
• 6.2. Going To Pot (January 22, 1987)
• 6.3. Love ls A Many Splendoured Thing (January 29, 1987)
• 6.4. A Night To Remember (February 5, 1987)
• 6.5. The Battle Of Deveraux Dale (February 12, 1987)
• 6.6. Affairs Of The Heart (February 19, 1987)

Series 7 (1988)

• 7.1. Settled Out Of Court (January 27, 1988)
• 7.2. The Wagers Of Sin (February 3, 1988)
• 7.3. Betrothed, Bothered And Bewildered (February 10, 1988)
• 7.4. The Second Time Around (February 17, 1988)
• 7.5. Born To Blush Unseen (February 24, 1988)
• 7.6. Fasten Your Seat Belts (March 2, 1988)

Series 8 (1988)

• 8.1. Grandfathers-in-Law (October 24, 1988)
• 8.2. Nursery Times (October 31, 1988)
• 8.3. Whose Baby? (November 7, 1988)
• 8.4. Never Say Die (November 14, 1988)
• 8.5. Moving On (November 21, 1988)
• 8.6. It's A Long Way To Friern Barnet (November 28, 1988)

Series 9 (1989)

• 9.1. Just The Ticket (September 6, 1989)
• 9.2. A Point Of Honour (September 13, 1989)
• 9.3. A New Lease Of Life (September 20, 1989)
• 9.4. Aspects Of Love (September 27, 1989)
• 9.5. Neighbours (October 4, 1989)
• 9.6. Bonjour Paris (October 11, 1989)

Series 10 (1990)

• 10.1. X Marks The Spot (September 5, 1990)
• 10.2. S.W.A.L.K. (September 12, 1990)
• 10.3. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? (September 19, 1990)
• 10.4. Happy Holiday (September 26, 1990)
• 10.5. There But For The Grace Of God (October 3, 1990)
• 10.6. A Car By Any Other Name (October 10, 1990)

Series 11 (1991)

• 11.1. Viva Espana (September 4, 1991)
• 11.2. The Best Laid Plans (September 11, 1991)
• 11.3. Born Again (September 18, 1991)
• 11.4. There Goes The Bride (September 25, 1991)
• 11.5. Two Fools And Their Money (October 2, 1991)
• 11.6. The First Of The Queue (October 9, 1991)

DVD release

The complete first series was released on DVD in June 2001, by Clear Vision and no other series were released. It was announced that a different company will release a DVD featuring the first two series, it was released in September 2010.

DVD Title		Discs	Year	Episodes	DVD release
					Region 2 DVD region code DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...
	Complete Series 1	1	1981 1981 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1981.-Events:*5 January – The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the television version of Douglas Adams' radio comedy of the same name debuts on BBC2....	6	4 June 2001
	Complete Series 1 and 2	2	1981 1981 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1981.-Events:*5 January – The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the television version of Douglas Adams' radio comedy of the same name debuts on BBC2.... –1982 1982 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1982.-Events:* 1 January – Central Independent Television starts broadcasting in the English Midlands, replacing ATV...	12	6 September 2010
	Complete Series 3 and 4	2	1983 1983 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1983.-Events:*3 January – Children's ITV premieres on ITV in the UK. *17 January – Breakfast Time, Britain's first breakfast show, launches on BBC1.... –1984 1984 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1984.-Events:*4 January – Patricia Phoenix leaves Coronation Street for the second and final time as Elsie Tanner goes to live with old flame Bill Gregory in Portugal....	12	TBA 2012

Locations

The outside locations for the two antique shops were filmed in Hersham, Surrey on the site of a restaurant.

http://www.thediningroom.co.uk/html/backpg.html