Thursday 6 October 2022 09:01 AM CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews last night's TV trends now
Ralph And Katie
Rating: ****
Head On: Rugby, Dementia And Me
Rating: ****
Thursday evenings round the box in the 1970s were a time of family division and healing.
First on BBC1 came Top Of The Pops, sure to provoke much harrumphing: ‘Turn that racket down! Call that music?’ and the perennial favourite, ‘Is that a man or a woman?’ But then, at 7.40pm, we had Happy Ever After — a sitcom so soothing, it restored a smile for all ages.
Terry Scott and June Whitfield were a stereotypical suburban couple, rubbing along through all life’s niggles. He had a succession of daft ideas, she wrung her apron in frustration, but their abiding fondness for each other always won through — proof even against interfering relatives and nosy neighbours.
Ralph And Katie (BBC1), a spin-off from the Beeb’s much-loved autism drama The A-Word, is Happy Ever After for the 2020s.
The two have to present a united front when Ralph’s mum Louise (Pooky Quesnel) starts bossing them around — just as Terry and June had to manage loopy Aunt Lucy
The couple, who both have Down syndrome, live in a Lake District village where the multicultural landscape is as idyllic as the countryside. Ralph (Leon Harrop) is impulsive and prone to bouts of comical self-pity. His new bride Katie (Sarah Gordy) mostly ignores his little tantrums, though she knows how to reel in his excesses when he goes too far.
The two have to present a united front when Ralph’s mum Louise (Pooky Quesnel) starts bossing them around — just as Terry and June had to manage loopy Aunt Lucy. And Craig Cash (co-writer of The Royle Family) plays lonely but well-meaning Brian next-door.
By the time Terry and June signed off in 1987, alternative comedy was booming and their
