Mixed Blessings (British TV series)

Mixed Blessings
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Sid Green
Starring	Christopher Blake Muriel Odunton Joan Sanderson
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of series	3
No. of episodes	22
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Release
Original network	ITV
Original release	3 March 1978 – 7 June 1980

Mixed Blessings is a British sitcom produced by LWT for broadcast on the ITV network between 1978 and 1980, It was created by comedy-writer Sid Green and starred Christopher Blake and Muriel Odunton.

Premise and reception

The show starred Christopher Blake, (later of That's My Boy fame), and Muriel Odunton as newlyweds Thomas Simpson, who was white, and Susan Lambert, who was black. Most plots revolved around both families' disapproval of their inter-racial marriage.

According to a review on the BFI screenonline website, the series "was, superficially, more progressive" than earlier sitcoms centred on 'race' such as Curry and Chips (1969), Love Thy Neighbour (1972-76) and Mind Your Language (1977-79). While "the two main characters were sympathetically played... the series [itself] was critically undermined by presenting their relationship as a problem".^[1] The review also asserted: "While its set-up points to its integrationist intentions, one only has to look at the title to note the writer's own ambiguous feelings".^[2]

References

1. Mark Duguid "Race and the Sitcom", BFI screenonline
2. Ali Jaafar "Mixed Blessings (1978-80)", BFI screenonline

Cast

• Christopher Blake - Thomas Simpson
• Muriel Odunton - Susan Lambert
• George Waring - Edward Simpson
• Sylvia Kay - Annie Simpson
• Stefan Kalipha - William Lambert
• Carmen Munroe - Matilda Lambert
• Joan Sanderson - Aunt Dorothy
• Gregory Munroe - Winston Lambert
• Ernest Clark - Mr Huntley
• Pauline Delaney - Mrs Beasley

Episodes

Series 1

• Welcome To The Family (3 Mar 78)
• Your Place Or Mine? (10 Mar 78)
• You Haven't Got Much, Have You? (17 Mar 78)
• Jobs For The Boys (24 Mar 78)
• Happy Birthday, Dear Fathers (31 Mar 78)
• We're Only Trying To Help (7 Apr 78)
• The Housewarming (14 Apr 78)

Series 2

• A Leg From The Past (6 Oct 78)
• The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Unemployed (13 Oct 78)
• My Chap's Got Work (20 Oct 78)
• Thou Shalt Deny Me (27 Oct 78)
• Your Money Or Your Life (3 Nov 78)
• You're Going To Have A What!! (10 Nov 78)

Series 3

• Away From It All (12 Apr 80)
• Up In The World (19 Apr 80)
• The Anniversary (26 Apr 80)
• The Law And Mr Lambert (3 May 80)
• Goodbye Charlie (10 May 80)
• Your Turn For Grandad (17 May 80)
• Practice Makes Perfect (24 May 80)
• Survival (31 May 80)
• Onto Us A Child (7 Jun 80)

DVD Releases

DVD	Release date
The Complete Series 1	12 March 2012
The Complete Series 2	28 May 2012
The Complete Series 3	2 July 2012
The Complete Series 1 to 3 Box Set	TBA