Goodnight Sweetheart : Series 5

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Review by David Woodward

Goodnight Sweetheart was one of my favourite UK sitcom series.  It originally ran for 58 episodes over six series between 1993 and 1999.

Nicholas Lyndhurst starred as Gary Sparrow, a time traveller who travels through a time portal between 1990s London and World War II London.  Lyndhurst had previously gained fame playing Rodney Trotter in another iconic UK sitcom Only Fools and Horses (1981 1996).

The premise of the show was a novel attempt to explore Gary Sparrow in ‘fish-out-of-water’ situations meeting famous people from wartime Britain (such as Winston Churchill) or using his modern-day knowledge of both eras to his advantage. 

His most comic moments often revolved around him singing Elton John or Beatles songs in a WWII pub and claiming that he ‘wrote’ them.

The show’s premise was often stretched to the limit.

Highlights for me were episodes when Gary split into multiple versions of himself, or when he met his grown-up wartime son in the present day, or the dream sequences when his wives from the two eras (Phoebe and Yvonne) meet each other.

Series 5 comprised 10 episodes that screened in 1998.  By this stage of the show’s run, two of Lynhurst’s co-stars had left with Dervla (Ballykissangel) Kirwan being replaced by Liz Carling, and Michelle Holmes replaced by Emma Amos. 

Not that this was a bad thing as both new actresses brought a fresh take to their characters, Phoebe and Yvonne.

Most episodes of Goodnight Sweetheart were named after popular song titles.  The Series 5 episodes were -

• A Room With A View (when Gary Sparrow meets Noel Coward)

• London Pride (when Gary wonders whether he should leave Yvonne and live in WWII with Phoebe)

• When Two Worlds Collide (an inventive episode which brings the two female leads together for the first time)

• Mairzy Dotes (another quirky episode which follows directly on from the last with the two eras crossing over)

• Pennies From Heaven (when Gary’s modern-day mate gets arrested for forgery after printing wartime fivers)

• We Don’t Want To Lose You (which stretches the premise of the show by placing Gary in wartime France using some well built WWII sets)

• But We Think You’ll Have To Go (a continuation of the previous episode effectively making an hour version of the show)

• Have You Ever Seen A Dream Walking? (featuring inventive cross-over sequences, including a great cameo of Rolf Harris criticising Gary’s claim of having written 'Two Little Boys')

• Love The One You’re With (when Gary visits a friend from the wartime era in the 1990's, but the friend can't remember him)

• My Heart Belongs To Daddy (perhaps the second best and most emotional episode of the whole series!)

Goodnight Sweetheart was a novel TV show.  I can guarantee that watching Series 5 will make you want to buy the previous episodes on DVD just to see how it all started.

DVD Special Features

Nil, which is a bit of a pity as the DVDs for each season of the R2 version of Goodnight Sweetheart include audio commentaries and interviews with the various stars of the show.

Conclusion: Movie 90% Extras: N/A