2point4 children

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2point4children
Image:2point4.jpg
Title sequence
Format Sitcom
Created by Andrew Marshall
Starring Gary Olsen
Belinda Lang
Clare Buckfield
Country of origin United Kingdom
No. of episodes 56
Production
Running time 30 min per average episode
Broadcast
Original channel BBC One
Original run 3 September 1991 – 30 December 1999
External links
IMDb profile

2point4 Children is a British sitcom that ran on BBC1 from 1991 to 1999. The title refers to the "average" size of a UK family, although Andrew Marshall, the writer, has indicated that character "Ben" could be considered almost another child, hence "point four".

Contents

[edit] Plot

On the surface the Porters seem like a normal, average family. Bill, the mother, a sensible level-headed character who cooks and does the housework, along with running a catering business with man-eating friend Rona. Ben, the father, a heating repairman that is the third child of the house. Jenny, a typical teenage girl who is keen in boys, music and vegetarianism; and David, the mischievous younger sibling. Yet the bizarre situations and mishaps that are part of the family’s everyday life are anything but normal. Whether it is dealing with flatulent dogs, having men in freezers in the front room, or waking up in eerie villages and being chased by giant balloons, somehow, the Porters always find themselves in surreal situations that make them anything but normal. Other characters in show are Tina, Ben’s snobby squeaky-voiced sister, who the family despise. Christine is Ben’s work mate, a short sarcastic women who always speaks her mind. Rona is the family friend who has had more than her fair share of men. Her aunt Pearl (who is later revealed to be her mother), and Bill's fussy mother Bette are old but young at heart.

The show frequently featured surreal scenarios, usually played for humour, but sometimes eerie. An example of the former is the episode "Seven Dials", in which Ben's archenemy, a science fiction fan plumber called Jake the Klingon (Roger Lloyd-Pack), trapped Ben in Portmeirion in a parody of The Prisoner. The latter is exemplified by an ongoing first series subplot involving a mysterious biker whom Bill kept encountering, and who seemed to be her guardian angel.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of 2point4 children episodes

56 episodes were made over eight series, including six Christmas specials. The show ran for most of the nineties, and there is a consensus amongst the fans that the earlier episodes were generally not as good as those post-series three, which are considered to be better. Currently 2Point4 Children reapeats are being aired on UKTV in Australia, with two episodes aired on a Sunday morning back-to-back.

[edit] Reaction

Critical reaction to the early episodes was generally lukewarm, with some critics comparing it unfavourably to Roseanne, although the later series generally received better notices. Few critics made the connection between Marshall and former writing partner David Renwick, whose sitcom One Foot in the Grave featured a similar variety of domestic surrealism.

[edit] Theme music

The programme used a familiar instrumental theme tune which remained unchanged throughout its run, although it was significantly shortened in length for the final series. The closing theme was an extension of that used for the introduction. During many episodes portions of different versions of the theme could be heard to either close scenes or highlight a change in day/night, for example.

[edit] Opening titles

The first two series' used the same set of titles, utilising footage taken from the first three episodes. The opening screen showed the distinctive blue 2point4children logo overlaid on an exterior shot of the Porters' terraced house whilst writer and principal actor credits appeared over the succeeding footage. Series 3 used the same format but with new footage taken from the new batch of episodes, as did series 4 in 1994. Series 5 saw a slight change to the format with the footage now taken from all previous 4 seasons, as opposed to the unseen episodes of series 5.

A new look was unveiled for series 6 with a reworking of the logo (now in 3D colourful letters) which fell randomly from the top of the frame and landed in the correct order at the bottom. The cast were shown dancing against a white backdrop with Belinda Lang taking centre stage, literally. Cast and writer credits (featuring Clare Buckfield and John Pickard's names for the first time) were shown either side of 'Bill' dancing. These titles remained through series 7 with no alterations. The final 8th series in 1999 saw a modification to this style, with the same principle of the falling colourful letters of the logo landing against a white backdrop but now featuring a line drawing of the Porter house with its colourful front door. These titles were significantly shorter than previous seasons and featured no cast members. The principal actor credits were now superimposed over the opening scene of the episode and appeared in the Futura typeface, as opposed to the former Roman-style serif font that debuted in episode one. The move to filming in digital widescreen for series eight was one reason that necessitated the change in titles.

[edit] Closing credits

For series 1-5 the credits either flashed up on screen over a freeze frame of the final scene which gradually faded to black or scrolled along the bottom third of the frame from right to left (the latter usually reserved for Christmas specials). The exception to this rule was for the first episode when the credits scrolled up the screen over a black background and the regular theme tune was discarded.

Series 6-8 utilised a plain white background with the new colourful logo situated at the top of the frame and the credits list scrolling up the centre. The exception was for specials, as above.

[edit] DVD releases

The series began to appear on Region 2 DVDs in 2004.Eureka Video released Series' 1-3 in 2005, however, sufficient sales to generate the relatively high licence fee set by BBC Worldwide, due to the original internal financial structure for the series were not realised and Eureka decided it was not viable to continue. The BBC have expressed a possibility that they may continue releases themselves in the future.[citation needed]

[edit] External links