Everything’s tickety boo when you’re watching the late great David Nobbs'A Bit of a Do

Based on a book by the late, great Humanist and humourist David Nobbs, A Bit of a Do first aired on ITV in 1989.

From the first notes of theme tune sung by George Melly to the end credits, I loved it. I was so invested in it that I bought the book mid-way through the series and read it because I could not wait to find out what happened to the characters.

It inspired my love of the genius of Nobbs. I bought and read all the Reggie Perrin books – which I prefer to the TV series – and his Henry Pratt series – the first, Second to Last in the Sack Race, was also adapted for TV.

The show was set in a fictional Yorkshire town. Each episode took place at a different social function and followed the changing lives of two families, the working-class Simcocks – David Jason, Gwen Taylor, David Thewlis and Wayne Foskett – and the middle-class Rodenhursts – Nicola Pagett, Paul Chapman, Sarah-Jane Holm and Nigel Hastings – together with their respective friends, Rodney and Betty Sillitoe – Tim Wylton and Stephanie Cole – and Neville Badger Michael Jayston.

The series begins with the wedding of the Simcocks’ son Paul to the Rodenhursts’ daughter Jenny; an event at which Ted and Liz begin an affair.

The subsequent fallout from the dalliance forms the basis for the first series as we go to various ‘dos’ – including a race night, the finals of Miss Frozen Chicken UK, two weddings and the dentists’ dinner-dance.

My favourite episode is Ted hosting the annual prize-giving of the anglers’ club.

It is a master study of the class war, snobbery and the silly things adults do to each other in the name of love or, more accurately, where Ted and Liz are concerned – lust.

A Bit of a Do is hilarious – thanks, largely to Wylton and Cole as the Sillitoes, who take it in turns to get drunk at whatever function they attend. They are also the one couple truly in love and steadfast to each other.

Wylton is one of those actors you recognise but don’t know his name – he’s the forensics pathologist in Wycliff and gardener Lol in As Time Goes By.

Malcolm Hebden had a lovely cameo as a barman whose catchphrase was ‘tickety boo’.

It is also heartbreaking as you watch the hurt caused by two selfish people – Ted and Liz – to those they are supposed to love the most.

However, it is a testament to Nobbs’ writing that the two are as likebale as any of the other characters. Nobbs’ points out their foibles and forgives them. Nobbs’ work is always brilliantly observed and kind.

A Bit of A Do is also crammed with the word-play Nobbs was renowned for – he wrote some of Ronnie Barker’s best sketches.

Besides from Wylton and Cole, the rest of the cast is excellent. Jason as the owner of a foundry was only better in Only Fools and Horses.

Taylor embodies one of the best, if not the best, written middle-aged women who transforms from a frump to a swan. Her blossoming from ‘a grey smudge’ to a confident, glowing lover of a younger man was the beating heart of the series.

The original A Bit of a Do was so successful that there was a clamour for a second series. I love Fair Do’s though there are signs it was rushed out.

All the cast returned apart from Thewlis who had by then moved on to his stellar film career.

The fabulous Diana Weston was brought in as Ted’s love interest and the equally great Malcolm Tierney as Liz’s brother and Rita’s lover.

I was surprised to see that A Bit of a Do and Fair Do’s both come with the alert that some viewers may find them offensive.

My ‘woke radar’ is not sharp – and I fail to find anything offensive about either series. Nobbs was an egalitarian – check out his books Sex and Other Changes and It Had to Be You.

He is the least judgmental – and joyous – of any writer.