5 Series, 64 episodes

Transmitted: 2000-2004

TV Channel: BBC1

BBC Television

DLT Entertainment UK

Rude Boy Productions

Summary

Ben (Robert Lindsay) is a dentist who wishes that he'd become a doctor. He's married to Susan (Zoe Wanamaker).

The couple have three children, Janey (Daniela Denby-Ashe), Nick (Kris Marshall) and Michael (Gabriel Thomson).

Ben does his best to understand his wife and children, with little success.

Susan is a "control freak" who believes in a very "hands on" approach to parenting. Ben, however, is definitely a "hands off" sort of guy.

Their eldest son, Nick, is a very strange young man who can't hold down than a job for more than a day or two. Janey is a very self-centred young lady whose world revolves around high fashion and having a good time. Michael is a very bright teenager with an interest in military matters.

Eventually, Nick leaves home and finds a flat of his own (though he still spends much of his time at home and continues to sponge off his father). Janey goes away to University but later returns home pregnant. She gives birth to a young son named Kenzo.

Young dentist Roger Bailey (Kieron Self) becomes a regular visitor to the Harper household after he takes over one of a surgery in the building where Ben works.

While Janey is away at University, Susan invites her niece Abi (Siobhan Hayes) to come and stay with the family. Although she's gormless and accident-prone, she soon becomes the object of Roger's affections

R eady Steady Cook

Ready Steady Cook has a huge following amongst students (predictably), housewives, kids and now Americans (who have their own version in the form of Ready Set Cook.

Why is it so successful? First of all, it's completely unpretentious and doesn't try to be. The idea is incredibly simple: Two chefs and members of the audience attempt to make a meal within 20 minutes using ingredients "brought in" by the audience members (to a value of £5). And at the end, the audience would vote as to who they liked best. And that's it.

The fact is, the show is entertaining to watch. You don't have to concentrate a massive amount of brainpower towards it and you don't have to be able to cook, the premise of the show is that anybody can cook something good in a short space of time. And one of the reason's why it works is the laid back banter between host, chefs and contestants and there is a nice mixture of food and anecdote. The chefs usually have a big personality (and know what they're on about) and Fern Britton keeps the show rolling along.

It isn't going to change the world, it's certainly not going to worry other game shows too much, but it's certainly worth a watch if there is nothing else on.

About breakfast television

Early morning television is relatively new, as far as Europe is concerned. Most of the programmes that are broadcast between 6 and 9 in the morning seem to have a lot in common, such as regularly repeated newscasts and news headlines, weather forecasts and traffic news. Usually they cover a wide area from hard news to human interest and lifestyle items. The presenters, in most cases a woman and a man, are the binding element in this wide variety of subjects.

An interesting distinct feature lies in its relationship with the audience: breakfast magazines are consciously charted for early morning viewing patterns. Large parts of the programmes are broadcast live, and that includes not only studio interviews, but often also live performances. In these elements of ‘liveness’ and ‘dailiness’ breakfast television may come close to what some people see as the essence of television, and perhaps of broadcasting in general.

Breakfast television, by its very existence and by the ways in which it is produced and functions, raises several questions about the directions into which television and television news may be moving.

In Europe breakfast television is a product of the extension of broadcasting time into the early hours of the day which coincided with the collapse of most of the public broadcasting monopolies in Europe in the 1980s and early 1990s, and the resulting competition between public and private broadcasters. It is also new in the sense of being one of those new types of programmes, that do not fit easily into the established categories of television genres. It is not just news, although it is clearly related, but not just entertainment either. It combines features of both. Which suggests that it shares characteristics with other programmes for which we usually reserve rather imprecise terms like ‘infotainment’ or tabloid television. Programmes such as talk shows or Reality TV. And, thirdly, breakfast television deals with a new kind of viewer for whom television has become a side-show next to more urgent matters to be dealt with, not unlike radio.