George Mainwaring 'Goodnight Sweetheart' was one of the classic British sitcoms from the 1990's. It was on in a decade where we enjoyed 'One Foot in the Grave' 'Men Behaving Badly' and 'Father Ted' Though quite rightly, the seventies is regarded as the golden era of British sitcom, the nineties were also right up there in my opinion.Gary Sparrow (Nicholas Lyndhurst) is just an ordinary man. He's a TV repairman. He's married to the sarcastic Yvonne (Michelle Holmes) and his best mate is Ron (Victor McGuire). One day, he is called to a place called Ducket's Passage, he goes down the road and he time travels back to 1940's London, where the Blitz is taking place. He goes into a pub called the Royal Oak. The Landlord is Eric(David Ryall) and he owns the pub with his daughter Phoebe (Dervla Kerwin). Gary begins dating Phoebe in war time London, posing as an MI5 agent. This leads to him stuck between two worlds. The second series begins with the news Eric has died in an air raid, so pub regular and policeman PC Reg Deadman (Christoper Ettridge) begins working in the pub part-time. However though it looks as though Gary's time travelling life could be over come the third series, when workmen start building on Ducket's Passage. He has to wait until the shops they are building are built and he opens a shop called 'Blitz and Pieces' where he sells War memorabilia he picks up from the 1940's for practically nothing and sells them. Series four sees Gary and Phoebe marry, so Gary in some ways becomes a bigamist and Phoebe also gives birth, so Gary has a Son named Michael. Series five sees Yvonne become a multi millionaire and Gary and Phoebe buy a flat up west and live a floor below Noel Coward (David Benson). As Gary owns the flat, Ron moves into it in the present day. The final series sees the whole saga resolved and Gary gets stuck in 1945.The fourth series saw two major cast changes with Michelle Holmes and Dervla Kerwin leaving and being replaced by Emma Amos and Elizabeth Carling. I did prefer Holmes as Yvonne than Carling as Holmes was a bit more sarcastic. Yet it didn't really effect the series that much as without doubt the later episodes were the best. Nicholas Lyndhurst was outstanding as Gary, as was Victor McGuire as Ron and Christopher Etteridge as Reg.The later episodes were the better ones in my opinion, as the plots became much more adventurous and led to some of the best episodes. It is little surprise therefore to see the classic episodes appearing in the latter half of the sitcom, such as 'The Leaving of Liverpool' where Gary and Phoebe visit Phoebe's Grandmother in Liverpool. A great two parter was 'We Don't Want to Lose You' followed by 'But we think we're going to have to' where Gary has to take on the Nazi's with the help of the French resistance. Another classic was 'The 'ouses' Between Us' where Gary goes through the wrong time gate and ends up in 1888 and he solves why Jack the Ripper was never caught. But the best episode for me was 'When Two World's Collide' where Phoebe ends up in the 1990's and there's a brief moment where she meets Yvonne. The episode after due to an uncontrolled time gate sees Ron in the 1940's much to Gary's annoyance.Due to it being a romantic sitcom, not every episode was hilarious though all were well written, with wonderful plotting and many episodes were very funny and led to pain in laughter. Yet it was also full of dramatic moments as well, such as when Gary meets Reg in 1998 where he is suffering from dementia. Another very sad moment was when nobody attended Reg's Police retirement party. It was very sad for me as by that point Reg had emerged as my favourite character in the series.'Goodnight Sweetheart' continues to get repeated on ITV3 and all the episodes can be enjoyed on DVD. It is a classic sitcom in my opinion. You also learn a lot as well from a Historical point of view. If I could be any sitcom character, I would be Gary Sparrow, being able to time travel with two women on the go would be awesome.

Joe Mills I don't think there's anything about this show I don't like, the comedy is top notch, the actors are perfect for their roles and the mix of Sci-Fi is just right, not too heavy handed. For comedy lovers it's a must see, for sci-fi fans it's a must see, for people with a heartbeat it's a must see. Lyndhurst and McGuire are perfect, you'd really believe they're best friends, the chemistry between all the actors is amazing. Hats off to the casting crew and direction. Actually the only flaw I can think of about this show is that it ended. After all, what show could make you nostalgic for a time period you weren't even alive in? I'd give it a 20 rating if I could.

Data1 Goodnight Sweetheart was a highly entertaining comedy that used a sci-fi plot device as its driving force. However, the heart of show was always Gary Sparrow's(Lyndhurst) interaction with the historical events occurring around him. Gary's endearing best friend Ron(played by Victor McGuire) was one of my favourite characters. As the time-travel takes place during the six years of World War 2,(in parallel with the 90s) it was always inevitable that the show would end after the war had fully played out. Gary's relationship with his wives in both eras was never easy, adding an element of drama to the show.I miss this show greatly as it was always funny and a delight to watch. The brilliance of this comedy was always underrated in my opinion. I love this show!

Frankbill This is a one-idea weak comedy based around Nicholas Lyndhurst who is wooden throughout. A decent support cast including the friendly bobby can't rescue a predictable and painful series of slight variations on the same old plot. Not funny and could have been written by ten year old. No credibility even for a "fantasy" style plot.