Waiting for God

Waiting for God

1990
Waiting for God
Waiting for God

Waiting for God

7.8 | TV-PG | en | Comedy

Refusing to succumb to old age, Tom Ballard and Diana Trent are a pair of seasoned delinquents that cause many headaches. Their uneasy alliance is destined to make life difficult at the Bayview Retirement Village.

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Seasons & Episodes

5
4
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EP8  A Double Wedding?
Oct. 27,1994
A Double Wedding?

After confiding her doubts about marriage to Sarah, Diana has a raucous hen night with male strippers whilst Tom's stag night is a very staid affair. The befuddled Dennis Sparrow is to conduct the two wedding ceremonies separately but due to a double booking involving a funeral, a double wedding is on the cards after all - despite Marion's efforts to sabotage Tom's marrying Diana.

EP7  Bungee Jumping
Oct. 20,1994
Bungee Jumping

Whilst planning his pre-nuptial agreement with an eager Jane, Baines is told that he is not a proper priest and that any attempts he makes to get money from his ordination will lead to fraud charges. Diana is of course delighted but she has more pressing matters - Tom's threatened bungee jump. She agrees to marry him if only to stop the jump from going ahead but insists on her own pre-nuptial conditions.

EP6  Harvey The Priest
Oct. 13,1994
Harvey The Priest

A combination of genuine feelings for Jane, whom he is used to having around, plus the desire to still join the golf club, causes Baines to become a priest of the Order of the Flaming Sword of Las Vegas - by post.

EP5  Trouble With Men
Oct. 06,1994
Trouble With Men

Diana and Jane are both taken aback by the bizarre ways of men, following their respective marriage proposals. Tom's proposal to Diana has brought on a shock and she collapses and is taken to hospital. Jane's decision that she will become a nun after all has tempted Harvey to consider joining the priesthood.

EP4  Diana's Diet
Sep. 29,1994
Diana's Diet

Diana's foot shows no sign of healing and Tom is anxious for her to see a doctor. For all of her brash facade she is reluctant to seek medical advice in case she is given the worst possible scenario. However, she complies and is told that she has diabetes and must alter her diet. A relieved Tom proposes. Baines also proposes to Jane, in order to get his golf club membership, but she turns him down.

EP3  A Royal Visit
Sep. 22,1994
A Royal Visit

A letter from the mayor's office suggests that a royal personage will be gracing Bayview with a visit. Diana, already even more crotchety than ever, due to a painfully swollen foot, does not share Tom's monarchist views and holds forth on the pointlessness of the royals. Just as predictably the royal visit turns out to be very much less 'royal' than expected.

EP2  The Bayview Conservation Society
Sep. 15,1994
The Bayview Conservation Society

Baines is hiring Mr. Nakamura, a Japanese hotel consultant, to advise on the building of a new,space-saving wing to be built at Bayview - thereby enabling him to pack in more residents. Tom starts the Bayview Conservation Society, eventually enlisting Diana, to demonstrate that any such building would damage the wildlife and the natural environment, thus stopping the plan from going ahead.

EP1  After The Operation
Sep. 08,1994
After The Operation

Diana visits Tom in hospital. His operation to clear his prostrate cancer has been a success and he returns to Bayview with her. Unfortunately Geoffrey, who has had yet another falling-out with Marion, decides he wants to move in with them again. Baines is rejected by an exclusive golf club because he is unmarried.

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7.8 | TV-PG | en | Comedy | More Info
Released: 1990-06-28 | Released Producted By: BBC , Country: United Kingdom Budget: 0 Revenue: 0 Official Website: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00fznj3
Synopsis

Refusing to succumb to old age, Tom Ballard and Diana Trent are a pair of seasoned delinquents that cause many headaches. Their uneasy alliance is destined to make life difficult at the Bayview Retirement Village.

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Cast

Stephanie Cole , Graham Crowden , Daniel Hill

Director

Gareth Gwenlan

Producted By

BBC ,

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Reviews

Paul Evans You could be forgiven for thinking a comedy set in a Nursing Home could be anything other then magically funny, I can think of few with such a setting, the closest possibly being You're only young twice from the 1970's. Running in the early 90's from 1990-1994, the series comprised 5 series, totalling 47 episodes. The standard does not drop at any point, it's a glorious mix of bittersweet humour and slapstick from start to finish. You cannot help but utterly love the cynical black heart of Diana, or the boyish innocence of Tom. They make a wonderful duo, and truly feed of one another, their different styles of humour contrasting beautifully. As the show goes on you see a slight softening of Diana, and a slight toughening of Tom. The final episode is delightful, and shows you how far the characters have come, and how much they know one another. Jane and The Idiot Bains provide constant laughs, but it's the ageing Lothario Basil who has me in stitches.It always challenges Society's views towards the elderly, sometimes dark, but always comedy with a heart. 9/10
deetsmia This is one of my all-time favorite TV shows. The acting is incredible and the characters and story lines seem real. It doesn't sugarcoat the aspect of aging and the show deals with issues our elderly face every day. My children even watched this program when they were young and found it hilarious! Diana Trent is gritty, cantankerous, and possesses a dry wit. She also knows how and when to apply her cane to those in need. I want to be just like her when I am older! Harvey Baines is hilarious and ever so patient with a somewhat demanding Diana. Diana and Harvey are the central characters but the rest of the cast of characters all add their own personal charm. The show is timeless and unlike any I've ever seen before or will probably see again.
IridescentTranquility At the time of writing this, one of the satellite channels in Britain is showing Waiting For God again, and in one of the adverts for it, somebody mentions that what makes this so funny is the refusal of these older people in the Bayview Retirement Home to act like the stereotypical "old person". The characters are brilliant and strikingly diverse. Diana Trent, you can clearly see, has potential to cause anarchy in one of the places you'd least expect to find it - a group of apartments for retired older people in Bournemouth. One of my favourite moments is when she "summons" the manager Harvey Nigel Baines ("Jane, you're touching me") to her dinner table by means of hooking her walking stick round his neck and pulling him to the floor. How many stereotypical "old ladies" do that? Tom Ballard is great because you're never entirely sure if he's in full possession of his mental faculties or whether he's in another world entirely. Sometimes he's climbing Everest with Sir Edmund Hillary, sometimes he's having tea with Greta Garbo, and sometimes he seems completely normal. The residents of Bayview may be old enough to draw a pension, but otherwise they're still sharp enough and intelligent enough. The great thing about Waiting For God is that it shows that - even though they're sidelined by the rest of society - age cannot prevent these people (particularly the home's Casanova Basil) from living exactly as they have done for the first seventy-odd years of their lives.This was first shown when I was little and even fifteen years later it's still as good - if not better - than I remembered it at the time. One of the very endearing characters in this sitcom is Jane, probably best described as Harvey's secretary, who clearly has a massive and unrequited crush on him and - as the programme progresses - it's clear that one way or the other she will get Harvey, but the great thing about her is that she isn't a completely tragic figure. In spite of the fact that Harvey walks all over her and blatantly has no romantic interest in her whatsoever, she is determined to sabotage as many of his other "dates" (although they hardly have a chance to get that far) as she can.I don't know whether Waiting For God is on DVD but it certainly should be.
HailMary "Waiting for God" takes place in the corners of the earth in the Bayview Retirement home. This program goes beyond the normal rules of the sitcom and instead takes television to a new level. This program brings a new light to the treatment of the elderly, religion, the meaning of life, and love. I have never seen such a good TV program, I doubt that I ever will again.