The 80s Sitcom Bread - Classic or Dud?

still the idea of saying 'Greetings' Joey-style still makes me laugh as its just so stupid.

No you don't.

i always heard it as 'for the bread!'

I was struck for the first time though by horrid C*rla L*ne script mannerisms, like endless round-the-table accumulative repetition ("Jack was depressed because of xxx and Joey was depressed because of yyy and Aveline was depressed because of xxx AND yyy" [big laugh] or Adrian: "I can't do xxx because of yyy." Jack: "I can't do yyy because of xxx." Billy: "I don't even know what xxx is!" [screaming laughter]), some astonishingly poor support playing and just how much mileage was wrought from Grandad saying "piss off".

Interesting to note how many of the main cast seemed to be Mancunians clinging gamely to Scouse accents, while all the bit-part extras were genuine locals, instantly exposing the shoddy Wackisms of the stars as soon as they opened their mouths.

As a Merseysider who still lived in the area during the life of the show I don't recall people being particularly bothered by the scrounging, workshy stereotype (well, the letters page of The Daily Post was in uproar, but that doesn't count), but more by the grotesquely quirky daydreamer stereotype proffered alongside it. And the fact that it was another rubbish Liverpool sitcom, meaning, despite the 'legendary Scouse sense of humour', that Merseyside really ranks behind Surbiton, Wearside, Torquay and a Cumbrian prison.

The above is a pathetically lame attempt at humor which, had it appeared in a 'Bread' script, would still have improved it no end.

their next door neighbour was played by rita tushingham

billy, the youngest brother with gelled, curly hair and large facial moles, had to be forcibly restrained from kicking his estranged wife's head in on many occasions, to riotous laughter from the audience.

True, in the last two series, I think.

billy, the youngest brother with gelled, curly hair and large facial moles, had to be forcibly restrained from kicking his estranged wife's head in on many occasions, to riotous laughter from the audience.

The Appalling Julie, played by the capable and near-sympathetic Caroline Milmoe in the first two seasons, was played by the simply awful H*lary Cr*wson later on, heightening the sense that they truly deserved each other and a suicide pact was the only solution.

The Little Known Fact About Bread that everyone actually knows is, of course, that Peter Howitt went on to write/direct Sliding Doors and Johnny English.

(ps i wz like 12 so gimme a break)