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A home used for classic 1990s comedy One Foot In The Grave has gone on sale
Basil Fawlty hammering hapless waiter Manuel or being knocked out by a plunging moose’s head. Victor Meldrew looking on in disbelieving despair as a squadron of garden gnomes lands on his doorstep.
Pretentious social climber Hyacinth Bucket – while insisting her surname is pronounced like ‘Bouquet’ – peering at friends living next door for fear they might just be getting one up on her in neighbourhood bragging rights.
Or else flatmates Mark Corrigan and Jeremy Usbourne numbly succumbing to watching the TV in their drab Croydon towerblock, with occasional diversions such as losing a snake at a house party or capturing and gagging a love rival.
These are just some of the familiar scenes and settings beamed into millions of homes
– and such homes featured in Britain’s most beloved sitcoms have also gone up for grabs in real life, while prompting curious visitors taking selfies outside.
A three-bedroom terraced house that provided the backdrop to classic
BBC
show One Foot In The Grave has just gone on the market for £337,500,
in the Walkford suburb of Christchurch, Dorset
.
The exterior will be familiar to many, as are other homes which can continue to attract sitcom-loving visitors – yet some are situated far from where they were meant to represent on screen.
The towerblock known as Nelson Mandela House in Only Fools And Horses was famously said to be in Peckham, south-east
London
, on the fictional Nyrere Estate – yet in reality
the exterior of the building home to Trotter brothers Del Boy and Rodney was
filmed on a council estate in Acton, west London
.
And it was revealed last year Ealing Council has earmarked the block, real name Harlech Tower, for tearing down in 2027 in an £850million regeneration scheme – but aficionados still have plenty of properties familiar from TV to check out in real life.
One Foot In The Grave
Scenes shot outside the property now up for sale in Christchurch included when a troupe of garden gnomes was delivered by mistake to Victor as well as another in which a Citroen 2CV car was somehow parked in his skip.
Estate agent Ben Jenkins has said the home’s TV history is bound to ‘drum up a bit of interest’ in the home.
Next door to it is the house where Victor’s nemesis neighbour Patrick, portrayed by Angus Deayton, lived.
One Foot in the Grave ran for six series and seven Christmas specials.
Although the location is not referred to in the show, many of the location scenes were shot around Christchurch and Bournemouth.
The interior of the house was not used for the show, with internal scenes shot at BBC Television Centre in London.
The ‘well-presented’ property has 920 sq ft of accommodation with a hallway, lounge, kitchen/diner and conservatory on the ground floor and three bedrooms and a bathroom on the first floor.
The home with a private rear garden and a garage in a nearby block is being sold by local estate agents Mitchells, who describe it as an ‘attractive house in a lovely quiet location’ and say it has been well maintained.
Fawlty Towers
The hotel that inspired 1970s sitcom Fawlty Towers, written by and co-starring John Cleese and Connie Booth, was
knocked down and replaced with retirement flats in 2016
.
The location for the comedy was based on the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay, Devon, where Cleese stayed with the Monty Python team in 1973.
The 41-bedroom hotel ceased trading nine years ago before Churchill Retirement Living began demolishing it to convert the site into 36 retirement apartments.
The Gleneagles and its 1960s ex-owner Donald Sinclair were the prompt for fictional hotelier Basil Fawlty – and Torquay’s ‘exotic’ palm trees have been cited by Cleese among the reasons for setting the show in the seaside resort.
Cleese, now 85, has previously said: ‘I chose Torquay when I was writing Fawlty Towers with Connie because there is something really rather exotic about Torquay, with the palm trees – the English Riviera, as Basil referred to it once.
‘There is something comical about dumping this horrendous little English hotel in slightly swell surroundings.’
The Asheldon Road business was owned by Donald and Beatrice Sinclair and the Pythons were reportedly seen by Mr Sinclair as a ‘colossal inconvenience’ during their visit.
Cleese later said: ‘We never shot Fawlty Towers in Torbay. I came to Torquay with the producer, the child-star John Howard Davis, and the set designer and we visited the Gleneagles Hotel in 1975, when we met the very charming and efficient fellow who bought it from Mr Sinclair, but it was very disappointing not to meet and experience Mr Sinclair.’
Men Behaving Badly
The 1990s sitcom created and written by Simon Nye was unusual in starting on ITV in 1992 and running for two series there before switching to the BBC.
The original episodes starred Martin Clunes and Harry Enfield as laddish flatmates before Enfield left, with Neil Morrissey joining in his place.
It was suggested in the series that the property shared by the pair was in south London, along with references to neighbouring Surrey.
And key scenes showing the outside of their home building were filmed in the south-west London district of Surbiton – with Morrissey seen outside a terraced home in the area that last sold for £1.45million in 2021.
Other scenes were north of the river in the west London borough Ealing including at a pub called the Kings Arms, in the show that co-starred Caroline Quentin as Dorothy, the girlfriend of Clunes’ character Gary, while Leslie Ash was Deborah, the love interest of Morrissey’s Tony.
There were also visits to Marine Parade on the coast in Worthing, West Sussex, as well as the Cerne Abbas Giant in Dorchester, Dorset.
The sixth and final full series of the sitcom, broadcast in 1997, also included scenes in Brentford as Gary and Dorothy prepare to marry at the local town hall – only to opt against doing so.
That season also included the group discussing 1970s sitcom The Good Life – which had also been set in Surbiton.
Gavin And Stacey
What’s occurring in the world for Gavin And Stacey fans has been the appearance for sale of a home showcased in the BBC smash hit, starring Mathew Horne and Joanna Page in the title roles.
The home of Stacey’s uncle Bryn, who lives across the road from her and widowed her mother, was
made available in Barry, South Wales, for £212,000
.
The sitcom ran for three years from 2007 with final episodes broadcast on Christmas Day 2009 and New Year’s Day 2010 – only for further festive comebacks in 2019 and last December 25, when
an audience of 12.5million viewers tuned in
.
The comedy was written by James Corden and Ruth Jones, who appeared in it as Smithy and Nessa, along with co-stars including Alison Steadman and Larry Lamb.
A couple who previously lived in the home showcased in the first series of Gavin And Stacey have
spoken about it becoming a tourist hotspot
– and how they made the decision to move out after seeing its prominence on screen.
Lisa Edwards, resident there with husband Michael, wrote on Reddit ahead of last Christmas’s reunion special: ‘We had people knocking on the windows late at night asking for a tour. When we moved out we got a bit sick of all the attention as we had people knocking on our door to have a look around.’
Meanwhile, Glenda Kenyon, who owned fictional Stacey’s home across the road, has described showing around thousands of fans who have visited in tribute to the show – as she put the property up for sale in 2014.
She
said at the time
: ‘I have loved living here and being part of the Gavin and Stacey family. When they asked to use my house for filming I agreed but I had no idea it would become such a popular TV show.’
Open All Hours
The corner shop from another 1970s sitcom classic – which has been revisited in a new version in recent years – went up for auction last year.
The property in the Doncaster suburb of Balby went under the hammer on October 15 with a guide price of £150,000, before selling for £145,000.
The home on an unassuming residential road in the South Yorkshire city appeared in Open All Hours as the exterior of Arkwright’s convenience store.
That fictional shop was owned by the main protagonist Albert Arkwright – played by comedy legend Ronnie Barker.
The building – which was converted into a unisex hair salon – had narrowly avoided demolition in 2008 after campaigners saved when it previously went up for auction but failed to sell.
Open All Hours, which was ranked eighth in a poll of Britain’s best sitcoms in 2004, follows the antics of Arkwright and his young nephew Granville – played by Sir David Jason.
The series was created by Roy Clarke who is the writer behind other legendary English comedies including Keeping Up Appearances and Last of the Summer Wine.
It ran for four seasons between 1976 and 1985 before in 2013 a sequel series titled Still Open All Hours was commissioned with both Clarke and Jason involved, Barker having passed away in 2005.
Keeping Up Appearances
Dame Patricia Routledge, now 96, played snobbish social climber Hyacinth Bucket – repeatedly insisting her surname was pronounced ‘Bouquet’ – in BBC1 sitcom Keeping Up Appearances.
The comedy penned, like Open All Hours, by Roy Clarke ran on BBC1 between 1990 and 1995 and also featured Clive Swift as Hyacinth’s put-upon husband Richard.
The series depicted Dame Patricia’s character competing with
upper-middle-class neighbours Elizabeth and brother Emmet.
And the real life property where her neighbours lived on the programme
went on the market in recent years for £495,000
.
The exterior of the four-bedroom detached house in Binley Woods in Coventry regularly appeared in the sitcom.
Annabel Dixon, from property website Zoopla, said: ‘Hyacinth was often name-dropping her sister Violet, who “had a Mercedes, swimming pool, sauna and room for a pony”.
‘So the grande dame would surely approve of this unusual opportunity to snap up the home of her twitchy neighbours, Elizabeth and Emmett. Its features include a landscaped garden, heated swimming pool, hot tub and wooden summer house.’
Rosemary Healey, longstanding owner of the home used as Hyacinth’s, told the
Coventry Telegraph
in 2023: ‘We get lots of people coming to take photos and occasionally get people knocking on the door. It’s never been a problem though.’
Outnumbered
The house that featured in the BBC hit series Outnumbered
went on the market in 2020 for £1.795million
.
The Victorian-era property in Wandsworth, south-west London, boasted a master suite and four further bedrooms.
It was described by estate agents as a ‘high quality property’ which sits just a stones throw away from Wandsworth Town Station.
The building provided the backdrop for the popular comedy series which starred Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner between 2007 and 2014.
Measuring 2,217sq ft, the home included an extended reception area, a large family bathroom, a shower room and a cellar and utility room.
Outnumbered featured the characters Pete and Sue Brockman trying to balance their careers with their three unruly children Jake, Ben and Karen.
The comedy was watched by 9.4million viewers at its peak and ran for five series between 2007 and 2014, with a Christmas special following in 2016 and another on December 26 last year.
Dennis and Skinner became a real-life after appearing together in the series and married in 2022.
Fresh Meat
The comedy drama about student life in Manchester was broadcast on Channel 4 between 2011 and 2016, lasting for four series.
It starred stand-up comic and regular BRIT Awards host Jack Whitehall and was written by Peep Show and Succession creators Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong.
The student home occupied by the main characters was a Victorian property in the well-to-do Manchester suburb of Whalley Grange.
Meanwhile, pub scenes were filmed in the Kings Arms in Salford, owned by the Housemartins and the Beautiful South singer-songwriter Paul Heaton.
The comedy, centred around the fictional Manchester Medlock University, also shot footage at the real-life Manchester Metropolitan University.
Whitehall’s co-stars included Charlottie Ritchie, who also appeared in Call The Midwife, and Peep Show actor Robert Webb.
Property records for the house used in Fresh Meat as the students’ base show it last sold in January 2003 for £199,950.
It was previously bought for £68,000 seven years earlier – but some properties in the same street have sold in recent years for more than £750,000.
Peep Show
Another of Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong’s Channel 4 successes was Peep Show, starring as flatmates David Mitchell and Robert Webb.
Exterior shots of the pair’s home in Croydon were filmed at a towerblock called Zodiac House in the south London borough.
Yet the property underwent a rebrand for the series and was called Apollo House.
The opening titles of the sitcom, showing Mitchell and Webb peering into a TV rentals shop window, were shot north of the river Thames in Crouch End, near Highgate.
The comedy series which was broadcast on Channel 4 between 2003 and 2015 focused on the lives of Mark Corrigan and Jeremy Usborne.
Two-bedroom apartments in Zodiac House have been
put on sale in recent years for up to £300,000
.
Once a brown building with dark green balconies, the block has been modernised – and concept images have shown more room for improvement and expansion planned.
A Rightmove listing for one of those on offer stated in 2023: ‘This two-bedroom apartment on the third floor of Zodiac Court has marvellous and unrivalled views of London, and the property must be viewed to be truly appreciated.’
The Inbetweeners
Various homes in Hertfordshire were used for the Channel 4 sitcom The Inbetweeners, which ran between 2008 and 2010 and spawned two spin-off movies.
The properties in Abbott Langley, near Watford, appeared as the family homes of schoolmates Will, Simon, Neil and Jay – played respectively by Simon Bird, Joe Thomas, Blake Harrison and James Buckley.
Other performers featuring in the show included actress Emily Atack and stand-up comedian and Taskmaster presenter Greg Davies.
Scenes at the fictional Ridge Park Comprehensive School attended by the lead characters were filmed at Ruislip High School in west London.
Other schools were also used for some of the shots, according to commentary on a DVD release of the show.
Abbots Langley residents have previously told of seeing the main four actors in the area as part of the production shooting, the
Watford Observer
reported.
And Bwark Productions, who were behind the series, confirmed they were carrying out filming in the area.
The Hertfordshire village also featured in the 2011 and 2014 Inbetweeners films.
The Vicar Of Dibley
The redbrick cottage from TV’s The Vicar of Dibley was initially put up for sale for £900,000 – before the owner
slashed the asking price to £695,000 in 2022
.
TV fans were given the chance to snap up the Grade II listed period property that was home to Dawn French’s title character Geraldine Granger on the hit sitcom.
The two-bedroom home, named Church Cottage, sits in the village of Turville near Henley-on Thames, Oxfordshire.
The front of the cottage featured heavily in the hit BBC series as villagers called around to share their problems with TV vicar Geraldine Grainger.
It became a Grade II-listed property in 1986 and was lived in by the same tenant for more than 60 years.
The owners of Church Cottage said when putting the property on the market: ‘It has been very exciting to own a property that has appeared in such a popular sitcom and its connection with the Vicar of Dibley has often proved an interesting talking point among friends and family.
‘It was lovely to see the house on screen and I hope the new owners will be very happy here.’
Estate agents marketing the home described it as being ‘in the heart of the quintessential English village of Turville, surrounded by the rolling countryside of the Hambleden Valley’ – ahead of its most recent sale amounting to £495,000.
The Good Life
Much-loved 1970s sitcom The Good Life – fronted by two neighbouring couples played by Richard Briers and Felicity Kendal, Penelope Keith and Paul Eddington – was notably set in south-west London suburb Surbiton.
Yet the homes in which the leading four were seen were actually about 30 miles away, north of the river Thames and in the north-west London district of Northwood.
The property used as the home of Tom and Barbara Good, portrayed by Briers and Kendal, was
owned by Michael and Margaret Mullins
– and the four-bedroom home, later sold for £475,000 in 2007, has been valued at £1.5million today.
The sitcom that made its BBC1 debut in April 50 years ago and whose fans included the late Queen Elizabeth II showed the middle-class Goods swapping the rat race for suburban self-sufficiency.
Briers died aged 79 in February 2013, while Eddington – who also played Jim Hacker in Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister – had passed away in November 1995 aged 68.
It was
revealed last week
that Dame Penelope, 85, who played Margo Leadbetter, will be
back on TV screens for a one-off episode
to celebrate 50 years of The Good Life.
She is set to present a feature-length retrospective called The Good Life: Inside Out that will filming locations, scripts, props and more from the original shoot.
The documentary – due to air on comedy channel U&Gold later this year – will see the actress step back onto a recreated set, bringing Margo and husband Jerry’s drawing room to life once more.
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