(This review is based on the first series.)'It Takes a Worried Man' seems to have attracted some good reviews from people who remember it from back in the early eighties. I'm almost certain that those reviews would change if those same contributors had seen this sitcom again more recently.Unfortunately, this series seems to come off as a flat 'stand-up' routine that's been re-written for a six-part TV show. It revolves around Philip Roath (Peter Tilbury) who is a selfish, lazy man in his thirties. The weak gags bounce off the one- dimensional characters in his life which include his boss, a colleague, a secretary, a girlfriend and a shrink... none of whom are allowed to develop enough to engage our attention and affection.Particularly annoying is the late (and otherwise talented) Andrew Tourell doing his impersonation of the brilliant Doc 'Feeling a bit chesty?' Morrissy from the Reggie Perrin sitcom.It isn't clear who the main character is trying to relate to as he's too young to be complaining about being bald and losing his teeth... especially as he has a full set of both! This makes the stodgy script come off as disingenuous.Finally, there's nothing happening in between the monologues and there's no story arc to cling to. The entire series' premise is just Roath's ramblings which soon get wearisome because there's nothing else to maintain the interest of the viewer.The writer (who also plays the main role in this) had better success with another sit-com, 'Shelley', but even that was due mostly to the enormous talent of the lead, Hywel Bennett.

To my mind, Peter Tilbury is one of the unsung heroes of UK TV script writing, His scripts were always funny, erudite, moving and, above all, intelligent. Some of the monologues written for the Shelley series, as well as the characterisations, were stunning. A dry downbeat humour that always hit the spot.In the "worried man" series I still remember his visits to his psychiatrist where he ended up acting as counsellor rather than the counselled (the psychiatrist was always having problems with his partner Gerald and his love for muesli - "trudging through all those oats").The very fact that I can remember so much from the series and Shelley pays tribute to the excellence of his writing.Then of course, a few years later, was the Chef series, with Lenny Henry. Equally stunning. I always wondered if Peter was a genuine foodie or if he carried out meticulous research (e.g looking for the one unpasteurised Stilton still being mad Now, thank heavens, a reality in Stichelton).Where is he and writers like him these days?

I remember this series very fondly. I'm pretty sure it was written by Peter Tilbury as well as staring him although IMDb doesn't say who wrote the series, perhaps someone out there knows? As ITV have never repeated the (two?) series I can't tell! And by the way, what has happened to Peter Tilbury since 1993? The early Shelly episodes were written by him and Shelly must rate as one of the funniest British comedy series ever. It Takes a Worried Man doesn't sound like the subject of a comedy, being the story of a man recently divorced a worried about every thing from losing his hair to losing his job, but somehow it worked and it helped that the main character was actually likable and you wanted him to succeed. Come on ITV / Granada / whoever, how 'bout some repeats?

In reply to another posting, no you are not on your own remembering this series, As well as starring Peter Tilbury, it was written by him as was the dead pan humour of "Shelley" with Hywel Benett.The last series saw him find a soul mate in Sue Holderness who also fitted just perfectly with the idea that everyday, everything was going to go wrong Brilliant Sitcom with good old British sense of humour and I wish that someone would release this and the early Shelly on DVD or Video as I would love to see them again, comedies like these were always shown at varying times as sport etc would always take precedence over a good laugh, so much for English producers sense of entertainment.