As an exemplar of ensemble sitcom Please,Sir! would be very hard to beat. The first two series certainly contained both scripts and performances that would put much else to shame.Anyone who has been through the English state school system in the last 50 years would recognise most of the character types and this realism certainly added to the charm. John Alderton was well cast as the young idealist but arguably overshadowed by the simply peerless Joan Sanderson as frosty deputy head Miss Ewell and the great Derek Guyler as the war obsessed caretaker,and every school that I ever attended had a miserable physics teacher , pens in breast pocket, who openly hated teaching as presented here by Richard Price. The pupils were an almost equally solid troupe- although quite visibly 10 years too old for the roles - and over all it just worked superbly well. Sadly , like most sitcoms, it outstayed it's welcome and by the final series was almost unrecognisable with a changed cast and weaker, sometimes repeating, scripts but for the first two series this was as good as it got and even stands up well to nostalgic viewing nearly fifty years later. Great stuff

For the first three seasons, this show was very good. It is the story of an idealistic teacher played by John Alderton who becomes the teacher for the unruly students of class 5C. The students (some of whom looked older than their school ages) aren't bad kids, but they are from a working class background, kind of a rough upbringing. They are naturally not trusting of authority, and Alderton does a good job as the teacher that they actually, if not love, at least respect. There are other characters, like Norman (Deryck Guyler), who is the comic foil most often, the somewhat doddering Headmaster (Mr. Howlett) and the tough as nails Doris (Joan Sanderson), but the show is best when it revolves around 5C. After three seasons the kids of 5C were no longer in the series, neither was Alderton. The show went on for another season, but the momentum was lost. Not a laugh riot, it is better than most school comedies. Its more realistic than Welcome Back Kotter, which I like mostly for nostalgic reasons. I recommend this, you don't have to be British to like it. The movie of "Please Sir" is also recommended, it is fun.

The 1967 film 'To Sir With Love' starred Sidney Poitier as an American teacher attempting to educate unruly children in a rough East End London school. It may be coincidental, but the following year 'Please Sir!' appeared on I.T.V. John Esmonde and Bob Larbey originally took the idea to the B.B.C., but as the character of 'Dennis Dunstable' was educationally subnormal, they turned it down. The writers then approached the fledgling 'London Weekend Television'. Head of comedy Frank Muir also expressed reservations, but trusted the writers when they claimed Dennis would not be used as a figure of fun. Indeed he was not. Anyone trying to belittle Dennis would have to contend with the class' No.1 hard man - 'Eric Duffy'.John Alderton was cast as the idealistic schoolteacher 'Bernard Hedges' ( known as 'Privet' by his class ). Long before 'Basil Fawlty', Hedges had "Right!" as a catchphrase. The actor's best known television role up to that point was 'Dr.Richard Boone' in the A.T.V. soap 'Emergency Ward 10'. Deryck Guyler was originally supposed to play 'Mr.Cromwell' the dithering headmaster, but on finding it hard to cast the role of 'Potter' the caretaker, producer Mark Stuart suggested that Guyler be given the role. It worked out for the best; the pompous, war-obsessed 'Potter', forever grovelling in Cromwell's presence, proved to be one of the show's most popular characters. One fair criticism was that the actors playing the pupils looked too old. Peter Cleall, a.k.a. 'Duffy' was five years younger than Alderton! One should remember that there were strict Equity rules regarding the use of child actors at that time and besides, you could say the same about the cast of the film 'Grease'!The first episode opened with Hedges' first day at Fenn St. School. He finds the teachers incompetent and the children, particularly Class 5C, out of control. It sounds like the premise of a hard-hitting social drama, but Esmonde and Larbey were able to mine a rich vein of comedy. As well as Dunstable and Duffy, the pupils included flash Peter Craven, sexy Sharon Eversleigh, overwrought Maureen Bullock, and ( my favourite ) Frankie Abbott, a would-be hard case who turns into a mummy's boy when threatened ( the inspiration for 'Ralph Tanner' in Esmonde and Larbey's later sitcom 'The Other One', possibly? ). 'Mr.Cromwell' presided over a crack teaching force consisting of cynical Welshman 'Mr.Price', frosty 'Miss Ewell' ( she and the headmaster had a thing going in the first two series ), and the long overdue for retirement 'Mr.Smith'.Hedges commanded respect from 5C, and he in turn often got them out of trouble. In a funny sort of way, he became a father figure. This was most apparent in the episode 'Situations Vacant', when he stood up to Dennis' drunken, violent father ( the excellent Peter Bayliss ).'Please Sir' was a big hit for I.T.V., ( unsurprisingly, its biggest fans were children ) alongside other L.W.T. shows such as 'On The Buses' and 'Doctor In The House'. The first series boasted forty minute long episodes, in common with other L.W.T. sitcoms of the time, but subsequent seasons adopted the standard twenty-five minute length. In 1971, the inevitable feature film spin-off appeared - one of the better ones, it has to be said.After three seasons, Hedges married the lovely Penny ( Jill Kerman ) and resigned from Fenn St. School. In his place came 'David Ffitchett-Brown' played by the late Richard Warwick, an altogether trendier ( and less likable ) character. The pupils changed too, for the worse. The dim-witted 'Gobber Gibbons' ( Charles Bolton ) made 'Abbott' seem like Professor Stephen Hawking. The ratings plummeted and the show was cancelled. However, the old Fenn Street gang made a welcome reappearance in one of the last episodes ( 'Old Fennians Day' ). Eventually, they got their own show, which ran to three seasons.'Please Sir' was of its time, when school milk was free, pupils could not rely on parents to drive them to and from school, and the cane frequently used to punish bad behaviour. It should be seen not as a social document, however, but a comedy show and a good one at that.

My positive comments above only refer to the first two series. Having now seen episodes from the final two series, I'm afraid to say that they are hugely disappointing. This is largely down to cast- changes, particularly among the pupils but also the teachers. The new characters are unimpressive, with the exception of the aggressive PE teacher Mr. Dix, played by Glynn Edwards, who shows some style.Maybe the writers were also running short of ideas by this stage, with many of the stories and scenarios becoming stale and silly. There are still occasional flashes of form, but the impression has to be that the show should have quit with its stock high after the first two fine series. These are still worth checking-out.