The Upper Hand is a British television sitcom with dramatic elements broadcast by ITV from 1 May 1990 to 14 October 1996. The programme was adapted from the American sitcom Who's the Boss?
The Upper Hand | |
---|---|
Genre | Sitcom |
Created by | Martin Cohan Blake Hunter |
Starring | Joe McGann Diana Weston Honor Blackman Kellie Bright William Puttock |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of series | 7 |
No. of episodes | 94 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Production location | Television House[1] |
Running time | 25 minutes |
Production companies | Central in association with Columbia Pictures Television (Seasons 1-5) Columbia TriStar Central/Carlton Productions (Seasons 6-7) |
Original release | |
Network | ITV |
Release | 1 May 1990 14 October 1996 | –
Related | |
Who's the Boss? |
As in the former series, affluent single woman Caroline Wheatley, raising her son with the help of her mother Laura West, hires a housekeeper and a man called Charlie Burrows applies for the job.[2]
Down on his luck, former footballer Charlie Burrows (Joe McGann) moves from a deprived area of London to leafy Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire to make a better life for his teenage daughter Joanna (Kellie Bright), by taking a job as housekeeper for well-off advertising executive Caroline Wheatley (Diana Weston). Although Caroline is unsure about employing him, her man-eating ageing mother Laura West (Honor Blackman) talks her into it. Soon the two become friends, Caroline's son Tom (William Puttock) comes to see Charlie as a father figure, and Joanna enjoys having a female influence in her life following the premature death of her mother.
Both Caroline and Charlie repeatedly attempt to find love elsewhere, denying their blossoming feelings for each other. For years they lead the viewer on a "will-they-won't-they" chase that lasts until the end of the sixth series when the pair marry. After initial plans to end the series there, ITV commissioned a seventh series featuring Charlie and Caroline as husband and wife, which went beyond the premise of the original American version.
The theme music was written by Debbie Wiseman. A piano version of the theme titled Joe & Diana was released in 2011 on her album Piano Stories.[3]
The Upper Hand was first released on VHS format in the United Kingdom, where three volumes containing various episodes were made available from Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment. All seven series of The Upper Hand have been released in 2010 and 2011 in the United Kingdom via Network.
VHS
Title | Episodes | # Tapes | Release date | BBFC rating | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Volume 1: The Best of Series I & II | 4 "Just the Job" |
1 | 16 January 1995 | PG | [4] |
Volume 2: Caroline & Charlie's Romance | 4 "First Kiss" |
1 | 6 March 1995 | PG | [5] |
Volume 3: The Wedding | 1 "The Wedding" |
1 | 1995 | PG | [6] |
DVD
Title | Episodes | # Discs | Release date | BBFC rating[7] | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Complete First Series | 13 | 2 | 18 January 2010 | PG | [8] |
The Complete Second Series | 12 | 2 | 10 May 2010 | PG | [9] |
The Complete Third Series | 13 | 2 | 26 July 2010 | PG | [10] |
The Complete Fourth Series | 19 | 3 | 27 September 2010 | PG | [11] |
The Complete Fifth Series | 16 | 2 | 25 October 2010 | PG | [12] |
The Complete Sixth Series | 14 | 2 | 24 January 2011 | PG | [13] |
The Complete Seventh Series | 7 | 1 | 20 June 2011 | PG | [14] |
The Complete Series | 94 | 14 | 8 December 2014 | PG | [15] |