Man About The House title
Man About The House was one of the series that broke the mould on what was acceptable on TV. The series gained a huge following because of it's risqué storyline about a single man sharing a flat with two single women.
The guy - Robin Tripp (Played by Richard O'Sullivan), was found sleeping in the bath the morning after a farewell party for the girls flatmate. The Girls - Chrissy Plummer, played by Paula Wilcox, and Jo (Did she have a surname?), played by ex-railway child Sally Thomsett, finding that Robin is looking for somewhere to live, ask Robin to move in with them.
Living below the trio, are Mr and Mrs Roper - George, the hen-pecked husband, and Mildred his long suffering wife. Their verbal swordplay was a running theme of the series. George is naturally disgusted at the thought of Robin moving in upstairs, but is otherwise persuaded when the girls inform him that Robin is 'Gay'.
Robin is smitten with Chrissy and spends most of his time trying to win her over. Jo is the token 'dumb blonde', who always seems to get the simplest of things wrong.
Man About The House artwork
One of the main hooks of the series, was the use of 'double entendre', where people think one thing is happening, but towards the end of the episode all becomes clear. This was a great tool for the use of innuendo, and at times the comedy had a very 'Carry On..' type feel. In series two a new character moved in upstairs, He was called Larry Simmonds (Doug Fisher), a good mate of Robin's. Larry liked to think he was good with women, and a date with Jo becomes Larry's goal, he fails of course - frequently. He causes the trio no end of problems, and his failure with women becomes another running theme. Man About The House was also a huge hit in the US, when the format was used in a series called Three's Company. The strip drawn by Alan Parry, was toned down in terms of the innuendo and such, for obvious reasons, and made more palatable for it's younger audience, but that didn't mean it wasn't funny, quite the opposite, there were some very clever scripts, keeping the reader amused and hooked.
Also interesting to note, the strip was the second of three strips to feature characters played by O'Sullivan, having already made an appearance as Dr. Lawrence Bingham in the 'Doctors' strips, he would also appear later as Dick Turpin.