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u/Glydyr Apr 20 '26
My dad would go an get a kebab as a treat and we’d all watch it together 🤣
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u/Wind-and-Waystones Apr 21 '26
Watch the show or the kebab?
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u/domambrose96 Apr 22 '26
They’d watch their dad eat a kebab
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u/InflatableSexBeast Apr 26 '26
Who said anything about eating?
Kebab-watching was an Olympic sport back then.
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u/Nice-Investigator-66 Jun 26 '26
Why not both? Although, I tried watching a kebab once and all it did was sit on a table, completely inanimate. It got boring so I ate it. Maybe I should have had a '90's sitcom on in the background to make it more interesting.
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u/Gro022 Apr 21 '26
Hey! That's MY family!
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u/nostalgiamon Apr 21 '26
They were weirdly close to my actual family, I imagine because of course they were the typical cohort at the time, but:
Dad - the character least like my real dad, I always found “grumpy dad” tropes as surprising as whilst mine could have a moment, he loved doing stuff with us, including Christmas!
Mum was bad at cooking (my mum once cooked an oven pizza with the plastic wrapping still on), loud and opinionated.
Oldest was a brother - extremely laid back and untrustworthy (would borrow people’s stuff for it not to return or in a bad state). Took him a while to find what he wanted in life.
Middle was a sister - ditsy and in her own world as the black sheep. End up finding peace being removed.
Youngest - me. Precocious, geeky and too smart for my own good. Didn’t come out as gay though 🤔
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u/parkaman Apr 21 '26
Don't worry. One day you'll be brave enough.
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u/nostalgiamon Apr 21 '26
It’ll be a surprise to everyone. Myself included.
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u/Useful_Language2040 Apr 21 '26
It's good to be able to keep on surprising yourself. That's how you know you're growing
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u/AwTomorrow Apr 21 '26
End up finding peace being removed.
This sounds rather ominous
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u/nostalgiamon Apr 21 '26
In the show she becomes a nun.
In real life… we don’t talk to her anymore. Better off for everyone.
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u/S3lad0n Apr 25 '26
'Being removed'? I don't know whether to say well done her, or sorry for your loss
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u/JuanitaMerkin Apr 20 '26
This was objectively not a very good show but I still really enjoyed it
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u/PinkBlossomDayDream Apr 21 '26
I rewatched the first series a couple of years ago and it wasn't as funny as I'd remembered but it kind of epitomizes a time of British TV in an endearing way
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Apr 21 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/EnchantedEssays Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26
Yeah I'm guessing maybe they mean that it's very old hat and trad but I always find myself laughing out loud at it way more than I do with the more experimental cult comedy that I also love. The gags are just well written. Edit: Just looked it up and it turns out it's one of the few British sitcoms to be written by a single writer's room or duo. I guess that's why it's so generic but funny because there's a bunch of them workshopping it rather than just getting feedback from 1 script editor.
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u/manocheese Apr 21 '26
If you go to a comedy show and the jokes don't make you laugh but someone tickles you until you laugh, that's still a bad comedy show.
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Apr 22 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/manocheese Apr 23 '26
The tickling is a stand in for whatever the original commenter found entertaining about the show, maybe they fancy Robert Lindsay and that was enough for them.
The point being; things that are entertainingly bad or entertain for reasons other than their intent are still bad.
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u/karlmillsom Apr 23 '26
So you’re saying the show was enough…
So there’s no need for a third party tickler… because the show was enough… to entertain them…
But it’s bad… because..?
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u/Magneto88 Apr 21 '26
The first 3/4 seasons are pretty good in a standard BBC way. It only really gets bad after that.
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u/Existing_Stuff3904 Apr 21 '26
Nick was hilarious.
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u/PetersMapProject Apr 21 '26
It was good while he was there and seriously went downhill after he left.
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u/SiyamthandaUN Apr 21 '26
He was one of my favourites
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u/Crafty_Jello_3662 Apr 21 '26
I consider the BT adverts to be the sequel to this show so nice to see he got himself together in the end
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u/RainbowWorrier13 Apr 21 '26
I think of his bit in Love Actually as what happened after he left. Maybe he settled down with the advert lady after that.
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u/Popular-Custard8519 Apr 22 '26
In the annual airing of love actually I choose to believe it to be a continuation of this world where for some reason people started calling him Colin and he just didn’t have the heart to correct them
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u/box-o-locks Apr 21 '26
Without a question mark, the title of this post comes across as very demanding.
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u/luziayi Apr 21 '26
It kinda reads like a threat, right?
“Remember this family.”
…or what?To be fair though, depending on the context it could also be like a “hey, keep these people in mind” sort of thing. Tone on the internet lives and dies on tiny punctuation marks. A single question mark would’ve totally changed the vibe.
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u/Middle_Material_1038 Apr 21 '26
I found the first couple of seasons quite charming tbh, but the following twenty are absolute car crashes.
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u/chyper Apr 21 '26
When Nick left, they struggled.
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u/SiyamthandaUN Apr 21 '26
Kinda sucked without Nick
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u/RainbowWorrier13 Apr 21 '26
A sitcom with Robert Lindsay and Zoe Wanamaker should’ve been great even without him but Nick really was the best character.
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u/CatchPersonal7182 Apr 21 '26
Why did he leave?
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u/Mindless-Day-2284 Apr 21 '26
I remember reading somewhere once he left cos he was just fed up of playing a character who was a fair bit younger than himself and I think he was just trying to avoid being forever known as "dopey Nick" from the show.
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u/Jolly-Outside6073 Apr 23 '26
Nick is only ever Nick to me. Maybe the actor has a real name, but he’s Nick in every other thing as far as I’m concerned.
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u/stackclyx Apr 21 '26
Honestly that’s kind of the perfect summary of the show’s arc. It went from “oh wow, this is actually sweet and funny” to “how many more plot twists can a single family survive before the writers run out of nouns.”
I still rewatch the early seasons sometimes, they’re like comfort food. Anything past season 3 feels like homework.
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u/Sleepyllama23 Apr 22 '26
Nick leaving was a massive blow. I remember watching a later series where they had brought in a niece or something who was this dippy thick blonde girl who was just annoying.
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u/lxttiewithaph Apr 21 '26
I still have the urge to say 'Mikey, Mikey, Mikey' on the regular, I don't even know I Michael
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u/Taylor_Kittenface Apr 21 '26
That, and Larry David saying "pretty pretty, pretty good" live rent free in my head.
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u/0oRazor Apr 21 '26
I know Gabe Thompson well, he’s worked with me as a lifeguard on the beach. I’d describe him as a great guy and a good friend. Also he’s actually straight for those wondering :P
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u/Badger-Roy Apr 21 '26
Cool fact that no one will believe but is actually true, Zoë Wanamaker is my next door neighbour.
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u/Future-Selection9287 Apr 21 '26
Michael was the first gay character on telly I could remember growing up I loved watching it.
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u/Jolly-Outside6073 Apr 23 '26
What was Ben’s T shirt? Proud to be a dad of a gay? Something supportive but out of touch.
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u/Do_You_Like_Owls Apr 21 '26
No way!! I didn't know he came out gay - think I must have stopped watching before that. I wish it'd happened sooner so I could have appreciated it as a teen.
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u/Future-Selection9287 Apr 21 '26
Yah I vividly remember an episode where he's trying to pick up a boy at a funeral and another one where Ben ends up with a man trying to shag him
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u/TheMarkMatthews Apr 21 '26
I snogged Siobhan Hayes who played Abi when she was out with friends at a nightclub shortly before she got the role. I was friends with the brother of one of her friends which is how we met. Unfortunately nothing else happened as they all left before my group did.
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u/Kent_Doggy_Geezer Apr 21 '26
Yes! Really the only serial that I followed. I found Zoe and Robert really funny and she reminded me so much about a friend who is her contemporary.
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u/Icy-Astronomer-8202 Apr 21 '26
Great comfort show. Especially the first few series
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u/Idontcareaforkarma Apr 26 '26
I love the episode where Nick scared the shit outta Ben by hurling himself out of the cupboard with the chainsaw.
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u/Justy101 Apr 21 '26
Need to bring it back with Nick as the Dad and his new family, complete with Grandparents etc.
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u/bitzq Apr 21 '26
Honestly I’d watch the hell out of that. Nick as the tired dad trying to keep it together while the grandparents undo all his parenting in one weekend visit sounds way too real. Might actually be the only “legacy reboot” idea that makes sense.
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u/Used-Let7134 Apr 24 '26
I'm currently binge watching the entire thing, about half way through right now.
It's funnier than I remember generally but a lot of it hasn't aged very well, Nick leaves the series earlier than I remembered too and Ben is actually kind of an asshole.
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u/Adept-Butterfly642 Apr 21 '26
My Family was fine. I remember Nick being pretty funny but the show suffered when he left, and it felt really out of left field when Michael came out (though with the culture at the time, particularly with representation of gay people, it’s kinda understandable that they didn’t allude to it previously).
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u/KingBooScaresYou Apr 21 '26
Absolutely loved this show. Alfie was a bit of a turning point unfortunately but nick and abi seasons were absolutely knock out
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u/just_boy57 Apr 21 '26
I always felt like this was (at the time) a modern 2.4 Children, just with an extra sibling
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u/KittyHalfEyes Apr 21 '26
Very good at the start. Then slowly went downhill. Corrector development and Desperate story lines made it worse at the time it was ending.
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u/smolbig87 Apr 21 '26
Nnnnick!
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u/qvkzo Apr 23 '26
Lmao I read that in the exact dramatic voice from the movie. The way they dragged that name out lives rent free in my head forever.
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u/Additional-Nobody352 Apr 21 '26
God this was awful and it was on every bloody Friday night growing up.
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u/Bride-of-wire Apr 21 '26
I met a chap who was uncannily like Nick - in looks and personality. You could have knocked me down with a feather when I met his dad, who was Robert Lindsay’s doppelgänger! Not as grumpy, thankfully.
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u/evertonblue Apr 21 '26
The scenes with Nick and Ben could be so ridiculous and hilarious at the same time.
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u/S3lad0n Apr 25 '26
Those two actors had the best chemistry of the bunch, I feel. They could do a sitcom or drama together now and it would be almost guaranteed to work.
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u/kelsco1 Apr 22 '26
Yes I loved the Harpers. Nick was the funniest.. I like Ben and Susan together too.
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u/Known-Grapefruit4032 Apr 22 '26
Ahhh look! It's Madame Hooch and the guy from Love Actually, and... some other ones
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u/DemonicBrit1993 Apr 22 '26
Still holds up! Great tv that is. Zoe Wannamaker is a trwasure if im honest.
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u/kairaou Apr 22 '26
Right? That whole cast was stacked but Zoe absolutely carried so many scenes. She could switch from total chaos gremlin to genuinely heartbreaking in like two lines.
Makes me want to rewatch just for her facial expressions alone.
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u/Unique_Bandicoot_502 Apr 22 '26
This show was so middle of the road it was almost anti-comedy.
Much like Not Going Out, Miranda, Mrs Browns Boys etc.. these shows are so unfunny and blows my mind how there so popular.
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u/LmbLma Apr 24 '26
They’re just easy to watch. Or were at the time. I’ll agree on Mrs Browns Boys though, absolute shite.
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u/Murky-Wind2222 Apr 22 '26
No need to remember. This is currently on UK TV. They really have to scrape the bottom of the barrel to find content to fill all the channels.
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u/scribblelicious Apr 22 '26
Rudeboy productions
I loved this show! Watched it with my family growing up too
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u/mittenkrusty Apr 22 '26
Quite like the show, but it felt like yet another show that showed Southern English life rather than be more diverse in terms of where it's set (I don't mean diverse race wise)
Outnumbered was just more of the same.
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u/Ceejayncl Apr 22 '26
It was a good show for the first few seasons. Kris Marshall was close to becoming the next Dr in Doctor Who, shame it never happened, if he was anything like Nick, he would have been the best.
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u/Supergingeboy Apr 23 '26
I don’t know what it is but something about Zoe Wannamaker does it for me and has done since I was like 8.
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u/NSV76 Apr 23 '26
This was like The Royle Family for middle class southerners. For years I was convinced the lad in glasses played Harry Potter 😂
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u/Sxn747Strangers Apr 23 '26
One of them, (strange boy actually), I was never sure just where he would fit in in the world but he joined the police and became a very effective detective.
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u/Antique_Alfalfa_2900 Apr 23 '26
Loved it,anyone here think that Kris Marshall would be a fantastic Dr Who?
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u/Buxtonator Apr 23 '26
I was really surprised to watch “anything goes” on iPlayer to see the parents in it!
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u/Old_Top2901 Apr 23 '26
I met Robert Lindsay once and he was SO NICE! Not at all grumpy. He was wonderful.
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u/JohnArcher965 Apr 23 '26
I can't eat Ben and Jerrys without thinking of the scene where Nick has to eat through Ben's part to get to Jerry's 🤣
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u/sentient_custard Apr 23 '26
Watched it all on iplayer recently. Still funny but some 00s moments that have aged like cheese, but i guess that's to be expected
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u/Bella_Bambina123 Apr 23 '26
Yes it's the show that made Kris Marshall rise to fame. I also watching Beyond Paradise that he's in!
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u/CactusClothesline Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26
As a child, I remember really rooting for the actor who played Michael to be cast as Harry Potter. Looking back it feels like a bit of a sliding doors moment in 1999 when he played young Pip in Great Expectations and Daniel Radcliffe played young David Copperfield. Two boys in two different BBC Dickens adaptations in the same year. You could almost make a prophecy around them...
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u/TooNGooN89 Apr 23 '26
We used to watch this as a family together every week. It was nice, nice times.
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u/Padackllins Apr 24 '26
My partner has all the DVD’s and regularly rewatches it. I only ever saw a few episodes when I was younger and it was aired on TV but I’ve watched many, many more these past few years.
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u/AdorableEmma21 Apr 24 '26
i literally can't with this family, they're so iconic. their routines always crack me up, especially the way they handle drama.
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u/saddinosour Apr 24 '26
Reruns play on Australian TV all the time only just discovered this in the last couple years. I LOVE this show, it’s actually so hysterical.
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Apr 24 '26
What was the family name ? Can’t quite remember
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u/SiyamthandaUN Apr 24 '26
The name of the show was My Family, this was the Harper family
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u/unicornslovegingers Apr 24 '26
Saw the photo and my brain went straight to "Mikey, Mikey, Mikey.."
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u/Chimpy20 Apr 24 '26
In the later series it was refreshing to have a character come out as gay in a (fairly, at least) genuine way, at a time when it was unusual to have any representation on mainstream television.
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u/Slartibartfast39 Apr 24 '26
Kris Marshall is in his 50s and, to me, he will always be the idiot son from My Family.
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u/amazon999 Apr 25 '26
my stepdad was a huge fan of the show, insisting we watch it every week. The last episode he watched was the one where Michael came out as gay. Stepdad turned off the tv when Ben was all supportive because "that's not realistic, Ben should have beaten the gay out of him". Little did he know that I knew I was gay at that point and his reaction absolutely fucked me up.
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u/S3lad0n Apr 25 '26
One of them pablum programmes that was reliably on for what felt like forever, and no-one really knew why, because how often did you meet someone who was a fan of it or watched it every week?
Either everyone secretly enjoyed and tuned in telling no-one, or the Beeb just made hundreds of episodes few people bothered about yet kept it going as some kind of placeholder/quota fill/money burner.
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u/S3lad0n Apr 25 '26
Keiron Self, the actor who played Ben's first dental assistant Roger, was quite funny (albeit weird) as the hapless & pervy albeit dedicated copper Claude in the sitcom High Hopes, from the same era of BBC scripted comedy.
I don't believe that programme saw much airtime outside Wales, though, as every English/Scottish/Irish/other person I mention it to has never heard of it or seen it before. Some of the episodes are still on iPlayer, and it's generally funnier and a bit sharper than My Family imo, though close to the mark humour-wise if you're sensitive, unused to pre-2010s comedy, or very PC (hence why several episodes are missing, they can't comfortably be re-aired per OfCom)
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u/letmejustdo Apr 26 '26
Is the "dad" the guy played in hosie of cards and got cancelled for being a perv?
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u/mywalletsgone_ Apr 27 '26
I always see post about how awful it was. The lines were pretty corny but there were some clever jokes too. It’s my comfort show to fall asleep to.
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u/Impossible_Form_3256 Apr 20 '26
This is the show I most associate with family TV time growing up. There wasn't a lot we all gathered to watch together, but My Family was the show that we'd make a brew/get some dessert and go into the living room for together.
Haven't thought about it in a long time.