The Marriage Lines (1961–1966) User Reviews

Popular sitcom is incomplete in the archives

[Thor-Delta · 8/10 · 20 April 2013]

I'm a very poor reviewer, so this review probably won't be very good.

"Marriage Lines" was a popular sitcom. In the first episode, George and Kate Starling, a newlywed couple, arrive at their apartment to discover that they have lost their front door key. The rest of the first series sees them facing the typical problems which face a newlywed couples. The episodes are lively, funny and well-paced.

The second series is lost.

The third series survives, and sees Kate pregnant with their first child. Episodes in the 3rd season derive their plots from this and the resulting birth of the child.

The forth and fifth series is lost except for a fragment from the episode "Big Business". This fragment does not appear on the DVD.

This was a very good sitcom, and it's nice to see it on DVD. Episodes typically run between 24 to 26 minutes, and appear to exist as telerecordings. I hope the success of the DVD release will result in more less-known (yet quality) 1960s BBC comedies coming to DVD.

Thank god my marriage wasn't like this!

[Rabical-91 · 1/10 · 15 October 2018]

Have you ever been in that situation where you have been looking so forward to something, only then to end up being hugely disappointed? That it exactly how I felt after watching 'Marriage Lines'.

I really was looking forward to watching this Richard Waring scripted show which starred Richard Briers and Prunella Scales as young newlyweds George and Kate Starling but its lack of funny scripts and plots put me right off. They always find themselves in all manner of scrapes and misunderstandings, each one more predictable and embarrassing than the last. The first episode saw them trying to gain access to their new flat by picking the lock with a hair pin ( Kate had lost the keys ), only then to be arrested for what is technically breaking and entering.

Hard to believe but this was very popular back in its day, running for five series. However, very little of the show remains in the archives. What is left has surfaced on DVD courtesy of Acorn Media.

Luckily, both Briers and Scales later found greater success. Briers later became a hit with viewers in 'The Good Life' whilst Scales later became a household name as Sybil Fawlty in 'Fawlty Towers'.