Why Richard O’Sullivan’s Man About the House scandalised Seventies Britain
The news of the death of Richard O'Sullivan will cause a particular pang in the hearts of those of us who grew up in the 1970s. We hear a lot today about a lack of male role models. Richard O'Sullivan was definitely one of ours.
He played Robin Tripp, the hapless student chef daringly sharing a London flat with two office girls – shrewd Chrissy (Paula Wilcox) and ditzy Jo (Sally Thomsett) – in ITV sitcom Man About The House , which ran from 1973 to 1976. This was a bold set-up for its day; the idea of young men and women going unchaperoned as friends was revolutionary in a way that we can't appreciate today. As a mere child during the show's original transmission, I was puzzled by the enormous stink it kicked up.
The chemistry between the three young leads was palpable; in the opening titles, improvised afresh for each series, they were clearly having such fun.
O'Sullivan as Robin alongside Paula Wilcox as Chrissy and Sally Thomsett as Jo - Bert Hill/TV Times/Getty Images
O'Sullivan's acting was of the deceptively casual school, one of those performers who was so blithely effortless that you sometimes wondered whether he was actually acting at all. Robin was funny, naughty – the epitome of that very Seventies adjective "randy". But he was also, at heart, overwhelmingly decent and not macho. He was often seen sheepishly wheeling his clapped-out motorbike, or donning a plastic apron with a bra and panties design.
The scripts by Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke played constantly with the novelty of the then scandalous scenario. There was a simmering sexual tension between Robin and Chrissy, and he was always making obliquely comic attempts at her seduction. But Robin and Chrissy usually ended up rescuing each other from romantic traps sprung elsewhere, becoming more like brother and sister. This made the series' conclusion, when Robin was gazumped for Chrissy's affections by his own big brother, all the more poignant.
There was always a simmering sexual tension between Robin and Chrissy - StudioCanal/Alamy Stock Photo
The series' makers certainly had fun with the shocking set-up. The end credits featured images of clashing male/female household items: a shaving brush and lipstick, a football scarf and a David Bowie poster, etc. But we also saw a male chicken and two cats. If I spelt that out for you, it might still be too risqué for a family newspaper. Similarly, the advent of the video age revealed in freeze-frame that a game of Scrabble played by the three flatmates – swiftly panned away from in an episode from 1975 – included words such as orifice, breast and fellate.
The breezy, seemingly carefree permissiveness in the upstairs flat, with the trio's boozy parties and gay chums, clashed with the landlords down below – George and Mildred Roper . Mildred's affection for the youngsters came with a touch of regret, given George's pronounced aversion to her erotic demands. There were whole worlds of social history in these scenes, capturing the post-war permissive boom more eloquently than any stat-crammed academic treatise.
O'Sullivan with Yootha Joyce and Brian Murphy who played George and Mildred Roper - United News/Popperfoto/Getty Images
Robin's catering career may seem utterly ordinary today, but a man cooking was still regarded with some suspicion in 1974. This helped to allay landlord George's suspicions, as he simply assumed Robin must be gay (a conceit that persisted throughout the entire run of the American version, Three's Company ).
Watching Man About The House again recently, I was struck by how unsentimental and matter-of-fact it could be. When Robin and Chrissy were required by the plot to spend an evening with George and Mildred, it was an excruciatingly boring experience for them. The show was never nasty or cynical, but it certainly wasn't cosy.
Robin's catering career would still have been regarded with some suspicion in 1974 - Everett Collection Inc/Alamy Stock Photo
George and Mildred, of course, moved on to their own show, but so did Robin, spinning off into Robin's Nest with girlfriend Vicky, played by O'Sullivan's real-life partner, Tessa Wyatt, which ran from 1977 to 1981. The Nest of the title was the bijou bistro run by Robin, with backing from Vicky's disapproving father.
This was another daring move from ITV, depicting an unmarried couple living together for the first time in a comedy series. Special dispensation had to be obtained from the IBA, predecessor of Ofcom , for a bedroom scene in the first episode.
The success of Man About The House – two spin-offs and the explosively popular American version – has been rather forgotten. All three shows were revolutionary in their way, depicting the social changes brought by the pill and greater sexual freedom (even if, for Mildred, the parade had passed her by). All three shows were cheeky and agreeable, with gag after gag after gag.
So much of that success was down to O'Sullivan, whose incredible likeability – he was one of those actors nobody had a bad word to say about – saw him move on to further successes, in the title role in Dick Turpin and in the unjustly overlooked Me and My Girl , which cast him in another part with socially significant undertones, this time as a single father.
Then, he suddenly retired due to ill health. Unlike many actors, he didn't need to be seen. I suspect – I certainly hope – that he knew that he was adored.
