Series Description

The Keep It in the Family TV show was a 30 minute British comedy series on ITV about a peculiar and naive but likeable cartoonist who had a hard time dealing with the fact that his two daughters were growing up into womanhood. They were accepting daddy's advice less and less about how to live their lives, especially when it came to their interactions with the boys that constantly came around. They had even convinced dad to let them move into their own downstairs apartment in order to at least partially get out from under dad's watchful eye.

Keep It in the Family Cast

Robert Gillespie .... Dudley Rush
Stacy Dorning .... Susan Rush
Glyn Houston .... Duncan Thomas
Pauline Yates .... Muriel Rush (Episodes 1-4)
Jenny Quayle .... Jacqui Rush (Episodes 1-2)
Sabina Franklyn .... Jacqui Rush (Episodes 3-5)
Anita Graham .... Wilma (Episodes 4-5)

Keep It in the Family Trivia

The comic strip that Dudley drew was titled, "Barney the Bionic Bulldog". He drew it by holding his pencil in the paw of a lion hand puppet.

Keep it in the Family was reworked for audiences in the U.S. and became one of the few British knockoff shows that hit it big with Americans! It was titled, "Too Close for Comfort" and the storyline was pretty much exactly the same. The cartoonist on that series was also named Rush although his first name was changed from Dudley to Henry. One of the daughters had a similar name too being called Jackie rather than Jacqui.

Series creator Brian Cooke came up with the idea for Keep it in the Family from his own background as a cartoonist and from series' director Mark Stuart's experiences with a daughter who lived in his downstairs apartment.

Keep it in the Family was initially supposed to be a show developed for actress Paula Wilcox who had already starred on several other British comedy series. She is perhaps best known today for her role as Hilary Potts on the 2077-2008 series, "Emmerdale Farm".

In a somewhat unusual move, rehearsals for Keep it in the Family were held in London's Putney United Reform Church! The actual filming of the episodes happened at Studio One of Teddington Studios.

Episodes List With Original Air Dates

Season 1

1. Downs and Ups (1/7/1980)
2. One of Those Days (1/14/1980)
3. All Through the Night (1/21/1980)
4. The Non-Mechanical Man (1/28/1980)
5. Some Enchanted Evening (2/4/1980)
6. A Friend in Need (2/11/1980)

7. Phoney Business (9/1/1980)
8. Home is Where the Heat Is (9/8/1980)
9. Games People Play (9/15/1980)
10. And Not a Drop to Drink (9/22/1980)
11. Smoke Without Fire (9/29/1980)
12. Takeaway Sunday (10/6/1980)
13. The Mouthtrap (10/13/1980)

14. Splitting Headaches (9/1/1981)
15. The Judas Goat (9/8/1981)
16. A Game of No Chance (9/15/1981)
17. Matter over Mind (9/22/1981)
18. A Matter of Principle (9/29/1981)
19. The Inferior Decorator (10/6/1981)

20. In the Camera Club (10/19/1982)
21. The Longest Night (10/26/1982)
22. Job References (11/2/1982)
23. A Snap Decision (11/9/1982)
24. Piano Blues (11/16/1982)
25. Alien Friends (11/23/1982)

26. Too Many Cooks (9/7/1983)
27. Trouble Aloft (9/14/1983)
28. A Moving Affair (9/28/1983)
29. Room for One on Top (10/5/1983)
30. That Old Black Magic (10/12/1983)
31. A Touch of the Orient (10/19/1983)