Only When I Laugh
Only When I Laugh is an ITV1 sitcom broadcast from 29 October 1979 to 16 December 1982 for four series with seven episodes each, and a Christmas special in 1981. The title is the answer to the question, "Does it hurt?" A naïve middle-class man is admitted to an NHS hospital ward, shared with a working-class layabout and an upper-class hypochondriac. The trio never fail to cause a nuisance for the poor, unsuspecting staff.
Seasons
1. A Bed with a View
Air Date: 1979-10-29
Young Norman Binns is admitted to Dr Thorpe's ward and is tricked by pessimistic Roy Figgis into swapping beds so that Figgis can have the bed with the window view. As a result, Thorpe and staff nurse Gupte confuse the two men's symptoms.
2. Operation Norman
Air Date: 1979-11-05
Norman has to have an appendectomy but Figgis' doom-laden description of operations and Thorpe's wariness do not give him confidence, do he hides in the toilet, having to be coaxed out.
3. The Rumour
Air Date: 1979-11-12
Thorpe is telling Gupte that his dog Victor is unwell but Gupte misunderstands and thinks he's talking about his son. The patients also fall prey to the misunderstanding, for various reasons each believing that they are going to die.
4. The Man with the Face
Air Date: 1979-11-19
Glover has been seeing a Greek girl and panics when her violent boyfriend comes looking for him so Figgis wraps his head in bandages, claiming that he is a burn victim, setting up a series of confusions.
5. Let Them Eat Cake
Air Date: 1979-11-26
Fed up with the quality of the hospital buffet, the patients go on strike but are soon defeated. However, server Clegg decides to go on strike himself, but has his foot run over whilst on picket outside the hospital.
6. Tangled Web
Air Date: 1979-12-03
Norman is reading a hospital romance, when he sees new nurse Sally, who is exactly like the fictional heroine. He wants to express his feelings but finds rivalry in Glover, Thorpe and Gupte, all keen to pursue.
7. Is There a Doctor in the House?
Air Date: 1979-12-10
When Glover is discharged, an unhappy Figgis, without someone to quarrel with, goes to the pub, pretending to be a doctor and diagnosing people with terrible illnesses, filling the ward.
1. Whatever Happened to Gloria Robbins?
Air Date: 1980-04-29
Glover is thrilled when glamourous starlet Gloria Robbins is admitted to a woman's ward and is before long romancing her with flowers. Characteristically, Figgis is cynical but even he falls under her spell – as do Norman and Thorpe.
2. Where There's a Will
Air Date: 1980-05-06
Glover does not take kindly to eccentric new patient Joe Perkins – with his invisible dog – due to his lack of hygiene and use of Glover's drinking tumbler for his false teeth. However, when he discovers that Joe's tin box contains a fortune and the man is considering changing his will, Glover – and Norman – both fawn on him to get into his good books.
3. It Can Damage Your Health
Air Date: 1980-05-13
Norman has recently taken up smoking but long-term smokers Glover and Figgis are feeling the ill effects of the habit and try, respectively, a pipe and yoga to help quit – but in vain.
4. The Cosmic Influence
Air Date: 1980-05-20
When Figgis becomes obsessed with tabloid astrology, the others are sceptical — that is, until Norman's luck at cards takes an upturn. However, Figgis becomes so preoccupied with predictions, he becomes convinced that his death is imminent, forcing Thorpe to beat him at his own game to cure him.
5. The Visitors
Air Date: 1980-05-27
Norman's overbearing, hypochondriac mother comes to visit and he's initially scared to tell her he is romancing nurse Jenny. Norman's cowardice gives Glover the opportunity to try and make a move but Figgis puts him off with lies, enabling the young couple to eventually stand up to Mrs Binns.
6. The Lost Sheep
Air Date: 1980-06-03
When the vicar comes to discuss Norman and Jenny's impending nuptials, agnostic Figgis gets into a religious argument but ultimately fears for his soul as he has not been christened.
7. Last Tango
Air Date: 1980-06-10
Feeling wistful that they're unable to attend the staff dance with its majority of females, the patients decide to have a party of their own, inviting Nurse Eileen. Needless to say Figgis and Glover – and Thorpe – vie with each other to impress her with their moves.
1. A Day in the Life Of
Air Date: 1981-09-02
A TV crew arrive to shadow Thorpe for a day. He has primed Norman to give a glowing report but Norman keeps fluffing his lines, leaving Glover is only too keen to take over.
2. The Right Honourable Gentleman
Air Date: 1981-09-09
Extreme right-wing MP Sir Julian Briggs is admitted to the ward, angering socialist Figgis, though Thorpe is anxious to get him on side as the hospital faces closure.
3. Adam's Rib
Air Date: 1981-09-16
When new doctor Amy Glossop starts on the ward, Thorpe is initially hostile due to her gender, though both Glover and Norman have fallen in love with her.
4. Postman's Knock
Air Date: 1981-09-23
Believing that Glover is lonely, Figgis writes an anonymous letter in character as Glover to agony aunt Clare Butterfield, who is annoyed by the writer's arrogance. However, Glover has answered an ad and is expecting a visit from the free-thinking Leonora.
5. Accident
Air Date: 1981-09-30
Norman witnesses an accident outside the hospital gates involving Thorpe and young speed freak Ronnie, though it is the doctor who would appear to be in the wrong when his breath sample proves positive. Figgis and Glover stage a mock trial to get Norman to divulge the truth.
6. Dear Diary
Air Date: 1981-10-07
Norman has been keeping a diary and Figgis and Glover are anxious to see what he's written about them. On stealing the diary, they find that most of the entries are fantasies in which Norman is the brave patient soothing everybody else's nerves, as well as inventing a romance between himself and the notoriously icy Nurse Bradley.
7. These You Have Loved
Air Date: 1981-10-14
Figgis takes exception to the hospital radio run by nurse Victoria and, when she accidentally leaves her recording equipment, spices things up by taping and broadcasting one of Thorpe's tirades.
8. Away for Christmas
Air Date: 1981-12-24
On Christmas Eve, the ward gets a new patient, eight year old elected mute Danny, a known arsonist whose parents are abroad. Figgis dresses up as Santa Claus to steal presents for him from the children's ward but is rumbled and has to escape, getting the benefits of kisses from nurses who mistake him for the hospital's other Santa.
1. Blood Brothers
Air Date: 1982-11-04
Thorpe believes that Glover needs a blood transfusion and Figgis is the same blood group but Glover, being a snob, is not happy to be the recipient, especially when he hears that Figgis has received a transfusion himself from a West Indian.
2. Conduct Unbecoming
Air Date: 1982-11-11
Thorpe becomes an unlikely sex object when nymphomaniac patient Fiona demands they run off together and has written a complaint letter to the hospital board, whose chairman is her father, unless he agrees to her demand.
3. All in the Mind
Air Date: 1982-11-18
Having borrowed a book on psychology, Figgis takes it upon himself to analyse his fellow patients, alleging that Glover has a persecution complex and Norman is sexually repressed.
4. In Sickness and in Health
Air Date: 1982-11-25
A most reluctant Norman is to marry the dull and plain Deirdre, rather than Jenny. Glover decides to flatter Deirdre in order that she might blossom but rather overdoes it so that she transforms into a glamorous, confident woman with no need for Norman.
5. Escape
Air Date: 1982-12-02
Glover is charmed by new admission Harry Bridgewater - until it transpires that he is a prisoner who has come in for an operation with a guard in attendance. Having tried to pass himself off as a hardened criminal, Bridgewater has to admit he is merely a getaway driver but asks the patients to cover for him whilst he escapes – for a night – to be intimate with his wife. They agree and persuade Thorpe to assist them but will the convict really return?
6. When Did You Last See Your Father?
Air Date: 1982-12-09
An elderly drunk named Charlie arrives, claiming to be looking for his son, from whom he has long been estranged. The assumption is that his son is Norman, though it turns out to be Glover, who, after initial disgust, starts to warm to the old boy, especially when Charlie promises to lay off the sauce.
7. The Reunion
Air Date: 1982-12-16
The patients are discharged on the same day – somewhat reluctantly given their lengths of stay – and decide to have a reunion the same evening in a restaurant. By chance, Thorpe is there with Hilary, who is emphatically not his wife, and when Thorpe goes to make a phone call, Glover, seeing her alone, moves in and succeeds in going home with her.
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Rating
6.7/10
Release Date
1979-10-29
Episodes
29 (4 seasons)
Status
Ended
Cast
Production Companies
Yorkshire Television