Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em: Series 1, Episode 1 (Summary)

The Job Interview

First Aired: 15-02-1973

Written by: Raymond Allen

The Job Interview launched the Some Mothers do ‘Ave ‘Em television series and unleashed Frank Spencer onto an unsuspecting audience. There had never been a show quite like it and perhaps there never will. To make a similar show would be to copy it and one of the great things about Some Mothers do ‘Ave ‘Em was the fresh feel of the show. It was unique.

In the first episode of Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em,  Frank and Betty Spencer are living with Betty’s mother, but they will soon be moving into a new flat and Frank desperately needs to find a job. He’s apparently had several jobs in the past, but, walking jinx that he is, Frank has never managed to keep them. He has lost too many things, damaged too many things and proved himself to be too much of a liability.

The first time that the viewer sets their eyes on Frank he is busy repairing his mother-in-law’s coal shed. The door has gone already. Frank has lost it.

Mrs Fisher is obviously very distraught about the whole situation and she tells Betty that Frank’s mother was a bit ‘funny’ too and that she was, also, always breaking things. Betty does not want to hear about it though, because she has more important things on her mind–Frank’s interview. She has even bought him a new briefcase for the occasion.

Frank is being interviewed for a job as area sales manager for the wholesale ironmongers, Lewis and Co. and his new briefcase comes in very handy when he arrives there. It gives him something to sit on when he breaks the lift and ends up being trapped in it for nearly an hour.

Frank does not let this little problem set him back though and, remembering Betty’s advice to him, he smiles a lot so that he doesn’t appear worried about things. By the end of Frank’s interview, Mr Lewis is a nervous wreck, his secretary has resigned, and the guy who was busy working in the shop window when Frank arrived will probably be having nightmares about his smile for the rest of his life.

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