Yanks Go Home

Yanks Go Home is a British sitcom about U.S. Army Air Forcemen stationed in Lancashire, England in the Second World War. It was produced and directed by Eric Prytherch for Granada Television and broadcast on ITV between 1976 and 1977. The series ran for 2 series and 13 episodes in total before its cancellation.[1]

Yanks Go Home
GenreComedy
Written byH.V. Kershaw
John Stevenson
Anthony Couch
Directed byEric Prytherch
Roger Cheveley
StarringMeg Johnson
Bruce Boa
Stuart Damon
Catherine Neilson
Peter Sallis
David Ross
Harry Markham
Freddie Earlle
Alan MacNaughton
Lionel Murton
Richard Oldfield
Norman Bird
Jay Benedict
ComposerDerek Hilton
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series2
No. of episodes13
Production
ProducerEric Prytherch
Running time30 minutes
Production companyGranada Television
Release
Original networkITV
Original release22 November 1976 (1976-11-22) –
19 September 1977 (1977-09-19)

Plot

The series focused on a group of U.S. Army Air Force pilots stationed in a small northern town in Lancashire, England during the Second World War and their sometimes tense relationship with the local men, most often over the attentions of the young women in the town. The early interactions and friction between British civilians and the U.S. military during WWII, best summed up by the popular wartime slogan of American servicemen "over paid, over sexed, and over here", was intentionally played up for humorous effect in the series.

Characters

Episodes

Series 1
#TitleWritersOriginal airdateSeries No.
01"Series One Episode One (Somewhere in England)"TBA22 November 1976 (1976-11-22)#1.01
02"Series One Episode Two (Off Limits)"TBA29 November 1976 (1976-11-29)#1.02
03"Series One Episode Three (Dear John)"TBA6 December 1976 (1976-12-06)#1.03
04"Series One Episode Four (Open Day)"TBA13 December 1976 (1976-12-13)#1.04
05"Series One Episode Five (Brooklyn's Uncle)"TBA20 December 1976 (1976-12-20)#1.05
06"Series One Episode Six (Rossi Keeps His Cool)"TBA27 December 1976 (1976-12-27)#1.06
07"Series One Episode Seven (The Liaison Committee)"TBA3 January 1977 (1977-01-03)#1.07

Series 2
#TitleWritersOriginal airdateSeries No.
08"Series Two Episode One (Cooke-Cooke)"TBA8 August 1977 (1977-08-08)#2.01
09"Series Two Episode Two (The Game of the Name)"TBA15 August 1977 (1977-08-15)#2.02
10"Series Two Episode Three (Bed of Roses)"TBA22 August 1977 (1977-08-22)#2.03
11"Series Two Episode Four (Alarm and Despondency)"TBA5 September 1977 (1977-09-05)#2.04
12"Series Two Episode Five (Some of Our Coal Is Missing)"TBA12 September 1977 (1977-09-12)#2.05
13"Series Two Episode Six (The First of the G.I. Brides)"TBA19 September 1977 (1977-09-19)#2.06

Reception

Upon the premiere of the first episode, originally aired on 22 November 1976, the show's title "Yanks Go Home" raised some mild controversy as the United States had celebrated its bicentennial months before. With the immensely popular BBC sitcom Dad's Army in its final year, ITV created the series in an attempt to win over some of its audience. The show received considerable publicity from the network and appeared on the cover of TV Times.

The show failed to meet the network's expectations however, mostly due to the concept already having been touched upon in Dad's Army (such as in the episode My British Buddy, 3 years and 15 days broadcast before the first episode) but also because of the lack of a regular writing staff. Nearly each episode was written by a different writer which created noticeable inconsistencies as the series progressed. The studio-based setting and canned laughter also lessened the feel in comparison with Dad's Army. The show was cancelled a year later, the final episode airing on 19 September 1977, and was never brought back for a third.

One of the breakout stars of the show was Freddie Earlle (who was in Dad's Army, It Ain't Half Hot Mum and Hi-de-Hi!) whose character Corporal Pasquale was favourably compared to Sgt. Bilko. The series also featured Stuart Damon of The Champions, who also wrote one episode. H

DVD releases

The Complete Series is set to be released on 5 March 2012 by Network DVD.

References
  1. Memorable TV (2002). "Yanks Go Home". UK Sitcoms - Yanks Go Home to Yus M'Dear. MemorableTV.com.
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