Sadly Over-hyped

Please don't spend money on this.

Load of rubbish!!

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

A number of years ago, I used to hold a very negative view of this show. Re-watching it again over the past few weeks, I have to say I still maintain some of my original thoughts on the show but I must admit that some of the episodes are quite amusing. 'Fresh Fields' is all about married couple Hester and William Fields - he a laid back slippers and newspaper type ( who works as an accountant ) who is happy with his lot and her an over-enthusiastic housewife who jumps from one hobby to the next ( in a bid to fight against her empty nest syndrome as her daughter Emma, who is never seen but heard frequently on the telephone, has left home ).Living next door to them is Sonia ( the late Ann Beach ), who barges into the Fields' home at the worst possible moments to borrow something, always announcing her presence with ''It's only Sonia!''. Also living at the bottom of the garden in a granny flat is Hester's mother Nancy ( Fanny Rowe ) who is divorced from Hester's lecherous father Guy ( played wonderfully by the late Ballard Berkeley, best remembered as the senile Major Gowen from 'Fawlty Towers' ).'Fresh Fields' was written by John Chapman, who earlier worked on the BBC's 'Happy Ever After' ( which starred Terry Scott and June Whitfield ). It is not dissimilar to the earlier show, with Julia McKenzie's Hester inheriting some of Terry Scott's traits, such as trying out new things, often with disastrous results, though not as funny as Terry Scott's portrayal. Anton Rodgers and Julia McKenzie both made for likable leads, though it was Ann Beach who stole the show as the scrounging Sonia. Also good were Fanny Rowe and Ballard Berkeley as the warring Nancy and Guy.'Fresh Fields' ended in 1986 after four series, though was back three years later, this time titled 'French Fields' when the Fields' upped sticks and moved to France, though Guy and Nancy did not appear as both Rowe and Berkeley died in 1988, though Sonia made a guest appearance in the final episode. Of all the cast, only Julia McKenzie survives. Anton Rodgers died in 2007 aged 74 while Ann Beach died last month aged 78.

I never got this show. It has a tinny quality to it, and seemed to belong to the previous decade, fitting in better with such Britcoms as Father Dear Father and The Many Wives of Patrick, than with 80's fare like The Young Ones And the Secret Diary of Adrian Mole. Perhaps this was because the subject matter and main characters seemed so out of place for the time.Fresh Fields was about rather conventional forty-somethings at a time when the lives of the young and unconventional were being portrayed. At about this time there were, had been, enough Britcoms about the older generation (The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, Butterflies, A Fine Romance) but they always had a very unique spin to them. Hester Fields was a cookie-cutter kooky housewife, with a long-suffering husband and a scolding child or two, and the episode plots were variations on the kind found in old and middling American sitcoms.Boring.

I just want to say that I agree with the previous viewers where I clicked "yes" to what they said. We never seem to get good old BBC comedies on Aussie TV anymore and there's a large audience of 70 and 80 year old who love them. Anyway at least more and more are appearing on DVD - hope I can live long enough to see them all. From the 1960s to the 1980s was the best for British comedy as far as I'm concerned. Loved Anton in May to December - it was a very touching show. First saw Julia McKenzie in Blott on the Landscape and have watched her in everything that's come our way. Cheers from "downunder" Jessie in Sydney, Australia

Anton Rodgers is better known to me for his role on the other British comedy, "May to December." On this show, he plays alongside the amazing Julia McKenzie, a well known British musical actress. The pairing of them as a couple with an empty nest syndrome. Rodgers plays William, the beloved husband to Hester played very well by Julia McKenzie. The other cast members include Hester's mother who lives just across the driveway and her friend Sonia played by Ann Beach. Anyway, I only caught glimpses of this show the first time around but NJN has brought Fresh Fields which is also the name of a supermarket chain and a legal firm on Fleet Street in London, England. With the kids grown and gone, Hester is left to fend for herself and keeps busy by jogging, joining the local community center and pottery classes, and cooking French food. Anyway, I recommend Fresh Fields because it is a well done show for mature audiences who love British comedy. Somebody compared Julia to Lucille Ball and I couldn't agree more. She has a wonderful singing voice as well and a good comedic voice too.