The series follows a self-regarding veteran actor, Vivian Bancroft (Tony Britton), who dominates the lives of his fifth wife, Natasha (Susan Hampshire), and four grown-up children. He is particularly outraged by his eldest daughter's engagement to a driving instructor.[1][2]
Of the series, in his Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy, Mark Lewisohn wrote: "Tony Britton hammed it up for all he was worth as the awful Vivian, and Caroline Quentin proved particularly adept at delivering Roy Clarke's witty dialogue, but the piece as a whole lacked the magic ingredient which made so many of the writer's ideas long-running series."[2]