Dear John : Something Special

Back in 1998, the BBC started releasing virtually every sitcom they had under the new ’Playback’ banner, and as the year progressed the then new DVD market was beginning to blossom, so for a short time both VHS and DVD boxsets were available. Dear John forever the victim of circumstance was released only on VHS. The Playback range was akin to a shark, it just keep moving forward and didn’t take the time to look back, so Dear John appearing on DVD would have to wait a further 12 years. Acorn finally acquired the rights and released both series with the Christmas Special in 2010.
The boxset is as complete as it can be, several cuts have been made due to music copyright problems, the first episode is especially affected by this with the ending being totally recut to avoid using a Beatles track. However having said that at least we have episode 7 of the first series in all its glory and the Christmas special, which to my mind has never enjoyed a terrestrial channel repeat. Why have I singled out episode 7 from the first series? On two occasions series 1 was repeated by the BBC, and twice they failed to show episode 7,mainly due to the fact BBC sitcoms back then were traditionally 6 episodes and if a repeat was scheduled they only tended to free up 6 slots. Of course thanks to GOLD the entire run has seen the light of day (Several times) recently.
Dear John has as I’ve always seen it is truly the forgotten gem in Sullivan’s crown, it turned up in 1986 with little or no fanfare even though at that time Sullivan was truly the Governor of comedy writers, Only Fools And Horses was big and destined to become bigger, and Just Good Friends was another ratings smash for him. In fact at that time Sullivan was a big hero of mine and one of the main influences on me wanting to become a writer. As a comedy series it traded beautifully on Sullivan’s favourite themes, mismatched characters thrown together and the bittersweet nature of life.
Cast wise they came up trumps with a wonderfully cast against type Ralph Bates, as our eponymous hero, he had the truly difficult job of making John seem likeable and well rounded, bringing out the decency, the tragedy and the humour. At all times seeming down-trodden, but still with enough about him that he will carry on. No mean feat and for a man who was associated with Hammer horror and villain roles, Bates plays it absolutely pitch perfect.

Of course any sitcom is only as good as the supporting cast and in true Sullivan style, Dear John has one of the very best line ups ever assembled in a sitcom. Louise, Kate, Kirk and Ralph the core four members of the 1-2-1 group (Friday group), are all instantly classic characters, with hilarious, tragic but at all times consistently believable back stories. And as series 1 progressed we discovered that they have all borne the scars of love and experienced heartbreak….well nearly all of them. Also special mention must go to John’s best friend Ken and his wife Maggie…clearly brought in to show the flipside of the coin and generally putting forward the idea that domestic bliss is a fallacy

Highlights from the first series include, the loss of Terry,Ralph’s constant companion, Kate’s revelation of three failed marriages, Dazzling Darren Dring superstar DJ, Ken’s attempts at an affair and the man behind Kirk StMoritz. The first series ends on an appropriate downbeat tone, but the series garnered enough good reviews to be commissioned for a second.
The second series is lighter in tone than the first and there are some rays of hope and happiness for John, the potential for a new romance and promotion at work. Alas in true Dear John style he’s a victim of circumstance and through his own niceness and naivety they both come to naught. Also casting problems arose. Belinda Lang jumps ship mid-way through the second series having been tempted by a lucrative deal to appear in the period soap opera The Bretts on ITV. Which explains the new hairdo in Series 2. Her replacement Sylvia a minor character from Series 1 is decent enough but lacks the spark that Kate’s character has.

One of my most favourite aspects of Dear John is the superb rapport between John and his son Toby, which is hardly surprising as his own real life son plays him. I generally don’t rate child actors but William Bates is just wonderful, and delivers one of the best gags in the series regarding the penguins at the Zoo.

The last we see of John and co is the 1987 Christmas special, now back in the 80s the BBC operated a strict pecking order when it came to Christmas specials, they had 90min filmed episodes for the rating smashes, then they had the 50-60min format for those who were building up the ratings nicely and then they had the 30min extra episode for those who had yet to prove themselves but it was worth a punt to broadcast one over the holiday period. Dear John fell into the middle category and it is a near as perfect a Christmas special as you’re ever likely to watch, funny, tragic and ultimately John emerges as the most decent man alive. As he forgoes his own personal enjoyment to help others.

Now it is a common misconception that Dear John came to an abrupt end due to the untimely demise of Ralph Bates, the real reasoning behind it was ill health prevented him from returning to work on the proposed third series and he passed away in early 1991. It was always Sullivan’s hope Bates would eventually be well enough to return for a third series and even mooted the possibility of the 1-2-1club continuing as a direct spin off reasoning the characters were strong enough to front their own series, thankfully sense prevailed and it was at Christmas 1987 we bid farewell to John.

However it was not the end for Sullivan as bizarrely one of his lesser known works in the UK became his biggest money spinner in the US, Dear John USA(as we British viewers came to know it) ran for four series and a total of 90 episodes and as American remakes go, it’s actually pretty good. Judd Hirsch is a perfect Americanised version of John and the supporting cast are equally well cast. There is an attempt to remove the overall downbeat tone of the British version, however thanks to the cast and especially the efforts of Hirsch, it still provides some lovely bittersweet moments, and like many American remakes once it escapes from the shackles of redoing the original British scripts. It finds its legs and a voice all its own. Overall pretty good and well worth seeking out.