TV Show of the Week: Goodnight Sweetheart’s One-off Special

I haven’t exactly been subtle when it comes to saying that I like time travel. Given any opportunity I’ll talk about the concept, and today’s no exception. Last Friday, as part of their sitcom celebration season, the BBC revived Goodnight Sweetheart for a one-off special.

The original run lasted for six seasons and focused on an accidental time traveller, Gary Sparrow – Nicholas Lyndhurst – who tries to juggle two lives at once. One in the modern day, and one in world war 2. Having two lives and two wives – modern day: Yvonne Sparrow who is played by Emma Amos, and in the past Elizabeth Carling who plays Phoebe Bamford – is no easy task, and the majority of the comedy comes from this struggle. When it first aired, I was too young to watch and fully understand what’s going on, and so it was only a few years ago when I came across the series and became interested in how it all works.

When the series came to an end and saw Gary trapped in the past, it just felt like it was the right thing to do. Throughout the show, during modern day, Gary and Yvonne appear to be disconnected from one another. Having a two lives does leave your mind stuck between the two, but as Yvonne was growing more and more successful with her natural beauty business, even during the times when Gary was fully focused on that life, you could say that, even though he loves her, there is that disconnection.

The one-off special picks up after 17 years after being stuck in the past. Gary has been attempting to get back to modern day for all those years. He’s bored and wants to know what has happened in the future. His prediction about the future, starring that in the future they would have “landed on Mars, cured cancer and achieved European Unity” was one of the best lines in the entire show.

It doesn’t take long for the episode to reintroduce time travel. Gary’s birthday is the next day, and that is also the day he is going to be born. According to his mother, the midwife dropped him when he was a baby, and so he goes to the hospital to make sure that doesn’t happen, and one thing leads to another, he’s holding his baby-self in his arms, which creates a gigantic paradox and shoots him to modern day 2016. This action leads to the time portal reopening again, and he finds himself standing in a toilet at the back of a burger place.

The entire segment of Gary being shocked and confused with today’s technology, and how things have naturally developed in society was hilarious. It’s realistic, well-acted, and reminds us just how much has changed in only 17 years. His confusion over the smart phone was among the funniest moments during that entire segment because, again, it is realistic. But the most important part about being in modern day is the fact that he is in modern day, and so he goes to look for the wife he didn’t mean to abandon, Yvonne Sparrow, who success had continued to grow in time he had been gone and is now a dragon on Dragon’s Den, and the burger place that Gary found himself in is owned by her, with the shop being the first one in a growing chain.

It was a delight to see Gary meet up with his best friend, Ron, after so long. Their chemistry hasn’t died down one bit, and it was to be expected that Yvonne would be angry at Gary for disappearing so suddenly, and then reappearing so suddenly so many years later. A lot of anger has been built up and she was finally able to release it. It was a much needed interaction.

And then we see just how much Gary as really missed when an unknown person walks into the room. As well as discovering the new style of jeans, Gary learns that this person is in fact his daughter. At first I thought it was unnecessary to add such an important character into an episode that’s only on for 30 minutes, but the more I thought about it, I realised that it’s just adding to just how much has changed. Gary has been stuck in the past for 17 years, so it does make sense that he would miss an incredible amount. There was a brief interaction with Gary and his daughter, without the latter knowing who exactly this “strange man” is, and then it jumps back to the past, leaving room for more.

When he was testing out the portal and stepped back into the past, I couldn’t help but think that the portal had closed again and when he would turn around and walk forwards, he would collide with the fence. I was so relieved when I saw him walk back through, which then lead to him accidentally stumbling upon someone sitting on the toilet. There were plenty of moments that made me laugh out loud, but that certainly was the one moment that made me laugh the hardest.

One of the running jokes throughout the show was Gary singing popular songs as if they were his own. I had always wondered what would happen when the songs were actually released sometime in the future and whether or not it would catch up with him. Even though it was a small and subtle part of the episode, I was really glad that they concluded that running joke by saying that all those artists had actually stolen their songs from Gary. It brought it around in a full circle. But they couldn’t have an episode of Goodnight Sweetheart without the popular joke in, so having Gary sing Adel’s “Hello” at the end of the episode made the entire episode feel just the same as it was when I first watched it all those years back.

This episode keeps the spirit of the show. It doesn’t try and do anything different, and that’s why I like the most about it. An original story, same show.

I said above that it does end with the possibility of more, and I do hope there is more. An entire new series can be created on the premise that Gary needs to learn the ways of the future whilst also learning about his past that he never got to be a part of.

But, if there isn’t going to be another series, the episode is so well-written that it doesn’t leave you questioning what’s going to happen next, but lets you know what’s going to happen next. You know that he’s going to develop his relationship with his daughter and try and reconcile with Yvonne. You just know that the future will continue to surprise him. However, what we don’t know is how his relationship will develop between him and Yvonne now that she knows his secret. That is why we need that new series, but if there isn’t ever going to be a new one, then I am happy with the episode that I’ve been given. Although I would say that if there is going to be a new series, please bring back the old theme song because the new one doesn't fit the style of the show at all.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)