George Roper (character)
| George Roper | |
|---|---|
| 'Man About the House and George and Mildred' character | |
| First appearance |
15 August 1973 (Man About the House) 6 December 1976 (George and Mildred) |
| Last appearance |
7 April 1976 (Man About the House) 25 December 1979 (George and Mildred) |
| Created by | Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke |
| Portrayed by | Brian Murphy |
| Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Traffic Warden |
| Family |
Jack Roper (father) Mary Roper (mother) |
| Spouse(s) | Mildred Roper |
| Relatives |
Bill Roper (brother) Gloria Roper (sister) Betty Roper (sister) Fred Roper (brother) Bill Roper II (brother) Charlie Roper (brother) Humphrey and Ethel Pumphrey (brother- and sister-in-law) |
George Rowland Roper is a fictional character from the Thames Television sitcoms Man About the House and one of its spin-offs, George and Mildred. He was portrayed by Brian Murphy.
Character biography
George Rowland Roper was born in the early 1930s, working-class parents Jack and Mary Roper. His father was constantly unemployed and his mother is said to have done 'a lot of shoplifting'. He had six siblings: Bill, Gloria, Betty, Fred, Bill II (named after the first one) and Charlie, as revealed in George and Mildred. During World War II, he got a job as a bus conductor, and married childhood sweetheart Mildred Tremble. He and Mildred had no children, despite Mildred desperately wanting some. George became 'caretaker' at a house in London, and let out the top flats to Robin Tripp (Richard O'Sullivan), Chrissy Plummer (Paula Wilcox) and Jo (Sally Thomsett). When the council wanted to knock down their house to make room for a flyover, the Ropers moved to 46 Peacock Crescent, where their neighbours became the Fourmile family: Jeffrey (Norman Eshley) Ann (Sheila Fearn), Tristram (Nicholas Bond-Owen) and later, Tarquin (Simon Lloyd).
George is shown throughout Man About the House and early episodes of George and Mildred, despite his laziness and constant moaning, that he is working-class and proud of it. In the pilot episode of George and Mildred, George becomes offended when Jeffrey Fourmile is rude about the working classes, and says 'Well, we'll put the coal in the bath, and we'll put the pigeons in the shed with the ferrets!'. When Mildred frequently tries to better the couple with society, George always brings down her ideas, as he doesn't want to become 'a toffee-nosed twit like him next door'. He likes brown ale and unusual sandwiches, such as jam and crisps.
Family and friends
Little is revealed about George's family in Man About the House, except that his mother died in the late fifties or early sixties. In George and Mildred, his father Jack comes to stay with him and Mildred, despite the couples attempts to get rid of him. In the end, they off load him to the local nursing home. His youngest sibling, Charlie, also comes for a stay, and reveals that a letter arrived for a G. Roper, and they were call-up papers. They turned out to be for his sister, Gloria. He doesn't like Mildred's mother or her sister and brother-in-law, Ethel and Humphrey (Avril Elgar and Reginald Marsh), but he has no obvious relationship with Mildred's other sister, Hilda (Jean Harrow). His best fried, Jerry (Roy Kinnear) appears lots, but only brings strife towards the Ropers.
After George and Mildred
Upon the death of his co-star Yootha Joyce, Thames Television did talk of producing a spin-off for the character of George, looking at him cope with life as a widower. However, this project did not materialise. But Brian Murphy did reunite with George and Mildred co-star Roy Kinnear and writers Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke for The Incredible Mr. Tanner, a comedy produced for Thames soon after Yootha Joyce's death.