# Name that show **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [November 9, 2020, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-show/925167 "2020-11-09T19:20:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2020, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-show/925167/1 "2020-11-09T19:20:18Z")
TV show sometime in '78-'85 (I was living with my ex) about a single mother advertising for domestic help. A very proper butler applies, having misinterpreted “English major” (the woman’s college degree) in the ad as meaning he would be working for a British army officer. He takes the job anyway, and hilarity ensues. The only episode I remember clearly had the mother being required to be at a business meeting (or something similar), leaving the butler to supervise the daughter’s pyjama party. Mother comes home to find all the girls peacefully asleep – because he had loaded the kids’ treats with amaretto. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2020, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-show/925167/2 "2020-11-09T19:25:38Z")
_The Two of Us_ with Peter Cook. (1981) * * * I just saw Peter Cook last night as the “Impressive Clergyman” in the Princess Bride. ETA: [The Two of Us (1981 TV series) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Two_of_Us_(1981_TV_series)) ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2020, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-show/925167/3 "2020-11-09T19:28:23Z")
Thank you! Five minutes? What took you so long? 😃) ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2020, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-show/925167/4 "2020-11-09T19:32:37Z")
The original Britcom was or is available on Prime I believe. Starred [Elaine Stritch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaine_Stritch). It started strong and then got pretty repetitive. I watched 4 eps earlier this year. The American version I don’t really remember, just Peter Cook playing a butler. _The guy that was Dudley Moore’s partner._ ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2020, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-show/925167/5 "2020-11-09T19:43:06Z")
I vaguely remember watching that show, and enjoying it, although I don’t remember many details about it. It was the first time I had encountered Peter Cook. The other one of “Us,” the single mother, was played by Mimi Kennedy, who’s had a very long career in TV and movies, including as Dharma’s mother on _Dharma and Greg_, and a current role on _Mom_. To this day I still think of her, to some degree, as “the woman from that show about the English butler.” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2020, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-show/925167/6 "2020-11-09T19:49:38Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > The American version I don’t really remember, just Peter Cook playing a butler. _The guy that was Dudley Moore’s partner._ Rather, Dudley Moore was Peter Cook’s partner. Cook is considered a genius of sketch comedy, though his talent never translated well to movies or TV (with the exception of his role in _Bedazzled_). Moore was good, but Cook was at another level. But Moore was more likeable, so he had a better movie career. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2020, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-show/925167/7 "2020-11-09T20:05:32Z")
And of course, if you like Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, their work as half of [Beyond The Fringe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_the_Fringe) is both classy and hilarious (and the first British comedy I ever heard… played to us by an older camp counselor, on a huge reel-to-reel tape deck that he’d lugged to our church camp in the north woods). Oh, do check out the videos linked on [this page](https://www.britishclassiccomedy.co.uk/beyond-the-fringe)… it even has The Great Train Robbery! _(“this of course, involves no loss of train.”)_