Mann's Best Friends: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

Mann's Best Friends was a Channel 4 comedy about the misfit residents of a lodging house, their landlord, and the ex-water board official who moves in to try to bring some order.

Henry Mann (Barry Stanton) is the owner of The Laurels, a rundown guest house populated by a motley crew of odd characters.

Hamish Ordway (Fulton Mackay), who has recently retired from his job at the water board, moves into The Laurels. He's a pompous, fussy, nosy little man who loves interfering in everyone else's business.

Other residents include an alcoholic named Duncan (Bernard Bresslaw) and a blonde "drama tutor" named Dolly Delights (Patricia Burke), who likes to entertain lots of "gentlemen callers" in her room.

Series details

• Title: Mann's Best Friends
• Format: Scripted
• Language: English
• Genres: Comedy
• Premiere date: 1985-04-15
• Final broadcast date listed: 1985-05-20
• Status in TVmaze: Ended
• Network listed by TVmaze: Channel 4
• Network country: United Kingdom
• Typical episode runtime: 30 minutes
• TVMaze ID: 8819
• IMDb ID: tt0220916
• TVDB ID: 284236

Cast and credited roles

• Fulton Mackay — Hamish James Ordway
• Barry Stanton — Henry Mann
• Bernard Bresslaw — Duncan
• Barbara Hicks — Mrs. Mann
• Patricia Brake — Dolly Delights
• Clive Merrison — Irvin
• Sara Corper — Phoebe
• Liz Smith — Mrs. Anstruther

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1: premiered 1985-04-15; final listed air date 1985-05-20; episode order: 6.

Source and licence

Adapted from Mann's Best Friends on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.