Me and My Girl: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

Simon Harrap, an executive at the ‘Eyecatchers' advertising agency in London's Covent Garden, found himself alone and in sole charge of adolescent daughter Samantha when his wife Ruth passed away (she had died when Samantha was three).

To help him cope, his snooty mother-in-law, Nell Cresset, joined the household (and became a director of his company), and they also took on a housekeeper. Initially this was the goofy Scots girl, Maddie, later replaced by fellow-Scot, the amiable but accident-prone Isobel.

Humor came from Simon's attempts to set an example and to keep Samantha on the straight and narrow (particularly with regard to homework and boys) while at the same time failing to curb his own gallivanting and recklessness. His friend, brother-in-law and business partner was the heavily married-with-three-kids Derek Yates, and Liz was his secretary.

The swift production of the first three series (26 episodes were screened within 16 months) was a response to the fear within the production team that Joanne Ridley would outgrow the early teenage role. As nature did indeed take its expected course, later episodes depicted Sam as more mature, gaining independence in her movements and relationships.

The series was created by Keith Leonard and adapted for television by John Kane. Episodes were written by Kane with Bernard McKenna and Colin Bostock-Smith.

The theme song was sung by Peter Skellern.

Series details

• Title: Me and My Girl
• Format: Scripted
• Language: English
• Genres: Comedy
• Premiere date: 1984-08-31
• Final broadcast date listed: 1988-11-04
• Status in TVmaze: Ended
• Network listed by TVmaze: ITV1
• Network country: United Kingdom
• Typical episode runtime: 30 minutes
• TVMaze ID: 7549
• IMDb ID: tt0086757
• TVDB ID: 71274

Cast and credited roles

• Richard O'Sullivan — Simon Harrap
• Joan Sanderson — Nell Cresset
• Joanne Ridley — Samantha Harrap
• Sandra Clarke — Isobel McClusky
• Joanne Campbell — Liz
• Tim Brooke-Taylor — Derek Yates
• Leni Harper — Madeleine 'Maddie' Dunnock

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1: premiered 1984-08-31; final listed air date 1984-10-05; episode order: 6.
• Season 2: premiered 1985-01-18; final listed air date 1985-03-01; episode order: 7.
• Season 3: premiered 1985-10-06; final listed air date 1985-12-27; episode order: 13.
• Season 4: premiered 1987-01-10; final listed air date 1987-04-04; episode order: 13.
• Season 5: premiered 1988-01-08; final listed air date 1988-02-12; episode order: 6.
• Season 6: premiered 1988-09-23; final listed air date 1988-11-04; episode order: 7.

Source and licence

Adapted from Me and My Girl 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.