My Family
'My Family' began airing on BBC in 2000. It first aired on Tuesday nights at 7:30 but after a few episodes, the show was so successful that it was moved to 8:30 on a Friday evening. The show revolved around a 'typical' british family. I use the word 'typical' loosely. The thing that really made the show funny was that on closer inspection there was very little typical, normal or ordinary about them.
Firstly there is, Ben, a long suffering dad and dentist played by Robert Lindsay. Who spends pretty much every episode trying to understand his crazy wife and children. His wife, Susan, played by actress Zoe Wanamaker works as a tour guide and usually gets far too worried about her children to make up for Ben's volentary lacking.
However, I wouldn't blame her for getting worried over the antics of oldest son Nick (Kris Marshall). He hasn't held down a job for more than two days and leaves a path of havoc and destructions in his wake at all times.
There's also daughter Janey, a sterotypical girly girl, obsessed with all the material things in life. She moves away to Uni in Manchester in series 4 and later comes back with a baby son, Kenzo.
Then, our very own Gabriel as Michael Harper. The youngest of Ben and Susan's brood. He's smart and a bit of a know-it-all. To be fair, he has more common sense than the rest of the Harpers but together. And that includes...
Cousin Abi, portrayed by Siobhan Hayes. She moves into the house to attend art school in London when Janey moves out. She's even loopier than Nick. And that's never a good thing.
'My Family' was top of the ratings for 5 series, it finished not because people did not want to watch it but simply because the on-screen children grew up a little too much and it was hard for the writers to keep it going I suppose. However, six episodes are being filmed at the moment to be shown as a one off in 2006. A new character has joined the household, Alfie, played by Rhodri (I don't have a cast list to hand so I won't attempt to spell his surname). He's sort of a new-Nick, but not. It's hard to explain. You'll just have to watch it. He's VERY funny though.
You can watch a clip of Gabriel as Michael from series 4 of My Family (age 15/16), courtesy of the BBC's My Family Website, by clicking here. Also, a more recent clip from 'Bliss for Idiots' which is the first episode of series 6.
My Family is currently broadcast in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Dubai, Eire, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Kenya, Kuwait, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the US.
