No, Honestly (TV Series 1974– ) Poster

(1974– )

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9/10
Excellent English Comedy With Two Outstanding Actors
mhlong17 August 2010
My wife and I watched this faithfully in the late 1970's when it was shown on PBS and we were just married. We laughed throughout the entire 13 episodes. And we watched almost as faithfully when they were run again, because the show was so hilarious.

I can still vividly remember a number of the episodes, and like another reviewer, one that stays etched is the one where CD and his 'parents' are invited to Clara's for dinner, only he is basically an orphan but is ashamed to admit it, so he asks his current stage 'parents' to stand in. At the same time, Clara's family's cook and server are gone for the night and they have to hire temporary help. And then the stage parents don't show up. It is a laugh out loud show from beginning right up to the surprising end with mistaken identities played for all its worth.

The others I remember are their first meeting at a cocktail party where Clara was trying to read War and Peace, I believe, so she wouldn't have to meet people, and CD persisted to their shared enrichment.

And the one where CD tried to update Clara's wardrobe with a hilarious ending. And their honeymoon, where Clara was insistent that they appear as an 'old married couple'. (and the one where she faithfully ironed his shoelaces before he went on an interview)

John Alderton was good, but Pauline constantly stole the show with her appealing good humor, her smile regardless of what was happening, and her acceptance of most things at face value. You couldn't help but laugh at her, with her, and feel sorry for her at the same time, and just marvel in her continuing innocence and trusting nature.

Much of the humor is British and it may take repeated playbacks to catch the rapid-fire deliveries, but for fans of Pauline, and those who like silly innocent humor, it's worth every penny. No, honestly!
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9/10
Wonderful Show
Vida30 May 2017
I watched this delightful series when it appeared on our local WTTW station in the mid-seventies. Almost four decades later, I purchased a multi-region blu-ray player once I discovered a DVD set of the complete series was available (but not for our region). After shelling out almost $300, I was happily reunited with one of my favorite British series. I only wish there'd been more episodes.
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9/10
Comedy classic!
Louisejjames29 November 2020
I vaguely remembered this show from the early 70's when I saw it on sale at a bargain price expecting mild amusement, however I'm very happy to say that it is a superbly scripted and acted show and is very funny. Pauline Collins plays the delightfully dippy Clara to John Alderton's CD (Charlie) who is much more sensible, and the two of them play superbly off of each other in the various situations that they get themselves into. I seem to vaguely remember that John Alderton didn't want to do another series, which is why they resurrected the same format as Yes Honestly with Liza Goddard and a new male lead the following year. It's a shame there wasn't more of these as I've seen much worse programmes have many series. Well worth a look, I got my copy from Network DVD's online.
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On Video At Last
colinwjw11 March 2000
This is one of those TV gems you doubt will ever appear on video as it is so obscure, especially to the American audience. Thankfully, it is now available in the US and it is a pleasure to see this wonderful TV series again after 26 years.

Husband and wife John Alderton and Pauline Collins play husband and wife Charles (CD) and Clara Danby who have been married some ten years. CD and Clara tell (a studio audience) of their early days together (which are shown in flashback) when he was a struggling actor, and she was (and still is) a rather ditzy debutante, the product of even ditzier parents. With nothing much in common but love for one another, the hilarity results from their very differences.

Alderton and Collins had appeared together earlier in Upstairs Downstairs, and she of course was Oscar-nominated much later for Shirley Valentine. This TV series has been overlooked for too long, and is an absolute delight. The chemistry between CD and Clara is remarkable, because of the chemistry between Alderton and Collins.

The theme tune was a huge hit in Britain for composer and performer Lynsey De Paul. The show has aged well (apart from the fashions) and looks and sounds great thanks to Acorn Media which has provided us with this belated video edition. The picture and sound quality is stunning, and hats off to Acorn for not tampering with the show as it was originally presented. The London Weekend Television seventies logo is still there, much to the delight of us Brits in America. There is no self promotion on the part of Acorn, a company with which I am NOT associated.

Treat yourself to No, Honestly. You will not be disappointed. No, honestly.
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10/10
"Nothing's Going To Change The Way I Feel About You!"
ShadeGrenade10 September 2006
You couldn't turn on a television in the '70's without seeing John Alderton. He was everywhere; 'Please Sir!', 'The Fenn Street Gang', 'Upstairs, Downstairs', 'My Wife Next Door', 'Wodehouse Playhouse', 'Thomas & Sarah' and, of course this, in which he co-starred with wife Pauline Collins. They say opposites attract and it was true in the case of C.D. and Clara. He was a struggling actor, she a dizzy deb. This was not a kids' sitcom. I cherish the scene where Clara made C.D. breakfast in bed and she put a button from her cardigan on his grapefruit because she'd run out of cherries! Terence Brady and Charlotte Bingham had written for the pair before so knew what they were capable of. The resulting show was a sheer delight, a massive hit with the public and critics alike. Lindsay De Paul's catchy theme was the icing on the cake. Sadly, Alderton and Collins were not up for a second series, so Lisa Goddard and Donal Donnelly were brought in and the title changed to 'Yes, Honestly'.
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10/10
Sort of a British BURNS & ALLEN
redryan6417 June 2014
STARTING WITH A simple enough premise this series manages to elevate its comic delight to a level that bigger budgets and guest stars couldn't accomplish. And just what is this mystery element? If one only knew, we could bottle it and sell it to Producers in London, Paris, New York, Hollywood and Bombay.

THE "TOP SECRET" central tenet of NO, HONESTLY is a weekly half hour of a now older couple; who reminisce about their days as a stupid, young newlywed couple. That's it and it is skillfully brought off by the co-mingling of good writing, fine acting and masterful characterization.

HOW THIS IS accomplished is certainly due, at least in part, to the fact that the married Couple on screen, "C.D. and Clara" were then and are now in fact Man & Wife. The very talented folks are John Alderton and Pauline Collins. Their chemistry, energy and charisma make the characters jump off the screen and into real life.

ANOTHER ASPECT OF the episodes is the similarity to the old act performed and perfected by George Burns & Gracie Allen. From the Vaudeville Houses, Radio Program, Movies and Television, it was Straight Man George's deadpan and the Naiveté of Gracie that served as the engine in driving their act to the top.

THE SIMILARITY BECOMES obvious in many of the sequences. We do well recall a particularly relevant example. In one episode, when C.D. mentions the word, "collateral", Clara asks; "Isn't that the stuff that Americans get in their blood from eating too much butter?"
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10/10
DVD At Last! (About bloody time...)
jrankin19598 March 2011
Warning: Spoilers
The romantic Brit-com, "No Honestly!" is (finally) available on DVD. This is a sweet, funny and endearing 12-episode series whose strength is its writers (Brady and Bingham) and its stars. Much has already been said about Alderton and Collins' chemistry with comparisons to Burns and Allen, but I also saw in Pauline Collins someone who could give the late, great Lucille Ball a run for her money in screwball comedy.

This is the sort of program no one makes any more in this age of snarky wisecracks masquerading as jokes. I first saw it in the 1970s as part of our local PBS station's (WQED, Pittsburgh) Brit-com block on the heels of "Monty Python's Flying Circus." While I loved Python as well, this show was a refreshing change. The scene at the end of one episode where CD explains to Clara about a certain phrase in "rhyming slang" and ends up declaring that he loves her is a great "Awwwwww..." moment that can move even the most cynical of people. Another favorite is CD meeting Clara's father to ask for her hand. ('Nuff said.) Highly recommended!
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10/10
If You Can Find It, Get It - You Won't Be Sorry!
HelenBroderick29 October 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Possible spoilers.

One of the sweetest comedy series I've ever seen.

I first saw it on WTTW (Chicago's Public TV station) back in 1974 or 1975 (end of high school, beginning year of college) when it ran before _Monty Python_. On a Sunday night! As you've probably seen from other reviews, the series (only two seasons, alas) deals with Charles and Clara Danby (John Alderton and Pauline Collins). They've been married for 10 years and each episode deals with aspects of their lives from their first date until their first wedding anniversary.

The chemistry between the two of them is terrific; the fact that they're married to each other in real life really adds to the sparkle. This show has been compared to _The George Burns & Gracie Allen Show_ (another major favorite of mine). There is some comparison - Charles Danby (CD, as he is referred to) is down-to-earth whilst Clara is kind of fluttery from time to time. Otherwise, the humor is derived differently.

The actors chosen for other parts compliment CD and Clara. Her parents are delightful - you'd never know Clara was from the gentry. If you currently watch _Keeping Up Appearances_ you'd recognize the actor who plays Onslow. He was in an episode of N-H playing a football mate of CD's.

The show's theme song is actually a song sung by Lyndsey DePaul. I was able to find it on a legal file sharing service and treasure it. When the show went off the air I thought I'd never find it again. I was really fortunate to find it on video tape. It was a treat and played it on rare occasions.

I thought I'd never find it on video. I spent half the night looking for it and found it (perfect condition)! Apparently it wasn't "copyrighted" (I think) or the rights expired and no one did anything about it. I don't even remember where I found it but I picked up two copies of each season, one for me and one for my best friend. I played the theme song at their wedding (almost 30 years ago), but in a far more religious manner.

I've seen the discs recently and they're still wonderful. The show is well-written, very funny, and does not require on innuendo or language to carry it. Clara is sweet without being coy and CD is wonderful without being overbearing or patronizing.

I also learned about a few Britisisms, specifically rhyming slang and (Irish) Shandies. I also learned some British English it took awhile for me to learn (I ended up purchasing a British English/American English Dictionary and it's helped years later.) Thirty years or so later, I was at an Irish restaurant and the idea for a Shandy came to mind. The idea of drinking beer and lemonade together didn't seem appealing but it was terrific! Clara and CD were with me.

I only wish the program had gone on a couple of more seasons to discuss other events in a married couple's life (pregnancy and birth, for example). However, it could have lost some of its sparkle - how many programs "jump the shark" after pregnancy and birth? One of these days I need to write a much-belated fan letter to them thanking them for doing the program (they were also very good in _Wodehouse Playhouse_ but each episode was different).

The one thing about the program is that it does not quite appear to be time-correct. If CD and Clara were married 10 years in the early 1970s, they would have met in the early 1960s. The clothing in some of the episodes does not appear to have been what was popular in the 1960s. However, if that's all I can note in the negative I need to get more of a life.

Make the effort to see it if you can.
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Delightfully goofy, superlatively comedic
behrens-224 March 2000
Since Colin Wilson's review says much of what I had planned to say, I thought I might expand on some of the details. The reference to Burns and Allen is very apt but with a difference. Burns' timing to Gracie's inanities is slow, letting the audience have their laugh at her line before laughing at his reaction. With this Alderton and Collins, the delivery is rapid-fire; and indeed there are times when I had to ask my wife, "Did you catch that last remark?" because some of the zingers went by too quickly. And of course, those based on British idioms need footnotes for us Colonials.

As with Hyacinth Bucket's family relations, Clara's loopiness is obviously inherited from her parents, who will insist on misinterpreting everything they are told. Into this menage, Royal the super-Jeeves butler fits in perfectly.

The concept of chronological plots in these seven episodes is a good one from their first chance meeting to their (well, it was only 1974!) off-camera wedding night. And, by the way, their reason for not wanting to be known as newlyweds is explained--and fairly logically too, for Clara!--at the start of the episode.

The funniest two of the seven are those based on mistaken identity, that hoary device that goes back to Terence. The 3rd episode has C.D. arrive at his future in-laws just in time to be mistaken for the plumber with predictable results. The 5th episode is more elaborate, when an orphaned C.D. asks two fellow actors to appear as his parents at a dinner given at Clara's, just when her family has to hire temporary help to serve it. Once we accept the silliness of his not wanting to be known as parentless and the premise that no one in these scripts ever really tries to explain a thing in a normal manner, the results are not predictable at all; and this single episode alone is, I think, worth the price of the set.

Now if Acorn Media will only reissue these two wonderful comedians in the "Wodehouse Playhouse" series of "Mulliner" stories, life would be that much more perfect.
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This show is great...but wait until January!
dugy-229 September 2000
Ditto for all of the comments that have been made before about this delightful series. But these three tapes are about the first seven episodes. Get these first, because in January, 2001, Acorn Media will release the final seven episodes! Get your orders in early!
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