Jan Francis and Dennis Waterman in Stay Lucky (1989)

Dennis Waterman

Jan Francis

Niall Toibin

Michael Aitkens

Thomas&apos;s friend Barry &apos;The Plank&apos; Kernon&apos;s wife seems to be making good money in her secret evening job as a bar &apos;hostess&apos; - which is just as well, what with their mounting debts. Things take a turn though when a photographer come...

John Glenister

A Woman&apos;s Lot

What are friends for?

I&apos;ve recently watched the entire 3 series of Just Good Friends, (on That&apos;s TV) some 40 years after it first got shown (to massive audiences) though in fact I&apos;d never seen Series 3 to catch up on how the story-lines got resolved,

And THAT show has inspired me to research THIS one, given the huge popularity of the 2 leads, Waterman (via The Sweeney &amp; Minder) &amp; the delectable Jan Francis, presumably it was hoped to bring forward her fans from JGF (though by this time I now see she&apos;d gone past 40 -- if only everyone could look that good?! -- and had produced a 2nd daughter a year or two before).

I can&apos;t recall if I&apos;d seen any of the Stay Lucky series when they first went out, set in Yorkshire around a narrow-boat business (Francis) and a Cockney chancer (Waterman) escaping from some London difficulties.

Yorkshire TV also threw some cash to get some reliable support cast, but the first series occupied one story over 3 episodes, IMO that didn&apos;t help. Series 2 looks like they&apos;ve gone for more of a Minder format, mostly self-contained stories in each episode, one of the leads has a problem (or their friends) to get resolved.

This story had their friend (Barry) down on his luck, his wife working as a hostess for pin-money, and a dodgy photographer who enlists Waterman&apos;s help, but is really shooting a soft-porn glamour calendar!

The leads wrap up the plot quite nicely, with a little help, and the show moved at a decent pace. The show does remind viewers of the Minder scenario, BUT this show has Sally running a legit business, not Arthur Daley with a dodgy deal or scam every day of the week, so the plots have to rely on friends having problems, or coincidences.

This single story per episode works better than series one (3 shows covering one storyline) so I&apos;ll probably watch the rest of them. HOWEVER -- it&apos;s becoming clear that the writers are stuck, at least with the aspect of the 2 leads being an &apos;item&apos;, and to give that a bit of drama they keep having rather pointless spats about very little. Francis and Waterman can do that stuff with their eyes shut, but surely deserve a bit better?!

I've recently watched the entire 3 series of Just Good Friends, (on That's TV) some 40 years after it first got shown (to massive audiences) though in fact I'd never seen Series 3 to catch up on how the story-lines got resolved,

And THAT show has inspired me to research THIS one, given the huge popularity of the 2 leads, Waterman (via The Sweeney & Minder) & the delectable Jan Francis, presumably it was hoped to bring forward her fans from JGF (though by this time I now see she'd gone past 40 -- if only everyone could look that good?! -- and had produced a 2nd daughter a year or two before).

I can't recall if I'd seen any of the Stay Lucky series when they first went out, set in Yorkshire around a narrow-boat business (Francis) and a Cockney chancer (Waterman) escaping from some London difficulties.

Yorkshire TV also threw some cash to get some reliable support cast, but the first series occupied one story over 3 episodes, IMO that didn't help. Series 2 looks like they've gone for more of a Minder format, mostly self-contained stories in each episode, one of the leads has a problem (or their friends) to get resolved.

This story had their friend (Barry) down on his luck, his wife working as a hostess for pin-money, and a dodgy photographer who enlists Waterman's help, but is really shooting a soft-porn glamour calendar!

The leads wrap up the plot quite nicely, with a little help, and the show moved at a decent pace. The show does remind viewers of the Minder scenario, BUT this show has Sally running a legit business, not Arthur Daley with a dodgy deal or scam every day of the week, so the plots have to rely on friends having problems, or coincidences.

This single story per episode works better than series one (3 shows covering one storyline) so I'll probably watch the rest of them. HOWEVER -- it's becoming clear that the writers are stuck, at least with the aspect of the 2 leads being an 'item', and to give that a bit of drama they keep having rather pointless spats about very little. Francis and Waterman can do that stuff with their eyes shut, but surely deserve a bit better?!

Thomas's friend Barry 'The Plank' Kernon's wife seems to be making good money in her secret evening job as a bar 'hostess' - which is just as well, what with their mounting debts. Things take a turn though when a photographer comes into town, looking for some gritty snaps of the 'real' Yorkshire - it soon transpires that there may be something more than naked ambition behind his motives - as Barry is about to find out...

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