A Comedy On This Day: The Gaffer - All In A Day's Strike (9 January 1981)

 The Gaffer had an unusual provenance for a star vehicle sitcom, written by a novice writer, Graham White (who had next to no TV credits after this) rather than an established figure. The result is that the structure and dialogue goes a bit beyond what would normally be attempted in such a series.

 White was the manager of a small light-engineering firm and The Gaffer is a series about the misadventures of a manager of a small light-engineering firm. There's a particularly precise level of inside knowledge of the travails of the small businessman in this script - (juggling orders, chasing up and delaying payments and supplies, dealing with unions) - which isn't spoon-fed to the audience, and requires some effort to keep up with.

  On top of that, White's dialogue wasn't easy - dense with quite elaborate similes that actors find it hard to speak:

His dialogue is among the best I've read for years. The only problem is that some of it is almost impossible to say. For instance, in a scene where one wife meets another he'll give me a line such as: 'I see the irascible force has ganged up with the resistible object'. (Bill Maynard, TV Times, 3 January 1981)

  These lines are funny, but the biggest laughs often come from the characters' simpler reactions to them. You get the feeling that everyone involved is still working out how to best make this material work, but Bill Maynard's bearlike heavy gait and growl as the Gaffer immediately registers as something recognisable and true.

  You don't see fantastically grubby offices on television anymore - this one is up there with Hammond Transport Services or the Crossroads garage.