First appearing as a 'Comedy Playhouse' presentation entitled 'The Bed' by 'Rag Trade' creators Wolfe and Chesney in December 1963, 'Meet the Wife', featuring the consummate comedic skills of Thora Hird and Freddie Frinton, was one of the BBC's top rated comedies of the mid 1960's and arguably the template for 'Keeping Up Appearances', which became another huge hit over twenty years later.

Freddie Blacklock, a plumber by profession, enjoyed the simple pleasures and would do anything for a quiet life. However, that was not easy being married to Thora, his domineering and snobbish wife who had ideas above her station. Whilst in private the husband and wife would talk to each other using their natural north-country accents, in mixed company (and especially when answering the telephone), Thora would immediately adopt an obviously false refinement (such as referring to her husband as "Frayd").

Viewers easily identified with the middle-aged married couple whose constant bickering, usually over the most trivial of matters, resulted in a kiss and a cuddle by the end of each episode. Plus there was always the chance that the viewers might see Frinton play at being drunk, a routine for which he was without equal. In fact, Freddie Frinton was so good at appearing to be "under the influence" that in 1963 he made a short film called 'Same Procedure As Last Year' for a West German TV company. In this 18 minute skit, Frinton plays an ageing butler who, during the course of serving up a dinner for May Warden, becomes more and more inebriated as he consumes the drinks served for his mistresses long deceased friends. The film has been shown every year at Christmas for the last 40 years, and Frinton is now something of a cult figure -although only in Germany, because British TV has never screened it.

Sadly, Frinton died in 1968 at the age of 53. Thora Hird (later Dame Thora) went on to become one of Britain's best-loved actresses, appearing in numerous comedies including 'In Loving Memory,' 'Ours Is A Nice House' and 'Last of The Summer Wine' as well as Alan Bennett's celebrated 'Talking Heads' series of monologues.