AustLit

Like Father, Dear Father, this was an Australian importation of a popular British comedy series, re-positioning the character of Mr Humphreys in an Australian department store with an Australian cast. The name of the department store (Grace Brothers) was altered to Bone Brothers, to avoid comparisons with the existing Australian department store Grace Brothers, but otherwise little about the concept was changed.

As Moran notes in his Guide to Australian TV Series, this was (like other productions of the same period, including Are You Being Served? and Father, Dear Father) an importation of a British concept: unlike the other programs, however, this was based on a concept for which William Stewart had produced a pilot, but that had never been picked up for production.

The series revolved around tea ladies working in Parliament House, Canberra. Moran notes that 'The short series made at ATV Channel 0 in Melbourne cost $500 000. Each episode was aired almost immediately after studio shooting and was screened at 8:30pm to small audiences with almost no reviews.'

Moran, in his Guide to Australian TV Series, emphasises that 'Father, Dear Father qualifies as an Australian series by virtue of the fact that it had Australian investment. It was produced in Australia by a local company and had many Australians in both cast and crew'.

An importation and revival of the then defunct British comedy series of the same name, the Australian version of Father, Dear Father brought over Patrick Cargill and Noel Dyson in their original roles, but provided Cargill's character with two Australian nieces. Moran notes that 'ATN Channel 7 had a history of showing British comedy series, including the British series of Father, Dear Father, and the station invested $200,000 in the fourteen episodes.'