Role reversal sitcom is packed with love, laughter and charm

Sue Wilkinson falls for Cinderfella fairy tale

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It's all relative. When it first aired I would not have given a penny for The Upper Hand. Compared to what now passes for TV sitcoms, it is comedy gold.

The ITV show ran over 94 episodes in seven series from 1990 to 1996. It was adapted from the American sitcom Who's the Boss? and used the original scripts and an identical studio set typical of American sitcoms.

The twist - which for the 1990s was monumental - was role reversal. Affluent and ambitious single mum Caroline Wheatley hires a male housekeeper, Charlie Burrows, a working-class widowed dad.

While Caroline carried a briefcase and ruled the boardroom, Charlie pushed a vacuum cleaner and was master of the kitchen.

It was Cinderfella meets his Princess Charming. Though it took to the 14th episode of the sixth series for the two to wed, it was always a sitcom/rom-com. From the second the two met, they were going to end up together.

It was how they got there that was charming, like a small-screen When Harry Met Sally.