Yanks Go Home

Yanks Go Home is a British sitcom about U.S. Army Air Forcemen stationed in Lancashire, England in the Second World War. It was produced and directed by Eric Prytherch for Granada Television and broadcast on ITV between 1976 and 1977. The series ran for 2 series and 13 episodes in total before its cancellation.

Yanks Go Home
Genre	Comedy
Written by	H.V. Kershaw John Stevenson Anthony Couch
Directed by	Eric Prytherch Roger Cheveley
Starring	Meg Johnson Bruce Boa Stuart Damon Catherine Neilson Peter Sallis David Ross Harry Markham Freddie Earlle Alan MacNaughton Lionel Murton Richard Oldfield Norman Bird Jay Benedict
Composer	Derek Hilton
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	13
Production
Producer	Eric Prytherch
Running time	30 minutes
Production company	Granada Television
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	22 November 1976 (1976-11-22) – 19 September 1977 (1977-09-19)

Plot

The series focused on a group of U.S. Army Air Force pilots stationed in a small northern town in Lancashire, England during the Second World War and their sometimes tense relationship with the local men, most often over the attentions of the young women in the town. The early interactions and friction between British civilians and the U.S. military during WWII, best summed up by the wartime slogan of American servicemen "over paid, over sexed, and over here", was intentionally played up for humorous effect in the series.

Characters

• Phoebe Sankey (Meg Johnson)
• Sgt. Gus Polaski (Bruce Boa)
• Cpl. Vince Rossi (Stuart Damon)
• Doreen Sankey (Catherine Neilson)
• Harry Duckworth (David Ross)
• Bert Pickup (Harry Markham)
• Cpl. Pasquale (Freddie Earlle)
• Col. Ralph Kruger (Alan MacNaughtan)
• Col. Irving (Lionel Murton)
• Pfc. Burford Puckett (Richard Oldfield)
• Leonard Chambers (Norman Bird)
• Pvt. Floyd Tutt (Jay Benedict)

Episodes

Series 1

#	Title	Writers	Original airdate	Series No.
01	"Series One Episode One (Somewhere in England)"	TBA	22 November 1976 (1976-11-22)	#1.01
02	"Series One Episode Two (Off Limits)"	TBA	29 November 1976 (1976-11-29)	#1.02
03	"Series One Episode Three (Dear John)"	TBA	6 December 1976 (1976-12-06)	#1.03
04	"Series One Episode Four (Open Day)"	TBA	13 December 1976 (1976-12-13)	#1.04
05	"Series One Episode Five (Brooklyn's Uncle)"	TBA	20 December 1976 (1976-12-20)	#1.05
06	"Series One Episode Six (Rossi Keeps His Cool)"	TBA	27 December 1976 (1976-12-27)	#1.06
07	"Series One Episode Seven (The Liaison Committee)"	TBA	3 January 1977 (1977-01-03)	#1.07

Series 2

#	Title	Writers	Original airdate	Series No.
08	"Series Two Episode One (Cooke-Cooke)"	TBA	8 August 1977 (1977-08-08)	#2.01
09	"Series Two Episode Two (The Game of the Name)"	TBA	15 August 1977 (1977-08-15)	#2.02
10	"Series Two Episode Three (Bed of Roses)"	TBA	22 August 1977 (1977-08-22)	#2.03
11	"Series Two Episode Four (Alarm and Despondency)"	TBA	5 September 1977 (1977-09-05)	#2.04
12	"Series Two Episode Five (Some of Our Coal Is Missing)"	TBA	12 September 1977 (1977-09-12)	#2.05
13	"Series Two Episode Six (The First of the G.I. Brides)"	TBA	19 September 1977 (1977-09-19)	#2.06

Reception

Upon the premiere of the first episode, originally aired on 22 November 1976, the show's title "Yanks Go Home" raised some mild controversy as the United States had celebrated its bicentennial months before. The show received considerable publicity from the network and appeared on the cover of TV Times.

The show failed to meet the network's expectations however, mostly due to the concept already having been touched upon in Dad's Army (such as in the episode My British Buddy, 3 years and 15 days broadcast before the first episode) but also because of the lack of a regular writing staff. Nearly each episode was written by a different writer which created noticeable inconsistencies as the series progressed. The studio-based setting and canned laughter also lessened the feel in comparison with Dad's Army. The show was cancelled a year later, the final episode airing on 19 September 1977, and was never brought back for a third.

One of the breakout stars of the show was Freddie Earlle (who was in Dad's Army, It Ain't Half Hot Mum and Hi-de-Hi!) whose character Corporal Pasquale was favourably compared to Sgt. Bilko. The series also featured Stuart Damon of The Champions, who also wrote one episode.

DVD releases

The Complete Series is set to be released on 5 March 2012 by Network DVD.

External links

• Yanks Go Home at IMDb
• Yanks Go Home at the British Film Institute