Mother and Son
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Mother and Son was an Australian television sitcom produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from 1982 until 1984. The sitcom starred Ruth Cracknell, Henri Szeps, Judy Morris and Gary McDonald.
Cracknell played the aging Maggie Beare, an independent and determined woman gradually becoming senile, with a tendency to forget previous things she has organised, or sudden decisions to go off wandering. McDonald played her long-suffering care-giver son Arthur.
The storylines addressed the problem of ageing and caring for somebody with Alzheimer's disease with a gentle humour that made the show a popular favorite with audiences.
Much of the humour derived from the show's secondary characters - Robert (Szeps) and Liz (Morris). Robert was Arthur's brother, the 'black sheep' of the family who would do anything to avoid looking after his mother. Liz was his acid-tongued wife who is credited with many of the funniest moments of the series.
In 2004, the creators of the show selected their favorite episodes - acknowleding that some of the episodes had become dated and lost much of their humour - and aired "The Best of Mother and Son" which was a success, and proves the timeless quality of the show.
- Mother and Son is a 1955 novel by Ivy Compton-Burnett.