Original title
Nearest and Dearest
Released
8/15/1968
Origin country
GB
Genre
Comedy
Production companies
Granada Television
Status
Ended
Number of seasons
7
Number of episodes
46
Nearest and Dearest is a British television sitcom that ran from 1968 to 1973. A total of 46 episodes were made, 18 in monochrome and 28 in colour. The series, produced by Granada Television for ITV, was set in Colne, Lancashire, in the North West of England. Nellie and Eli Pledge may be siblings, but their personalities are polar opposites. If not for inheritance, they would never even think of becoming business partners for five years.
The sun is setting on twelve tons of pickled onions. A dynasty is dying – and who's left?
A little late love for Nellie – but was it worth keeping the home fires burning?
If you go a funny colour, lie low; it's all in the mind. They can cure anything these days.
The elixir of youth – an old wives' tale or a racing certainty? Well, if it worked for Stan!
An accident of birth – but does it really matter what you are? It happens in the best families.
Nellie arrives at the front door to meet two constables accusing her of shoplifting.
Nellie and Eli are off to the seaside on holiday, but it isn't long before familiar faces start appearing.
When Eli's drunken antics prevent Nellie admission to the Women's Town Guild, she becomes determined to stop him from drinking.
When Eli realizes that he's forgotten Nellie's birthday, he manages to plan an evening at The Starlight Club.
With the business not doing so well, Nellie decides that cuts are needed: first the horse, then Stan.
Nellie takes Eli to the doctor, who is far more interested in Nellie's behaviour than in Eli's cough.
Nellie and Eli agree to look after their teenage nephew Nigel, who Nellie believes it's time he learns the goings-on of the birds and the bees.
When Lily discovers that she and Walter aren't legally married, Nellie takes it upon herself to put matters right.
Eli installs an executive toilet in the factory and faces industrial action as a result.
Eli plans an away weekend and Nellie wants to decorate the cellar, but an error strands the siblings together.
With growing competition, the factory faces closure, leaving Eli and Nellie penniless, starving, and staffless.
Boxing Day in the Pledge house: Lily and Walter join Nellie and Eli in a seance.
Eli isn't pleased to learn that Nellie has taken out an insurance policy on him in case of accident or death, so he takes one out on her, and the pair eagerly await an accident.
Eli has brought a new fur coat for his fiancée Marlene. Nellie takes an instant dislike to her and determines to prove that she is no good.
Nellie's had enough. She's reached the end of her tether and can no longer skivvy for her brother so she's decided to move out.
Eli is trying to sell the business to Leonard Longbottom, but he also needs to convince Nellie to sell. Then Leonard falls for Nellie.
With the workers off sick, it falls on Nellie, Eli, Lily, and Walter to keep the pickle production line going.
When Walter and Lily's house suffers damage, Nellie and Eli must put them up.
Mother Nature scuppers Nellie's plans for a surprise Christmas lunch at a nice hotel for Eli and herself.
A prowler has been tormenting ladies in a local park. When Walter is arrested and questioned, Nellie wants to prove his innocence.
Nellie isn't happy when the new coal man, Snatcher Snelling, becomes rather taken with a newly-styled Lily.
Despite having no bartending experience, Nellie takes over running the Spread Eagle Pub for a friend.
Eli is struggling to cope with his role at the pickling factory, so he sends for a manager. The Labour Exchange sends Major Lovelace.
A burglar has been operating in the local area; his latest victims are Lily and Walter. Keen to protect her valuables, Nellie hides her treasured possessions.
Desperate for funds, Nellie and Eli install Stan as a company director; their motive: to share in his recent windfall.
The problems of Pledge's Purer Pickles must take second place; for each of its co-owners are hearing wedding bells. But when the Pledge's enter the Matrimonial Stakes they inevitably fail to come under starter's orders.
Fourteen days' holiday in sunny Spain for 10p all in! It sounds too good to be true. And it is!
A tiff in a launderette, under Nellie's gentle touch, bids fair to becoming a national crisis.
The Pledges consult an industrial efficiency expert in a bid to improve production. When the workers strike, it is left to Nellie and Eli to keep the pickles flowing.
Annoyed with Eli for treating the home like a boarding house, Nellie kicks him out. The alternative living arrangements suit neither party.
Can dandelion leaves picked at the time of the full moon really win for Pledge's Purer Pickles the coveted Golden Gherkin? Nellie's wonder ingredient lands her greatest rival, Arnold Guttersby, in a real pickle.
The long arm of the law reaches out for Eli from the distant past; but, with Nellie in court, all is set for the Law to get its knuckles rapped.
Eli gives the Christmas club money to a promoter who promises a share of the profits from the Christmas play he's producing. He promptly spends it, and when Nellie and the gang find out, they offer to take over the roles. During rehearsals, the promoter makes a break for it.
When local lothario Harry Hampton demands Eli repay a loan, Eli invites him to stay with him and Nellie in lieu of payment. This leads to Nellie getting a reputation as a good-time girl.
After a visit from a French restauranteur, the Pledges travel to Paris to introduce their pickles to the European market.
The Pledges and the Tattersalls visit a health farm but when the diet proves inadequate, the call goes out to the pickers to bring them food.
Ex-POW Siegfried, who was taken in by The Pledge Household, returns and vows to help Nellie and Eli.
Pledge's Pickles is all set for a Royal visit, and Nellie goes to great pains to get The Factory and staff ready.
Nellie is keen to buy a second home in the middle of nowhere, Eli is more keen on his Spanish holiday, and tries to put her off.
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