Original title
Rosie
Released
1/5/1977
Origin country
GB
Status
Ended
Number of seasons
5
Number of episodes
35
Rosie is a British situation-comedy television series, written by Roy Clarke that was broadcast between 1977 and 1981. It was filmed and set in Scarborough in North Yorkshire. The central character was PC Penrose, the titular "Rosie", a young and inexperienced police officer, played by Paul Greenwood. For the first series of seven episodes, broadcast in 1975, it was called The Growing Pains of PC Penrose, but it underwent a revamp with a new title, setting and signature tune.
PC Michael Penrose, nicknamed to his embarrassment Rosie, returns to his native town, the resort of Ravensbay, when he learns that his exotic, pretentious mother Millie is dying. In fact it is a ruse to get him home where Millie and her sister Ida dominate Rosie and hen-pecked uncle Norman. Further woman pressure comes from girlfriend Gillian, anxious to get him to the altar. After a pointless visit from short-sighted informant Merv, Rosie goes to work and, along with slovenly colleague PC Wilmot, is called to a pub disturbance. Here they finally subdue an aggressive drunk after learning that he too is under woman pressure.
Rosie's day does not begin well with Ida worrying about his safety and Millie about his appearance before Gillian waylays him on his way to work. He and Wilmot and called out to help patronizing DC Orr,who calls Rosie 'son' as they catch three youths who have burgled a games hut. Rosie is severely upset by Orr's attitude and he and Wilmot are much amused when Orr accidentally steals somebody's van to transport the criminals to the station.
After being called out to find a body on a beach and to try and talk a bugler out of the wardrobe where he is hiding Rosie returns home to find both his mother and his aunt trying to talk him out of his chosen career. Next day he goes on a date with Gillian,who also wants him to give up the force and join her father's firm. He refuses but finds himself softening in his attitude towards her.
Rosie and another young officer,P C Ellis,help an old lady who they believe has locked herself out of her vehicle but she is actually a car thief. After spending a depressing afternoon with lugubrious PC Dudley, Rosie and his family go to a cheese and wine party being organized by Gillian's mother Glenda to raise funds for the church roof. Gillian's father hopes to slip away on the pretext of buying more wine but is amorously pursued by Rosie's mother Millie.
Ida and Millie are working in the Oxfam shop,where Millie is pleased to see a better class of customer. Gillian feels sorry for Wilmot,whose wife has left him and is being pursued by WPC Whatmough,so she invites him,along with Rosie,for a meal at her parents' house where Wilmot causes havoc with her father,Bill's, DIY efforts. Worse is to come when myopic copper's nark Merv arrives at the house and Bill innocently asks him to carry a mirror upstairs,resulting in seven years' bad luck all round.
Rosie and Wilmot are at the local amusement arcade looking for runaways when they are invited upstairs for drinks by the local entertainment entrepreneur Big Cyril and meet his glamorous trophy wife Liz. Wilmot is smitten by Liz and neglects work as a result. Meanwhile Gillian gives WPC Whatmough a beauty make-over in her efforts to attract Wilmot but Wilmot has gone after Liz,who is working at her husband's funfair and he is literally carried away.
Gillian tries to form a foursome to get Wilmot and WPC Whatmough together but Wilmot is still smitten with Liz and persuades Rosie to meet her in a bar to put in a good word for him. Rosie duly turns up but finds that Liz regards Wilmot as totally ridiculous though she is attracted to Rosie and lets him know it. This does not go down well with Gillian though,strangely,WPC Whatmough and Wilmot appear to be getting it together.
Gillian is still unforgiving of Rosie after hearing about the affair with Liz and punishes him and Wilmot when they come to apologize,calling the engagement off. Whilst Ida presses a reluctant Norman to lay claim to the best donations to the Oxfam shop Rosie and Wilmot take the inspector to the park where Merv has assured them loot has been hidden in the boating lake but this too ends in disaster.
Rosie is still trying to beg Gillian's forgiveness though she responds by cutting his police helmet with her garden shears. Then Rosie and Wilmot are called out to bring down an aggressive Scottish drunk who has climbed onto a roof,attracting a large crowd,including Gillian and her parents and Rosie's family. The lads get themselves into rather a mess and are eventually rescued by WPC Whatmough but Gillian now sees Rosie as a hero and all appears to be forgotten.
After attending at a burglary Rosie and Wilmot feel that CID treat them as second class citizens. Later they are are called upon to accompany the handsome and sartorially obsessed DC 'Engelbert' Morris to search a yacht in the bay but Wilmot's dressed crab supper and the tide combine to deflate Engelbert's ego. Meanwhile Gillian and WPC Whatmough bemoan their men's lack of interest in marriage.
When Wilmot throws himself at police clerk Renata her boyfriend 'Engelbert' Morris is up in arms and comes after him but trips up and ends up sitting in a sample that has been spilt on the floor. Ever fearful for his dress code image he whips his trousers off so that when Renata comes in he is literally caught with his pants down in the company of WPC Whatmough. Meanwhile Norman and Millie form an unusual alliance which is misunderstood by Ida.
Rosie and Wilmot are called to the house of argumentative Councillor Blake after a duck has flown in through his bedroom window and got stuck under the bed. Annoyed by the councillor's high-handed attitude Rosie scares him by claiming it is an exploding duck before rescuing the bird. In the evening Rosie and his family attend Bill's birthday party. WPC Whatmough is also there and far from pleased to see that Wilmot has brought his buxom cleaner Winnie along as his guest.
Rosie,itching because of the thermal vest Ida has made him wear,and Wilmot,incapacitated after WPC Whatmough caught him flirting with Renata,are called upon to bring in small-time crook Herbie Tindall. Nobody seems to know where he is - only that he is in the company of a woman with 'a face like a hod-carrier's elbow.' Getting tired of their quest the officers decide to go back to Wilmot's for a coffee - where they encounter Herbie and Wilmot gets a shock.
Rosie and Wilmot are severely hung over after drowning Wilmot's sorrows with cheap sherry following the revelation about Winnie. They are called out to interview clairvoyant Princess Yasmin,who claims to have seen a brutal murder but only admits to seeing it in her crystal ball after the garden has been dug up to locate a body. Ida discovers that Norman has been deceiving her - namely only pretending to slave in the garden all day.
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