Terry and June is a BritCom which ran from 1979 to 1987. It concerned a middle-class couple named Terry (Terry Scott) and June Medford (June Whitfield). Terry is headstrong and determined, but his childish demeanor has a tendency to lead to hilarity ensuing. Meanwhile, June is the patient wife, patient, but willing to criticize him. As such, the show is just about Terry getting in way over his head and June having to help him out. An expanded cast includes Terry's boss Malcolm Harris, who frequently has affairs, Sir Dennis Hodge, who is a grump man, and his secretary Nora Fennell, who has unrequited love for Dennis.
The show has an interesting history. Scott and Whitfield had previously starred together on an earlier sitcom called Happy Ever After, playing the characters Terry and June Fletcher and being almost identical to this one. When John Chapman, who was the head writer for the series, decided to call it quits, The BBC brought in fresh new writers and changed the name of the series, alongside the surnames and settings of the characters.
Although it was frequently derided as a "safe" sitcom, it nonetheless did very well, running for 9 seasons before unceremoniously ending.
This show contains the following tropes:
- Adapted Out: Happy Ever After featured some characters which don't have counterparts in this series, such as Aunt Lucy and her talking mynah bird and one of their daughters.
- Camping Episode: In "Camping", Terry and June are inspired by their neighbours to take up camping, first testing it out in the garden. It does not go well - they're bitten by insects, interrupted by neighbors, June goes back in the house to watch TV, and when he breaks into the house to get candles after having locked the house, he's arrested for burglary. Afterwards, he gives up and goes back into the house.
- Captain Ersatz: When the creator of Happy Ever After decided that it had run for long enough, he declined to write any more episodes and eventually jumped ship, retaining the rights to the show's format. So the BBC took the central couple, changed their surname and character bios, put them in another suburban house, and carried on from there. For instance, Terry Fletcher (Terry Scott) and his wife June (June Whitfield) instead became Terry and June Medford.
- Christmas Episode:
- 1980's "The Christmas Coat (The Mink Coat)" is about Malcolm buying Bettie a mink coat for Christmas and asking Terry to keep it safe for her. Hilarity ensues when June thinks that it's meant for her.
- 1981's "Festive Doldrums" is about Malcolm's affairs causing issues with his wife when she receives a Christmas card that was meant for another woman.
- 1982's "Christmas With Terry and June" is about the couple end up having a full house on Christmas Day when Sir Dennis Hodge believes that Terry has (erroneously) invited him over for Christmas Dinner.
- 1985's "Pantomania" revolves around a Christmas Pantomine, which Terry and June try to participate in.
- Couch Gag: The opening for Series 3 onwards features Terry and June relaxing outside with juice. Sometimes, things would go wrong (such as the chair that Terry is on collapsing under him) which varies from episode to episode. There are even some cases where nothing goes wrong at all. note
- Courtroom Episode: The plot point of "Terry In Court", where Terry takes Pursley Council to court after a council rubbish bin truck backs into his car.
- Crooked Contractor: One episode featured Terry unreasonably convinced the builders were a bunch of cowboys; at one point, when June offered to make them lunch, sarcastically suggesting she could "rustle up some bacon and beans".
- Dinner with the Boss: In "It's A Knockout", Terry is having his boss over for dinner in a bid to get a job at his firm's new Brussels Department. However, his nephew is having Japanese businessmen over to purchase some bunny costumes that he had bought, which is problematic due to Terry's boss not liking the Japanese very much (in fact, the whole reason for the Brussels Department were to usurp them from their dominance in fire extinguisher sales). Then the two plots combine and Terry ends up stuck in a bunny costume and having to hide it from his boss.
- Dreadful Musician: June is not a good cello player. The neighbour complains at least three times that it sounds like a cat being strangled. Terry claims that the neighbour is just not into classical music, but this is eventually revealed to be a lie to hide the fact that he can't stand it either.
- Evolving Credits: The opening credits for Series 1 and 2 feature Terry and June trying to locate each other out in the street. Series 3 onwards replaces it with a sequence simply showing them going outside and relaxing with lemonade, complete with a shortened version of the theme song.
- Faking Amnesia: In "A Bridge Too Far", Terry is trying to teach himself Bridge within an evening to impress his boss. When he realizes that he is unable to do this, he ends up banging his head on the table and pretends to have amnesia which has allegedly taken away his bridge-playing skills.
- Foolish Husband, Responsible Wife: Terry is childlike and is usually the one who gets into trouble, whilst his wife June is the smarter of the duo and is usually the one who tries to stop his plans.
- Groin Attack: In "Workers Unite", June accidentally spills hot tea onto Terry's crown jewels, although she insists it was lukewarm.
- Happily Married: Although June may sometimes be exasperated with her husband's antics, she and Terry do love each other dearly, and stay married throughout the series.
- Malingering Romance Ploy: In "Thanks For The Memory", Terry loses his memory, which causes his wife June to fuss over him. Although his memory eventually comes back, Terry continues the ruse to continue this fuss being made over him. Unfortunately for him, June overhears him revealing this and figures it out.
- Mistaken for Cheating: In "On The Move", the Medford's daughter shows up having left her husband, who she suspects of having an affair with his secretary. However, he eventually shows up and reveals that he was never having an affair - he was merely escorting her around in a non-platonic matter.
- Mistaken for Racist: In the first episode, the couple is preparing to move into their new home. However, Terry accidentally leaves the "For Sale" sign-up. When a willing buyer comes looking to get the house, he ends up misinterpreting Terry trying to tell him that the house is not up for house as him telling him that he can't have the house because of his skin color, and he accuses Terry of being a racist.
- New Job Episode: "Workers Unite" centers around June temporarily taking up a job as a market researcher. Terry doesn't enjoy her doing it, however, and she gradually comes to hate the job herself, with the episode ending with her giving it up.
- Put on a Bus: In the first two series, Terry and June's neighbours are a couple called Brian and Tina Pillbeam. They're written out in Series 3 with the explanation that Brian has taken a job in Saudi Arabia.
- Speech Impediment: In "Writing On The Wall", Tina brings her nephew Magnus around. However, he largely speaks in mumbles, and is hard to understand as a result. Terry misunderstands him and thinks he wants to make a parrot costume before he's told that he actually wants a pirate costume.
- Terrible Artist: Terry is not good at painting. He once painted a picture of Adam and Eve. June thought that Eve was actually several watermelons and that Adam was a garden gnome.
