James and Ivy

You Rang, M'Lord?, the hit upstairs-downstairs television comedy from David Croft and Jimmy Perry, is to be followed up with a sequel, more than 30 years after it ended.

Original series director Roy Gould and fellow producer/director Robin Carr have penned six episodes of a new audio sitcom, James And Ivy, tracing the continued adventures of James Twelvetrees (Jeffrey Holland) and Ivy Teasdale (Su Pollard), the footman and maid at the centre of the popular comedy.

Announced by Gould during a session hosted by historian Robert Ross at a Dad's Army convention in Thetford in May, the comedy was recorded in June. Producers hope it will be ready for release via as-yet unnamed digital channels in "five or six months". So maybe in time for Christmas!

You Rang, M'Lord? debuted on BBC One in 1988 and ran for four hugely popular series. Set in the late 1920s, it followed the goings-on in the London home of increasingly cash-strapped Lord Meldrum, including ongoing trysts, escapades and adventures of both the staff below stairs and the Meldrum family above.
It sfeatured many of the Croft and Perry actors in various roles throughout the series, which garnered a huge folling in Hungary.

Following the conclusion of the series in 1993, Gould gained permission from Croft and Perry to "have a go" at writing a sequel to their creation. Sadly, the project was turned down by the BBC, so it is being made independently.

With Pollard and Holland resuming their roles to star in the series, it will also reunite them with Perry Benson as Henry Livingstone, Susie Brann as Poppy Meldrum, and John D. Collins as Jerry.

Actress Judy Buxton and a range of further guest stars are also due to appear.

Further information about the release of the series has yet to be revealed.