Running for three series, it originally starred Arthur Lowe as Redvers Potter, a busybody former sweet manufacturer ("Pottermints - the hotter mints") with time on his hands following retirement.

Set in Surrey, the series followed Potter in his various attempts to keep himself occupied by interfering in other people's business.

The series co-starred Noel Dyson as his wife Aileen, John Barron as the Vicar, Lally Bowers as Redvers' sister Harriet, Ken Wynne as Harriet's eccentric and camp husband Willie and John Warner as "Tolly" Tolliver, his next-door neighbour.

[3] Mark Lewisohn notes that although many of the characters (long-suffering wife, vicar, neighbour) were sitcom clichés "they seemed less so in the skilled hands of writer Roy Clarke, who had already proved a master of naturally humorous dialogue".

[2] A book written by Christine Sparks based on the characters of Roy Clarke was published in 1979.