My Hero (series 5)

My Hero Series 5
No. of episodes	10
Release
Original network	BBC1
Original release	7 January – 25 March 2005
Season chronology

The fifth series of British television comedy My Hero ran from 7 January 2005 to 25 March 2005. It again featured ten episodes, and saw the entire main cast reprise their characters from Series four, as well as introducing the brand new character, Cassie Sunday. The series was once again broadcast on BBC1, and was overseen by series creator Paul Mendelson. The series has never been released on DVD.

Episodes

#	Title	Writer(s)	Director	Original airdate	Code
1	"The Foresight Saga"	Paul Mendelson, Paul Mayhew-Archer	John Stroud	7 January 2005 (2005-01-07)	ICED142N
Janet gives birth to a baby girl, which decides to name itself Cassie, short for Cassandra. However, her birth is far from normal, leading to an incorrect prediction that Janet's close friends and family are all going to die. George, believing that Ultronian powers of foresight are never wrong, prepares to move everyone in the Northern Hemisphere to safety. However, he leaves himself open to humiliation when Cassie's powers prove to be less than perfect.
2	"Illegal Aliens"	Paul Mayhew-Archer	John Stroud	14 January 2005 (2005-01-14)	ICED143X
George and Arnie find themselves under intense scrutiny when an immigration officer turns up, looking for evidence of illegal aliens. George creates a fake accident in order to sway the officer away from his investigation, but will it be successful enough to get the charges against George and Arnie dropped? Meanwhile, Mrs. Raven scams Piers into believing that he has a secret love child, which in turn results in payments of money that Mrs. Raven agrees to 'hand over' to the child, but is in turn keeping for herself.
3	"The First Husbands' Club"	Paul Mayhew-Archer	John Stroud	21 January 2005 (2005-01-21)	ICED145W
After being conned by Piers into paying for a car accident which he did not cause, George decides to organise a militant men's group, with Arnie, Tyler and Stanley. However, his motto of 'A woman's place is in the kitchen' soon begins to cause outrage amongst the female population, and begins to give men the confidence to regain authority over their women. Soon enough, the majority of female population find themselves enslaved to men - but not Mrs. Raven, who continues to delight in making Piers's life a living hell, without him realising she is responsible.
4	"Cassie Come Home"	Daniel Peak	John Stroud	28 January 2005 (2005-01-28)	ICED149X
George and Janet find themselves in a sticky situation when Ella becomes a Justice of the Peace - and a Magistrate - and decides to monitor the children, to see the way they are being brought up and educated. Things go disastrously wrong when Arnie plies the children with cans of alcohol, and Tyler is left to muddle their brains during a babysitting session - leaving Ella no choice but to take the children into care. However, the children are left unimpressed by the decision - and decide to "escape". The bad news comes when Cassie fails to return home...
5	"Nothing to Hide"	James Cary	John Stroud	4 February 2005 (2005-02-04)	ICED146P
George finds himself in an impossible situation when he rescues the stolen Mona Lisa from the clutches of an art thief - but is unable to explain to Scotland Yard detectives why the painting has ended up in his flat. Things turn from bad to worse when George is given an electronic tag, to track him at all times. How will he be able to explain his activities? In an attempt to save George's bacon, Janet, Arnie and Tyler hatch a plan to return the painting to its owners - but Stanley scuppers their chance when he punches a hole through the picture in an attempt to make Janet see the real George.
6	"Brain Drain"	Daniel Peak	John Stroud	11 February 2005 (2005-02-11)	ICED147J
George attempts to make the internet safer for his children to use, only to result in himself suffering from a bout of "pop-ups" syndrome. To solve the problem, Arnie uses a mind filter to remove the "pop-ups", and any other useless information and prejudices caught in George's mind. However, George begins to use the mind filter to his advantage, removing any reference of Ella and Stanley from his memory. However, the mind filter becomes overloaded - leaving the minds of his friends and family all scrambled up.
7	"Fear and Clothing"	Trevelyan Evans, Pete Sinclair	John Stroud	25 February 2005 (2005-02-25)	ICED148D
George's superstitions regarding Friday the thirteenth begin to come true, causing him to doubt his invincibility - which in turn, affects his ability to rescue people. He soon turns into a nervous wreck, and starts disappearing when ever he is scared. Can Janet and Arnie find a way to cure George of his fears before it is too late? Meanwhile, Piers jumps on another bandwagon, by launching his own diet — The Crispin Diet, no less — and health drink. But little does he know that the diet may be hazardous to his own health.
8	"How Green Was My Ollie?"	James Cary	John Stroud	4 March 2005 (2005-03-04)	ICED150R
In an attempt to get Ollie to eat his vegetables, George brings back some genetically modified vegetables from Ultron. However, these vegetables soon begin to create some unfortunate side-effects, for both Ollie and George. George, whose mind is scrambled, accidentally makes the mink whale extinct by using it to plug a volcano. Thus, Piers sees an opportunity to ruin Thermoman's career - and starts a campaign against his abuse of nature. And things soon turn from bad to worse when Ella jumps on the bandwagon.
9	"Big Bother"	Paul Mayhew-Archer	John Stroud	18 March 2005 (2005-03-18)	ICED151K
George decides to treat Janet on their five year anniversary, attempting to give her the perfect day. However, their peace is soon shattered when an Ultronian television producer arrives at the flat, and announces that the last six months of their lives have been filmed and beamed across the galaxy in a reality television show entitled Thermowatch. George and Janet decide to stick with the show, until Arnie decides to create his own show, Filth, and his nocturnal activities with Mrs. Raven begin to attract more viewers.
10	"Night Fever"	Daniel Peak	John Stroud	25 March 2005 (2005-03-25)	ICED152E
George receives the shock of his life when he wakes up in bed next to Mrs. Raven. Little does he know that it is only a dream - and that he has lost his ability to distinguish dreams from reality, due to his love of Brussel sprouts. Unable to get the idea of him and Mrs. Raven sleeping together out of his head, he decides that he must leave Janet, and instead start a new life with Mrs. Raven and her triplets. It's up to Janet, Arnie and Tyler to make him see sense, before it is too late - and he has runaway with a madwoman.

References

• My Hero at the BBC Comedy Guide.
• My Hero at Big Bear Films home page
• My Hero at BBC America.
• My Hero at IMDb
• British TV Comedy Guide
• My Hero episode guide and forum at TV.com
• My Hero at the British Sitcom Guide
• My Hero News, episode guide and interviews at downthetubes.net

My Hero
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Paul Mendelson
Written by	Paul Mayhew-Archer
Directed by	John Stroud
Starring	Ardal O'Hanlon Emily Joyce Hugh Dennis Geraldine McNulty Lou Hirsch Philip Whitchurch Lill Roughley Tim Wylton James Dreyfus
Opening theme	"My Hero" Theme
Ending theme	"My Hero" Theme
Composer	Philip Pope
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	51 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Geoffrey Perkins Marcus Mortimer Sophie Clarke-Jervoise
Producers	John Stroud Jamie Rix
Editors	Mykola Pawluk Graham Hutchings
Camera setup	Multiple-camera setup
Running time	30 minutes
Production company	Big Bear Films
Original release
Network	BBC One
Release	4 February 2000 (2000-02-04) – 10 September 2006 (2006-09-10)

My Hero is a British television sitcom, created by Paul Mendelson, and produced for the BBC between 2000 and 2006. The series follows the exploits of an alien superhero known as "Thermoman" - a multi-powered superhero who originates from the planet Ultron - during his time between missions after falling in love with a British nurse he rescued. Although incredibly intelligent amongst his kind, Thermoman is unfamiliar with human life, which not only leads others to consider him dim-witted and idiotic, but also causes problems due to his many misunderstandings.

The main role of Thermoman was portrayed by Ardal O'Hanlon up until 2005, before he was replaced by James Dreyfus for the final series. The cast itself remained largely unchanged throughout its broadcast history, and included Emily Joyce, Lill Roughley, Tim Wylton, Lou Hirsch, Hugh Dennis, Geraldine McNulty, and Philip Whitchurch. Unlike most British sitcoms, Mendelson co-wrote episode scripts with a large team of writers. Each series also featured a varying number of episodes, with the first and second series containing six episodes, series three through five containing 10 episodes each and series six containing 8 episodes, with a Christmas Special for 2000.

Despite its viewing figures going into decline by the time of Dreyfus' appearance, the show remained a regular feature on British television, being regularly repeated on Gold in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the series was shown on PBS and, briefly, BBC America. In Australia, UKTV offered re-runs of the first three series, while BBC Entertainment provided repeats for Scandinavia. Three of the six series have been released on DVD; two on Region 1 DVD and one on Region 2. Fans have since petitioned the BBC to release the complete series on DVD.

Premise

The series focuses on the life of George Sunday, a man who comes off as idiotic, but who in reality is a superhero from the planet Ultron known as "Thermoman", who serves to safeguard humanity and the Earth, and Janet Dawkins, a British nurse who works at a local surgery in the London town of Northolt, whom George falls in love with after saving her life. The series focuses on the couple's efforts to cope with numerous problems that occur to them during their relationship, including dealing with Janet's obnoxius parents and the self-centered doctor whom she works for, and George's many misunderstandings of human culture, societial values and traits.

After the second series, the writers added in additional elements surrounding the couple being married and having children of Ultronian origin - capable of speech, intelligence and super powers for their infant age - and coping with issues surrounding their family lives. In the sixth series, George loses his old body, and replaces it with a new one that he gives the alias of George Monday, taking up work as a doctor alongside Piers at his surgery.

Cast

George Monday, as portrayed by James Dreyfus

Janet Dawkins, as portrayed by Emily Joyce

• Ardal O'Hanlon as George Sunday AKA "Thermoman" (Series 1–5) - A dim-witted superhero, intelligent on alien matters, but completely unable to understand human society and values.
• James Dreyfus as George Monday AKA "Thermoman" (Series 6) - George's new alias after losing his old one due to financial troubles, who shows some intelligence but is still misunderstanding human culture.
• Emily Joyce as Janet Dawkins - A British nurse and George's lover, who often struggles with the alien aspects of his life and people.
• Lill Roughley as Ella Dawkins - Janet's obnoxious mother.
• Tim Wylton as Stanley Dawkins - Janet's mildly obnoxious father.
• Lou Hirsch as Arnie Kowalski - George's cousin, and a former superhero who was stripped of his powers for abusing them. Initially written to living in the US, the third series saw writers relocate him to Northolt and develop a relationship with Mrs. Raven.
• Hugh Dennis as Dr. Piers Crispin - A self-centred, pompous TV doctor who runs his own surgery in Northolt and regularly looks for ways to increase his fame and popularity.
• Geraldine McNulty as Mrs. Raven - Piers' surgery receptionist, a vindictive, sadistic woman with a cruel liking for basking in other people's misery.
• Philip Whitchurch as Tyler - George and Janet's next-door neighbour, who suffers delusions and hallucinations that cause him to mix up fictional elements, most from science-fiction, fantasy and conspiracy theories, with real-life. He is the only one to know of George's real identity. After the first series, the writers gave him more prominence, including being George's assistant at his shop.
• Moya Brady as Avril (Series 1) - George's assistant in his shop. The character was written out after the first series.
• Pat Kelman as the Ultron Postie (Series 3–6) - Ultronian postman who delivers correspondence to George on Earth
• Finlay Stroud as Apollo "Ollie" Sunday (Series 2–6) - George and Janet's son. He is highly intelligent in human life, compared to his father, with his superpowers.
• Madeline Mortimer as Cassandra "Cassie" Sunday (series 5–6) - George and Janet's daughter, highly intelligent, possessing the power of premonition and foresight.

Episodes

Main article: List of My Hero episodes

Series	Episodes		Originally aired
			First aired	Last aired
1	7		4 February 2000	22 December 2000
2	6		14 May 2001	18 June 2001
3	10		7 June 2002	23 August 2002
4	10		8 August 2003	10 October 2003
5	10		7 January 2005	25 March 2005
6	8		21 July 2006	10 September 2006

Home media

In the United States, the series has been released on DVD via BBC Video; "Season One" was released on 16 January 2007, while "Season Two" was released on 7 August 2007. The sets are now currently out-of-print and no subsequent seasons have been made available on region 1.

In the United Kingdom, Series Three was the only series to receive a home video release. The "Complete Series 3" was released on VHS on 7 October 2002 via IMC Vision, while two DVD sets, "Volume 1" (episodes 1–5 of Series 3), and "Volume 2" (episodes 6–10 of Series 3) were also released on 7 October 2002. A DVD set containing "Complete Series 3" was additionally made available from IMC Vision on 14 May 2012.

As of 2023, it has not been announced if My Hero will receive any subsequent series releases, or a complete series box set.

Series one and two of My Hero became available to stream in the UK via BritBox from 10 March 2022. Seasons 1 & 2 as well as the additions of Seasons 3 & 4 was added to BritBox via ITVX as of 18th Feb 2024

See also

• Mork & Mindy

External links

• My Hero at IMDb