Sid Abbot just wants to get on with building his illegal whisky still, but is frustrated by his workshy son, and otherworldly daughter.

Then rude and arrogant Ronald Baines and his family move in next door.

Garden-fence hostilities soon commence.......

Such is the case with TV comedies transitioning to the big screen in the seventies, the film adaptation really never had a plot to speak of, just loads of little sub plots that could fill a normal episode.

The studios must have thought that these films would have made so much money on release, because these comedies were watched by literally tens of millions of people.

Hindsight is a great thing to have though, this would never happen now, back then in the UK, we only had three TV channels, and the humour was a lot more, non PC.

But this is one of the better films to be released, thanks mostly to Sid James and his wonderful laugh.

So the sub plots are.........

Sid is brewing illegal alcohol

His daughter becomes an activist

His wife opens a store

New neighbours move in, they dislike each other, but SId's son falls in love with their daughter

Terry and June are in it

And it all ends with a food fight, and a wedding.

These films could have been classed as anthologies, because no matter how many sub plots there are, they all end up being tied together to become one narrative, which isn't necessarily funny, but my gosh, it's pretty clever.

We have people fall in cement, plaster coming off walls, hose pipes soaking people, hats being mown over, cars with comedy exhaust pipes, and an exploding shed.

It shouldn't be so entertaining, but the charm these films had were unprecedented, because they related to the working class.

Basically these films were the Prozac of their times, they made us laugh at ourselves, because the majority of the people watching were metaphorically watching themselves

The British TV Sitcoms of the seventies almost all had one thing in common: an inability to forecast changes in fashion and youth culture, and an instantly dated quality that created instant classics. Advice to all non-British surfers - catch this movie, it will give a better insight into life in the UK in the seventies than any more reputable source. Along with On The Buses, Porrige, and others, this movie stands out for great performances by Sid James (catch any Carry On.... movie he's in) , Diana Coupland, Sally Geeson and Robin Askwith as the disfunctional family that started it all!

'Bless This House', created by Vince Powell and Harry Driver, was launched in 1971 and quickly established itself as one of I.T.V.'s biggest-ever sitcom successes. A year later, a spin-off feature film hit cinemas, following the route taken by 'Till Death Us Do Part' and 'On The Buses'. With Peter Rogers and Gerald Thomas in charge, it was bound to wind up looking like a 'Carry On', and did. The first and most sensible thing they did was replace boring Robin Stewart with cheeky Robin Askwith as Sid's son 'Mike'. Secondly, they brought in Peter Butterworth to play Sid's friend and next-door neighbour 'Trevor Lewis'. While I liked Anthony Jackson's 'Trevor', Butterworth and Sid are a far more natural comedy team. Thirdly, they had Terry Scott and June Whitfield as the Abbott's new neighbours, 'Ronald' and 'Vera Baines'. Scott's character is not the lovable 'Terry' of 'Happy Ever After/Terry & June', but a pompous snob. These changes benefited the movie enormously, though I wish the Geoff Love theme tune had been retained. Eric Rogers provided the new music.

Dave Freeman's script lacks a central binding plot, consisting mainly of sub-plots such as Mike bringing home a right banger of a car, Jean and Betty running an old junk stall in a local market, Sid's attempts to make wine in a home-made distillery in his shed, Mike getting a job in a fast-food restaurant ( where he meets and falls in love with 'Kate', played by Carol Hawkins of 'The Fenn Street Gang' ), Sid and Jean attempting to conceal the damage they have made to the Baines' lounge whilst attempting to remove an over-mantle, and Sid and Ronald engaging in open warfare of the 'Love Thy Neighbour' sort. Interesting to hear 'Sally' ( Sally Geeson ) expressing concerns for the environment. We could laugh at her in those days. She was dead right though, wasn't she? And she looks great in a bikini!

Some sterling performers in small roles, including George A.Cooper as the owner of the restaurant where Mike works, Bill Maynard as the market owner who has a roving eye, Wendy Richard as a waitress, Johnny Briggs as a lorry driver, Janet Brown ( who was Peter Butterworth's wife ) as their soon-to-leave neighbour, with Julian Orchard as her husband.

Funniest moment - Sid and Ronald turning up late at the church for Mike and Kate's wedding in a fire engine!

Some reviewers have said the film is a useful time capsule of '70's Britain. It is not - Britain was never this nice a place to live. It hardly matters though. 'House' is a pleasant way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon.