May to December is a British sitcom which ran for 39 episodes, from 2 April 1989 to 27 May 1994 on BBC1. The series was created by Paul Mendelson and produced by Cinema Verity. Set in Pinner, Greater London, it revolved around the romance between a widowed solicitor, Alec Callender (played by veteran television actor Anton Rodgers) and a much younger woman, Zoë Angell (played by Eve Matheson in series one and two, and by Lesley Dunlop in series three to six). The series was nominated for the BAFTA award for "Best Television Comedy Series" in 1991, but lost out to The New Statesman. The title of the show comes from the Anderson–Weill song "September Song", which is sung during the credits. The titles of all the episodes are taken from songs. Most are from musicals, reflecting Alec and Zoë's mutual interest, but some later ones are hits from the 1950s and 1960s. In keeping with a number of other BBC sitcoms, such as To the Manor Born, Yes Minister, As Time Goes By, One Foot in the Grave and others, a radio adaptation of episodes was produced. Episodes were adapted from the original television scripts for the first TV series. Lesley Dunlop played Zoë throughout and Rebecca Lacey returned in the role of Hilary after leaving the TV show after the fifth series. The radio series was broadcast on BBC Radio 2 on Thursdays at 9 p.m. between 23 April and 28 May 1998.

Characters

Episodes

Series 1

Note: The original run of series 1 had a different opening credits sequence, partly featuring an animated oak tree through the different seasons of the year, as well as a slightly different recording of the theme song. A repeat run of the first series that began in August 1990 replaced these with the opening visuals from the second series (which had also incorporated a number of shots from the first series). All later repeats and subsequent DVD releases continue to use the second-series version of the opening.

Series 2

Christmas Special

Series 3

Series 4

Series 5

Series 6

DVD release

May to December series one and series two are both available on DVD in the UK, distributed by Acorn Media UK.