Men of Affairs

Men of Affairs is a British comedy television series which originally aired on ITV between 3 October 1973 and 23 January 1974. It was an adaption of the on the 1971 play Don't Just Lie There, Say Something, in the tradition of the Whitehall farces.^[1] It takes place in a government department in London where the cabinet minister Sir William Mainwaring-Brown (Warren Mitchell) is a frantic womaniser, leading his hard-pressed private secretary Barry Ovis (Brian Rix) to try and cover up for him.^[2] Joan Sims plays Lady Mainwaring-Brown, while other actors to appear in the series included Derek Royle, Kate O'Mara, Margaret Nolan, Alexandra Bastedo, Hilary Pritchard, Moira Foot, Jacki Piper, Fred Emney, Talfryn Thomas, Richard Hearne, Ambrosine Phillpotts, Francis De Wolff, Ferdy Mayne, Victor Maddern, Lynda Baron, Mollie Sugden, Alfie Bass and Bernard Bresslaw.

In 1974 a film Don't Just Lie There, Say Something! based on the play was released, featuring Rix and Sims along with Leslie Phillips.^[3]

• Halliwell, Leslie. Halliwell's Film Guide. Scribner, 1989.
• Smith, Leslie. Modern British Farce: A Selective Study of British Farce from Pinero to the Present Day. Macmillan, 1989.

• Men of Affairs at IMDb
• Men of Affairs at British Comedy Guide