Joking Apart is a BBC television sitcom written by Steven Moffat about the rise and fall of a relationship. It juxtaposes a couple, Mark (Robert Bathurst) and Becky (Fiona Gillies), who meet and fall in love before getting separated and finally divorced. The twelve episodes, broadcast between 1993 and 1995, were directed by Bob Spiers and produced by Andre Ptaszynski for independent production company Pola Jones. The show is semi-autobiographical; it was inspired by the then-recent separation of Moffat and his first wife. Some of the episodes in the first series followed a non-linear parallel structure, contrasting the rise of the relationship with the fall. Other episodes were ensemble farces, predominantly including the couple's friends Robert (Paul Raffield) and Tracy (Tracie Bennett). Paul-Mark Elliott also appeared as Trevor, Becky's lover. Scheduling problems meant that the show attracted low viewing figures. However, it scored highly on the Appreciation Index and accrued a loyal fanbase. One fan acquired the home video rights from the BBC and released both series on his own DVD label.

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1613:

The original Globe Theatre in London burned to the ground after a cannon employed for special effects misfired during a performance of William Shakespeare's Henry VIII and ignited the theatre's roof. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globe_Theatre

1659:

Russo-Polish War: The hetman of Ukraine Ivan Vyhovsky and his allies defeated the armies of Russian Tsardom led by Aleksey Trubetskoy at the Battle of Konotop in the present-day Sumy Oblast of Ukraine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Konotop

1880:

Pomare V, King of Tahiti, was forced to cede the sovereignty of Tahiti and its dependencies to France. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tahiti

1995:

Shuttle-Mir Program: During the STS-71 mission, Space Shuttle Atlantis became the first space shuttle to dock with the Russian space station Mir . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuttle-Mir_Program

2006:

The U.S. Supreme Court delivered its decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, ruling that military commissions set up by the Bush administration to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay violated both U.S. and international law. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamdan_v._Rumsfeld

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

lager (n): A type of beer, brewed using a bottom-fermenting yeast http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lager

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Here is my secret. It is very simple. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; What is essential is invisible to the eye. --Antoine de Saint-Exupéry http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Antoine_de_Saint-Exup%C3%A9ry