The Fosters (1976 TV series) The Fosters (1976 TV series) The Fosters is a British television programme, produced by London Weekend Television which aired on ITV from 9 April 1976, until 9 July 1977. It was created and developed by Jon Watkins, who adapted the American sitcom, "Good Times", developed by Norman Lear, and created by Eric Monte and Mike Evans. It was one of the first British television programmes to have an entirely black cast. It was the predecessor to many future British television programmes that featured a predominantly black cast: ("The Real McCoy", "No Problem!", "Desmond's", "The Lenny Henry Show" and its subsequent
British sitcom world's longest running sitcom. The commercial station ITV had popular successes with "Rising Damp" (1974–78, sometimes called the best of all ITV sitcoms), "Man About the House" (1973–76) and "George and Mildred" (1976–79). "Rising Damp"'s star, Leonard Rossiter, also played the lead role in the BBC's highly popular "The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin" (1976–79). The decline in cinema attendance in this period meant that many of these series were turned into cinema films; the first film version of "On the Buses" (1969–73) was the biggest hit at the British box office in 1971. According to Jeff Evans, "On