Samuel West he made his radio directing debut with a production of "Money" by Edward Bulwer-Lytton on BBC Radio 3. West has appeared alongside his actor parents on several occasions; with his mother Prunella Scales in "Howards End" and "Stiff Upper Lips", and with his father Timothy West on stage in "A Number", "Henry IV, Part 1" and "Part 2". In two films ("Iris" in 2001 and the 1996 television film "Over Here"), Sam and his father have played the same character at different ages. In "Edward the Seventh", he and his brother Joseph played young sons of the title character, who
Bart the Mother to be a B story, but because it was too difficult to work into other episodes, it eventually became a primary plot. The episode features the final appearance of character Troy McClure and was dedicated to the character's voice actor, Phil Hartman, who was murdered by his wife on May 28, 1998, four months before the episode aired. In its original American broadcast, "Bart the Mother" finished 58th in ratings for the week of September 21–27, 1998, with a Nielsen rating of 7.4, translating to 7,355,600 households. The episode received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised Bart's moral dilemma