Season 1
My Hero is a British television sitcom created by Paul Mendelson and directed by John Stroud which sees the dim-witted superhero "Thermoman", portrayed by Ardal O'Hanlon and later James Dreyfus, trying to cope with life on Earth in the form of health store owner George Sunday, married to Janet Dawkins.
The series aired in the UK on BBC One from 2 April, 2000 to 10 September, 2006. There are 51 half-hour episodes in six seasons.
My Hero premiered in South Africa on DStv's BBC Entertainment channel on Thursday 6 August 2009, at 20h00, beginning with the first episode of Season 6. The first five seasons did not air in South Africa.
Synopsis
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's health-food shop-owner George Sunday, alias the world's most famous superhero, Thermoman.
My Hero saw popular Irish stand-up Ardal O'Hanlon make the transition from simpleton priest Dougal in Father Ted, to simpleton superhero Thermoman - an alien from the planet Ultron.
The series adopted the well-mined 'alien adapting to life on Earth' device featured in American comedies such as 3rd Rock From The Sun, The Coneheads and Mork and Mindy.
Thermoman's alter ego is George Sunday, the proprietor of a health food shop. In spite of his numerous superhero powers, George is a lovable buffoon whose ignorance of human life leads to frequent misunderstandings with (mildly) amusing consequences.
At the beginning of Season 1, Thermoman/George falls in love with Nurse Janet Dawkins after he saves her life while she is on holiday in America. After George tracks her down Janet falls for him too, despite some initial reservations about the whole Superhero, secret identity thing.
The show's six seasons see the couple marry and have babies Ollie and Cassie - super-babies who can speak from birth and have full sets of teeth, thanks to some rather unconvincing special effects.
This is all much to the dismay of George's disapproving mother-in-law Ella and her down-trodden husband, Stanley, who would prefer to have Janet's fame-obsessed boss Doctor Piers Crispin as their son-in-law.
Fortunately, whilst Piers is in love with Janet, he is too busy with his doomed image-boosting schemes to act on his feelings. Adding to his pain and everyone else's is Crispin's sadistic receptionist Mrs Raven.
Luckily, George has Tyler, his Scouse hippy neighbour on his side, whose bizarre ideas often exceed George's in their stupidity. George's other confidante is fellow Ultronian and former superhero Uncle Arnie, who runs a diner in Brooklyn.
This family sitcom was created by Paul Mendelson and proved popular amongst family audiences.
In the sixth and final season George's role was taken over by James Dreyfus after he loses his former human identity in a game of poker. Despite Dreyfus's efforts, and without the charm of Ardal O'Hanlon to carry it, ratings fell dramatically and the show was cancelled.