Thursday, May 13, 2010

The Worker


The Worker was a Charlie Drake comedy where he played the most unemployable man in the UK. It enjoyed a 13 episode run in 1965 and was brought back for about another dozen in 1970.

Two In Clover

The "Two In Clover" were Sid James and Victor Spinetti in this Vince Powell & Harry Driver sitcom. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_In_Clover

Till Death Us Do Part


Till Death Us Do Part was another one that made its debut as a Comedy Playhouse episode in July 1965. The first series began about a year later and continued sporadically until the mid-70's. Many episodes are lost and some in the archive have yet to find their way into my hands.
Till Death was somewhat controversial with a lead character having views unpopular with the PC crowd. Norman Lear "borrowed" the idea for All In The Family. The program was revived in the early 80's for 6 episodes and then brought back under a new name (In Sickness And In Health) in the mid-80's where it enjoyed a pretty good run into the early 90's and some 40 episodes.

Steptoe And Son


Steptoe And Son made its debut in the first week of 1962 as one of the first Comedy Playhouse presentations (The Offer). As the name implies, S&S was really a 2-man show with Wilfrid Brambell and Harry H. Corbett. The program was written by Galton & Simpson who had enjoyed great success writing Hancock's Half Hour. Steptoe & Son originally concluded in November 1965 after 27 episodes, but was revived in winter 1970 for another 30 episodes and 2 movies before concluding on Boxing Day 1974. I think it would be safe to say this program would be included on any all-time Top 20 UK sitcoms list. I think one thing that set this one apart from others was Brambell and Corbett were really fine actors. They weren't comics doing a sitcom.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steptoe_and_son

The Rag Trade


The Rag Trade produced 58 episodes over a span of 17 years (of course there was a period of 14½ years between Episodes 36 and 37). The original program made its debut in October 1961 and featured the likes of Reg Varney, Sheila Hancock, Peter Jones, Miriam Karlin, Wanda Ventham (was in about a dozen of the early eps), Barbara Windsor, veteran Australian film actress Esma Cannon, Judy Carne (who later in the 60's appeared in US sitcoms and Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In), and Ann Beach ("it's-only-Sonia" in Fresh Fields). Of the original 36 episodes 17 are lost. In 1977 the program was revived for another 22 episodes with the original roles by Peter Jones and Miriam Karlin intact and joined by Anna Karen in her Olive role from On The Buses. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rag_Trade

Please Sir!

Please Sir! was a schoolhouse sitcom that ran for 56 episodes from November 1968 to February 1972 before spinning off into Fenn Street Gang which itself had a spinoff in Bowler. Please Sir! was the work of writers John Esmonde and Bob Larbey who also wrote The Good Life, Get Some In!, Ever Decreasing Circles, Brush Strokes, Hope It Rains, Now And Then, Mulberry and then Larbey wrote A Fine Romance, On The Up, and As Time Goes By. I read someplace that this was the inspiration for a US sitcom called Hello Mr. Kotter or something. I haven't watched this one through yet but it looks to me that the actors look more like 25 than 15.

Pardon The Expression


Pardon The Expression starred Arthur Lowe and was, surprisingly, a spinoff of Coronation Street. It ran for 36 episodes from June 1965 to June 1966. Lowe's character on both programs was Leonard Swindley and both Lowe/Swindley were extended to another program of 6 episodes in early 1967 called Turn Out The Lights.