DEC4 Podcast - Studio 2

[georgefairbrother]

A little golden moment from Not the Nine O'Clock News (BBC 1979-1982).

The Soviet nuclear missiles have been launched, with Armageddon just minutes away, but according to the panellists on Question Time, this is the least of Britain's problems.

"…We’re sitting here talking about a nuclear holocaust, casually discussing the destruction of the entire planet, and ignoring the major issue, which is the appalling record of this Conservative Government…"

[georgefairbrother]

Remembering actor, comedian and film director, Mel Smith, who passed away July 19th, 2013 aged 60.

In addition to his most notable work on Not the Nine O'Clock News and as a comedic duo with Griff Rhys-Jones, he acted on stage and directed a number of successful movies including The Tall Guy and Bean. He was also a very fine dramatic actor, as he demonstrated in the leading role in the 1982 (Central / ITV) political drama, Muck and Brass.

With Griff Rhys-Jones he co-founded the spectacularly successful Talkback Productions which they subsequently sold to Pearson Television (parent company of Thames) for 62 million pounds.

Despite some health setbacks, he continued to work on stage and television, his final screen credit the 2013 BBC drama, Dancing on the Edge.

[georgefairbrother]

This is the third in our occasional series featuring luminaries of stage and screen with a strong personal or professional connection with Northeast England, inspired by @robbielewis. Previous profiles were of John Nightingale and Edward Wilson. This time, Jean Heywood.

She was born Jean Murray, in Blyth, Northumberland, to a coalmining family, in 1921. She worked initially as a librarian, married mechanical engineer Roland Heywood in 1945 (they remained married until his death in 1996), and became involved in amateur theatre, finally turning professional only after her children had grown up.

Following work in repertory theatre, she made her television debut in 1968, but her breakout role was as family matriarch Bella Seaton in 39 episodes of the Tyneside Depression-era drama, When the Boat Comes In (1976-77).

In 1978, she had a leading role in the acclaimed BBC Play for Today, Our Day Out, written by Willy Russell and directed by Pedr James, in which she played a dedicated teacher at a tough, inner city Liverpool Comprehensive school, determined that her struggling students, resigned to the fate of becoming 'factory fodder' according to The Guardian, should at least have a nice time on a coach excursion to Wales. Our Day Out became one of the BBC’s most successful European exports, leading to a memorable headline in The Liverpool Echo.

In a 2015 interview with television historian and author, Oliver Crocker, Jean Heywood talked about the similarities between Bella Seaton and Mrs Alton, her character in the final season of the original All Creatures Great and Small (1990);

"...It’s sort of the character of the women in my early life… I never had any money when I was young and had to make do and mend and manage…So I didn’t have to search how to play that kind of character. People loved my character in (When the Boat Comes In), a working class, good woman, quiet but very strong and I think Mrs Alton was a similar character…"

"…Rehearsing is like playing a ball game, you throw a ball off the idea of your character that you’ve formed in your head, you keep throwing it in the air and nobody has received it back, until you go into the rehearsal studio where you throw the idea from inside your head to the other person, it comes back differently from how you’d imagined, so the character develops and works much more excitingly than what you had in your head..."

With James Bolam as Jack Ford, in When the Boat Comes In

Her television career spanned over 40 years and included appearances in War and Peace, Emmerdale Farm, Coronation Street, Family Affairs, Kavanagh QC, Boys from the Blackstuff, The Bill, Our Friends in the North, Heartbeat, Casualty and on the big screen in Billy Elliot.

Her final screen credit was in 2010, and she passed away in 2019, aged 98.

Sources include The Guardian, IMDb, and All Memories Great and Small by Oliver Crocker (Published by Devonfire Books)

[georgefairbrother]

Remembering Jean Heywood, born July 15th 1921.

Television historian and author, Oliver Crocker, recalls her undiminished charm, strength and generosity when interviewing her for his history volume on All Creatures Great and Small in 2015, when she was 94.

[theworldatwar]

Home Guard units organised motor boat patrols on the canals and waterways to protect local factories and buildings - Edinburgh, Scotland, date unknown

[georgefairbrother]

"River patrols! Half a dozen determined men, armed to the teeth, with a boat, they could play havoc with the Nazis..."

[georgefairbrother]

Sam Neill RIP.

[georgefairbrother]

Believe it or not, these three sex symbols were amongst the top box office stars in the UK, in 1971.

The first spinoff feature film from the sitcom, On the Buses, which had been initially rejected by the BBC and found a home at ITV franchise holder London Weekend, made back around 28 times its budget (which was less than 100 000 pounds), and was #2 at the UK box office that year.

It also famously out-grossed the year's James Bond offering , Diamond's Are Forever, however in all fairness the Bond film wasn't released until the very end of the year.

[georgefairbrother]

Remembering Reg Varney, who passed away November 16th, 2008, aged 92.

He was born in Canning Town, London, and having served in the Royal Engineers in World War Two, including tours in forces entertainment, he forged a career as variety artist on the tough club and music hall circuit, working with a young Benny Hill as his straight man.

By the 1960s he was also working in television, including the sitcoms The Rag Trade and Beggar My Neighbour. He also headlined a BBC anthology comedy series, The Valiant Varneys, in which he played a different character each week, but there are believed to be no surviving episodes as a result of the BBC policy at that time of keeping only limited archives.

He played a dramatic role in The Best Pair of Legs in the Business, a Yorkshire Television play and later an unsuccessful feature film, about a failing holiday camp entertainer, and finally gained international, lasting stardom, aged 52, as Stan in On The Buses.

He was also a talented fine artist.

[georgefairbrother]

Remembering Reg Varney on his birthday (Born July 11th, 1916)

[georgefairbrother]

Inn For Trouble (1960) was one of the early British sitcom-cinema adaptations, from the Peggy Mount-David Kossoff comedy series, The Larkins. (ATV 1958-60, 1963-64).

It was directed by CM Pennington-Richards and distributed by Eros Films (which went bankrupt in 1961).

Frank Williams (later the Vicar in Dad's Army) was cast by virtue of his appearance in one of the television episodes. In this audio clip, he recalls learning a valuable lesson from veteran character actor A.E Matthews...

(Special thanks to television historian Oliver Crocker for Frank Williams' audio memoir)

[georgefairbrother]

Remembering Irish-Australian character actor, Gerry Duggan, born in Dublin, July 10, 1910.

His first screen credit was in the 1959 Ealing production, The Siege of Pinchgut, filmed in Sydney. Although the film was not a major success at the box office, Gerry Duggan was nominated for the Most Promising Newcomer BAFTA , at the grand age of 49. (He lost to 13 year old Hayley Mills).

He worked in British theatre in the 1960s, and as a supporting player on television (Emergency Ward 10, Wednesday Play, Coronation Street) and in feature films, including with Leslie Caron in The L-Shaped Room, directed by Bryan Forbes. He appeared in Goldfinger and (uncredited) in Lindsay Anderson's This Sporting Life.

From the late 1960s, he became a familiar and likeable presence, over more than two decades, in landmark Australian cinema and television, including films such as Newsfront, The Devil's Playground and My Brilliant Career, and on television in Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, police dramas Matlock Police, Homicide, and Division 4, and in over 40 episodes of the hugely successful wartime family drama, The Sullivans.

Interestingly, he is also credited in a 1976 episode of the US crime drama, McCloud, starring Dennis Weaver, as 'old gent in pub'.

His final listed credit was in the popular medical soap, A Country Practice, in 1990 - he passed away in Sydney in 1992, aged 81.

[georgefairbrother]

Two old masters at work: Tony Haygarth (1945-2017) and Peter Vaughan (1923-2016).

Our Friends in the North, written by Peter Flannery, celebrates its 30th birthday this year...

[georgefairbrother]

“Good morning, Richard.”

“Good morning, I trust you have an appointment.”

“Yes, and if this takes too long I shall be late for it."

Dame Penelope Keith: The Good Life and To The Manor Born actress dies aged 86

The beloved actress starred in classic British sitcoms The Good Life and To The Manor Born.

RIP Dame Penelope Keith.

[georgefairbrother]

On the Buses, the LWT sitcom that ran from 1969 to 1973 (and spawned three critically derided but enormously popular and financially successful feature films), seemed to at least make an effort to be enlightened in the portrayal of race, taking into account the acceptable standards of the day.

In 1969, LWT had also created Curry and Chips, (featuring Spike Milligan in blackface putting on a Pakistani accent), which was cancelled after just one series having come to the attention of the Independent Television Authority, for perhaps obvious reasons.

Public transport was, and is, a multicultural workplace, and On the Buses did its best to reflect this from the first episodes. Mahammad Shami and Shiranee Fullerton had decent cameo roles in the first series, and Rudolph Walker had a significant role in the very first episode, The Early Shift; it perhaps might have been nice if this role had continued and developed. He went on to star in the successful but controversial and polarising race-comedy, Love Thy Neighbour, for Thames Television.

Glen Whitter (Pictured top with Reg Varney) appeared from time to time and had a few lines, as 'Chalkie': Perhaps not ideal with the benefit of hindsight, but realistic.

The background artists making up the numbers in the canteen or depot also tended to reflect the mix of racial backgrounds. Generally speaking, race wasn't highlighted in any significant way, and the general camaraderie of the depot was portrayed to include everyone.

These shows were never made to be analysed in any serious way, were essentially a disposable product, and when they were made there was no thought of home video or on-demand binge viewing. They were written and made cheaply and quickly (you can tell sometimes), with the objective of going out once, to a big audience of 10-20 million, perhaps one or two repeats, and some overseas sales if they were lucky.

And here we are, half a century on....

[georgefairbrother]

Just one of the abiding friendships between the cast of Dad's Army was between Ian Lavender (born 1946) and John Laurie (born 1897).

Private Pike was Ian Lavender's first ongoing television role, while John Laurie, a Great War veteran, had appeared in British films dating back to 1929, and was a leading Shakespearean actor on stage.

John Laurie was godfather to Ian Lavender's children, and they were both dab hands at The Times crossword.

John Laurie passed away in 1980, at the age of 83.

[georgefairbrother]

In 1971, Columbia Pictures commissioned a cinema adaptation of the hit BBC sitcom, Dad's Army. It was directed by Norman Cohen, and written by the television series creators and writers, Jimmy Perry and David Croft. The producer was John R Sloan, whose credits also included The Odessa File, No Sex Please, We're British, To Sir With Love, and Force 10 From Navarone.

The production was not an altogether happy experience for the television ensemble. Perry and Croft were frustrated that the director failed to understand that the comedy was as much in the reaction as the funny line, and the cast, Ian Lavender recalled, were upset by the treatment of the 'back row' actors, who formed the rear ranks of the Home Guard parade during the television episodes. Although they rarely had a line, the same actors were used from one series to the next, so were considered part of the cast. For the film, they were classed as extras and treated accordingly.

Mrs Pike, who was played for television by Janet Davies, was recast with Liz Fraser, who had a higher cinema profile and a 'less homely' image, against the objections of Perry and Croft and the disappointment of the cast. Another bone of contention was the location; the exteriors were shot in and around Chalfont St Giles rather than the series regular location of Thetford.

John Laurie was injured while handling a horse being used in the film, and perhaps reflecting the general mood of the cast and deteriorating relationship with the production crew, Arthur Lowe drove the prop master mad by complaining incessantly about the weight of his pistol. (He ended up taking matters into his own hands, found a local toyshop which he entered in full uniform, and purchased a plastic one).

The end result performed well at the box office, and there was talk of a sequel, Dad's Army and the Secret U-Boat Base, possibly to star Laurence Olivier, but this never eventuated.

Director Norman Cohen went on to direct three Confessions sex comedies, which probably made him one of the most financially successful directors in 1970s British Cinema. He passed away in 1983, aged 47.

The television series continued until 1977, and there were also radio and stage adaptations. In 2016, a cinema adaptation starred Toby Jones as Captain Mainwaring, Bill Nighy as Sergeant Wilson, and Sarah Lancashire as Mrs Pike. Ian Lavender had a cameo as the Brigadier, but the only original cast member to appear as his own character was the Vicar, played by Frank Williams, who passed away aged 90, in June 2022. He was afforded a standing ovation by the entire cast and crew when he arrived on set for his brief scene.

[georgefairbrother]

Remembering actor and playwright Frank Williams (The Vicar) who passed away June 26th, 2022, aged 90.

He cited The Royal Train as his favourite television episode of Dad's Army, and in an interview in The Express, recalled a memorable comic caper involving a runaway train and some frantic work on a pump-trolley;

"…We didn’t do health and safety much in those days and it was a bit hazardous at times…At one point, the train seemed to be getting perilously close. We weren’t sure the driver could see us and I remember Bill (Pertwee) suggesting that if it got any nearer it would be best to jump clear…"

In this audio short, supplied by author and television historian Oliver Crocker, Frank Williams remembers arriving on location for the 1971 feature film, and marvelling that Chalfont St Giles seemed not to have changed a bit since the war…

[georgefairbrother]

Remembering two pioneering black British actors, who passed away within days of each other in 2020.

Earl Cameron (left) was born in Bermuda in 1917. A merchant mariner, he began acting on stage during World War Two and made his film debut in 1951, in Pool of London, which was possibly the first British film to show a mixed-race romance. He created a significant body of work in television, and was reportedly the oldest surviving cast member of Doctor Who. He was awarded the CBE in 2009. The Guardian described Earl Cameron as Britain’s first black film star. In a 2017 interview, he said; “I never saw myself as a pioneer. It was only later, looking back, that it occurred to me that I was.” He passed away on July 3rd, 2020, aged 102. Louis Mahoney (right) enjoyed a long and varied career, appearing in movies Cry Freedom and Captain Phillips, and TV shows including Fawlty Towers, Yes Prime Minister and Doctor Who. He was born in 1938 in Gambia and initially trained as a doctor before turning to acting . He was one of the first black actors in the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 1960s and helped to establish Performers Against Racism in the 1980s, to campaign against apartheid in South Africa. He was a tireless campaigner for racial equality in his own profession, as a member of the Equity Afro-Asian Committee and as co-creator of the Black Theatre Workshop. London’s Royal Court Theatre remembered him as “a brilliant actor and the most wonderful human being; a devoted activist and extraordinary performer”. He passed away on June 28th, 2020, aged 81.

(Some background from BBC Reporting, The Guardian and IMDb)

[georgefairbrother]

A masterclass here from late British actor and comedian Tommy Godfrey (1916-1984), in cockney rhyming slang. Or as Giovanni, played by George Camiller, might have put it; "cock-eyed slanging rhyme". Three series of Mind Your Language, made by London Weekend Television, ran through 1977-79, and there was a revival for one series in 1986, a total of 42 episodes. It was set in a night school teaching English to immigrants.

Although later controversial for its portrayal of racial stereotypes, the series enjoyed massive success internationally, and was a particular hit in South Asia.

Also featured in this clip are the late Barry Evans, playing the teacher, and students Albert Moses (1937-2017), George Camiller and Kervork Malikyan.

Jacki Harding (Anna) and Kervork Malikyan (Max) - right image shared by Kervork Malikyan on Twitter

[georgefairbrother]

Remembering Tommy Godfrey, born June 20th, 1916; passed away 24th June, 1984.

He began his career as a dancer and comedian, worked in variety and panto, and went on to create a memorable body of work in British television and film. His first cinema role was in Passport to Pimlico (1949), and he later found lasting popularity and fame in iconic 1970s sitcoms Love Thy Neighbour and Mind Your Language.

He has nearly 100 film and television credits, in both comedy and drama, and his final role was as a pub landlord in Chance in a Million (1984), with Simon Callow and Brenda Blethyn.

[georgefairbrother]

Bill Brand was a 1976 political drama series in 11 parts, written by Trevor Griffiths and produced by Thames Television. Starring Jack Shepherd in the title role, it tells the story of a first-time Labour MP, Brand himself, a revolutionary socialist, elected to a northern constituency where a large amount of local employment relies on the ailing textile industry.

Bill Brand, a polytechnic lecturer in liberal studies, soon finds himself at odds with his old-school, working-class, socially conservative constituency party, and with the governing Labour Party over trade, social welfare and defence policy. He proves that he is not afraid to defy the party whips, and vote and act in accordance with his conscience and beliefs, particularly in support of his constituency textile workers. He aligns himself with a far-left party faction, the Journal Group, but at times seems even further to the left than they are.

Political integrity aside, Brand is not a totally sympathetic character; he is brazenly conducting an extramarital affair and seems aggrieved that his wife (Lynn Farleigh) is unwilling to sustain the façade of domestic stability for the purpose of his public image and for his standing within the local Party.

According to BFI online;

"...Bill Brand (ITV, 1976) was an epic attempt to lay bare the nature of political power in the UK, and more specifically to analyse if, and how, the socialist struggle could be furthered by the parliamentary Labour movement…Griffiths examines the political rifts within the Labour party, and, with uncanny foresight, dramatises the ideological conflicts that would eventually lead to the formation of the SDP..."

"...Bill Brand is a breath-taking series. Transmitted during the boiling summer of 1976, at peak-time between World in Action and News at Ten, it engaged with contemporary politics in a dramatic way, but remained consistently intelligent, and far from talking down to its viewers, assumed that they were a vital part of the political processes described, and as committed to understanding how things might therefore improve…"

There is a very strong supporting cast, including Geoffrey Palmer, Nigel Hawthorne, Rosemary Martin, Cherie Lunghi, Colin Jeavons, Allan Surtees and Alan Badel.

One of the most interesting cameos is from Arthur Lowe, a subtle and poignant performance as the exhausted and ill Labour Prime Minister, Arthur Watson, in the dying days of his leadership and on the verge of retiring on health grounds. Harold Wilson had unexpectedly resigned three months before the series went to air, but after it had been written.

When Bill Brand was transmitted, Lowe was on tour with the stage production of Dad's Army.

[georgefairbrother]

An interesting alternate perspective to Bill Brand is provided by The Nearly Man, an award-winning 1974 Granada television play which was followed by a series the following year.

Written by Arthur Hopcraft, it stars Tony Britton as unashamedly middle-class Labour MP, Chris Collinson, who is at odds with his defiantly working-class election agent for not being radical enough. The series also stars Michael Elphick, Wilfred Pickles and Anne Firbank.

[master-john-uk]

Mutiny On The Buses - released in 1972.

I loved this television comedy show. This was the second of three films based on the TV series. [Coincidentally, the films were produced by Hammer... who also made my favourite horror movies.]

[georgefairbrother]

Thanks @master-john-uk.

It's worth remembering that the first of the three On The Buses movies in 1971 was brought in for under 100 000 pounds and made back around 28 times its budget. It was the top grossing British movie of 1971, technically outgrossing that year's James Bond, Diamonds Are Forever, although in fairness the Bond movie wasn't released until the end of the year.

Anna Karen (Olive), in a later interview for Rabbit and Snail Films, recalled the way the producers broached the subject of an On the Buses movie to the cast, "There's no money, the entire cast budget is 7 500 pounds, so don't be stroppy about it!" She also recalled that her favourite of the three feature films was the third and final, Holiday on the Buses (1973), with happy memories of filming at Pontin's holiday camp, Prestatyn, in amongst the camp's guests.

[georgefairbrother]

Remembering British screenwriter, novelist and playwright, Alan Plater, who passed away June 25th, 2010, aged 75.

According to BFI online;

“...Born in Jarrow on 15 April 1935, Alan Frederick Plater was one of Britain's most prolific, original and entertaining writers, whose work for television, radio, theatre and the cinema, not to mention his six novels, constitutes an unparalleled body of work. Plater's family moved to Hull when he was three, but he frequently returned to Jarrow to visit his grandparents and spent four years in Newcastle in the 1950s studying architecture at the university. His affinity with Hull and Newcastle had a lasting influence on him as a writer, most obviously in plays such as Close the Coalhouse Door and Land of Green Ginger. A regional affinity with the North, even in series produced in London such as Z Cars, was the hallmark of much of his work, together with a predilection for comedy and a gift for writing dialogue…”

Alan Plater consciously held close his northern working-class roots but the diversity of his work extended well beyond. As well as his original work for television, which included the acclaimed Beiderbeke Trilogy, he adapted a number of literary works, including A Very British Coup (Chris Mullin), Fortunes of War (Olivia Manning), a musical comedy/drama, The Good Companions (JB Priestley), and Flambards (KM Peyton).

In 1975, Alan Plater was brought in by Bill Maynard personally to write Oh No It's Selwyn Froggitt after Roy Clarke withdrew, which went on to be one of Yorkshire Television's most successful sitcoms, reaching 29 million viewers across the ITV network at its peak.

He wrote for Miss Marple, The Ruth Rendell Mysteries, Lewis, Dalziel and Pascoe and Midsomer Murders, wrote the BBC/HBO television movie The Last of the Blonde Bombshells (Joan Sims’ last performance), and his final credit, broadcast posthumously, was Joe Maddison’s War, a home front WWII drama set on Tyneside and starring Kevin Whately and Robson Green. 

The BFI:

“...It was perhaps fitting that Plater's final television drama should be set in the North East, his birthplace and an area which had a lasting influence on the career of one of Britain's most distinctive and prolific television dramatists…”

Sources include IMDb and BFI Online (Lez Cooke)

BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Alan Plater

Sue Lawley's castaway is playwright Alan Plater