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Situation Comedy

THE ARMY GAME


Frank Williams... Capt. T.R. Pocket / ... (45 episodes, 1957-1960)Alfie Bass... Pvt. 'Bootsie' Bisley / ... (35 episodes, 1957-1960)Harry Fowler... Cpl. 'Flogger' Hoskins / ... (31 episodes, 1959-1960)Bill Fraser... CSM Claude Snudge (31 episodes, 1958-1960)Ted Lune... Pvt. Len Bone (29 episodes, 1958-1961)Mario Fabrizi... LCpl. 'Moosh' Merryweather (17 episodes, 1959-1961)Robert Desmond... Pvt. Billy Baker (8 episodes, 1960)Geoffrey Palmer... Soldier / ... (8 episodes, 1958-1960)Harry Towb... 'Cass' Dooley / ... (7 episodes, 1959)William Hartnell... CSM Percy Bullimore / ... (5 episodes, 1957-1958)Charles Hawtrey... Pvt. 'Professor' Hatchett (5 episodes, 1957-1958)Bernard Bresslaw... Pvt. 'Popeye' Popplewell (5 episodes, 1957-1958)Marjorie Rhodes... Mrs. Snudge (5 episodes, 1957-1960)Norman Rossington... Pvt. 'Cupcake' Cook (5 episodes, 1957-1959)Geoffrey Sumner... Maj. Upshot-Bagley (4 episodes, 1957-1958)Percy Edwards... Cad Wallader / ... (4 episodes, 1959)Michael Medwin... Cpl. Springer (3 episodes, 1957-1958)Arthur Mullard... 'Basher' Briggs / ... (3 episodes, 1958-1959)Dick Emery... Humphrey Hetherington / ... (3 episodes, 1960-1961)David Nettheim... Professor Fanshawe / ... (2 episodes, 1959-1960)Robin Ford... Court Orderly / ... (2 episodes, 1959)Michael Stainton... Dental Sergeant / ... (2 episodes, 1959)
Jack Allen... Maj. Upshot-Bagley (unknown episodes, 1958)Bernard Hunter... Capt. Pilsworthy (unknown episodes, 1958)C.B. Poultney... Maj. Geoffrey Gervase Duckworth (unknown episodes, 1958)Keith Smith... Pvt. 'Professor' Hatchett (unknown episodes, 1959)Keith Banks... Pvt. 'Cupcake' Cook (unknown episodes, 1960)Penelope Keith(unknown episodes)
 
Well done Chris. Reading the names brings back so many memories
 
izzy eckerslike said:
Here's a link to a website that will fire up all your old TV memories ...
Click to expand...

Great link, Izzy! It just happens to include an excellent account of the Army Game. It appears that William Hartnell left after the first five episodes (1957), but came back for the last series in 1961.
 
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Thanks for the Army Game cast list Frothy, I remember the series well. Alfie Bass as Private Montague "Excused Boots" Bisley was my favourite. "Still, nemmind eh?" indeed.
Michael Medwin (cpl Springer) went on to higher things - he became a film producer in the late 60s, but still acted in a few selected roles.

Faser, Bass and Hartnell head the DVD set box.


MV5BMTY0NjQ5NTA0Ml5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwODU5NjY5MQ@@._V1._SY317_CR5,0,214,317_.jpg
 
Shame you all missed out I.T.M.A. - with Tommy Handley and ''can I do yer now Sir?'' - long before we got the Telly! - I was about 10, but it was surely a Sitcom was it not? dontheturner
 
last year we went to homefirth to collect a tractor. i had a look at the church yard were compo is laid to rest. the village is nice the but sure is a long way to travel. from here. radiorails just reminded me.
 
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It must some form of reflection on present day attitudes to life that the old comedy shows are so popular and little of humorous value, if anything, has replaced them. Fawlty Towers is being screened again, late in the evening Last evening the Goumet Night episode was transmitted.' A line that made me laugh (probably did on previous occasions) was when Sybil, Basil and Andre (a friend and French Restaurant owner) were planning the event. Sybil, after a drink or two, was getting carried away with it all; Basil remarked "help yourself to another vat of wine dear". Most of the other well known lines are recorded here, but I think that one escaped the net. :laughing:
I have seen the hotel, in Torquay, that gave rise to the series (don't come looking for it, it was demolished last year)
www.dailymail.co.uk

Real-life Fawlty Towers is razed to the ground

The location for the comedy was based on the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay, Devon, where John Cleese stayed with the Monty Python team in 1973.
www.dailymail.co.uk www.dailymail.co.uk
the building in the tv show was elsewhere n the country, Kent? possibly? The article mentions the owners, at the time the Python folk stayed there - a Mr. Donald Sinclair and his wife Beatrice.
Afficionados:D of the Midland Red will recognise the name, but it was not DMS in retirement.
 
It seems the last post on this thread was mine, none since.
I pose this question (rather than call it a quiz):
What was in Compo's matchbox? It was a favourite party piece for him particularly with ladies, although I do think one or two men were given the opportunity to view.
I always believed it to be a spider, or maybe beetle.
 
I've really enjoyed reading through this thread and it's brought back so many T.V. memories. Two shows not yet mentioned which I used to enjoy were The Lovers with Richard Beckinsale as Geoffrey "Bobbles Bon Bon" and Paula Wilcox as Beryl who described romantic fumblings from from Geoffrey as "Percy Filth".
The second one was also about a young couple and that was Watching, the title taken from the young man's hobby of birdwatching.
 
I am sure most of you know about the TV channel "Talking Pictures". It is available on various platforms (Sky, Virgin etc, see web site below)

While it does show mostly films and historic documentaries it also features many old TV series, some of them comedy. Recently it has been showing "Get Some In" (Robert Lindsay) and "For the love of Ada" (Wilfred Pickles, Irene Handl).

For comedy fans it also shows many old comedy films from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, most of them British.

Great place to watch up and coming stars in small parts. I have seen Terry Scott, Tommy Cooper, Sid James, Dick Emery and many others in small parts in old comedy films.

They have also been showing old episodes of "Sunday night at the London Palladium" with many stars such as Bruce Forsyth, Jim Dale and loads of others.

There is also an interesting program called "Tell Me Another" where famous stars (Ted Ray, Arthur Askey, Barbara Windsor, Spike Milligan etc) tell humourous stories from their lives to Dick Hills (who used to write for Morecambe and Wise) - rememeber "Sid and Dick" - the Boom, Ooh ,Yatta ta sketch

See the sketch here


You can see the weekly schedule of Talking Pictures programs here:

Talking Pictures TV - An Archive Film & TV Channel

Talking Pictures TV - An archive film & TV channel. Classic British film & TV & classic American TV - Sky 328, Freeview 82, Freesat 306 & Youview 82
talkingpicturestv.co.uk talkingpicturestv.co.uk
 
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Wilfred Pickles. to me was more associated with 'Have a go Joe', which it appears, unbelievably, ran for twenty one years!

There were catchphrases, 'give 'em the money Barney (Colehan)' and later 'Mabel (his wife) at the table', also 'are you courting?' He seems to have visited almost everywhere in the UK in those years. I remember him on a Town Hall balcony when he visited Brixham in Devon. I was not in the audience or a contestant. ;)

British 1950s TV and Radio

This wonderful nostalgia site celebrates the '50s in all its monochrome glory; the quaintly formal presenters with their clipped English accents, the clunky theatrical dramas, the cosy parlour games, and the first TV adverts with their curiously infectious jingles. To get a real sense of the...
whirligig-tv.co.uk
 
Haven't been completely through this thread but I did do a search and was surprised not to find Kelly Monteith, loved his TV show, was it in the 80's? Even saw him at the Hippodrome. Lots on You Tube.
 
Have a go was, I'm told once at the Clearwell village hall, my old friend here, a villager born and bred, always said Wilfred Pickles wasn't a very nice man. (Don't know why.)

His pianist was of course the lady who played Ena Sharples in Corrie.
 
Eric Gibson said:
Have a go was, I'm told once at the Clearwell village hall, my old friend here, a villager born and bred, always said Wilfred Pickles wasn't a very nice man. (Don't know why.)

His pianist was of course the lady who played Ena Sharples in Corrie.
Click to expand...
The link I posted, in an earlier post, mentions that Violet Carson was one of four pianists over the twenty one years of the show.
I never met him so cannot say about his demeanour. Many high profile actors/artists do have two images: a private and a public one.
 
Alan,

I'll certainly vouch for your last sentence, from the people I worked with when a musician. I can think of two that were certainly not a pleasure to work with and one, a well known comedian in his day and a rich one too, who expected everyone to buy a round except himself. But for every one that got up your nose, there were many more that were a real pleasure, and two of the most friendly and professional guys were Bob Monkhouse and trumpeter Kenny Baker. Sadly both are no longer with us.

Maurice :cool:
 
Williamstreeter said:
To me Hancocks Half Hour will rule forever , as one of his peers said in a documentary after Hancocks death nobody could work silence like Hancock a raise of the eyebrow a smug smile said it all
Click to expand...

With a big thanks to Galton and Simpson who wrote Hancocks Half Hour, for radio and TV. They got his "character" just right.

Sadly Hancock was never as funny without Galton and Simpson writing for him.

After he split from Galton and Simpson in 1960/1961 they went on write Steptoe and Son which became a huge comedy hit (and is still very funny today).

Hancock gradually discarded all his comedy "mates" Sid James, Kenneth Williams etc and got new writers but it was never as good without Galton and Simpson.

Saying "Things just seemed to go too wrong too many times" sadly Hancock committed suicide in 1968.
 
guilbert53 said:
With a big thanks to Galton and Simpson who wrote Hancocks Half Hour, for radio and TV. They got his "character" just right.

Sadly Hancock was never as funny without Galton and Simpson writing for him.

After he split from Galton and Simpson in 1960/1961 they went on write Steptoe and Son which became a huge comedy hit (and is still very funny today).

Hancock gradually discarded all his comedy "mates" Sid James, Kenneth Williams etc and got new writers but it was never as good without Galton and Simpson.

Saying "Things just seemed to go too wrong too many times" sadly Hancock committed suicide in 1968.
Click to expand...
Spot on with all your comments there, Sid James & Kenneth Williams never really forgave him. However the point of the reply is to say what an eyeopener the programme on BBC2 on Saturday night about John Le Meseuier was. Hancock & Le Meseieur were close friends, John divorced Hattie Jacques, married Joan, took Hancock in as a friend, Joan went off with Hancock who apparently treated her abysmally and after his death she moved back in with John, Well worth downloading and watching

Bob
 
Bob Davis said:
Spot on with all your comments there, Sid James & Kenneth Williams never really forgave him. However the point of the reply is to say what an eyeopener the programme on BBC2 on Saturday night about John Le Meseuier was. Hancock & Le Meseieur were close friends, John divorced Hattie Jacques, married Joan, took Hancock in as a friend, Joan went off with Hancock who apparently treated her abysmally and after his death she moved back in with John, Well worth downloading and watching

Bob
Click to expand...
I watched that programme too and thoroughly enjoyed it. What a lovely, gentle man he was and didn't deserve to be so unlucky in love.
 
guilbert53 said:
With a big thanks to Galton and Simpson who wrote Hancocks Half Hour, for radio and TV. They got his "character" just right.

Sadly Hancock was never as funny without Galton and Simpson writing for him.

After he split from Galton and Simpson in 1960/1961 they went on write Steptoe and Son which became a huge comedy hit (and is still very funny today).

Hancock gradually discarded all his comedy "mates" Sid James, Kenneth Williams etc and got new writers but it was never as good without Galton and Simpson.

Saying "Things just seemed to go too wrong too many times" sadly Hancock committed suicide in 1968.
Click to expand...

I watched an interview with Sid James years ago he was recalling the last time he saw Mr Hancock , Sid was in a taxi central London. Tony was obviously in a bad way from drink , Sid went on to say if only he could have stopped the taxi things might have been different if he had got Tony into the cab . I got the impression that Sid was assuming part blame for what happened some weeks later. I think Sid's last look at Hancock was heart wrenching indeed , pathos at it's very greatest. I know nobody since Hancock has made me laugh as much, Radio 4e plays a lot of the old radio programmes Hancock included . Thanks for the laughs Tony
 
A few people on here have mentioned being fans of Tony Hancock.

If so note TODAY (Saturday 22nd August 2020) they are showing The Punch and Judy Man with Tony Hancock on the TV channel Talking Pictures.

Talking Pictures is available on most TV platforms - Freeview, Freesat, Sky, Virgin, YouView etc

For more details on where to watch the channel see this web site

Talking Pictures TV - An Archive Film & TV Channel

Talking Pictures TV - An archive film & TV channel. Classic British film & TV & classic American TV - Sky 328, Freeview 82, Freesat 306 & Youview 82
talkingpicturestv.co.uk talkingpicturestv.co.uk

For those unaware Talking Pictures shows old movies and TV programs and documentaries.
 
Radiorails said:
It seems the last post on this thread was mine, none since.
I pose this question (rather than call it a quiz):
What was in Compo's matchbox? It was a favourite party piece for him particularly with ladies, although I do think one or two men were given the opportunity to view.
I always believed it to be a spider, or maybe beetle.
Click to expand...
no one ever found out what was in there.
 
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