book review

Book Review – Oh What A Lovely Memoir by Larry Dann

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Best known for his lengthy stint as Sgt. Alec Peters in The Bill, Larry Dann began acting very early on (aged just five years) when he appeared as an extra in a film starring Jean Simmons and Stewart Granger (titled Adam and Evelyn).

In Oh What a Lovely Memoir, he vividly describes his first stuttering steps into the world of film. Unlike many fellow actors, he could hardly be described as a stagestruck youngster – indeed, Dann confesses that prior to this jaunt to Denham Studios, he had never actually seen a film (his parents deciding he was still too young for even a trip to the Saturday Pictures!).

Given this, it seems remarkable that they were more than happy to let their son loose in the film world at such a tender age (but then his mother had been a keen amateur actress and was no doubt keen to push her initially bewildered son into the theatrical world).

Clearly the bug had quickly bit though, as following a stint at stage school, he began to ply his trade in live television plays during the 1950’s, rubbing shoulders with the likes of David Hemmings and a young chap called Maurice Micklewhite. I wonder what happened to him?

Larry Dann is an engaging storyteller, who leads us through the highs and lows of his professional career. This really began to take off in 1962, when he was invited to audition for Joan Littlewood at Stratford, East London. Despite his apprehension, he must have impressed the daunting Ms Littlewood as he would appear in a number of her productions – most notably Oh What A Lovely War (which, of course, provides the title for this book).

As a jobbing actor, Dann has had a gloriously diverse career. For example he’s appeared in multiple Carry On films (albeit mostly at the fag end of the series’ life – including Carry On Emanuelle). Dann’s reaction when he first read the Emmanuele script (“It was awful and, of course, it got worse”) probably tells you all you need to know.

It’s The Bill, of course, which made him a television regular after decades of guest roles in the likes of Sherlock Holmes, No Hiding Place, Hunter’s Walk, Thirty Minute Theatre and Angels. For me, the most interesting part of his Bill reminisces was the revelation that he’d penned three scripts (in collaboration with Roger Leach – who placed Sgt. Tom Penny) which were on the verge of going into production before they were pulled at the eleventh hour.

Oh What a Lovely Memoir is packed with insights and good-natured name-drops as it charts Larry Dann’s checkered career – from the West End to Broadway and back again (not to mention his childhood during WW2). Warmly recommended.

Oh What a Lovely Memoir can be ordered from Devonfire Books via this link.

Book review. Taste and Decency – The Swizzlewick Story by Michel Seely

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One of the pleasures (or frustrations, depending on your point of view) faced by the devotee of archive television is that there’s just so much of it. No matter how deep you think you’ve dug at times, there’s always yet more forgotten programmes just waiting to be unearthed.

Such a one is Swizzlewick, which – until this book – I’d never examined in any detail. Like Michael Seely, my first thoughts were that it was a children’s series, but that’s far from the case ….

A twice-weekly BBC serial created by David Turner, Swizzlewick was an experimental and satirical drama set in the world of local government. If remembered at all today, it’s because Mary Whitehouse (then just beginning her campaign to clean up tv) was incensed by the series – convinced that Swizzlewick had deliberately lampooned both her and her husband.

As Seely notes early on, Whitehouse’s claims have been taken as fact (notably in her memoirs). But by digging through the surviving production documentation, Seely is able to tell – for the first time – the richer and more accurate story about the series’ genesis, production, clash with Mrs Whitehouse and swift demise (it came to an end after just 26 episodes – of which only one exists today).

In the field of continuing dramas (or “soap operas” as they’re known today) ITV reigned supreme in the 1960’s with both Coronation Street and Crossroads. The BBC wasn’t idle though and, following on from the 1950’s Grove Family, they broadcast a variety of different series (Compact, 199 Park Lane, United!, The Newcomers) during the following decade with varying degrees of success.

Swizzlewick was born out of the success of Compact (an audience favourite, but viewed with disdain by the critics) which had run for several years and was now approaching its natural end. Anybody who has studied the genesis of Doctor Who, will recognise some of the figures floating around the BBC drama department at this time (Donald Wilson, Anthony Coburn) and it was Wilson who spoke to David Turner about the local government series concept that had been developed by Coburn.

I love facts and there’s plenty of facts in this book. For example, we learn how many guineas the scripts cost, as well as the budget for each episode (around about the same as the early episodes of Doctor Who). Sydney Newman offered criticism and encouragement as the series’ format was developed, although Morris Barry struck a more downbeat note (noting in a memo that the series was far removed from the glossy escapist fare of Compact – and so was more suited to a later evening slot).

From this (and of course, knowing the series’ eventual fate) it’s hard not to chug through these earlier chapters with a feeling of unease that Swizzlewick won’t be long for this world. And so it turns out – but the way it got there (and the Whitehouse controversy especially) does make for a fascinating story.

Thanks to a plethora of diligent researchers, we know so much about the genesis of Doctor Who, but the vast majority of its contemporaries have not been so fortunate. That’s one of the reasons why I found the early chapters of Swizzlewick so engrossing – to be able to eavesdrop in detail on the creation and production of a 1960’s BBC drama series that isn’t Doctor Who is quite a treat.

The first half of the book details the production of the series, the second half offers a detailed episode guide (very detailed, in fact) which is followed by an epilogue, entitled Was Swizzlewick any good? Michael Seely thinks so and having finished the book, I’d have to concur.

It goes without saying that this is a very niche book. And yet I’m sure it will find a market, as even if the series won’t be familiar to many, the wealth of production documentation unearthed will ensure it’s bound to catch the eye of anyone with an interest in 1960’s British drama. Warmly recommended.

Swizzlewick can be ordered directly from Saturday Morning Press at this link.

Book review. Different Times – A History of British Comedy by David Stubbs.

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Anybody attempting to chronicle the history of British comedy in a single volume will have to be somewhat selective. And this proves to be the case with Different Times – A History of British Comedy by David Stubbs.

Although films (the work of Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel, Ealing, the Pythons) are touched upon as is the stand-up circuit, the bulk of the book concerns itself with television comedy (with the 1970’s taking up by far the largest chapter).

David Stubbs sketches affectionate appreciations of the likes of Tony Hancock, Joyce Grenfell and Dad’s Army although his introduction (where he acknowledges his privileged upbringing as a “white, male, cisgender, Oxbridge” type) does give warning that some sacred cows will be slaughtered.

Although, in fact, there’s not too much the devotee of classic comedy to get hot under the collar about. True, he doesn’t have a great deal of time for Spike Milligan (whilst taking pains to acknowledge his importance in the comedy firmament) but I can appreciate his point of view. I’m happy to have the surviving episodes of Q close at hand – but it’s fair to say that it’s not a series I reach for all that often.

Familiar targets like On The Buses and Love Thy Neighbour are given a good kicking. Possibly more surprisingly, he seems to dislike Are You Being Served? although it’s never made clear why (aside from the fact that Grace Brothers was, even by the 1970’s, an anachronism). No doubt David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd were well aware of this – so it seems an odd point to call them out on.

Any discussion of problematic 1970’s sitcoms is bound to include It Ain’t Half Hot Mum (although it’s worth noting that the series has recently been re-run on That’s TV and the world has continued to turn). The casting of Michael Bates as Rangi Ram is a sticking point for some (with Stubbs firmly against) although it’s interesting to hear some different points of view from those who aren’t (in Stubbs’ words) white and cisgender.

For example, Sanjeev Bhaskar has always appreciated Bates’ performance. ‘Michael Bates could speak Urdu fluently. He served in the Army in India and he could speak the language. And secondly, within that programme, the character he was playing wasn’t the butt of the joke… Rangi Ram was the fixer, he was the one who sorted things out.’

Renu Setna, who appeared multiple times in the series, did initially confess that the casting of Bates upset him. That was, until he saw his performance and had to acknowledge that he was perfect in the role.

Sergeant-Major Williams’ homophobic treatment of the concert party might also be a concern – but there’s little doubt that it’s entirely accurate (Jimmy Perry was a member of a similar concert party and directly drew upon his own memories whilst Kenneth Williams’ An Audience With offers a story with a very similar NCO character).

As you work through the book, you can help but notice that Stubbs has some annoying tics (like Ben Elton, he can’t resist a little bit of politics from time to time). But knowing that Morecambe & Wise were apparently life-long Conservative voters adds nothing to his thumbnail sketch of them, since Eddie Braben’s scripts were never political.

Given the limited word-count, certain series are given short shrift (and others ignored completely). Last of the Summer Wine, for example. is dealt with in a rather condescending and inaccurate way. Stubbs opines the familiar statement that the series was created as the misadventures of three OAPs (to begin with, they were all in their fifties and unemployed, rather than retired). Also LOTSW is described as an archetypal Sunday evening series which (during the 1970’s at least) it never was.

It’s a pity that I kept noticing other niggling little errors. You’d have to be a real nit-picker to worry about them. I’m a real nit-picker. Sorry ….

For example, we’re told that Bill Kerr was slowly eased out from the television version of Hancock’s Half Hour (he never appeared in a single episode). Bob didn’t attempt to join the army at the end of series one of The Likely Lads (it was series three). Ronnie Barker never appeared in At Last the 1948 Show or Do Not Adjust Your Set. dinnerladies was broadcast on BBC1, not BBC2 …

These brief quibbles apart, Different Times – A History of British Comedy was a book that I devoured very quickly and, in the main, enjoyed. I can’t say I agreed with all of David Stubbs’ opinions (it’s doubtful that many will) but in-between the occasional bouts of hectoring he offers some very readable and incisive analysis.

Different Times – A History of British Comedy was published by Faber & Faber on the 27th of July 2023

Book review – Reaching a Verdict by Edward Kellett

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Reaching a Verdict: Reviewing The Bill 1983 – 1989 takes an in-depth look at the first five series of the UK’s longest-running police series. Based on material originally written for The Billaton, Edward Kellett’s book offers a deep dive into the series’ early years and is an excellent companion for anyone attempting a rewatch.

It’s easy to assume that The Bill arrived fully formed in its first series, but instead Kellett is able to show how the series took some time to develop (characters like Jim Carver slowly shedding their naïve persona, for example). John Salthouse’s towering turn as DI Galloway is also acknowledged. During S1 he was a dominant figure and although he’d become more of an ensemble player during series two and three, his departure prior to the series’ half-hour reboot did leave a big hole to fill (luckily, a more than adequate replacement was found …)

I appreciated the way that Edward Kellett was keen to stress how The Bill didn’t develop in isolation. Sometimes, certain programmes can be lauded as mould-breakers, with no acknowledgment given that they were actually building on what had gone before them. So I enjoyed Kellett’s nod to Strangers – a now almost forgotten series.

The ‘missing link’ with the police series of the past is Strangers, a Granada TV show that bridged the five-year gap separating The Sweeney and The Bill – missing in the sense that it can only be tracked down on DVD, not doing the late afternoon rounds on ITV4 as a washed out, zoomed in, cut down travesty like other crime dramas of the period.

With a large, constantly changing cast of regular actors, not to mention an influx of new writers as the series moved to a twice weekly year round production cycle, there’s an awful lot that needs to be noted and analysed. But all the key contributors are given their moment. For example, here’s a thumbnail sketch of Ted Roach –

On paper Roach is the one figure most easily recognisable from TV copperdom, straight out of the Sweeney mould: the roguish, hard-drinking ladies’ man who sails close to the wind but gets results. Ted finds it hard living up to that last caveat, and thus what could have been an imitation Jack Regan is in fact a more substantial one. He is an odd, shambolic presence, imbued with that other great quality Scannell brought to the role, besides his charisma: unpredictability.

Another part of the book that struck a chord with me was the appreciation of Peter J. Hammond’s scripts. Hammond (best known for Sapphire & Steel) is a unique writer whose distinctive voice almost always comes through, no matter what series (The Bill, Z Cars, Angels, etc) he’s working on at the time. His Bill offerings noted here are classic Hammond efforts – at times unsettling and oblique narratives that linger in the memory.

Reaching a Verdict kicks off with a short chapter about the Storyboard pilot – Woodentop – with the remainder of its 250 or so pages divided into five more chapters (covering series one to three of the 50 minute show as well as the 25 minute episodes broadcast during 1988 and 1989).

Having previous enjoyed the two oral production histories of this era of The Bill by Oliver Crocker (see here and here) it’s very pleasing to now have such a comprehensive analysis of the programme as well. It’s certainly made me keen to dig out my DVDs and revisit the show –  and I can’t think of any higher recommendation of the book than that.

Reaching a Verdict will be published on the 16th of August 2023. Pre-orders can be made now at Devonfire Books.

Witness Statements – Making The Bill: 1988 by Oliver Crocker

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In July 1988, The Bill underwent a major format change – from a series running thirteen weeks each year (with a single 50 minute episode) to a twice-weekly “soap” format (with episodes now running for just 25 minutes).

The Bill wasn’t the first programme to have undergone such a transformation – something similar had previously happened to both Z Cars and Angels. However, it’s probably fair to say that the best years of both of those series were behind them at the time they were re-formatted.

With The Bill it was a different matter. Although the restricted running time and move to a pre-watershed slot concerned some, the series quickly moved from strength to strength. For many people, myself included, the late eighties and early nineties were a golden age for the show.

Following on from his previous volume, which chronicled the fifty minute episodes that comprised the first three series, Oliver Crocker’s new book takes an in-depth look at the 48 episodes broadcast in 1988 – from Light Duties in July 1988 to Taken Into Consideration at the end of December.

It’s something I’ve touched on before, but it’s very pleasing to have such a dense, oral history of a show like The Bill. Rare series – like Doctor Who – have an embarrassment of production information available for the curious reader. But the vast majority of other programmes are lucky if they have a single book dedicated to them – and even those that do, tend to offer general overviews rather than an immersive episode by episode analysis.

Witness Statements – Making The Bill: 1988 is in the same format as the previous volume. Each episode is given a brief teaser synopsis, cast and production listing, production notes and then ‘witness statements’ from an impressively wide variety of contributors (both actors and technical personnel). There’s so much value to be found in these interviews. Unlike some popular series, where people have been interviewed so many times that they now have little new to say, there’s a real freshness to this book.

To take just one example, whilst P.J, Hammond has been interviewed before, it’s almost always been about Sapphire & Steel. But I’ve always felt that Hammond’s work as a writer for hire (on Z Cars, Angels, The Bill, etc) to be an area of his career that’s worthy of more investigation, so it was very pleasing to hear from him.

Wilf Knight’s technical notes from 1988 (such as uniform protocol) were also fascinating, but to be honest there’s so much of interest in this book that I know I’ll keep on coming back to it.

For those beginning a rewatch of the 1988 series, this will serve as the ideal companion or you can simply open a page at random and find something to catch the eye. Witness Statements – Making The Bill: 1988 is an engrossing read and comes highly recommended. It can be ordered directly via this link.

All Memories Great and Small – Expanded Edition by Oliver Crocker (Book Review)

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With one notable exception (Doctor Who) the production histories of many British television programmes aren’t terribly well documented. There are exceptions of course (the sterling work carried out by Andrew Pixley for a variety of series, David Brunt’s painstaking Z Cars tomes and recent books about programmes as diverse as Star Cops and The Brothers have all been more than welcome).

Until the original edition of All Memories Great and Small in 2016, the BBC version of All Creatures was one of those neglected series, but Oliver Crocker’s wonderfully exhaustive book certainly rectified that. Now reissued with additional interviews and fascinating production information for 35 of the series’ 90 episodes, it’s better than ever.

Since the original publication, several of the interviewees (such as Bill Sellars and Robert Hardy) have sadly passed away, which makes the book even more of a valuable resource as there’s no substitute for first hand recollections. The roster of those who agreed to be interviewed is impressive – not only key regulars such as Christopher Timothy, Robert Hardy, Carol Drinkwater and Peter Davison, but also a plethora of guest stars and behind the scenes crew who are able to share many stories about the series’ production.

The icing on this particularly succulent cake has to be a slew of wonderful production photographs with the odd studio floor plan thrown in for good measure,

The format of All Memories Great And Small is straightforward and effective. Each episode (from Horse Sense in 1978 to the final Christmas Special in 1990) is given its own chapter. All have reminiscences from a variety of contributors (some specific to that episode, some more general) whilst selected episodes also contain production info (handy if you’re looking to pinpoint specific locations used, for example).

Clocking in at just over 400 pages, it’s plain that this book was a real labour of love. If you’ve got the original edition then it’s still worth an upgrade for the additional material. But if you’ve yet to buy it and have any interest in the BBC series, then All Memories Great and Small is an essential purchase. An absolute treasure trove of a resource, I know that it’ll be something I’ll return to again and again in the future.

All Memories Great and Small can be ordered directly from Devonfire Books via this link or from them via this Amazon link.