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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 7, 2019 19:32:03 GMT 12
I just came across this article from The Canberra Times from 20 Aug 1970:
Now I know that Hugh and David did make a series in Australia with Ron Frazer which came out in 1972, but it was called Birds In The Bush, and had the alternate title of The Virgin Fellas. But the plot seems to be quite different. IMDb says "Hugh arrives in Australia to take possession of his inheritance, which is a "farm" in the Australian Outback which is being run by numerous beautiful women. He is aided and abetted by his half-brother Ron."
I guess the Strike It Rich mining comedy idea went out the window and they came up with a new plan?
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Post by JM2461 on Aug 7, 2019 23:53:45 GMT 12
Very interesting. Was the bit you couldn't read perhaps The Gnomes of Dulwich? I attached part of an article from the Sydney Sun-Herald, Sunday 10 May 1970. I hope it's readable. But it basically says a pilot for Strike It Rich was made and if the BBC liked it, it would proceed as a 13-episode series. David Croft gets a couple of mentions. I'm still trying to find out whether they actually made the series or not.  In the Sun-Herald, Sunday 27 September 1970, it says: Strike It Rich has been sold to the BBC, and goes into production in early 1971. In the Sun-Herald, Sunday 4 October 1970, Ron Frazer says: I'm going to start the Strike It Rich television series with Hugh Lloyd about next February . . . On Monday 5 October 1970, the pilot episode was screened on Channel 7 in Sydney. It does sound like it may have became Birds In The Bush, despite the different plot. Unfortunately I can't get any search results from 1971, the damn search thing's playing up at the moment. |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 8, 2019 0:10:45 GMT 12
I found somewhere else that Birds In The Bush was also known as Strike It Rich, but I am not sure if that is accurate.
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Post by Andy Howells on Aug 9, 2019 23:30:22 GMT 12
Sounds interesting. Its feasible that David may have produced a show for Australian TV, or even a short run. The Australians remade several Two Ronnies back in the late 70s and a few other British TV shows also went over although to my knowledge these were all sketch orientated.
The Hugh Lloyd plot sounds slightly reminiscent of Tony Hancock's incomplete series from 68 which he started n before taking his own life. Perhaps there are some similarities and interesting that Hugh also starred with hancock in several of his shows!
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 9, 2019 23:41:27 GMT 12
David went to Aussie to make a spin-off Australian series with John Inman that was a version of Are You Being Served, too.
I think Birds In The Bush and Strike It Rich must have been the same show, after some rejigging.
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Post by Alan Hayes on Aug 10, 2019 5:27:53 GMT 12
Sounds interesting. Its feasible that David may have produced a show for Australian TV, or even a short run. The Australians remade several Two Ronnies back in the late 70s and a few other British TV shows also went over although to my knowledge these were all sketch orientated. There was certainly Australia-based spin-off of the 'Doctor...' sitcom series (i.e. Doctor in the House, Doctor at Large, etc) which featured members of the British cast. I think it was called Doctor Down Under.
Of course Tony Hancock famously was making an Australia-set situation comedy at the time of his death in Sydney.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 10, 2019 15:15:52 GMT 12
I have been on a research kick, and just discovered this:
The 1971 SFTA Award for Best Light Entertainment Production and Direction that has been touted as being presented to Jimmy Perry - and there's a famous photo of Jimmy accepting the award from Richard Attenborough in front of HRH Princess Anne, and with Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier, Arnold Ridley, James Beck, Ian Lavender and Bill Pertwee wth Jimmy on the dias - was not actually for Jimmy at all. It was awarded to David Croft, but he could not accept it personally as he was in Australia filming a "new series for Australian television and the BBC" So Jimmy Perry accepted it on David's behalf. This award ceremony screen on BBC One on the 4th of March 1971. So that must be Birds in the Bush that David was making at that time, surely.
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Post by JM2461 on Aug 11, 2019 19:21:59 GMT 12
If only we'd discovered this 'mystery' a few years ago, someone maybe could've asked David Croft, he's have probably cleared it up in an instant, or even Jimmy Perry.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 11, 2019 19:31:56 GMT 12
Yep.
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Post by Andy Howells on Aug 12, 2019 10:12:23 GMT 12
Oh that's half the fun of research. You think you know everything about someone and something else turns up! It wouldn't surprise me if David had even forgotten about it as he was so prolific. I don't recall him mentioning it in his book,so it might not have gone beyond a pilot episode!
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Post by JM2461 on Aug 12, 2019 11:17:02 GMT 12
Probably a good chance he may have forgotten, it's a bit like actors trying to remember all the TV shows, movies, game shows, stage shows, pilots, industrial films, training films, etc, that they have done, a lot of it would be a blur.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 12, 2019 23:59:25 GMT 12
Everyone in the Dad's Army world (in fact the whole world) had seemingly forgotten about The Rear Guard. It was only when Colin Bean said tome that he remembered one episode they were making when a group pf Americans came to watch. I asked why and he seemed to recall they were looking at making a version of Dad's Army. That was enough for me to start asking others, Bill Pertwee, Jimmy Perry, etc., what they remembered. Bit by bit I pieced it together. Jimmy only really remembered that Lou Jacobi was the star, he'd forgotten the other names. And he knew it was lost. This was all pre-internet, well there was an internet but it had zero on it about the show. I found out some of the other cast by finding an American book on US TV history and amazingly it had a snippet in it about it. I then used the internet to track down who was still alive and who their agents were, etc, and in the end it led to the recovery of the episode. It is one of my proudest moments to have been able to send copies to Jimmy and David, who were both extremely over the moon. They thought they'd never get a copy of it.
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Post by Andy Howells on Aug 13, 2019 6:15:54 GMT 12
Probably a good chance he may have forgotten, it's a bit like actors trying to remember all the TV shows, movies, game shows, stage shows, pilots, industrial films, training films, etc, that they have done, a lot of it would be a blur. Yep even Bill Pertwee would forget some things he'd done. Things like Carry On films sometimes were maybe a day or a few daysof work sandwiched between other commitments. They'd get paid and move on to the next job. Then, years later they'd maybe get queries from fans of certain genres asking them intricate details of the film of which maybe they'd have no idea if they didn't recall making it! |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 13, 2019 20:26:59 GMT 12
If I'd been in a Carry On film, I'd want to forget it pretty fast too.
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Post by Alan Hayes on Aug 14, 2019 11:50:54 GMT 12
If I'd been in a Carry On film, I'd want to forget it pretty fast too. Oh, I don't know. They're low-brow, often repetitive, cheaply made, not always that well written, but the cast members were generally superb and they've enjoyed a level of success not enjoyed by productions that were far more worthy. There must be something about them - and they do still have quite a following.
I don't have any Carry Ons in my collection, but there are a handful that I do really enjoy (Cabby, Spying, Screaming, Khyber).
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Post by JM2461 on Aug 14, 2019 17:56:00 GMT 12
If I'd been in a Carry On film, I'd want to forget it pretty fast too. No need to worry Dave, Tony Hancock isn't in any of them (or Morecambe & Wise).  But seriously, it's probably the sort of thing Hancock should have been doing, being part of the great ensemble cast of comedy faces and names in the Carry-Ons. But his ego probably would have required top-billing, and a say in who else was in each film he was in, so that may have been a problem. Although he had a small part in T hose Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines, along with a few other comedy types, eg. Eric Sykes, Benny Hill, Red Skelton and Graham Stark - even John LeMesurier and Jeremy Lloyd were in it. |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 14, 2019 19:49:02 GMT 12
But Hancock hated people and was a right miserable git. Kenneth Williams would have cut him to shreds  |
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Post by Alan Hayes on Aug 14, 2019 21:13:52 GMT 12
I think the main person Hancock hated was himself, so at least you can agree with him on that. |
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Post by Alan Hayes on Aug 14, 2019 21:16:36 GMT 12
If I'd been in a Carry On film, I'd want to forget it pretty fast too. No need to worry Dave, Tony Hancock isn't in any of them (or Morecambe & Wise). But seriously, it's probably the sort of thing Hancock should have been doing, being part of the great ensemble cast of comedy faces and names in the Carry-Ons. But his ego probably would have required top-billing, and a say in who else was in each film he was in, so that may have been a problem. Although he had a small part in T hose Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines, along with a few other comedy types, eg. Eric Sykes, Benny Hill, Red Skelton and Graham Stark - even John LeMesurier and Jeremy Lloyd were in it. He was also in The Wrong Box, another film choc-full of stars of comedy and drama.
And you're spot on with the idea that Hancock should have done the Carry Ons or something like them. He was always at his best when with a regular cast of characters, such as (he says, deftly bringing things back on topic!) people like Hugh Lloyd, who appeared with him in many TV Hancock's Half Hours.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 14, 2019 21:42:37 GMT 12
I think the main person Hancock hated was himself, so at least you can agree with him on that. I don't really "hate" him. I do think he is overrated these days, there have been far better comedy stars - even among the cast of his shows - and I wonder why his appeal has endured among comedy fans fifty years later. I can listen to his radio shows but all the laughs come from Sid or Bill or Kenneth. Hancock was the straight man, not a great comedy character. Not sure if he actually hated himself or whether he loved himself too much. In my opinion he was very self-centred, screwing over or falling out with almost every one of the actors he worked with who's talents made him look good, plus his writers, and particularly his best mate John le Mes which I find pretty despicable on Tony's part,and Joan's. He just did not get on well with people in my opinion. Like his TV character, a selfish, miserable git. Only unlike the character, also an abusive alcoholic. |
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