CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR EDITION ALSO IN THIS FESTIVE ISSUE: Christmas is Coming... ROMANY JONES ... and Eric & Ernie are going crackers! THE MAN IN ROOM 17 SEE INSIDE YOUR TOP XMAS TV GUIDE! TV ON AIR NEW YEAR HIGHLIGHT CHRISTMAS & NEW YEAR Vol. 1 No. 3 HRISTMAS comes but once a year and when it does, it brings another crop of festive TV Cfavourites, with our cover stars MORECAMBE AND WISE leading the field. This year, we’ve even got a snow-covered Arthur Mullard to contend with, as you can see in the feature opposite. Oh yus... This month, in addition to our usual programme features, you’ll find a festive viewing guide to some of the Christmas specials available from Network, “Okay, Mr. Derek ... you’ve got twenty four hours to get me Basil Brush’s autograph or Constable Thackeray here gets it.” and a two-page colour feature covering the three MORECAMBE AND WISE Christmas specials available in our recently-released festive edition. Time’s up for Blaketon... We also take a look at some of what the New Year has in store. Alongside the eagerly-awaited final HEARTBEAT - Sunday, ITV series of HEARTBEAT, there’s a second outing for that inscrutable MAN IN ROOM 17, Alexander Armstrong fter eighteen series, the 1960s come to a shocking NEW YEAR HIGHLIGHT conclusion in the final series of HEARTBEAT, and as the as a reluctant vet in BEAST and a chance to see Adam A Who says the 1970s were a fashion disaster? Faith in his final television series, THE HOUSE THAT last ever episode nears its dramatic finale, Blaketon and JACK BUILT. Ventress find themselves in a potentially fatal stand-off... Away in a caravan site... Set in rural North Yorkshire during the 1960s, Heartbeat’s Queenie Watts and Arthur Mullard return in ROMANY JONES TV HIGHLIGHTS AT A GLANCE combination of crime and medical storylines, charismatic regular characters and wonderfully nostalgic soundtrack N THE BUSES creators Ronald Chesney and Ronald made it staple Sunday-night viewing for two decades, OWolfe chart the hilarious misadventures of two couples CHRISTMAS DAY... living side by side under strained circumstances. Queenie with the series’ many prestigious awards including Best Watts and Arthur Mullard take the lead roles in this comedy ...wouldn’t be complete without Performing Peak-Time Drama and several ITV Programme of (see pages 6&7) of bad manners and one-upmanship amidst the mud, penni- MORECAMBE & WISE the Year awards. Attracting a peak audience of 14 million, lessness and outrageous fashion sense of a run-down 1970s Heartbeat garnered a devoted following and remains prime- AND NEXT YEAR... caravan site – their characters Wally and Lily Briggs proving time viewing world-wide. so successful that they were subsequently spun off into their Alexander Armstrong stars as a own series: Yus My Dear (also available from Network DVD). ‘pointless’ vet in BEAST (see page 5) This final series – which sees PC Joe Mason, DS Rachel Dawson and district nurse Carol Cassidy heading to his fourth series sees City slicker turned caravan dweller ROMANY JONES returns (see opposite) Australia to try to trace former Aidensfield garage mechanic TJeremy Crichton-Jones creating more difficulties, both Rosie – features guest appearances from an array of British for himself and his long-suffering wife Susan, while remaining Adam Faith’s final TV series: stars, including George Cole, Samantha Bond, Tim Brooke- permanently at odds with neighbours Wally and Lily – possi- THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT Taylor, Keith Barron, Phyllis Logan, Rodney Bewes, Susan bly the most artful workshy couple on wheels. As a hard winter (see page 4) Jameson and Gemma Craven. descends on the site, however, the unlikely neighbours form a temporary alliance in common cause against the elements... What do you want? NEW YEAR HIGHLIGHT NEW YEAR HIGHLIGHT ADAM FAITH IN HIS LAST TV ROLE? HERE’S THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT... op icon Adam Faith and ex-EastEnder Gillian Taylforth star in this 2002 sitcom chronicling the life of a wealthy property developer who Pdreams of nothing less than a family dynasty – even if his benevolent dictatorship isn’t always appreciated. Overseen by veteran screenwriters Marks and Gran, the complete series is made available on DVD for the first time – including an episode never shown on television. A self-made man, Jack Squire lives with his enduring wife Maxine, youngest son J.J. and daughter Lisa in a style that befits ‘Hertfordshire’s first family’. Eldest son Roger works in the family business and tries to please his dad, although Jack and his daughter-in-law Vicky rarely see eye to eye – for reasons perhaps best known to themselves. Disappointingly for Jack, J.J.’s principal interests are cars and girls, while Lisa is, naturally, the apple of her father’s eye; in fact, if she gets her way – which she usually does – she’ll be the Come in Budge... your time is nearly up. true heir to the Squire fortune… THERE’S A NEW MAN IN ROOM 17 he name’s Defraits - Imrac Defraits. Playing the Tpart is the suave and rather more plausibly-named Denholm Elliott, who joins Richard Vernon for a second series of THE MAN IN ROOM 17. VET BEHAVING BADLY... Room 17 is the secret centre of operations for the Alexander Armstrong’s animal antics... Department of Special Research, a unit set up to study the criminal mind and handle cases that have baffled lexander Armstrong stars as live animals. This complete set makes reserved for guinea pigs. But Nick’s the police and security services. Answerable only to the Aa reluctant and dangerously both series available for the first time. career has its compensations – Prime Minister, the men in Room 17 pull the strings that incompetent vet in this sharply notably the opportunity to encourage make the undercover world dance, without even leaving scripted BBC-1 sitcom from Men Nick is fortunate enough to have concerned clients to part with large the confines of their Whitehall office. inherited a successful rural practice Behaving Badly creator Simon Nye. sums of money, and to meet well- from his father. The problem is that Created by Big Breadwinner Hog’s Robin Chapman, this Running for two series, Beast also heeled, good-looking women, for brilliantly inventive Granada series gained cult status stars Emma Pierson, Sylvestra Le he isn’t especially fond of animals. whom he’s convinced his bedside early on and remains very much so to this day. Touzel and Smack the Pony’s Doon In fact, he’s come to detest and fear manner is enormously attractive. Mackichan – along with an array of them…. with a particular loathing Man or anagram? Denholm Elliott plays the unusually-named Imrac Defraits TV ON AIR PHOTO FEATURE “I tawt I taw a Pwime ERIC AND ERNIE BRING THEIR CHRISTMAS Minister...” SHOW TO ITV ne of the most successful double acts of all time, OMorecambe and Wise were a staple ingredient of British television for four decades, and nothing showcased their comedic brilliance more memorably than the wonderful Christmas Specials that enlivened festive viewing for tens of millions of viewers. Families across the country gathered around the box for these legendary shows – as much a part of Christmas Day as the Queen’s Speech and the after-dinner nap – with Eric and Ernie aided by an array of guest stars, including David Frost, Hannah Gordon, Glenda Jackson, Leonard Rossiter, Frank Finlay, Peter Barkworth, Des O’Connor, Alec Guinness, and a certain former Prime Minister as you can see opposite. Eric and Ernie’s elevation to Number 10 was assured after that performance! Now you can relive those magical moments with this first volume, comprising three shows screened on Christmas Day in 1978, 1979 and 1980. Bursting with botched song-and-dance numbers, mangled classics, bad puns and short, fat, hairy legs, these ratings record-breakers show why Morecambe and Wise remain the nation’s favourite comedy duo! DECEMBER 24 TUESDAY DECEMBER 25 WEDNESDAY 6.30 Please, Sir! 9.00 Eric & Ernie’s For your festive entertainment, we’ve JOHN ALDERTON put together a line-up of programmes DERYCK GUYLER Christmas Show ERIC MORECAMBE that you can schedule yourself using JOAN SANDERSON in And Everyone Came Too ERNIE WISE the Network DVD releases CLASSIC ITV Bernard and Penny dream of their wedding The Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show CHRISTMAS COMEDY and MORECAMBE day. However, Potter as chief usher, class 3C has many facets, various aspects, several & WISE - THE CHRISTMAS SPECIALS. And as guests, and a forecast of snow could turn it points of view and a partridge in a pear tree. don’t forget, complete series sets of most into a nightmare... The complete Series set of Viewers will see Eric and Ernie as they have of these titles are also available. Click Please, Sir! is available on DVD. never seen them before: Ernie will sing Wag- on the titles and you’ll go straight to the WRITTEN BY JOHN ESMONDE AND BOB LARBEY ner’s Ring in its entirety and Eric will give his DIRECTED AND PRODUCED BY MARK STUART impression of the last turkey in the shop. product page for each DVD. ORIGINAL ITV TRANSMISSION 27 DECEMBER 1970 WRITTEN BY EDDIE BRABEN, BARRY CRYER AND © 1970 LONDON WEEKEND TELEVISION LIMITED JOHN JUNKIN WITH ADDITIONAL MATERIAL BY MORECAMBE & WISE 7.00 Only When I Laugh MUSICAL DIRECTOR PETER KNIGHT PRODUCED AND DIRECTED BY KEITH BECKETT JAMES BOLAM AND JOHN AMMONDS PETER BOWLES © 1978 THAMES TELEVISION LIMITED RICHARD WILSON in Away for Christmas It’s Christmas at the hospital, but can X-Ray 10.15 All This and A rubbish Christmas in store for the Dustbinmen, tonight at 7.30 Figgis and the others really expect any season- Christmas Too! al cheer from Doctor Thorpe? Complete series SID JAMES set now available on DVD.