The Grove Family
The Grove Family | |
---|---|
Created by | Roland and Michael Pertwee |
Starring | |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of series | 1 |
No. of episodes | 148 |
Production | |
Producer | John Warrington |
Running time | 15 minutes (April 1954–September 1955) 30 minutes (September 1955–June 1957) BBC |
Release | 9 April 1954 28 June 1957 | –
The Grove Family was a
The programme was written by Roland and Michael Pertwee, the father and elder brother respectively of actor Jon Pertwee. As was common for British television at the time, the series was broadcast live and very few episodes survive in the archives: only three of the original 148 episodes.[3] One of the few surviving shows was transmitted on BBC Four during 2004. A film version produced during 1955 by the Butchers company, written by the Pertwees and featuring the television cast, exists as an example of the series.[4] The film was entitled It's a Great Day and shown on the Talking Pictures TV channel in July 2017. During 1954 The Grove Family was viewed by almost a quarter of British people with a television.[2] The show was reportedly brought to an end when, after three years' writing, the Pertwees' request for a break was refused by the BBC, with the Corporation preferring to cancel the popular series altogether.[5]
In 1991 during a special day of programming on BBC2 to commemorate the closing of Lime Grove, a new edition of the programme was shown, a modern production of one of the original scripts with the roles filled by popular television soap opera actors of the time including Leslie Grantham, Anna Wing, Sue Johnston, Nick Berry, Sally Ann Matthews, Paul Parris and Kellie Bright.[9]
Plot
The
Theme tune
The theme tune, named Family Joke and featuring harmonica played by Tommy Reilly, was composed by Eric Spear, who went on to become better known as the composer of the theme tune to the long-running soap opera Coronation Street.[13]
Principal cast
- Edward Evans as Bob Grove
- Ruth Dunning as Gladys Grove
- Peter Bryant as Jack Grove
- Christopher Beeny as Lennie Grove
- Nancy Roberts as Gran
- Margaret Downs as Daphne Grove
- Sheila Sweet as Pat Grove
- Nan Braunton as Miss Hilda Jones
See also
- Social history of the United Kingdom (1945–present)
- Post-war consensus
References
- ^ ISBN 9781349184590.
- ^ a b "Grove Family, The (1954–57)". BFI Screenonline. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
- ^ "Lost UK TV Shows – The Grove Family". lostshows.com. Retrieved 30 December 2009.
- ^ "It's a Great Day – review - cast and crew, movie star rating and where to watch film on TV and online". Radio Times.
- ISBN 0141012218.
- ^ "BBC - Doctor Who Classic Episode Guide - Season 4". www.bbc.co.uk.
- ^ "BFI Screenonline: Upstairs, Downstairs (1971-75)". www.screenonline.org.uk.
- ^ "BAFTA Awards". awards.bafta.org.
- ^ "The Grove Family (1991)". BFI. Archived from the original on 13 May 2019.
- ISBN 9781137265920.
- ^ "BFI Screenonline: Grove Family, The (1954-57)". www.screenonline.org.uk.
- ISBN 978-0-04-827108-2.
- ^ IMDb
External links
- The Grove Family at IMDb
- The Grove Family at the BFI's Screenonline
- The Grove Family, episode one