Hardwicke House

[worldsgreatestsinner]

More episodes have been found and put on Youtube, including the Rik & Ade ep.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRC1aKApJKE&feature=youtu.be

[Darles Chickens]

Wow, the cancelled episodes have finally surfaced (after 32 years)!  I've been intrigued by this series ever since I caught the first couple of episodes as a youngster when they first went out.  I randomly dipped into Episode 7, and I enjoyed it ("Two of the disciples haven't learnt their lines... [beat] Judas told me" made me chuckle).  Content-wise there's no way it should ever have gone out at 8pm in 1987, but I think it's already well established that it was intended for a late-night slot, perhaps on a Sunday, in which case there probably wouldn't have been any fuss about it.  It's a little dark in character in the same way as The New Statesman was.

Thanks for posting!  I wonder who the uploader is?  And how long these are going to be there before ITV Central come down on them like a ton of bricks?

[worldsgreatestsinner]

Yeah, I've only watched the first two and the Mayall & Edmondson ep so far but it does feel, as you say, a late night slot and everything might have been ok.

[Uncle TechTip]

It doesn't help that it's shot like one of those Children's ITV comedy/dramas, and all on location so you struggle to hear some lines and there's too much ambient noise. It's a great cast putting in the effort with an ok script. I never knew of the intention to show it late night and it certainly would've worked there but be quickly forgotten.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Great cast, yes, but they have to do so much heavy-lifting. The scripts are fine, it's a halfway-decent stab at creating an alternative comedy version of Grange Hill, but most of the humour derives from the enjoyably strange, gung-ho performances. Granville Saxton is fantastic as Mr Fowl - by rights, HH should've made him a star.

Rik and Ade turn up and do their thing, but again most of the laughs - such as they are - spring from them just being really fucking good at what they do. Rik, as we all know, is just intrinsically funny and watchable.

Putting that show out at 8pm really was insane, though, it's quite clearly a rude, dark, late-night '80s sitcom.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I wonder who the uploader is?  And how long these are going to be there before ITV Central come down on them like a ton of bricks?

It appears to be Mark Pickett, who produced a sod load of Playdays and then went on to become a QVC presenter.

Thanks for the link btw, OP, I liked the first two episodes as a kid and am really looking forward to checking out the rest now.

[Spiny Norman]

Now, up next: All episodes of Heil Honey I'm Home!

[Darles Chickens]

It appears to be Mark Pickett, who produced a sod load of Playdays and then went on to become a QVC presenter.

Thanks for the link btw, OP, I liked the first two episodes as a kid and am really looking forward to checking out the rest now.

Just seen this on his YouTube channel profile:

1982-1987 Central
Mark Pickett - 18 videos - 55 views - Last updated on 23 May 2019

A selection of shows produced by CentraI Independent Television for the UK's ITV network, from 1982-1987.

I started my TV career at Central in 1982 as a Sound Technician, and had the pleasure of working on these shows and many others, at Central's studio's in Birmingham and Nottingham.

So there's the connection, although I don't see his name in the Hardwicke House credits.

I wonder why he decided to release this stuff into the wild now?  I doubt it's with Central TV's blessing, and presumably he doesn't work for them any more anyway.  So he must have had copies (I thought it was only John Stroud who did?) and decided that 32 years is long enough; if they get pulled, so be it.

Going to start from the first episode this evening and see how far I get.

[TJ]

It doesn't help that it's shot like one of those Children's ITV comedy/dramas, and all on location so you struggle to hear some lines and there's too much ambient noise. It's a great cast putting in the effort with an ok script. I never knew of the intention to show it late night and it certainly would've worked there but be quickly forgotten.

It was made with the Sunday Night Spitting Image/Hale And Pace slot in mind but some higher-ups at Central lobbied for the earlier slot, purportedly to capitalise on the popularity of Girls On Top (which was already pushing it for that timeslot if you ask me). Nobody involved with the show knew about this until TV Times came out, and they tried to argue against it but it was too late - a number of people have claimed that the reason the show never resurfaced, and an attempt was made to wipe it (foiled by the VT department), was that those who took the decision didn't want to take the rap for it in public. To be fair, it was getting a bit lynch mob for a couple of days...

[Spiny Norman]

The problem with lynch mobs is that they don't know the facts. Similar thing happened to "The secret diary of Desmond Pfeiffer" in the US.

[Shit Good Nose]

It doesn't help that it's shot like one of those Children's ITV comedy/dramas

You're not joking - for years I thought this and Behind the Bike Sheds were one and the same show!

This thread has confirmed otherwise.  Thanks thread. 

Thranks.


EDIT - scratch Behind the Bike Sheds, I actually meant the later Palace Hill.

[Sebastian Cobb]

The fact certain old ITV production houses like Central and LWT could sneak things like this out (often under the radar in regional opt-outs until they did well and got repeated) is something that's really missing from present day ITV where they've honed everything down to a formula.

[Spiny Norman]

Apart from the 1st ep. and the one with Rik & Ade, the youtube videos never exceeded a few hundred views... Guess it is mediocre after all, neither a lost gem nor total rubbish.

Who knows how many lost or unavailable programs might in reality be shockingly average!

[jsgibble]

Thanks for posting!  I wonder who the uploader is?  And how long these are going to be there before ITV Central come down on them like a ton of bricks?

If it were just a random person uploading it they might, but as it's someone who worked on the show it's unlikely. I've downloaded them though, regardless.

[Epic Bisto]

This is the first time I've seen it and I like the fact that there's no laughter track.  It does it a strangely compelling bleak charm.  As said above, it was a dumb move for ITV to broadcast it at 8pm and I can definitely see how this caused many a shitfit.  Fascinating stuff.