CRISS CROSS QUIZ 
Popular quiz show based on the simple game of noughts and crosses. The format was devised for American television where it was known as Tic Tac Dough. Played on a grid of nine squares, each of two contestants had to answer a question correctly to put a nought or a cross in a square. They then had to get three noughts or three crosses in a row either horizontaly, vertically or diagonally to win the game. A wrong answer, if you were playing noughts for example, put your opponents cross in the square. However, a wrong answer would not cost a player the game because to complete three in a row he or she had to answer their own question correctly. Questions were asked from almost 100 different categories as diverse as films, quotations, nicknames, Africa, the 1920's, currency or pot luck, etc. Every correct answer would win a tenner (except for the middle square which £20) and if a game was drawn the prize money was doubled for the next game. Winners stayed on show after show until they were beaten and some of the better players were able to build up a nice pot of money. However, a strict rule about how much a contestant could win was introduced after one lucky player walked away with £2,360. Produced by Granada Television, Criss Cross Quiz began in 1957 and was presented by Jeremy Hawk a character actor with a long career in music halls and on London's West End stage. He also appeared on television as straight man to Benny Hill, Arthur Askey and Norman Wisdom. When he left in 1962 he was replaced by Barbara Kelly a Canadian-born actress, best-known as a panelist on the British version of What's My Line? (She was also the wife of Bernard Braden). Contestants were chosen by Granada Television's Contestants Department which sorted through thousands of applications for a number of quiz shows such as Spot the Tune, Make Up Your Mind and Concentration. Criss, Cross, Quiz was shown three times a week and the show was networked across the ITV regions. One 1963 broadcast was interupted when news broke of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan's resignation. A children's version of the show called Junior Criss Cross Quiz was produced the same year the adult version started although the children played for prizes instead of money. Presenters on the children's version were: Jeremy Hawk, Chris Kelly, Bob Holness, Mike Sarne, Chris Howland, Gordon Luck, Peter Wheeler, Bill Grundy, Danny Blanchflower and Barbara Kelly. Variations of the basic format have re-appeared many times on television down the years on shows such as Celebrity Squares.
342 episodes (391 Junior Criss Cross Quiz) Granada Television 1957 - 67.
CUFFY
Spinning off from comedy drama Shillingbury Tales, this engaging sitcom from 1983 starred Bernard Cribbins (Doctor Who) as the scruffy, rather mischievous tinker who lives in discomfort in a shabby caravan in the fictional, picture-postcard Hertfordshire village. Cuffy is now the centre of attention as he mopes around Shillingbury with a permanently grubby coat, flat cap and stubble - although underneath it all, he has a heart of gold. Other Shillingbury Tales cast members reprising earlier roles included Jack Douglas as farmer Jake, Linda Hayden as his daughter Mandy, and Nigel Lambert as the Reverend Norris; Diana King now featured as local spinster Mrs. Simkins. Cuffy was written by the multi-talented producer/director/writer Francis Essex, best known for bringing The Muppet Show to British TV but also a noted composer whose themes include Follyfoot’s celebrated The Lightning Tree (as Steven Francis). The character of Cuffy was created by Bob Monkhouse, although he had no involvement in the series.
6 episodes of 30 minute duration. ITV 1983
Cuffy - The Complete Series [DVD] [1983]
Return to Top of Page
Made in 1968 and broadcast to tremendous critical acclaim, The Caesars was one of the last great drama productions made in black and white for ITV by Granada. The Caesars is an unrivalled period drama detailing the murder, sex and madness that will forever have a place in the annals of ancient history. After a century of being wrecked by dissension and ruinous civil wars, the Romans were willing to pay any price for peace and internal security. This happened to be the absolute rule of an Emperor-dictator - Augustus (Roland Culver). After ruthlessly disposing of all possible rivals and enemies, Augustus’ later years were bedevilled by the question of his successor. He firmly believed that for the good of Rome, the dictatorship must continue, but he hadn’t bargained on those who followed him. Featuring outstanding performances from famed character actor André Morell, Ralph Bates and an award-winning performance by Freddie Jones, The Caesars pre-dates I, Claudius by eight years and neatly chronicles the decline and fall or Rome.
Fun, free-wheeling, undemanding early adventure series, Cannonball was a series of half-hour family dramas chronicling the adventures of two truckers who hauled freight on the highways of Canada and the U.S.A. U.S. actors Paul Birch (Mike Malone) and William Campbell (Jerry Austin) in what was essentially a format to the later and classic, Route 66. Filmed around Toronto, Canada, the series was a joint Canadian/UK production, yet another example of Lew Grade's incredibly prolific ITC company co-production output. It aired in Canada on Mondays at 9.30pm on the CBC network. Apart from its two American leads, the series relied heavily on Canadian talent in supporting roles. Beth Lockerbie was Mary Malone, Mike's wife, and Beth Morris and Steve Barringer were Ginny and Butch Malone. Howard Milsom portrayed dispatcher Harry Butler. Other Canadian character actors who appeared in the show included Ruth Springford, Alfie Scopp, Sylvia Lennick, Eric House, and Cy Mack. Interestingly, the concept was revived fifteen years later in 1974, for the short-lived series starring Claude Akins and Frank Converse; Movin' On.
A minor hit on both sides of the Atlantic starring Hollywood screen star Robert Taylor as the hard-nosed and humourless Captain Matt Holbrook, head of a city's detective department. The series was dropped by ABC after its second season but was picked up for one more run by NBC in 1961 under the title ’The Detectives, Starring Robert Taylor’. In the UK it was more appropriately named ’Captain of Detectives’, not relying on the star's name in the title to draw in the audience. Each episode allowed a different member of Holbrook's team to take centre stage and they included Lt. John Russo (Tige Andrews) and Sgt Chris Ballard (Mark Goddard). Holbrook himself was a widower who had little time for romance, although there was a brief affair with a police reporter called Lisa Bonay, who was played by Taylor's real-life wife Ursula Thiess. In the final season the team were joined by Sgt Steve Nelson played by an actor who would go on to make his own mark in television heaven as TV's ’Batman’...Adam West.
Popular Western series for kids that was made along similar lines to The Lone Ranger, The Cisco Kid and other successfully syndicated shows of the late 1950's. Alan Hale Jnr (who was later marooned with the rest of the Gilligan's Island crew) starred as the heroic driver of the Cannonball Express, which traversed the Illinois Central Railroad circa 1890. Unlike the song from which the show was derived Casey Jones (steamin' and a rollin') didn't meet with a sticky end and with the aid of his wife, Alice (Mary Lawrence), son, Casey Jnr (Bobby Clark), fireman, Wallie Simms (Dub Taylor), conductor, Red Rock (Eddy Waller) and faithful dog, Cinders, Jackson Tennessee's most notable citizen outwitted the slimy sidewinder's that attempted to break the law or would otherwise stop him bringing his train in on time.
John Harrington runs across the fields, almost blind with terror. His dog, left behind, whimpering and cowering with fear, can only watch as the creature closes in on his master. Harrington runs for his life but instinct tells him that the creature is gaining on him and he trips, stumbles and falls. When they find him, grown men recoil in horror when they discover that something had broken almost every bone in his body...A masterful, contemporary reworking of M.R. James’ classic ghost story, Casting the Runes is adapted by BAFTA-nominated playwright Clive Exton and directed by long-time adapter of James’ most chilling stories - Lawrence Gordon Clark. This play features an unsettling performance from Iain Cuthbertson as the malevolent Karswell and strong central performances from both Edward Petherbridge (as the unlucky Henry Harrington, for whom time is ticking away) and Jan Francis as television producer Prudence Dunning. Released commercially in 2007 by Network DVD containing Mr. Humphreys and His Inheritance: Possibly one of the rarest of the still-existing M.R. James adapations, this was made for the ITV Schools slot as a casebook example on how to use music in drama to evoke emotional response and A Pleasant Terror: The Life and Ghosts of M.R. James: A semi-dramatised documentary on the life and works of M.R. James, featuring contributions from Christopher Lee, Ruth Rendell, Jonathan Miller and James’ biographer Michael Cox. Although ITV produced four black-and-white adaptations of James's ghost stories between 1966 and 1968, no surviving copies are known to exist and this 1979 version 1979 survives as an episode of the ITV Playhouse series.
Scott Baio became a TV heartthrob on both Happy Days and its spin-off series Joanie Loves Chachi. He was able to grow up a bit on this pleasant if predictable sitcom. Baio starred as Charles (his last name was never revealed), a 19-year-old student at New Jersey’s Copeland College who also worked as a live-in babysitter for the Pembroke family. In exchange for room and board, plus some spending money, Charles cared for the three Pembroke children, pre-teen Lila (April Lerman), sarcastic 12-year-old Douglas (Jonathan Ward), and youngest son Jason (Michael Pearlman). Julie Cobb and James Widdoes played busy parents Jill and Stan; Charles’ best friend was somewhat dense and girl-crazy Buddy Lembeck (Willie Ames); Jennifer Runyon played co-ed Gwendolyn Pierce, whom Charles had a crush on. CBS cancelled the series after one low-rated season–but nearly two years later, Charles In Charge returned with new episodes for local stations eager for fresh sitcoms. When the syndicated version began in January 1987, the Pembrokes had moved to Seattle and sold their home to a new family–the Powells. Grandfather Walter Powell, (James T. Callahan) was a retired Navy Man and headed the household. Sandra Kerns played his daughter-in-law Ellen (her husband was a Navy commander stationed in the South Seas). She had three children–daughters Jamie and Sarah (Nicole Eggert and Josie Davis) and son Adam (Alexander Polinsky). Only Baio and Ames carried over from the CBS version: Charles was still caretaker and college student; while Buddy was as girl-crazy as ever. During the syndicated run, Ellen Travolta (sister of John) played Charles’ mother Lillian (again, no last name), who owned a pizza parlour and meddled in Charles’ life. The series ended in late 1990 with Charles being accepted to Princeton University. The show’s catchy theme song (Charles in charge of our days and our nights...I want Charles in charge of me!) was written by David Kurtz, Michael Jacobs and Al Burton, and performed by Shandi Sinnamon.
Nigel Havers is the suave and deadly Ralph Ernest Gorse, a.k.a. The Charmer (Nigel Havers) - minor public schoolboy, social climber, seducer of women and eternal seeker after the main chance; his stalking grounds are the roadhouses, boarding rooms and grand seaside hotels of the 1930's, the haunts of vulnerable widows and ambitious swindlers. Gorse is no English hero in the traditional sense of the word. He is a psychopath with the plausible charm of every mother's son, a Lothario whose conquests are merely a means to obtaining what he really craves - money and power. But there's trouble in store for Gorse when he becomes infatuated with Clarice (Fiona Fullerton) and needs every penny he can get his hands on to continue to impress her. The source of his income is the well-off Joan Plumleigh-Bruce (Rosemary Leach), who Gorse has already swindled to the tune of £1,000. But he hasn't taken into account her estate agent friend Donald (Bernard Hepton) who soon discovers what Gorse is up to and sets about getting revenge. This double BAFTA-winning drama from writer Allan Prior and director Alan Gibson showcased arguably a career-best performance from Havers as psychopathic gigolo Ralph Gorse.
Checkmate Inc., was a very expensive investigative agency operating in San Francisco and owned by Don Corey (Anthony George) and Jed Sills (Doug McClure), protecting the lives of people who had become targets of the criminal underworld. Aiding and abetting the duo was Oxford professor of criminology Dr. Carl Hyatt (Sebastian Cabbot) who was employed as a special consultant to the firm. Investigator Chris Devlin (Jack Betts) joined for the final season.
Made during an era when TV Westerns were hugely popular, Clint Walker (real name Eugene Walker) starred as half-breed frontier scout, Cheyenne Bodie, who travelled the Wild West in the years following the Civil War. The show was given more of a lavish look by Warner Bros by including action scenes taken directly from their all action Western movies. Behind the scenes the series was beset with problems. At the end of season two Walker entered into a contract dispute with the studio and was promptly dropped. The series retained its title but now starred Ty Hardin as Bronco Layne. Then Walker was re-instated and the show continued as part of an anthology series where it rotated with Sugarfoot, and Hardin's new series, Bronco. In 1962 it went solo again but only for one more season, at the end of which Walker rode off into the sunset for the last time.
An acronym for California Highway Patrol this US cop-series starred Erik Estrada as devil-may-care Officer Francis 'Ponch' Poncherello and Larry Wilcox as the more down to earth Officer Jonathan Baker. Together the twosome patrolled (on motorbikes) the highways and byways around the vast Los Angeles freeway system where the action was divided between enforcing the law and eyeing the City of Angels' foxy ladies. Typical of its time the series downplayed the violent aspect of a policeman's lot to concentrate on the 'human interest' and humorous elements of their work although the action was beefed up with auto-crashes galore. Estrada fell out with the studio over pay and was replaced by former Olympic decathlon champion Bruce Jenner as Officer Steve McLeish, but this proved a temporary absence and Estrada returned. However, Wilcox then left permanently (rumour has it the two stars never saw eye to eye) and in 1983 the series was cancelled. Michael Dorn, who would go on to find success in Star Trek: The Next Generation starred as Officer Turner from 1979 to 1982.
When Tony Hancock decided to do away with the services of Sid James the BBC offered the actor a series of his own, written by Hancock's scriptwriters, Galton and Simpson. Within a few years, Hancock, his career in steady decline, took his own life -whilst Sid, the master of the dirty laugh, became the star of no less than 19 'Carry On' films and in the process walked into the hearts of an adoring British public. The character of Sidney Balmoral James in Citizen James was set in the same mould as the growling, fast-talking, quick thinking Cockney gambler of the Hancock series, aided on this occasion by his girlfriend, Liz (Liz Fraser) and sidekick, Bill (Bill Kerr -another former Hancock regular). Although the character had somewhat dubious morals, as the series progressed he became less of a layabout and more of a champion for the underdog, until finally, by the third and final series (scripted by Dick Hills and Sid Green) Sid had a fully developed social conscience with which he championed many a good cause. With this change of character Sydney Tafler as Sid's new assistant, Charlie Davenport, replaced both Kerr and Fraser.
The aristocratic Kate Swift has been left in trouble and in debt by her wide-boy husband, Duncan; having vanished while under investigation for fraud, he has also left Kate to carry the can. When journalist and key witness Jack Booker implicates her in the crime, Kate is imprisoned for six months. On her release, she is broke, angry, and determined to find her husband. Ready for anything, she forms an unlikely alliance with Booker, an alcoholic, card-carrying coward, and former inmate Gloria O’Grady, a young Australian woman with a special talent for burglary. Wit, instinct, theft and sex become the dubious tools of their trade, as they try to stay out of the red...and out of jail. Joanna Lumley stars as Kate in this pacy, racy comedy drama penned by BAFTA winner Michael Aitkins and produced by Verity Lambert; Ian McNeice, Dennis Waterman, Elizabeth Spriggs, Keith Allen and Celia Imrie are among a host of guest stars. Attracting over ten million viewers at its peak, the series got its first DVD release in August 2010.
Imagine the horror of reaching middle age, losing your looks, your husband, your lover, only to be confronted with a terrifying, incomprehensible truth - your youthful self, three times over, is living and loving somewhere else in the country. Joanna May, a wealthy woman in her forties, is still obsessively in love with estranged husband Carl, the director of a nuclear energy corporation. But Carl, consumed by jealousy and bitterness after discovering a brief affair, has used genetic engineering to clone three younger Joanna Mays. Based on a novel by Fay Weldon, The Cloning of Joanna May is a darkly compelling modern-day fairy tale. With performances from a strong cast headed by Patricia Hodge as Joanna May and Emmy award winner Brian Cox as Carl, this highly acclaimed two-part series, originally screened in 1992, is directed by the BAFTA-winning Phillip Saville (Boys from the Blackstuff, Life and Loves of a She-Devil).
Barry Kemp, who created Newhart, scored again with this football-based sitcom. Craig T. Nelson starred as Hayden Fox, the coach of the fictional Minnesota State University team (known as the “Screaming Eagles). His assistant coaches were pleasant but clueless Luther Van Dam (Jerry Van Dyke) and Michael “Dauber” Dybinski (Bill Fagerbakke), a perennial college student. Luther’s girlfriend (and later wife) was television news anchor Christine Armstrong, played by veteran sitcom actress Shelley Fabares (The Donna Reed Show and others). Fox tried to mold his team into a winning force while juggling a social life and raising his daughter Kelly (Clare Carey), who eventually married a mime, Stewart Rosebrock (Kris Kamm); the pair eventually divorced. In 1995, Hayden left Minnesota State to coach the Orlando Breakers, a professional expansion football team owned by millionaire Doris Sherman (Katherine Helmond), who butted heads with Fox more than once. The final season had Hayden turn down other coaching offers to help Christine build her TV career in Minnesota. Known as a dramatic actor before Coach began, Nelson proved to be a fine comic and won an Emmy for his Hayden Fox role. (The series also proved to be the most-successful of Jerry Van Dyke’s sometimes-checkered career.) A mainstay of ABC’s comedy lineup in the early and mid-1990's, “Coach” spent most of its run in television’s top 20. Touchdown!
Thought to be one of the last great made-for television spy series, produced as the Cold War era came to an end, Codename: Kyril offers complex characterisations and an intelligent treatment of the classic espionage theme of trust and betrayal. The KGB has a particularly evasive spy to eliminate: a high-ranking Kremlin traitor who has been leaking crucial secrets to London. Bucharensky, code-name Kyril, is ordered to defect to catch the attention of the intelligence services of both East and West, setting himself up as a target and drawing fire from all sides as he makes his way across Europe to London; the object of his mission is to panic the traitor into making a mistake. But waiting in London is Kyril’s deadliest enemy: Royston, a KGB mole whose life now depends upon silencing Kyril before he can disclose Royston’s identity as a Soviet double agent...This compelling, evocative series is adapted by the award-winning John Hopkins - whose previous credits include Smiley’s People and Z Cars - and co-produced by Primetime Emmy winner Patrick Dromgoole (Robin of Sherwood). Among an illustrious cast that includes Joss Ackland, Peter Vaughan, Richard E. Grant and Denholm Elliott, Edward Woodward stars opposite Ian Charleson in a taut and skilfully plotted Cold War thriller.
Based on (John) Dickson Carr's collection of short stories first published in 1940 under the title 'The Department of Queer Complaints', Colonel March was a British series made in 1953 by Sapphire, although it didn't get a UK airing until the birth of Independent Television in 1955, by which time three of its (compilation) episodes had been released as a feature film; 'Colonel March Investigates'. Playing the one-eyed detective was Hollywood screen legend Boris Karloff, who had won recognition in Universal's acclaimed 1931 production of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's classic horror story, 'Frankenstein'. Working out of D-3, Scotland Yard's department for seemingly unsolvable cases, March's investigations brought him into contact with the impossible, the unnatural and the supernatural. However, with dogged determination the good detective, aided and abetted on occasions by Ewan Roberts, Eric Pohlmann and Richard Wattis managed to solve such mysteries as 'The Case of the Lively Ghost', 'The Sorcerer' and 'The Second Mona Lisa'.
It is June 1940 - and Britain stands alone. The choice of Colonel Trumper (Dennis Price) to rescue a Polish professor proves that our backs are indeed against the wall. Following his rescue the professor, (played by Warren Mitchell), joins Trumper's unit which also included Pvt. Hicks (George Tovey). Each week Trumper and his unit are sent on a different undercover mission in Europe, but not before they complete preperations at a highly secret School of Espionage where they manage to pass their final test-with some degree of success. Trumper, of British Counter-Intelligence, was described in a 'TV Times' article as the man "with the mind of a criminal and the morals of a Borgia." Somehow, though-he managed to muddle through each assignment. He took his orders from a Lt. Hasting (William Gaunt). This was television's first attempt at making a sitcom set during the War years. The series first aired at 8.55pm on Friday 15th September 1961. By October the cast had been demobbed.
If you have a leak that needs stopping, a bathroom that needs renovating or a lounge that needs redecorating, just hope that you never employ a firm like Joe Jones Limited. At a time when inadequate builders were first coming to notice as the scourge of the construction industry and becoming something of a sick national joke, writer Peter Learmouth, who had once worked as a painter and decorator, came up with a hilarious comedy about an inept group of 'handymen' with a dubious reputation. Geyser (Colin Welland), Wobbly Ron (David Kelly) and Eric (James Wardroper) work for Joe (Roy Kinnear) because no-one else will employ them. And Joe has to employ Geyser, Wobbly Ron and Eric because no-one else will work for him. There was no shoddy workmanship about the casting of this series: Kinnear was one of the country's top comedy character actors appearing in TV and films including the BBC's satirical series That Was The Week That Was, as well as The Beatles movie Help! and Richard Lester's The Three Musketeers. Welland was best known for his role of PC David Graham in Z Cars and was just a year away from claiming an Oscar for his film script Chariots of Fire, and David Kelly had appeared as the one-armed waiter, Albert Riddle, in Robin's Nest. Peter Learmouth later created Surgical Spirit. Cowboys (in some ways unfortunately) is as pertinent and funny today as it was when first screened in 1980.
Children's entertainment show that had it's roots firmly set in the old music hall/variety tradition. Introduced each week with the by-line "It's Friday, it's five to five, and it's Crackerjack!" to which the shows adolescent audience at the BBC's Children's Television Centre would echo the shows title at the top of their voice (and indeed throughout the show whenever it was mentioned). Originally introduced by ex-boxing commentator Eamonn Andrews (later to host This Is Your Life), but perhaps best remembered for it's golden era when co-hosts Leslie Crowther and Peter Glaze would perform comedy routines, introduce the guest pop act, and host the weekly quiz 'Double or Drop' (devised by Andrews in the shows early days), in which contestants were given a prize for a correct answer or a cabbage for a wrong one, and then had to hold as many as they could without dropping them. Win or lose everyone went home with a 'Crackerjack Pencil' -heady stuff!
Richard Crane decided to give up the life of a city businessman and trade it in for one of excitement and adventure in Morocco. He said goodbye to his safe suburban home and headed for the sun, bought himself a boat and opened a beachfront bar near Casablanca. He also had a nice little operation dealing in illegal contraband. Keeping a watchful eye on his activities was local police chief Colonel Mahmoud (Gerald Flood), although there were times when the two men joined forces to work against 'serious' criminals. Crane also had an accomplice in the form of ex-French Foreign Legionnaire, Orlando O'Connor (Sam Kydd), who later reappeared on British shores in the children's adventure series, Orlando. Glamour was provided by café bartender, Halima (Laya Raki). The show's star, Patrick Allen, had previously appeared on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Memorial Company in Stratford-on-Avon and was offered the role of Crane whilst playing Achilles in "Troilus and Cressida". Immediately the play was over he left for Morocco, where most of the filming for the series took place. Allen went on to appear in numerous other series although he is probably best remembered for his deep, authoritative voice, which kept him in television-commercial voiceovers for years to come. He was also the 'four-minute warning man' on the Frankie Goes To Hollywood hit single, 'Two Tribes.'
Ray Saxon is a former professional cycling champion who, unjustly discredited, takes on the task of cleaning up sport through a newspaper column. Saxon has a nose for sports racketeers. Working for the Sunday Globe he investigates corruption and murder such as the reasons for a crash at Snetterton where the driver of a new racing car, the Volterra, is killed, or why a jockey would throw a race for "a few miserable quid." Mark Eden as Saxon enjoyed his first starring role in a TV series and was helped along the way by regular co-stars Ray Mort and Sonia Graham. Some of the shows featured true-life personalities as themselves (the horse racing episode featured John Rickman). Other sports covered included cycling and boxing.
Playwright Ted Willis had been responsible for some of television's most successful plays and series. In Crime of Passion the creator of such typically British police shows such as Dixon of Dock Green and Sergeant Court turned to France to reconstruct some of the true life cases that have qualified for that description. In France crime passionnel (or crime of passion) was a valid defence during murder cases; during the 19th century, some cases could result in a custodial sentence for two years for the murderer. Each play in the series was based on fact and was both a courtroom confrontation and a human drama. The story started by showing the crime in question before moving on to the trial and tracing the criminal act to its emotional roots. At the end of each episode the judge delivered his verdict. President of the Court was played by Anthony Newlands, while the grave-faced figures of prosecutor Maitre Lacan and defence council Maitre Savel were respectively played by John Phillips and Daniel Moynihan. Bernard Archer as Maitre Dubois appeared in the last series. Each episode was named after the person on trial.
