Deep and Crisp and Stolen is a 1964 British television play by Dave Freeman directed by Ronald Marriott. It was a Christmas season "special" featuring many cameos from British television stars of the time and aired on 21 December 1964.
A gang of thieves rob a West End department store on Christmas Eve.
According to BFI Screenoline "the audience-pleasing focus of the play being the guest appearance of Detective Chief-Superintendent Lockhart (played by Raymond Francis), the hero of ITV's popular police drama No Hiding Place (1959-67)." [1] The play was described by the Western Daily Press as a "cracking good comedy." [2]
The Birmingham Evening Mail called it "hardly the hilarious thing it seemed intended to be." [3] The Guardian said it was "mostly rubbish". [4] The Daily Telegraph declared it was "a very entertaining piece of nonsense." [5] The show was the seventeenth most popular program of the year on British television with an audience of 7.46 million. [6]
Victoria Wood was an English comedian, actress, lyricist, singer, composer, pianist, screenwriter, producer and director. Wood wrote and starred in dozens of sketches, plays, musicals, films and sitcoms over several decades and her live comedy act was interspersed with her own compositions which she performed at the piano. Much of her humour was grounded in everyday life and included references to activities, attitudes and products that are considered to exemplify Britain. She was noted for her skills in observational comedy and in satirising aspects of social class.
Francis Alick Howard, better known by his stage-name Frankie Howerd, was an English actor and comedian.
Millicent Mary Lillian Martin is an English actress, singer, and comedian. She was the lone female singer of topical songs on the weekly BBC Television satirical show That Was the Week That Was, and won a BAFTA TV Award in 1964. For her work on Broadway, she received Tony Award nominations for Side by Side by Sondheim (1977) and King of Hearts (1978), both for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. Other television roles include her recurring role as Gertrude Moon in the NBC sitcom Frasier (2000–04) and Joan Margaret in Grace & Frankie (2017–2022).
Leslie Dennis Heseltine is an English television presenter, actor and comedian. He presented Family Fortunes from 1987 until 2002.
The Chuckle Brothers were an English comedy double act comprising real-life brothers Barry David Elliott and Paul Harman Elliott. They were known for their BBC children's programme ChuckleVision, which aired from 1987 to 2009 and celebrated its twenty-first series with a 2010 stage tour titled An Audience with the Chuckle Brothers. The comedy of the Chuckle Brothers usually derived from slapstick, other visual gags, and wordplay, and their catchphrases included "To me, to you!" and "Oh dear, oh dear!"
New Faces is a British television talent show that aired in the 1970s and 1980s. It has been hosted by Leslie Crowther, Derek Hobson and Marti Caine. It was produced for the ITV network by ATV, and later by Central.
Lionel Blair was a Canadian-born British actor, choreographer, tap dancer, and television presenter. From the late 1960s until the early 1980s, he made regular appearances as a dancer and entertainer on British television. He also presented the quiz programme Name That Tune, and was a team captain on the televised charades gameshow Give Us a Clue.
The Krankies are a Scottish comedy duo who enjoyed success as a cabaret act in the 1970s and on television in the 1980s, featuring in their own television shows and making pop records. Since this period, they have also regularly appeared in pantomime. The duo comprises wife Janette Tough and her husband Ian. As the Krankies they portray schoolboy Wee Jimmy Krankie (Janette), and paternal figure Ian Krankie (Ian), though in their comedy act they also portray other characters. Beginning in the 1990s, they regularly appeared as The Krankies in episodes of the BBC comedy series French and Saunders. Wee Jimmy Krankie often used the catchphrase exclamation "Fandabidozi!"
Arthur Ian Lavender was an English stage, film and television actor. He is best known for his role as Private Pike in Dad's Army, a BBC sitcom set during World War II, of which he was the last surviving main cast member.
Thomas Edward Trinder CBE was an English stage, screen and radio comedian whose catchphrase was "You lucky people!". Described by cultural historian Matthew Sweet as "a cocky, front-of-cloth variety turn", he was one of the United Kingdom's foremost entertainers during the Second World War.
Sarah-Jane Abigail Lancashire is an English actress. Known for her work in television and theatre, she has received numerous accolades over a career spanning four decades, including three British Academy Television Awards and a nomination for an Olivier Award. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2017 for services to drama.
Jimmy Hanley was an English actor who appeared in the popular Huggetts film series, and in ITV's most popular advertising magazine programme, Jim's Inn, from 1957 to 1963.
Robert St Clair Grant was an English actor, comedian and writer, best known for playing bus conductor Jack Harper in the television sitcom On the Buses, as well as its film spin-offs and stage version.
Oh No It's Selwyn Froggitt is a British television sitcom produced by Yorkshire Television which originally aired on the ITV network from 1974 to 1978. Initially created by Roy Clarke from a concept by Bill Maynard, most of the series was written by Alan Plater. It starred Maynard as Selwyn Froggitt, a hapless but good-natured council labourer, handyman and working men's club secretary in the fictional Yorkshire town of Scarsdale. The programme was a major ratings success, with Froggitt's catchphrase "magic!" becoming widely known in the United Kingdom. It ran for four series, the last of which carried the title Selwyn and featured only Maynard reprising his role in the new location of a holiday camp.
John Smethurst was an English television and film comic actor. He was best known for his role as Eddie Booth in the British television sitcom Love Thy Neighbour.
James Arthur Thomas Jewel Marsh, known professionally as Jimmy Jewel, was an English comedian and actor whose long career in stage, radio, television and film productions, included a 32-year partnership with his cousin Ben Warriss.
Top of the Form was a BBC radio and television quiz show for teams from secondary schools in the United Kingdom which ran for 38 years, from 1948 to 1986.
David Turner was a British playwright.
Raymond Francis was a British actor best known for his role as Detective Chief Superintendent Tom Lockhart in the Associated-Rediffusion detective series Murder Bag, Crime Sheet and No Hiding Place. He played the role of Lockhart in these series from 1957 to 1967, and the character was one of the first recurring television detectives.
"The Deep Blue Sea" is a 1954 British TV play based on the play by Terence Rattigan starring Kenneth More, reprising his role on stage.