Early Doors

Last updated

Early Doors
Early Doors.jpg
Written by Craig Cash
Phil Mealey
Starring Craig Cash
Phil Mealey
John Henshaw
Susan Cookson
Rita May
Mark Benton
James McAvoy
Rodney Litchfield
Maxine Peake
Theme music composer Roddy Frame
Opening theme"Small World"
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series2
No. of episodes12
Production
Running time30 minutes
Production companyPhil McIntyre Television
Original release
Network BBC Two
Release12 May 2003 (2003-05-12) 
18 October 2004 (2004-10-18)

Early Doors is a BBC sitcom written by Craig Cash and Phil Mealey. Both writers appear in the series, playing the characters Joe and Duffy, who are best friends. Early Doors is set at The Grapes, a small public house in Heaton Norris, Stockport, where daily life revolves around comical issues of love, loneliness and blocked urinals.

Contents

Premise

The show is centred on a pub landlord named Ken, his preoccupation with his step-daughter Melanie, who is preparing to meet her real father and his nervous relationship with barmaid Tanya after Ken's wife left him for his best friend. The series reflects some of the Northern humour displayed in The Royle Family (co-written by Cash). In a similar style to The Royle Family, every scene unfolds at The Grapes and it is also set in Greater Manchester. Two series of the show were produced in 2003 and 2004. The series refers to Stockport landmarks, including Houldsworth Square in central Reddish and the McVitie's factory in Heaton Chapel.

Title

The title is a British slang phrase meaning those who arrive earlier than is customary and was often associated with pub customers who wait for or arrive soon after evening opening, around 5:30 p.m. Until the Licensing Act 1988, pubs in England closed in the afternoon. Most are now open all day. It is also widely heard in British football circles and was resuscitated in comments about football. The phrase originates in the practice of British theatres from around 1870 of allowing customers who paid a little extra to enter the theatre early and choose their own seats to beat the rush just before the performance started. [1]

Regular characters

Other characters

Series and Episodes

Series 1

Series 2

Production

The series has no laughter track which was unusual for sitcoms at time. There is little diegetic music but the pub regulars often spontaneously sing to each other, such as "Camptown Races" as they leave the pub for the races and "Sex Bomb" on their return. In most episodes a character will say "To the Regiment!" and others will respond "I wish I was there!".

Theme music

The theme music for the series is "Small World" by Roddy Frame from the 2002 album Surf .

The 2006 Channel 4 documentary Who Killed the British Sitcom used the closing music from Early Doors over its own end credits.

Live stage show

In June 2018, it was announced that Craig Cash and Phil Mealey had been writing Early Doors Live, a stage show based on the series. The show was due to open at The Lowry, Salford in August 2018, before a UK arena tour. [2]

It was said that the show would bring back almost all of the original cast from the TV series, including pub landlord Ken, played by John Henshaw, 13 years on, reflecting many of the changes in the pub world – most noticeably, the smoking ban. [3] Returning cast from the TV series included John Henshaw as Ken, Phil Mealey as Duffy, Craig Cash as Joe, Susan Cookson as Tanya, Lisa Millett as Debbie, Joan Kempson as Winnie, and James Quinn and Peter Wight as policemen Nige and Phil. Also joining the cast were Judith Barker, Vicky Binns, Nick Birkenshaw, Neil Hurst and Laura Woodward. [2]

In January 2019, Early Doors Live won the Manchester Evening News CityLife Award for Best Theatre Production. [4] It was soon followed by the announcement that the live stage show would be returning to The Lowry in the summer of 2019. [5]

Reception

Despite the first series averaging just 1.7 million viewers, it was said to have "scored particularly highly on the appreciation indices". It was noted that BBC Two controller, Jane Root, decided to commission a second series in part "because such a high proportion of viewers enjoyed it." [6] Nancy Banks-Smith, writing in The Guardian , wrote that the series was "such a slow-burning comedy that you only start to smile during the next programme." [7] The show was placed at No. 91 in the 2003–04 Britain's Best Sitcom poll run by the BBC.

Related Research Articles

<i>Dallas</i> (1978 TV series) American television series

Dallas was an American prime time soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1978, to May 3, 1991. The series revolved around an affluent and feuding Texas family, the Ewings, who owned the independent oil company Ewing Oil and the cattle-ranching land of Southfork. The series originally focused on the marriage of Bobby Ewing and Pam Ewing, whose families were sworn enemies. As the series progressed, Bobby's elder brother, oil tycoon J. R. Ewing, became the show's breakout character, whose schemes and dirty business became the show's trademark. When the show ended on May 3, 1991, J. R. was the only character to have appeared in every episode.

<i>Love Thy Neighbour</i> (1972 TV series) British TV sitcom (1972–1976)

Love Thy Neighbour is a British television sitcom that was broadcast from 13 April 1972 until 22 January 1976. The show spanned eight series, lasted for 53 episodes and was produced by Thames Television for the ITV network.

<i>Family Affairs</i> British soap opera

Family Affairs was a British soap opera that aired on Channel 5. It debuted on 30 March 1997, the day of the launch of said channel and was the first programme broadcast on the channel. It was screened as five thirty-minute episodes per week at 6:30pm on weekdays, followed by an omnibus edition on Sundays. The series never achieved high ratings, so it went through a number of dramatic revamps involving wholesale cast turnover. The premise of the series was also refocused from a family in a quiet suburb just outside London, to a range of different people living on a bustling outer London street.

<i>The Royle Family</i> British TV sitcom (1998–2012)

The Royle Family is a British sitcom produced by Granada Television for the BBC, which ran for three series from 1998 to 2000, and specials from 2006 to 2012. It centres on the lives of a television-fixated Manchester family, the Royles, comprising family patriarch Jim Royle, his wife Barbara, their daughter Denise, their son Antony and Denise's fiancé David.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caroline Aherne</span> English actress, comedian and writer (1963–2016)

Caroline Mary Aherne was an English actress, comedian, writer and director. She was best known for performing as the acerbic chat show host Mrs Merton, in various roles in The Fast Show, and as Denise in The Royle Family (1998–2012), a series which she co-wrote. She won BAFTA awards for her work on The Mrs Merton Show and The Royle Family.

<i>Phil of the Future</i> American science fiction comedy television series (2004–2006)

Phil of the Future is an American science fiction comedy television series that originally aired on Disney Channel from June 18, 2004, to August 19, 2006, for two seasons. The series was created by Douglas Tuber and Tim Maile and produced by 2121 Productions. It follows a family from the future that gets stranded in the 21st century when their time machine breaks down.

Craig Cash is an English comedian, actor, voice actor, director and BAFTA award-winning writer and producer. His best known works are in the television shows The Royle Family, The Fast Show, The Mrs Merton Show, Early Doors, Sunshine and most recently The Café, Rovers and After Hours. Cash took over from his Royle Family co-star Caroline Aherne as the narrator of Channel 4's Gogglebox after her death in 2016.

Heaton Norris is a suburb of the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. It is one of the Four Heatons, along with neighbours Heaton Chapel, Heaton Mersey and Heaton Moor. Originally within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, part of Heaton Norris was annexed to the County Borough of Stockport in 1835; Heaton Chapel and Heaton Moor followed in 1894 and the remnant in 1913.

Victoria Jane Binns is an English actress, known for her two roles in the two veteran ITV soap operas Emmerdale and Coronation Street. She had a lead role in Von Trapped opposite Caroline Quentin and also appeared in a couple of series of Children's Ward as a tomboy called Tash. In 1999 she played the role of Anne-Marie in the BBC drama series Nature Boy, directed by Joe Wright.

Rodney Litchfield was an actor known for Early Doors (2003), Sunshine (2008) and Grow Your Own (2007).

Phil Mealey is a British actor and writer from Stockport.

Sunshine is a three-part comedy drama that began on 7 October 2008 on BBC One, from the co-writers of The Royle Family and Early Doors. These co-writers, Craig Cash and Phil Mealey, also appear in the series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vanessa Gold</span> EastEnders character, created 2010

Vanessa Gold is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders. She is portrayed by Zöe Lucker, and first appeared in EastEnders in the episode broadcast on 4 June 2010. A "dynamic and assured" businesswoman, Vanessa was created by series consultant Simon Ashdown to be "a Zöe Lucker-type". Lucker accepted the role on a seven-episode contract, which was extended after she impressed the series producers with her performance. In April 2011, it was announced that Lucker was to leave the show. She departed on 6 October 2011, after the conclusion of her storylines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neil Hurst</span> Actor

Neil Hurst is an actor and presenter born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England best known for his television and stage theatre career.

References

  1. "Early doors". Worldwidewords.org. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Early Doors Live 2018". Earlydoorslive.com. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
  3. Bourne, Dianne (29 July 2018). "Early Doors stars Craig Cash and Phil Mealey on bringing pub comedy back to life". Manchester Evening News . Retrieved 1 December 2018.
  4. "CityLife Awards". Manchester Evening News . 29 January 2019.
  5. "Early Doors returns to Lowry". Manchester Evening News . 29 January 2019.
  6. Wells, Matt (11 February 2004). "BBC call to end ratings obsession | Media". The Guardian . London. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
  7. Banks-Smith, Nancy (14 September 2004). "Blue Murder | Coronation Street | Dispatches | Early Doors | Jack Dee Live at the Apollo | Media". The Guardian . London. Retrieved 7 December 2015.