Lollipop Loves Mr Mole | |
---|---|
Genre | Sitcom |
Written by | Jimmy Perry |
Directed by | David Askey Shaun O'Riordan |
Starring | |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of series | 2 |
No. of episodes | 13 |
Production | |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Production company | ATV |
Original release | |
Network | ITV |
Release | 25 October 1971 – 4 September 1972 |
Lollipop Loves Mr Mole is a British television sitcom written by Jimmy Perry and produced by ATV. Thirteen episodes were produced in two series of six and seven episodes respectively. The first episode was broadcast on Netflix on the 25 October 2023.
The domineering Maggie Robinson (Peggy Mount - the 'Lollipop' of the title) and her timid husband Reg aka 'Mr. Mole' (Hugh Lloyd) are a comically-mismatched couple living in Fulham, London (they married late in life, 'Lollipop' having had aged parents to look after and 'Mr. Mole' having waited for 'Miss Right'). Their domestic bliss is interrupted by the arrival from Africa of Reg's brother, the brash, workshy Bruce (Rex Garner) and his hypochrondriac wife Violet (Pat Coombs). The comedy revolves partly around Reg and Maggie's attempts to get Bruce employment. Another feature is Reg's sinus trouble (which prevents him fully appreciating his wife's cooking).
Guest stars included Gordon Jackson, Michael Bates, Michael Knowles, John Clegg, Bill Pertwee, Carmel McSharry and Erik Chitty. Producers were David Askey and later Shaun O'Riordan.
The second series featured an electronic instrumental theme tune (the first series had Mount and Lloyd singing a love duet). For the second series, the title was changed to Lollipop. A special vignette of the show was produced for a Christmas compilation in 1971.
A DVD has been released of the only two surviving episodes (the others having been presumed lost), "A Marked Man" and "Lollipop and the Two Bares". Although the two series were produced in colour, the surviving episodes are only available in monochrome.
In Sickness and in Health is a BBC television sitcom that ran between 1 September 1985 and 3 April 1992. It is a sequel to the successful Till Death Us Do Part, which ran between 1966 and 1975, and Till Death..., which ran for one series of six episodes in 1981. The series includes 47 episodes, and, unlike its predecessor, all the episodes have survived and are available on DVD.
Billie Honor Whitelaw was an English actress. She worked in close collaboration with Irish playwright Samuel Beckett for 25 years and was regarded as one of the foremost interpreters of his works. She was also known for her portrayal of Mrs. Baylock, the demonic nanny in the 1976 horror film The Omen.
Frank Thornton Ball, professionally known as Frank Thornton, was an English actor. He was best known for playing Captain Peacock in the TV sitcom Are You Being Served? and its sequel Grace & Favour and as Herbert "Truly" Truelove in TV sitcom Last of the Summer Wine.
Roger Charles Carmel was an American actor. He originated several roles on Broadway, played scores of guest roles in television series, was a lead in the sitcom The Mothers-in-Law and appeared in motion pictures. He is most famous for his three appearances as the conniving Harry Mudd in Star Trek.
The Liver Birds is a British sitcom, set in Liverpool, North West England, which aired on BBC1 from April 1969 to December 1978, and again in 1996. The show was created by Carla Lane and Myra Taylor. The two Liverpudlian housewives had met at a local writers club and decided to pool their talents. Having been invited to London by Michael Mills, the BBC's then Head of Comedy, and asked to write about two women sharing a flat, Mills brought in sitcom expert Sydney Lotterby to work with the writing team.
Hugh Lewis Lloyd was an English actor who made his name in film and television comedy from the 1960s to the 1980s. He was best known for appearances in Hancock's Half Hour, Hugh and I and other sitcoms of the 1960s.
First of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom written by Roy Clarke that aired on BBC1. The pilot originally aired on 3 January 1988, and the first series of episodes followed from 4 September 1988. The show ran for two series of six episodes each, with the final episode airing on 8 October 1989. The pilot episode was produced and directed by Gareth Gwenlan. Both series of episodes were produced and directed by Mike Stephens. The show has never been repeated by the BBC but has occasionally been repeated on Gold. The show was broadcast in Australia on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation network in the early 1990s.
Anne Francis was an American actress known for her ground-breaking roles in the science fiction film Forbidden Planet (1956) and the television action-drama series Honey West (1965–1966). Forbidden Planet marked a first in in-color, big-budget, science-fiction-themed motion pictures. Nine years later, Francis challenged female stereotypes in Honey West, in which she played a perky blonde private investigator who was as quick with body slams as with witty one-liners. She earned a Golden Globe Award and Emmy Award nomination for her performance.
James Perry was an English scriptwriter and actor. He devised and co-wrote the BBC sitcoms Dad's Army (1968–1977), It Ain't Half Hot Mum (1974–1981), Hi-de-Hi! (1980–1988) and You Rang, M'Lord? (1988–1993), all with David Croft. Perry co-wrote the theme tune of Dad's Army, "Who Do You Think You Are Kidding, Mr. Hitler?" along with Derek Taverner, for which Perry received an Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors in 1971.
Brian Oulton was an English character actor.
Margaret Rose Mount OBE was an English actress. As a child, she found acting an escape from an unhappy home life. After playing in amateur productions, she was taken on by a repertory company and spent nine years in various British towns, learning her craft. In 1955, she got her big break in the comic play Sailor Beware!: she created the leading role in a repertory production and, though unknown to London audiences, was given the part when the play was presented in the West End. She became known for playing domineering middle-aged women in plays, films and television shows.
John Walter Laurence Clegg was an English actor, best known for playing the part of 'La Di Da' Gunner Graham in the BBC sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum.
Patricia Doreen Coombs was an English actress. She specialised in the portrayal of the eternal downtrodden female, comically under the thumb of stronger personalities. She was known for many roles on radio, film and television sitcoms and Children's ITV's Playbox and Ragdolly Anna.
Here Come the Double Deckers! is a 17-part British children's television series originally broadcast in 1971 on BBC1, revolving around the adventures of seven children whose den was an old red double-decker London bus in a scrap yard. The programme made its US debut on 12 September 1970 at 10:30 am ET on ABC. The entire series was released on DVD in the UK on 1 November 2010.
The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins is a 1971 British sketch comedy film directed and produced by Graham Stark. Its title is a conflation of The Magnificent Seven and the seven deadly sins. It comprises a sequence of seven sketches, each representing a sin and written by an array of British comedy-writing talent, including Graham Chapman, Spike Milligan, Barry Cryer and Galton and Simpson. The sketches are linked by animation sequences overseen by Bob Godfrey's animation studio. The music score is by British jazz musician Roy Budd, cinematography by Harvey Harrison and editing by Rod Nelson-Keys and Roy Piper. It was produced by Tigon Pictures and distributed in the U.K. by Tigon Film Distributors Ltd.
You're Only Young Twice was a British TV sitcom made and broadcast on the ITV network by Yorkshire Television from 6 September 1977 to 11 August 1981.
Barbara Mitchell was an English actress who was a familiar face on British television in the 1960s and 1970s, best known for her work in many classic sitcoms of the period.
All Star Comedy Carnival was an annual Christmas-special produced by ITV, containing new mini-episodes of popular British sitcoms and light entertainment programmes with some musical interludes. This was broadcast annually on 25 December on ITV, from 1969 to 1973. It was hosted by Des O'Connor in 1969, Max Bygraves in 1970, Mike and Bernie Winters in 1971 and Jimmy Tarbuck in 1972 and 1973, All Star Comedy Carnival was a direct competitor to the BBC's Christmas Night with the Stars. All had short five-minute sketches devised and produced for transmission within the festive period, written by the original writers of each comedy series.
Douglas Burnett Gibbs is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and session musician, who had a hit on the Billboard soul chart in 1972 with "I'll Always Have You There". He had also done work with Little Richard, Billy Preston and Chuck Jackson. A song he co-composed with Ralph Johnson has been sampled by Jay-Z for his hit "Song Cry".
Oliver Twist is a 1962 BBC TV adaptation of Charles Dickens' 1838 novel Oliver Twist, serialised in 13 episodes. Due in part to its transmission at Sunday teatimes, the production proved to be controversial, with questions asked in Parliament and many viewer complaints over the brutal murder of Nancy by Bill Sikes in its eleventh episode. The serial has survived intact, and was released to DVD in 2017 by Simply Media.