Nearest and Dearest | |
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Directed by | John Robins |
Written by | Roy Bottomley Tom Brennand |
Produced by | Michael Carreras |
Starring | Hylda Baker Jimmy Jewel |
Cinematography | David Holmes |
Edited by | Chris Barnes |
Music by | Derek Hilton |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Anglo-EMI (UK) |
Release date |
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Running time | 86 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Nearest and Dearest is a 1972 British comedy film directed by John Robins and starring Hylda Baker and Jimmy Jewel. [1] A spin-off from the long running TV sitcom Nearest and Dearest , it was written by Roy Bottomley and Tom Brennand and produced by Hammer Films in conjunction with a film subsidiary of Granada TV.
Baker and Jewel are feuding brother and sister Nellie and Eli Pledge, owners of Pledge's Purer Pickles.
On their father's death, Eli and Nellie Pledge inherit a pickle factory in Colne, in the north of England. The warring siblings struggle to keep the decrepit "Pledge's Purer Pickles" afloat, hampered by severe lack of funds, zero business acumen and by having inherited a workforce that is a decade beyond retirement age. While Nellie works hard to keep the business going, Eli prefers to indulge in the delights of beer, cigarettes, gambling and women.
The annual Summer holiday is soon upon them and the entire factory is closed down. Nellie takes Eli to a Blackpool boarding house run by landlady Mrs. Rowbottom, whose eyes light upon bachelor Eli. Eli though, only has eyes for the younger Freda. Eli's attempts to further his financial ambitions by marrying off Nellie to a colleague in the pickling business are challenged when Vernon Smallpiece is snatched from the altar by bailiffs for non-payment of his debts.
The theme music for the TV series, composed by Derek Hilton, was turned into a song for the film. It was performed by Hylda Baker who also wrote the lyrics.
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Some venerable double entendres compete for belly laughs with Hylda Baker's malapropisms in this latest TV-sired offering. The movie still manages to come out as an interminable compilation of dirty seaside postcards, and the cosy domestic smuttiness of it all looks very tatty when hammed up over-large for the big screen." [2]
Sky Movies said, "a kind of bumper bundle of seaside postcard jokes, with acting honours going to Jimmy Jewel, underrated as a character actor, and Yootha Joyce, who pops up as Mrs Rowbottom." [3]
Man About the House is a British sitcom created by Brian Cooke and Johnnie Mortimer. It starred Richard O'Sullivan, Paula Wilcox, Sally Thomsett, Yootha Joyce and Brian Murphy. Six series were broadcast on ITV from 15 August 1973 to 7 April 1976. The series was considered daring at the time because it featured a man sharing a London flat with two single women. The show was made by Thames Television and recorded at its Teddington Studios in Greater London. It is regularly repeated on ITV3.
Alastair James Hay Murray is a British comedian, actor, musician and writer.
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Joseph Gladwin was an English actor, best known for his roles as Fred Jackson in Coronation Street, Stan Hardman in Nearest and Dearest, and Wally Batty in the world's longest-running sitcom, Last of the Summer Wine (1975–1987).
Hylda Baker was an English comedian, actress and music hall performer. Born and brought up in Farnworth, Lancashire, she is perhaps best remembered for her role as Nellie Pledge in the Granada ITV sitcom Nearest and Dearest (1968–1973) and for her role in the 1960 film Saturday Night and Sunday Morning.
Nearest and Dearest is a British television sitcom that ran from 1968 to 1973. A total of 45 episodes were made, 18 in monochrome and 27 in colour. The series, produced by Granada Television for the ITV network, starred Hylda Baker and Jimmy Jewel as squabbling middle-aged siblings Nellie and Eli Pledge who ran a family pickle business in Colne, Lancashire, in the North West of England.
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.
For the Love of Ada is an ITV sitcom that ran between 1970 and 1971. One of the notable points about this series was there were no opening titles or closing credits, in the real sense of the word. Instead, both were superimposed on the screen as the 'live' action and script played out on the screen.
Nelly and Nellie are female given names, also used as nicknames, which are derived from the names Helen, Ellen, Petronella, Danielle, Cornelia, Eleanor, Janelle, Chanelle, Penelope, Elizabeth, Natalie or Noelia.
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Up the Junction is a 1968 British "kitchen sink" drama film, directed by Peter Collinson and starring Dennis Waterman, Suzy Kendall, Adrienne Posta, Maureen Lipman and Liz Fraser. It is based on the 1963 book of the same name by Nell Dunn and was adapted by Roger Smith. The soundtrack was by Manfred Mann. The film followed Ken Loach's BBC TV adaptation of 1965, but returned to the original book. It generated less controversy and impact than the Loach version.
"I'm Old Fashioned" is a 1942 song composed by Jerome Kern, with lyrics written by Johnny Mercer.
Peter Eckersley was a British television producer. His television career began on Granada's Scene at 6.30 magazine programme, where Eckersley worked with his friend Michael Parkinson. Eckersley went on to become Head of Drama at Granada Television in the 1960s and 1970s.
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Sue Longhurst is an English actress who appeared in several X-rated sex comedies in the 1970s.
Not On Your Nellie is a British sitcom that ran from 1974 until 1975. It starred veteran actress Hylda Baker as Nellie Pickersgill, a Bolton woman who moves to London to help run her ailing father's Chelsea pub. Seventeen episodes of the series were produced by London Weekend Television for the ITV network.
Vincent Joseph Powell was a British television scriptwriter. He collaborated with a writing partner, Harry Driver, until 1973.
Cyril Edward Bruce-Smith was a Scottish actor who began his career as a child in 1900 and went on to appear in numerous stage plays as well as over 100 films between 1914 and his death almost 50 years later. The son of Frederick and Elsa Smith; his mother travelled with him on his engagements during his boyhood.