Queenie's Castle

Last updated

Queenie's Castle
Queenie's Castle.jpg
Main cast
Genre Sitcom
Written by Keith Waterhouse
Willis Hall
Starring Diana Dors
Freddie Fletcher
Brian Marshall
Barrie Rutter
Tony Caunter
Lynne Perrie
Bryan Mosley
Theme music composer Cliff Twemlow
Opening theme"The Greatest Show on Earth"
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series3
No. of episodes18
Production
ProducersGraham Evans (Series 1)
Ian Davidson (Series 2-3)
EditorTim Ritson
Production company Yorkshire Television
Original release
Network ITV
Release5 November 1970 (1970-11-05) 
5 September 1972 (1972-09-05)

Queenie's Castle is a British sitcom set in early 1970s Leeds, West Yorkshire. The series was made for the ITV by Yorkshire Television and aired from 1970 to 1972. The series starred British actress Diana Dors. [1]

Contents

Plot

Starring Diana Dors as the eponymous Queenie Shepherd, the series revolved around the lives and, often illegal, activities of the residents of a Social Housing Development in early 1970s Leeds, West Yorkshire. Queenie's husband Lionel never appears, leaving the neighbours and viewers alike to assume he is in prison. [2] Various excuses are made, such as "He's working on the motorway in Carlisle", but this changed throughout the series.

Queenie shared her flat with four men - her shady brother-in-law Jack, and her sons: labourer Raymond, van driver Bunny, and the unemployed Douglas.

The family's archenemy, Mrs Petty, lives on a ground floor flat and runs a cake shop in a row of shops at the bottom of the flats. Mrs Petty's main friend is Mrs Blakely who also dislikes the Shepherds. Although Mrs Petty is seen to live in a ground floor flat—and this is made perfectly obvious throughout the series—on more than one occasion she claims to live next door to the Shepherds, who quite clearly live several floors up.

Production

The Quarry Hill flats were the setting for Queenie's Castle A Middle East Soldier Revisits Britain- Life in Wartime Leeds, England, UK, 1943 D15678.jpg
The Quarry Hill flats were the setting for Queenie's Castle

Produced by Yorkshire Television, the scripts were written by Keith Waterhouse (author of Billy Liar ) and Willis Hall. [3] The remaining four episodes of series one were recorded in black and white due to the ITV colour strike.

Although the location was unspecified on screen, parts of the series were filmed in Quarry Hill, Leeds. The council flats, where it was filmed have since been demolished. [2] They were notable as the first council flats of their kind, built in art deco style in the 1930s.

Cast

Episodes

Series 1

Series 2

Series 3

Reception

According to the BFI, "Dors proved so popular as the brassy Queenie that after the third and final series, she and Caunter essentially reprised their characters under different names for the rugby league sitcom All Our Saturdays (ITV, 1973)." [2]

DVD releases

All three series of Queenie's Castle were released (separately) by Simply Media in May 2009. Network has released a three-disc box set of the complete series in August 2009.

DVDYear(s)Release date
The Complete Series 1197018 May 2009
The Complete Series 2197118 May 2009
The Complete Series 3197218 May 2009
The Complete Series 1 to 3 Box Set1970-
1972
10 Aug 2009

Related Research Articles

A British sitcom or a Britcom is a situational comedy programme produced for British television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diana Rigg</span> English actress (1938–2020)

Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg was an English actress of stage and screen. Her roles include Emma Peel in the TV series The Avengers (1965–1968); Countess Teresa di Vicenzo, wife of James Bond, in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969); Olenna Tyrell in Game of Thrones (2013–2017); and the title role in Medea in the West End in 1993 followed by Broadway a year later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITV Yorkshire</span> British TV service for Yorkshire and Lincolnshire

ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network. Until 1974, this was primarily the historic county of Yorkshire and parts of neighbouring counties served by the Emley Moor transmitter. Following a reorganisation in 1974 the transmission area was extended to include Lincolnshire, northwestern Norfolk and parts of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, served by the Belmont transmitter.

Chesney and Wolfe, were a British television comedy screenwriting duo consisting of Ronald Chesney and Ronald Wolfe. They were best known for their sitcoms The Rag Trade, Meet the Wife (1963–1966), On the Buses (1969–1973) and Romany Jones (1972–1975). When their partnership began in the mid-1950s, Chesney was already known to the public as a harmonica player.

Keith Spencer Waterhouse CBE was a British novelist and newspaper columnist and the writer of many television series.

Janet Stephanie Francis is an English actress. She appeared as Penny Warrender in the 1980s romantic comedy Just Good Friends.

Anthony Patrick Caunter is a retired British actor best known for his role as Jack Shepherd in the Yorkshire TV sitcom Queenie's Castle and also his portrayal of the kindly car dealer Roy Evans in EastEnders from 1994 to 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pat Coombs</span> English actress (1926–2002)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quarry Hill, Leeds</span> Area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England

Quarry Hill is an area of central Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is bounded by the Leeds Inner Ring Road in the east and north and the Leeds – York / Hull railway in the south. The area falls within the City and Hunslet ward of Leeds City Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lynne Perrie</span> English actress and singer

Lynne Perrie was an English actress, singer and television personality, best known as Mrs Casper in Ken Loach's 1969 film Kes, Mrs Petty in the television series Queenie's Castle, and as Ivy Tilsley in Coronation Street.

<i>Thats My Boy</i> (1981 TV series) British TV sitcom (1981–1986)

That's My Boy is a British sitcom starring Mollie Sugden that aired on ITV from 23 October 1981 to 4 April 1986. The series was written and created by Pam Valentine and Michael Ashton, who later wrote My Husband and I (1987–88), which also starred Mollie Sugden. It was produced for the ITV network by Yorkshire Television, and, although the first three series are set in London, they were filmed in and around Harrogate in North Yorkshire.

All Our Saturdays is a British sitcom starring Diana Dors that aired in 1973. Stuart Harris wrote two episodes, while Oliver Free, Eric Geen, Anthony Crouch and Peter Robinson & David Rutherford all wrote one each. It was made for the ITV network by Yorkshire Television.

<i>Dear Mother...Love Albert</i> British TV series or programme

Dear Mother...Love Albert is a British television sitcom that aired on ITV from 15 September 1969 to 6 June 1972. It was created by and starred Rodney Bewes. Bewes co-wrote and produced the series with Derrick Goodwin. The show regularly appeared in the TV ratings top ten throughout its three-year run.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glamorous Glue</span> 2011 single by Morrissey

"Glamorous Glue" is a song released by English singer Morrissey in 1992 on the album Your Arsenal. The song has been used in promotions for the Fox television series Lie to Me, and reached number 13 on Billboard magazine's Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart.

This is a list of British television related events from 1978.

This is a list of British television related events from 1972.

This is a list of British television related events from 1970.

This is a list of British television related events from 1969.

Barbara Mitchell was an English actress who became a familiar face on British television in the 1960s and 1970s, best known for her work in many classic sitcoms of the period.

Freddie Fletcher is an English actor best known for playing Jud, in Ken Loach's 1969 film Kes. He also appeared in the ITV series Fox.

References

  1. Vagg, Stephen (7 September 2020). "A Tale of Two Blondes: Diana Dors and Belinda Lee". Filmink.
  2. 1 2 3 Michael Brooke. "BFI screenonline: Queenie's Castle (1970-72)" . Retrieved 7 July 2009.
  3. Wroe, Nicholas (14 April 2001). "The Guardian profile: Keith Waterhouse". The Guardian . Retrieved 7 July 2009.