The Dustbinmen

Last updated

The Dustbinmen
Dustbinmen.jpg
Genre Comedy
Created by Jack Rosenthal
Written byJack Rosenthal
John Antrobus
Kenneth Cope
Adele Rose
Starring Graham Haberfield
Bryan Pringle
Trevor Bannister
Tim Wylton
John Barrett
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series3
No. of episodes20
Production
Running time30 minutes
Production company Granada Television
Original release
Network ITV
Release23 September 1969 (1969-09-23) 
31 August 1970 (1970-08-31)

The Dustbinmen is a British television sitcom made by Granada Television for ITV, which starred Bryan Pringle, Trevor Bannister, Graham Haberfield and Tim Wylton. The show was a spin-off from a one-off 90-minute television film There's a Hole in Your Dustbin, Delilah (1968) written by Jack Rosenthal and directed by Michael Apted. This led to the sitcom which ran for three series between 1969 and 1970.

Contents

Rosenthal wrote all of the episodes of the first series and, according to the insert in the Network DVD release, all the episodes of the second series too. However, the title credits for Episode 6 of Season 2 name the writers as Tom Brennand and Roy Bottomley.

Main characters

Cheese and Egg, Heavy Breathing, Winston Platt and Eric are the crew of dustcart 'Thunderbird 3' of the Corporation Cleansing Department—the name obviously an ironic reference to the spacecraft in Thunderbirds . Also known as 'Number 3 Gang', throughout the day they collect dustbins and treat each other, or anyone else, with rudeness and disdain. Cheese and Egg, whose real name is C. E. Petty, is a fervent communist and the natural-born leader of the gang; with his knowledge, the gang can escape sticky situations if they are lucky. Heavy Breathing, "the one with the good looks", is obliged to spend much of his time pleasuring housewives—something he finds quite annoying when he would prefer to be resting. Winston Platt, a die-hard fan of Manchester City, views player Colin Bell as a god. Welsh Eric, the more sensitive Coronation Street -fan, spends most of the time talking about television and saving to buy a colour TV for his mother.

Other characters

The Cleansing Department's inspector is always known as Bloody Delilah regardless of who he is. He keeps the nickname because, according to Cheese and Egg in episode 2.1, "They're all bloody Delilahs". Another character, who appeared in all 20 episodes, was Smellie Ibbotson. [1] He starts as the scavenger on the tips but is later promoted to be Bloody Delilah's lapdog, reporting on who was skiving and what they are up to. Not everyone likes Smellie, not just because he was smelly, but also because he is difficult to understand (as he has no teeth).

Episodes

Series 1 (1969)

Series 2 (1970)

Series 3 (1970)

Cast

CharacterThere's a Hole in Your Dustbin, DelilahSeries 1Series 2Series 3
C.E. "Cheese & Egg" Petty Bryan Pringle
Heavy Breathing Trevor Bannister
Winston Platt Graham Haberfield
Eric Llewellyn Tim Wylton
Bloody Delilah
Trevalyan Sinclair
(Frank Windsor)
Mr Sinclair
(John Woodvine)
Bernard Pooke
(Brian Wilde)
Smellie Ibbotson

The Dustbinmen has links with other programmes, many of which were also made by Granada Television.

Coronation Street was mentioned a few times by Eric; Graham Haberfield, aka Winston once played Jerry Booth in the show. Julie Goodyear appeared in two episodes as a housewife; she later played Bet Lynch. Barbara Knox (at that time Mullaney) who later played Rita Littlewood/Fairclough/Sullivan/Tanner played a housewife who read tea leaves. Jill Summers (Phyllis Pearce) played a cleaner in one episode. Peter Dudley (Bert Tilsley) appeared as a man in a hospital corridor in one episode and Bryan Mosley (Alf Roberts) once appeared as a doctor. Furthermore, the opening and closing titles contain a recurring motif of a flower in a discarded beercan; "Newton and Ridley" (the Rovers Return brewers) is printed on this beercan.

Jack Rosenthal left the show to concentrate on developing another Granada sitcom, The Lovers , which co-starred Paula Wilcox. She appeared in two episodes of The Dustbinmen as Naomi, Winston's girlfriend.

There are links with Last of the Summer Wine too. Brian Wilde, who played the final Bloody Delilah, played Walter Foggy Dewhurst in the programme. John Comer who played Sid in the programme, once played a policeman in The Dustbinmen and Trevor Bannister has a recurring role as the golf club captain Toby Mulberry Smith. Also, Trevor Bannister would later appear (1972–1979) in Are You Being Served? .

In 1988 Brian Wilde starred with Trevor Bannister in the BBC1 show Wyatt's Watchdogs, a short-lived sitcom about bickering neighbours trying to run a Neighbourhood Watch scheme.

Preservation and home media

In 2005 the sole surviving material was released on Region 2 DVD by Network DVD.

Trivia

The show used "pseudo-profanity". Like the later show Porridge , its characters would be expected to swear frequently, but at the time most swear words were forbidden in scripts, especially sitcoms. The characters frequently used the word "piggin'" and the phrase "bog off", as an all purpose substitute for swearing, just as characters in Porridge used the word "naff". There was almost more controversy over this than over actual swearing, with accusations of cowardice on the one hand, and complaints about the "made up" swear words on the other.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<i>Are You Being Served?</i> British TV sitcom (1972–1985)

Are You Being Served? is a British television sitcom that was broadcast from 1972 to 1985. It was created and written by David Croft, who also served as executive producer and director, and Jeremy Lloyd. Michael Knowles and John Chapman also wrote certain episodes. Produced by the BBC, the series starred Mollie Sugden, Trevor Bannister, Frank Thornton, John Inman, Wendy Richard, Arthur Brough, Nicholas Smith, Larry Martyn, Harold Bennett and Arthur English.

<i>Out of the Unknown</i> Television series

Out of the Unknown is a British television science fiction and horror anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and broadcast on BBC2 in four series between 1965 and 1971.

<i>Steptoe and Son</i> British TV sitcom (1962–1974)

Steptoe and Son is a British sitcom written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson about a father-and-son rag-and-bone business in 26a Oil Drum Lane, a fictional street in Shepherd's Bush, London. Four series were broadcast by the BBC in black and white from 1962 to 1965, followed by a second run from 1970 to 1974 in colour. The lead roles were played by Wilfrid Brambell and Harry H. Corbett. The theme tune, "Old Ned", was composed by Ron Grainer. The series was voted 15th in a 2004 poll by the BBC to find Britain's Best Sitcom. It was remade in the United States as Sanford and Son, in Sweden as Albert & Herbert, in the Netherlands as Stiefbeen en zoon, in Portugal as Camilo & Filho, and in South Africa as Snetherswaite and Son. Two film adaptations of the series were released in cinemas, Steptoe and Son (1972) and Steptoe and Son Ride Again (1973).

<i>All Gas and Gaiters</i> British TV sitcom (1966–1971)

All Gas and Gaiters is a British television ecclesiastical sitcom which aired on BBC1 from 1966 to 1971. It was written by Pauline Devaney and Edwin Apps, a husband-and-wife team who used the pseudonym of John Wraith when writing the pilot. All Gas and Gaiters was also broadcast on BBC Radio from 1971 to 1972.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Apted</span> English television and film director and producer (1941–2021)

Michael David Apted was an English television and film director and producer.

<i>Triangle</i> (1981 TV series) BBC television series

Triangle is a BBC Television soap opera broadcast in the early 1980s, set aboard a North Sea ferry that sailed from Felixstowe to Gothenburg and Gothenburg to Amsterdam. A third imaginary leg existed between Amsterdam and Felixstowe to justify the programme's title, but this was not operated by the ferry company. The show ran for three series before being cancelled, but is still generally remembered as "some of the most mockable British television ever produced". The scripts involved clichéd relationships and stilted dialogue, making the show the butt of several jokes—particularly on Terry Wogan's morning Radio 2 programme—which caused some embarrassment to the BBC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Rosenthal</span> English playwright

Jack Morris Rosenthal was an English playwright. He wrote 129 early episodes of the ITV soap opera Coronation Street and over 150 screenplays, including original television plays, feature films, and adaptations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Wilde</span> British actor (1927–2008)

Brian George Wilde was an English actor, best known for his roles in television comedy, most notably Mr Barrowclough in Porridge and Walter "Foggy" Dewhurst in Last of the Summer Wine. His lugubrious world-weary face was a staple of British television for forty years.

<i>Comedy Playhouse</i> 1961–1975 British television series

Comedy Playhouse is a long-running British anthology series of one-off unrelated sitcoms that aired for 128 episodes from 1961 to 1975. Many episodes later graduated to their own series, including Steptoe and Son, Meet the Wife, Till Death Us Do Part, All Gas and Gaiters, Up Pompeii!, Not in Front of the Children, Me Mammy, That's Your Funeral, The Liver Birds, Are You Being Served? and particularly Last of the Summer Wine, which is the world's longest running sitcom, having run from January 1973 to August 2010. In all, 27 sitcoms started from a pilot in the Comedy Playhouse strand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trevor Bannister</span> British actor (1934–2011)

Trevor Gordon Bannister was a British actor best known for having played the womanising and wisecracking junior salesman Mr Lucas in the sitcom Are You Being Served? from 1972 to 1979, and for his role as Toby Mulberry Smith in the long-running sitcom Last of the Summer Wine, from 2003 until it ended its run in 2010.

Pipkins is a British children's TV programme. Hartley Hare, Pig, Topov, Octavia and the gang were the stars of ATV's pre-school series which ran from January 1973 to 29 December 1981.

<i>Special Branch</i> (TV series) British television crime drama series (1969–1974)

Special Branch is a British television series made by Thames Television for ITV and shown between 1969-1970 and 1973-1974. A police drama series, the action was centred on members of the Special Branch counterintelligence and counterterrorism department of the London Metropolitan Police. The first two series starred Derren Nesbitt, before the programme went through an overhaul, with George Sewell taking over as the new lead.

<i>The Lovers</i> (1970 TV series) British ITV sitcom 1970–71

The Lovers is a British television sitcom by Jack Rosenthal, starring Richard Beckinsale and Paula Wilcox as a courting couple, Geoffrey and Beryl. It was made between 1970 and 1971 by Granada Television for the ITV network. A spin-off feature film was released in 1973. The series was also given a repeat run on Channel 4 in 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bryan Pringle</span> British actor (1935–2002)

Bryan Pringle was an English character actor who appeared for several decades in television, film and theatre productions.

The Dad's Army missing episodes are lost episodes and sketches of the British television sitcom Dad's Army. The programme ran for nine series from 31 July 1968 to 13 November 1977. Three out of six episodes from the second series and two of the four Christmas sketches are missing because, at that time, the BBC routinely reused videotape as a cost-saving measure.

<i>Hark at Barker</i> British comedy television series

Hark at Barker is a 1969 British comedy series combining elements of sitcom and sketch show, which starred Ronnie Barker. It was made for the ITV network by London Weekend Television.

<i>Curry and Chips</i> British television sitcom

Curry and Chips is a British television sitcom broadcast in 1969 which was produced by London Weekend Television for the ITV network.

Adele Rose was an English television writer. She was the longest-serving scriptwriter for the soap opera Coronation Street, writing 457 scripts over a period of 37 years from 1961, and was the first woman to write for the show. She also originated the series Byker Grove (1989–2006), aimed at teenagers.

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

This is a list of British television related events from 1966.

References