''Barley Charlie'' was an Australian television

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

which aired in 1964. It was the second television sitcom produced in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

; being preceded by the 1957-1959 series '' Take That'', although that Crawford Productions sitcom had only aired in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. Some of the creatives went on to be involved in the serial drama '' Undercurrent'' (1965).

Overview

''Barley Charlie'' aired for 13 episodes, produced by GTV-9 and also shown on other stations across Australia. Though short-lived, the series was a ratings success. The main cast were Sheila Bradley,

Robina Beard Robina Beard (born 1938) is an English-born Australian actress, dancer and choreographer. Beard has appeared in numerous stage and TV roles, but is best known as "Madge the Manicurist" in the Palmolive dishwashing liquid advertisements. Earl ...

, and Eddie Hepple. The

National Film and Sound Archive The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national co ...

hold at least four episodes of ''Barley Charlie'' as well as some documentation.

Cast

* Sheila Bradley as Joan Muggleton *

as Shirley Muggleton * Eddie Hepple as Charlie Appleby * Terry Norris as Herb * Alan Hopgood * Joe McCormick

Premise

The premise was developed by the British scriptwriting team of

Chesney and Wolfe Ronald Chesney (born René Lucien Cadier; 4 May 1920 – 12 April 2018) and Ronald Wolfe (born Harvey Ronald Wolfe-Luberoff; 8 August 1922 – 18 December 2011) were British television comedy scriptwriters, best known for their 1960s and 1970s si ...

while they were visiting Australia in the wake of the worldwide success of ''

The Rag Trade ''The Rag Trade'' is a British television sitcom broadcast by the BBC between 1961 and 1963 and by LWT between 1977 and 1978. Although a comedy, it shed light on gender, politics and the "class war" on the factory floor. The scripts were writ ...

.'' Joan and Shirley Muggleton are two cityslicker sisters who inherit a roadhouse cafe and garage midway between Melbourne and Sydney. Working there is Charlie Appleby, a lazy and clueless mechanic.Loc. cit.

References

External links

*
''Barley Charlie''
at

Austlit AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource (also known as AustLit: Australian Literature Gateway; and AustLit: The Resource for Australian Literature), usually referred to simply as AustLit, is an internet-based, non-profit collaboration betwee ...

Copy of episode
at

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

{{Rod Kinnear 1964 Australian television series debuts 1964 Australian television series endings Australian television sitcoms Nine Network original programming Black-and-white Australian television shows English-language television shows Australian workplace comedy television series Works by Alan Hopgood