''Bloomers'' is a short-lived British

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 ...

starring

Richard Beckinsale Richard Arthur Beckinsale (6 July 1947 – 19 March 1979) was an English actor. He played Lennie Godber in the BBC sitcom ''Porridge'' (along with its sequel series '' Going Straight'') and Alan Moore in the ITV sitcom ''Rising Damp''. He is t ...

that aired on BBC2 in 1979. Only five episodes of the show were made before Beckinsale died suddenly from a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

just before a planned rehearsal for the sixth and final episode of the first series. ''Bloomers'' was immediately shelved, though the five completed episodes were broadcast later in the same year.

Plot

Stan is a worker for a small

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

flower business. The humour centred on the relationships between the workers and the scrapes they got into doing odd jobs in the gardens of houses in the district. Beckinsale's character, Stan, was apt to wind up in bed with lonely housewives, and equally apt to spend time with said housewives musing on philosophy and the pointlessness of life.

Cast

– Stan *

Anna Calder-Marshall Anna Calder-Marshall (born 11 January 1947) is an English stage, film and television actress. Personal life Calder-Marshall was born in Kensington, London, and is the daughter of the novelist and essayist Arthur Calder-Marshall and documentary ...

– Lena *Paul Curran – George * David Swift – Dingley *

Pat Gorman William Patrick "Pat" Gorman (10 May 1933 – 9 October 2018) was a British actor who, despite never appearing in a starring role, appeared in minor roles in a large number of films and television productions, including '' The Elephant Man'', ' ...

– Pub Landlord *

June Ritchie June Ritchie (born 31 May 1941) is a British actress. Biography Ritchie trained at RADA, where she graduated in 1961, having won the Emile Littler Award for Most Promising Actress and the Ronson Award for the outstanding female student. She ...

– Diana *

Beryl Nesbitt Beryl Nesbitt is an actress and model with numerous roles in major films, TV dramas and theatre productions spanning from the mid-1950s to the present day. She gained public recognition for her role as the housekeeper Annie Hughes in the 1983 TV ...

– Connie

Background

Writer James Saunders thought up the idea for ''Bloomers'' while talking with actor

John Challis John Spurley Challis (16 August 1942 – 19 September 2021) was an English actor. He had an extensive theatre and television career but is best known for portraying Terrance Aubrey "Boycie" Boyce in the long-running BBC Television sitcom ''Only ...

, who owned and worked at a

garden centre A garden centre (Commonwealth English spelling; U.S. nursery or garden center) is a retail operation that sells plants and related products for the domestic garden as its primary business. It is a development from the concept of the retail plant n ...

, while taking a break from acting. Said Saunders: "The idea was based on fact. The local florist was telling me about the number of funny things that happened and I thought it would make a good series." Challis stated: "I remember the writer James Saunders was a customer at my garden centre and he wrote a script about my experiences. I gave the script to my agent who gave it to John Howard Davies at the BBC who was looking for a vehicle for Richard Beckinsale. So Bloomers was written with me in mind but I wasn't famous enough, but Richard Beckinsale was wonderful and I got an episode out of it!" The scene in episode three where Stan and Dingley attempt to steal Christmas trees from a roundabout was based on a real-life incident with Challis. In the episode, Challis plays one of the policemen who busts up the theft. The five completed episodes of ''Bloomers'' were recorded prior to Christmas 1978. Due to an industrial dispute at the BBC, (the same dispute which delayed the recording of the final episode of ''

Fawlty Towers ''Fawlty Towers'' is a British television sitcom written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, broadcast on BBC2 in 1975 and 1979. Two series of six episodes each were made. The show was ranked first on a list of the 100 Greatest British Televisio ...

''), the recording of the sixth episode was postponed until 20 March, but it ended up never being recorded at all, due to Beckinsale's death the previous day.

Episodes

Broadcast

Beckinsale's widow,

Judy Loe Judith Margaret Loe (born 6 March 1947) is an English actress. She was married to actor Richard Beckinsale until his death in 1979, and later married director Roy Battersby. She is the mother of actress Kate Beckinsale, and the stepmother of Ka ...

, gave her approval for the five completed episodes to be broadcast. ''Bloomers'' aired from 27 September 1979 to 25 October 1979 on BBC2. Four of the episodes were given a repeat viewing the following year on

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

from 6 August 1980 to 27 August 1980. The show also aired in 1983 on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

in Australia and the only publicly available recordings of ''Bloomers'' are from these broadcasts. Poor quality transfers of the five episodes are available to view on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and 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 Google, and is the second mo ...

. ''Bloomers'' has never been aired again by the BBC, nor has there been any official release of the series.

References

External links

* *
''Bloomers''
at Phill.co.uk

at CuriousBritishTelly.co.uk * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bloomers 1970s British sitcoms 1979 British television series debuts 1979 British television series endings BBC television sitcoms Television shows set in London