''Bootsie and Snudge'' is a British sitcom that aired on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

for three series from 1960 to 1963, with a fourth in 1974. The show is a spin-off of ''

The Army Game ''The Army Game'' is a British television sitcom that aired on ITV from 19 June 1957 to 20 June 1961. It was the very first ITV sitcom and was made by Granada, and created by Sid Colin. It follows the exploits of Hut 29, a dysfunctional group ...

'', a sitcom about soldiers undertaking

national service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...

, and follows two of the main characters (played by

Alfie Bass Alfie Bass (born Abraham Basalinsky, 10 April 1916 – 16 July 1987) was an English actor. He was born in Bethnal Green, London, the youngest in a Jewish family with ten children; his parents had left Russia many years before he was born. He a ...

and

Bill Fraser William Simpson Fraser (5 June 1908 – 9 September 1987) was a Scottish actor who appeared on stage, screen and television for many years. In 1986 he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance for his stage role in the play '' ...

) after they returned to civilian life. The first series is titled ''Bootsie and Snudge in Civvy Life''. Between the 1963 and 1974 series, a spin-off called ''

Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and ...

'' was broadcast.

Background

Bass and Fraser acted together in minor roles in the 1956 comedy film ''

Jumping for Joy ''Jumping for Joy'' is a 1956 British comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Frankie Howerd, Stanley Holloway, Joan Hickson and Lionel Jeffries. Plot Willie Joy (Frankie Howerd) works at a greyhound track as a cleaner, whic ...

'' starring

Frankie Howerd Francis Alick Howard (6 March 1917 – 19 April 1992), better known by his stage-name Frankie Howerd, was an English actor and comedian. Early life Howerd was born the son of soldier Francis Alfred William (1887–1934)England & Wales, Deat ...

and possibly developed a friendship from that point. Private Montague 'Bootsie' Bisley and Sergeant-Major Claude Snudge are two of the main characters in the successful sitcom ''The Army Game'' that aired from 1957 to 1961. Snudge enjoys his position of superiority over Bootsie, whilst Bootsie feels comfortable in his position as it allows him to mock and hate Snudge (and attack authority in general). Clive Dunn – later best known as

Corporal Jones Lance Corporal Jack Jones is a fictional Home Guard platoon lance corporal and veteran of the British Empire, first portrayed by Clive Dunn in the BBC television sitcom ''Dad's Army''. His catchphrases are "Don't panic!", "Permission to speak, ...

in ''

Dad's Army ''Dad's Army'' is a British television British sitcom, sitcom about the United Kingdom's Home Guard (United Kingdom), Home Guard during the World War II, Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft (TV producer), David Crof ...

'' – plays 83-year-old Henry, despite at the time being only 38. Dunn is introduced as "Meadows" then seconds later screen time, he is called "Johnson". In 1961 a comic strip was published in ''

TV Comic ''TV Comic'' was a British comic book magazine published weekly from 9 November 1951 until 29 June 1984. Featuring stories based on television series running at the time of publication, it was the first British comic to be based around TV pro ...

'' telling the story of how ''Bootsie and Snudge'' began. A large team of writers wrote for the series over its 104 episodes. Those that wrote for the 1960–63 episodes were

Marty Feldman Martin Alan Feldman (8 July 1934 – 2 December 1982) was a British actor, comedian and comedy writer. He was known for his exophthalmos, prominent, strabismus, misaligned eyes. He initially gained prominence as a writer with Barry Took on ...

Barry Took Barry Took (19 June 192831 March 2002) was an English writer, television presenter and comedian. His decade-and-a-half writing partnership with Marty Feldman led to the television series ''Bootsie and Snudge'', the radio comedy ''Round the Horn ...

John Antrobus John Arthur Antrobus (born 2 July 1933) is an English playwright and screenwriter. He has written extensively for stage, screen, TV and radio, including the epic World War II play, ''Crete and Sergeant Pepper'' at the Royal Court. He authored t ...

, Ray Rigby, David Cumming, Derek Collyer, Peter Miller, James Kelly, Peter Lambda,

Stanley Myers Stanley Myers (6 October 19309 November 1993) was an English composer and conductor, who scored over sixty films and television series, working closely with filmmakers Nicolas Roeg, Jerzy Skolimowski and Volker Schlöndorff. He is best known fo ...

, Tom Espie,

Jack Rosenthal Jack Morris Rosenthal (8 September 1931 – 29 May 2004) was an English playwright. He wrote 129 early episodes of the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' and over 150 screenplays, including original TV plays, feature films, and adaptations. ...

Harry Driver Harry Driver (13 May 1931 – 25 November 1973) was a British television scriptwriter and executive producer. He is best remembered for his partnership with Vince Powell on comedy television programmes including '' Never Mind The Quality Feel The ...

, Patrick Ryan, John Smith and Doug Eden. The 1974 series was written by David Climie, Ronnie Cass and Lew Schwarz. The series established the reputation of actor

Clive Dunn Clive Robert Benjamin Dunn (9 January 19206 November 2012) was an English actor. Although he was only 48 and one of the youngest cast members, he was cast in a role many years his senior, as the elderly Lance Corporal Jones in the BBC sitcom ' ...

as a player of old men in comedies, leading to his more famous role as Corporal Jones in ''

'', along with release of a hit single, " Grandad" in 1971.

Cast

– Montague 'Bootsie' Bisley *

– Claude Snudge *

– Henry Beerbohm Johnson ''(series 1 – 3)'' *

Robert Dorning Robert Dorning (13 May 1913 – 21 February 1989) was a musician, dance band vocalist, ballet dancer and stage, film and television actor. He is known to have performed in at least 77 television and film productions between 1940 and 1988. Origin ...

– Hesketh Pendleton ''(series 1 – 3)''

Plot

Series 1 to 3

Bootsie and Snudge are de-mobbed from their national service and are employed as handyman and hall porter respectively at the Imperial, a Pall Mall gentleman's club run by hot-headed secretary Hesketh Pendleton. One of their colleagues, the bumbling Henry Beerbohm Johnson, has worked at the Imperial for 40 years and to begin with believes Snudge is Lord Kitchener. Storylines revolve around the club's members and guests and the relationships between the four members of staff. Hesketh Pendleton has no time for anyone who disagrees with him, and will drown out their attempts to talk by saying "Tup! Tup!" louder and louder until they give up. Bootsie naturally refers to him as "Ol' Tup-tup".

Series 4

Ten years later, and the positions have reversed as Bootsie wins £1 million on the

Football pool In the United Kingdom, the football pools, often referred to as "the pools", is a betting pool based on predicting the outcome of association football matches taking place in the coming week. The pools are typically cheap to enter, and may encou ...

s and Snudge – an employee of Permapools – becomes his self-appointed financial adviser.

Episodes

A total of four series of ''Bootsie and Snudge'' were made, the first three in

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

and the final series in colour. The first series of 40 episodes aired from 23 September 1960 to 23 June 1961 on Fridays at 8.55 pm. The second series, consisting of 29 episodes, was shown from 27 October 1961 to 10 May 1962 – originally on Fridays at 8.55 pm then Thursdays at 8.30pm. The third series, also of 29 episodes, broadcast from 8 November 1962 to 30 May 1963 on Thursdays at 7.30 pm. The final series, of just six episodes, went out over a decade later from 16 October 1974 to 20 November 1974, on Wednesdays at 8.30 pm. Not all 104 episodes of ''Bootsie and Snudge'' have survived. Four episodes are missing from the archives, episode 40 from series 1 and three episodes from the third series ("The Rescue", "Soul Mates" and "Carnet de Balham").

DVD releases

The surviving 39 episodes of series one were released by the Network imprint on 13 August 2012. The complete second series was released on 22 July 2013. Previously a single episode of ''Bootsie and Snudge'' had been released on ''The Army Game – Volume 2'' DVD on 14 August 2006.

Media spin-offs

The sitcom was adapted into a comic strip by Bill Titcombe.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bootsie And Snudge 1960s British sitcoms 1970s British sitcoms 1960 British television series debuts 1974 British television series endings Black-and-white British television shows English-language television shows ITV sitcoms Television shows produced by Granada Television Television shows adapted into comics The Army Game British television spin-offs