''The Huggetts'' are a fictional family who appear in a series of British films which were released in the late 1940s by Gainsborough Pictures. The films centre on the character of Joe Huggett, played by Jack Warner, the head of a
working class
The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...
London family. Along with the Gainsborough melodramas, the Huggett films proved popular and lucrative for the studio. All four films were directed by Ken Annakin and produced by
Betty E. Box
Betty Evelyn Box, (25 September 1915 – 15 January 1999) was a prolific British film producer, usually credited as Betty E. Box.
Early life and career
Born in Beckenham, Kent, England, she initially planned to be a commercial artist or journ ...
.
Overview and characters
The family first appear in the film '' Holiday Camp'' (1947), in which the family consists of Joe, his wife Ethel ( Kathleen Harrison), their daughter Joan (
Hazel Court
Hazel Court (10 February 1926 – 15 April 2008) was an English actress. She is known for her roles in British and American horror films during the 1950s and early 1960s, including Terence Fisher's ''The Curse of Frankenstein'' (1957) and ...
) and her baby, and their son Harry ( Peter Hammond).
Jimmy Hanley
Jimmy Hanley (22 October 1918 – 13 January 1970) was an English actor who appeared in the popular Huggetts film series, and in ITV's most popular advertising magazine programme, ''Jim's Inn'', from 1957 to 1963.
Early life
Born in Norwich, No ...
played Jimmy Gardner, who becomes romantically involved with Joan. Actors Susan Shaw and John Blythe also appear, and return (playing different characters) in the three Huggetts films that followed.
''Holiday Camp'' proved popular enough with post-war British audiences for the family to be spun off for a series of films of their own. In the first, ''
Here Come the Huggetts
''Here Come the Huggetts'' is a 1948 British comedy film, the first of the The Huggetts (film series), Huggetts series, about a working class English family. All three films in the series were directed by Ken Annakin and released by Gainsborough ...
'' (1948), characters Joan and Harry were replaced by three daughters: Jane (
Jane Hylton
Jane Hylton (16 July 1926 – 28 February 1979, born as Audrey Gwendolene Clark) was an English actress who accumulated 30 film credits, mostly in the 1940s and 1950s, before moving into television work in the latter half of her career in the ...
), Susan ( Susan Shaw) and Pet ( Petula Clark). Peter Hammond was recast as Susan's on-off boyfriend Peter Hawtrey, while Jimmy Hanley returned as Jimmy Gardner who is now engaged to Jane. Other regular characters in the series include Ethel's niece, Diana ( Diana Dors), Harold Hinchley ( David Tomlinson), garage owner Gowan ( John Blythe) and Grandma Huggett (
Amy Veness
Amy Veness (26 February 1876 – 22 September 1960) was an English film actress. She played the role of Grandma Huggett in ''The Huggetts Trilogy'' and was sometimes credited as Amy Van Ness.
Veness was born Amy Clarice Beart in Aldeburgh, Suff ...
). Blythe and Veness were the only actors, besides the main cast, to repeat their roles in all three films. The characters of Jane and Jimmy are missing from the second film but return for the final film, in which Jane is played by Dinah Sheridan.
The first film revolves around the upheaval Diana's arrival at the Huggett home causes, as well as the impending wedding of Jane and Jimmy. The follow-up films were ''
Vote for Huggett
''Vote for Huggett'' is a 1949 British comedy film directed by Ken Annakin and starring Jack Warner, Kathleen Harrison, Susan Shaw and Petula Clark. Warner reprises his role as the head of a London family, in the post-war years.
In this, the t ...
'' (1949), in which Joe stands for election, and '' The Huggetts Abroad'' (1949), in which the family emigrate to
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
and get involved in smuggled diamonds.
Creative personnel
All four films in which the Huggetts appear were directed by Ken Annakin (making his feature film debut with ''Holiday Camp'') and produced by Betty E. Box, while Mabel Constanduros and her nephew Denis Constanduros contributed to all four scripts. Muriel Box, Sydney Box and Peter Rogers were writers on ''Holiday Camp'' and ''Here Come the Huggetts'', and
Ted Willis
Edward Henry Willis, Baron Willis (13 January 1914 – 22 December 1992) was an English playwright, novelist and screenwriter who was also politically active in support of the Labour Party. In 1941 he became the General Secretary of the Young Co ...
worked on the script for ''Holiday Camp'' and co-wrote ''The Huggetts Abroad'' with Gerard Bryant.
Allan MacKinnon
Allan MacKinnon (1912-1980) was a British screenwriter.
Selected filmography
* ''This Man Is News'' (1938)
* ''Let's Be Famous'' (1939)
* ''Cheer Boys Cheer'' (1939)
* ''This Man in Paris'' (1940)
* ''Unpublished Story'' (1942)
* ''Sleeping Car t ...
co-wrote ''Vote for Huggett'' with the Constanduroses.
The Huggetts' theme which appears in all three films was composed by Antony Hopkins.
Here Come the Huggetts
''Here Come the Huggetts'' is a 1948 British comedy film, the first of the The Huggetts (film series), Huggetts series, about a working class English family. All three films in the series were directed by Ken Annakin and released by Gainsborough ...
'' (1948)
* ''
Vote for Huggett
''Vote for Huggett'' is a 1949 British comedy film directed by Ken Annakin and starring Jack Warner, Kathleen Harrison, Susan Shaw and Petula Clark. Warner reprises his role as the head of a London family, in the post-war years.
In this, the t ...
Another film, ''Christmas with the Huggetts'', was planned but never made. A BBC radio series, ''Meet the Huggetts'', ran from 1953 to 1962. Both Warner and Harrison reprised the roles of Joe and Ethel, but here their family consists of daughter Jane (Marion Collins) and son Bobby (George Howell), rather than the three sisters of the film series.
Legacy and influences
Warner and Harrison were later reunited in the film ''
Home and Away
''Home and Away'' (often abbreviated as ''H&A'') is an Australian television soap opera. It was created by Alan Bateman and commenced broadcast on the Seven Network on 17 January 1988. Bateman came up with the concept of the show during a trip ...
'', about a family in similar circumstances to the Huggetts who win the
football pools
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 ...
. The 1952 film '' The Happy Family'', starring Harrison, was also influenced by the Huggetts.
In the
fourth wall
The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...
-breaking pre-credits sequence of the 1949 film '' It's Not Cricket'', stars Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne mention the Huggett films in a contemptuous manner. This film was also produced by Betty E. Box.
Media releases
''The Huggetts'' boxset, including all three films and ''Holiday Camp'', was released on Region Two DVD in May 2007 by ITV Studios Home Entertainment.
Novelisations
In addition to co-authoring the screenplays, Mabel and Denis Constanduros collaborated on novelisations of ''Here Come the Huggetts'', ''Vote for Huggett'' and ''The Huggetts Abroad'', all three 1949, published in hardcover by Sampson Low, Marston & Co., Ltd. Each features additional material (some that seems to have been in the original screenplays but subsequently cut) and expanded scenes. There was also a separate novelisation of ''Here Come the Huggetts'' released in 1948 as part of editor Eric Warman's magazine-paperback Book of the Film series, written by one of his staff novelisers under one of the mandated house psuedonyms, Warwick Mannon; this earlier, shorter novelization coincided with the initial release of the film and follows it very closely. Finally, Book of the Film also published a novelisation of ''Holiday Camp'' by a different writer using another house name, Kit Pedlar, also coincident with the film’s release; it contains a long afterword about writing and making the film by