''Room at the Bottom'' is a British

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

which originally aired as a

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

in 1966 on the ''

Comedy Playhouse ''Comedy Playhouse'' is a long-running British anthology series of one-off unrelated sitcoms that aired for 120 episodes from 1961 to 1975. Many episodes later graduated to their own series, including ''Steptoe and Son'', '' Meet the Wife'', ...

'' and a single series of seven episodes on

BBC 1 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, ...

the following year. Set in the maintenance department of a large company

tower block A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently ...

, it was the first

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 ...

by the writing team of John Esmonde and

Bob Larbey Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: Places *Mount Bob, New York, United States * Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica People, fictional characters, and named animals *Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Bob (surnam ...

. All episodes from this series are currently believed to be lost due to

wiping Lost television broadcasts are mostly those early television programs which cannot be accounted for in studio archives (or in personal archives) usually because of deliberate destruction or neglect. Common reasons for loss A significant prop ...

Cast

Main

Kenneth Connor Kenneth Connor, (6 June 1918 – 28 November 1993) was a British stage, film and broadcasting actor, who rose to national prominence with his appearances in the ''Carry On'' films. Early life Connor was born in Highbury, Islington, London, ...

as Gus Fogg *

Deryck Guyler Deryck Bower Guyler (29 April 1914 – 7 October 1999) was an English actor, best remembered for his portrayal of officious, short-tempered middle-aged men in sitcoms such as ''Please Sir!'' and ''Sykes''. Early life Guyler was born in Wallas ...

as Mr. Powell *

Gordon Rollings Gordon Charles Rollings (17 April 1926 – 7 June 1985) was an English actor who mainly appeared on television, but also appeared on-stage and in feature films. He was born in Batley, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England in 1926 and start ...

as Happy Brazier *

Kenny Lynch Kenneth Lynch, OBE (18 March 1938 – 18 December 2019) was an English singer, songwriter, entertainer, and actor. He appeared in many variety shows in the 1960s. At the time, he was among the few black singers in British pop music. He was app ...

as Horace Robinson *

Brian Wilde Brian George Wilde (13 June 1927 – 20 March 2008) 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 ...

as Mr. Salisbury * John Horsley as Lord Percy

Guest

Patrick Newell Patrick David Newell (27 March 1932 – 22 July 1988) was a British actor, known for his large size. Early life and education The second son of Eric Llewellyn Newell, of High Lodge, Hadleigh, Suffolk, an Oxford-educated physician who served ...

as Cyril Culpepper *

Yvonne Antrobus Yvonne Daphne Antrobus (born 1 November 1940) is a British novelist, abridger, radio dramatist, and actress. Writing She has made over 100 abridgments and dramatisations for BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4 and for independent audio publishers ...

as Betty * Jack Bligh as Uncle Percy *

Richard Coleman Richard Coleman (20 January 1930 – 16 December 2008) was a British film, television and stage actor. Early life Richard Coleman was born Ronald Coleman in Peckham, London in 1930. He was educated at Wilson's Grammar School, Peckham. Af ...

as Dillington * Frances Collins as Miss Edgeworthy *

Eric Dodson Eric Norman Dodson (1 December 1920 – 13 January 2000) was an English actor born in Peterborough, Northamptonshire, who played many roles in films and on television. After amateur acting he joined the Royal Air Force in 1941. Following trai ...

as Director * John Dunbar as Mr. Walpole *

Janina Faye Janina Faye Smigielski (born 1948) is an English actress and director. She is a daughter of Florence Louisa Jonathan and Jan Smigielski. Her father was a Polish pilot from No. 303 Squadron RAF during the Battle of Britain. Faye began her career a ...

as Gloria * Wendy Gifford as Miss Bryant * Bill Horsley as Slocombe *

Len Jones Len Jones (born ) is a British former child actor and Voice acting, voice actor of the 1960s and 70s. In his youth, Jones appeared in television series such as ''Z-Cars'' (1964–68), ''Adam Adamant Lives!'' (1966), ''Dixon of Dock Green'' (196 ...

as Boy *

John Scott Martin John Scott Martin (1 April 1926 – 6 January 2009) was an English actor born in Toxteth, Liverpool, Lancashire. He made many film, stage and television appearances, but one of his most famous, though unseen, roles was as a Dalek operator in th ...

as Morris Dancer *

Henry McGee ''For the American businessman and academic, see Henry W. McGee.'' Henry James Marris-McGee (14 May 1929 – 28 January 2006) was a British actor, best known as straight man to Benny Hill for many years. McGee was also often the announce ...

as Mr. Hopkins *

Geraldine Newman Geraldine Newman (born 18 February 1934) is an English film and television actress who has acted in more than 30 television programmes and films. Career Newman attended drama school in Brighton. She is best known for her role as Hilda Hughes in ...

as Miss Mandrake *

Richard O'Sullivan Richard O'Sullivan (born 7 May 1944) is an English comedy actor, who is known for his role as Robin Tripp in the 1970s sitcoms ''Man About the House'' (1973–1976) and ''Robin's Nest (TV series), Robin's Nest'' (1977–1981) and as the title c ...

as The Honourable Tarquin *

Lynn Rainbow Lynn Carol Rainbow-Reid (born 19 September 1942) credited also as Lynne Rainbow, is an Australian-based former theatre and television actor who was educated at Ascham School, The Sorbonne and Dante Alighieri in Italy. Lynn was the daughter o ...

as Wendy * Colin Rix as Hawkins *

Jo Rowbottom Jo Rowbottom (born 1942) is a British character actress, best known for guest roles in numerous British TV series, and as James Beck's wife in ''Romany Jones''. Film credits *''Night of the Prowler'' (1962) - Elsie *'' The Bargee'' (1964) - C ...

as Millie *

Bill Shine William Shine (born July 4, 1963) is a former White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications in the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. He spent most of his career as a producer and executive at Fox News. Most recently, he was c ...

as Club Steward *

Thorley Walters Thorley Swinstead Walters (12 May 1913 – 6 July 1991) was an English character actor. He is probably best remembered for his comedy film roles such as in ''Two-Way Stretch'' and '' Carlton-Browne of the FO''. Early life Walters was born in Tei ...

as Lord Fareham

References

Bibliography

* Perry, Christopher . ''The British Television Pilot Episodes Research Guide 1936-2015''. 2015.

External links

* {{EsmondeLarbey 1967 British television series debuts 1967 British television series endings 1960s British comedy television series BBC television sitcoms English-language television shows