''Shillingbury Tales'' is a British

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

comedy-drama series made by ATV for

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 ...

and broadcast 1980–81. Comprising a single feature-length pilot and six one-hour episodes, the series deals with life in an idealised fictional English village and stars

Robin Nedwell Robin Courteney Nedwell (27 September 1946 – 1 February 1999) was an English actor. He is best remembered for his role as Duncan Waring in the television comedy series ''Doctor in the House'' and its sequels; he also featured in other televisio ...

Diane Keen Diane Keen (born 29 July 1946) is an English actress, known for her portrayal of Fliss Hawthorne in the Granada sitcom ''The Cuckoo Waltz'' and Julia Parsons on the BBC soap opera ''Doctors''. She also appeared in Nescafé advertisements from 19 ...

Nigel Lambert Nigel Lambert (born 11 May 1944) is an English voice actor. He is best known for his role as the narrator of the first series of the BBC comedy series ''Look Around You'', as well as Merle Ambrose in the MMORPG ''Wizard101''. Acting since the ...

, Jack Douglas,

John Le Mesurier John Le Mesurier (, born John Elton Le Mesurier Halliley; 5 April 191215 November 1983) was an English actor. He is perhaps best remembered for his comedic role as Sergeant Arthur Wilson in the BBC television situation co ...

Bernard Cribbins Bernard Joseph Cribbins (29 December 1928 – 27 July 2022) was an English actor and singer whose career spanned over seven decades. During the 1960s, Cribbins became known in the UK for his successful novelty records " The Hole in the Groun ...

and

Trevor Howard Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith (29 September 1913 – 7 January 1988) was an English stage, film, and television actor. After varied work in the theatre, he achieved star status with his role in the film ''Brief Encounter'' (1945), followed by ''T ...

. It was preceded by a

feature length A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

pilot episode ''The Shillingbury Blowers'' starring

, broadcast 6 January 1980. The series was written by

Francis Essex Francis Essex (24 March 1929 – 5 March 2009) was a British television and stage producer, author and composer. Essex's career spanned several decades during which he worked for several TV production companies. His jobs included: Light Enterta ...

and directed by

Val Guest Val Guest (born Valmond Maurice Grossman; 11 December 1911 – 10 May 2006) was an English film director and screenwriter. Beginning as a writer (and later director) of comedy films, he is best known for his work for Hammer, for whom he direct ...

. Unusually for a British situation-comedy at that time it was recorded entirely on location on

16mm 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, educ ...

film and consequently there was no

laughter track A laugh track (or laughter track) is a separate soundtrack for a recorded comedy show containing the sound of audience laughter. In some productions, the laughter is a live audience response instead; in the United States, where it is most common ...

. Much of the filming took place in the village of

Aldbury Aldbury () is a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, near the borders of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire in the Bulbourne valley close to Ashridge Park. The nearest town is Tring. Uphill from the narrow valley are the Bridgew ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

. The show ended when ATV lost its franchise licence to broadcast and its replacement

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

declined to continue production of the series. The series was broadcast in a number of countries around Europe.

Episodes

Pilot

*''The Shillingbury Blowers'' (6 January 1980) is a feature length (79 minutes - 90 mins with adverts) film starring

. Peter (Nedwell) and his wife Sally live in an idyllic half-timbered cottage in the village of Shillingbury. The local brass band, the Shillingbury Blowers, is struggling to survive. A meeting of the village council, headed by

, looks at the financial position of the band and debate the poor quality of the playing. Peter is brought in to replace the ageing conductor. Peter tells the band they are awful and they walk out. A second meeting of the village council with two band members results in a

work-to-rule Work-to-rule (also known as an Italian strike, in Italian: ''Sciopero bianco'', or Slowdown in US usag is a job action in which employees do no more than the minimum required by the rules of their contract or job, and strictly follow time-cons ...

where the band decide to remove all individuality. Ironically this solves the problem and the band get their first clap. When they reconvene in the pub, The Oddfellows Arms, they resolve to play with further restrictions. When they then decide to play

staccato Staccato (; Italian for "detached") is a form of musical articulation. In modern notation, it signifies a note of shortened duration, separated from the note that may follow by silence. It has been described by theorists and has appeared in music ...

it unintentionally works very well. When the old bandleader Saltie (

) then returns as lead

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

and plays very melodically this works very well in counterpoint. Peter helps Jake ( Jack Douglas), the lead

cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopr ...

, deliver a calf on his farm and a new bond of trust is formed. However this night-time ordeal causes Jake to oversleep and he misses the bus taking the band to a competition. However he catches up in time and convinces the band to cease their work to rule and return to their original style of play, resulting in disaster.

Series 1

*"The Shillingbury Tinker" (17 May 1981) *"The Shillingbury Melon" (24 May 1981) *"The Shillingbury Cloudburst" (31 May 1981) *"The Shillingbury Legend" (7 June 1981) *"The Shillingbury Miracle" (14 June 1981) *"The Shillingbury Daydream" (21 June 1981)

''Cuffy''

In 1983, A spin-off sequel series entitled '' Cuffy'' was made and broadcast by ATV's successor

. The show this time focused on and around

's character Cuffy. However the spin-off series didn't feature Robin Nedwell or Diane Keen as they had left to focus on other work at the time.

DVD release

The show was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

by Network in 2005.

External links

* * {{British Comedy Guide, tv, shillingbury_tales 1980s British comedy television series 1980 British television series debuts 1981 British television series endings English-language television shows Television shows shot at EMI-Elstree Studios ITV television dramas Television shows produced by Associated Television (ATV) Television series by ITC Entertainment