''Chalk and Cheese'' was a short lived sitcom

television show 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, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed b ...

, featuring

Michael Crawford Michael Patrick Smith, (born 19 January 1942), known professionally as Michael Crawford, is an English tenor, actor and comedian. Crawford is best known for playing both the hapless Frank Spencer in the sitcom '' Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'' a ...

and

Robin Hawdon Robin Hawdon (born 28 March 1939) is an English playwright and novelist, with previous additional careers as actor and theatre director. He is best known for his stage comedies and novels. Education Robin Hawdon was educated at Whitgift Gramma ...

. The concept began life as an earlier one-off comedy in 1977 called ''Spasms'', which was re-cast and remade as the first episode of the series. Only Hawdon remained in his part from the original one-off comedy, since Jonathan Pryce, playing the other character, was occupied elsewhere. Crawford starred as Dave Finn, a scruffy, sexist and outspoken

Cockney Cockney is an accent and dialect of English, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by working-class and lower middle-class Londoners. The term "Cockney" has traditionally been used to describe a person from the East End, or ...

who lives in an otherwise genteel, well-to-do street, much to the annoyance of his neighbours. Robin Hawdon played Roger Scott, Finn's adjoining neighbour, a high-flying marketing executive and very much the polar opposite of Finn. Also appearing were Gillian Martell as Finn's wife Rose, and Julia Goodman as Roger's wife Amanda. The series, made by

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broa ...

, came on the back of the success of Crawford playing Frank Spencer in the BBC's hugely popular ''

Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em ''Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'' is a British sitcom broadcast on BBC1, created and written by Raymond Allen and starring Michael Crawford and Michele Dotrice. It was first broadcast in 1973 and ran for two series, including two Christmas special ...

''. Crawford was eager not to be

typecast In film, television, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character, one or more particular roles, or characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ...

and the character he played here was considerably different to that of Frank. However he claimed that audiences did not take to his character, and after an offer of another starring stage role, it was cancelled after only one series.

References

1977 British television series debuts 1979 British television series endings 1970s British sitcoms ITV sitcoms Television shows produced by Thames Television Television series by Fremantle (company) English-language television shows {{UK-tv-prog-stub