''The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club'' was a British television variety show produced by

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was its ...

from 1974 to 1977. It was set in a fictional

working men's club Working men's clubs are British private social clubs first created in the 19th century in industrial areas, particularly the North of England, Midlands, Scotland and South Wales Valleys, to provide recreation and education for working class ...

in the

North of England Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...

and was hosted by comedian

Colin Crompton George Colin Crompton (22 June 1931 – 24 August 1985) was an English stand-up comedian. Biography Crompton, born in Manchester, Lancashire, found fame on the Granada Television programme '' The Comedians'' in the early 1970s. Before his b ...

as the club's chairman. The show's compere was usually

Bernard Manning Bernard John Manning (13 August 1930 – 18 June 2007) was an English comedian and nightclub owner. Manning gained a high profile on British television during the 1970s, appearing on shows such as '' The Comedians'' and ''The Wheeltappers and ...

, who as well as telling jokes and introducing acts often finished the show with a song. Crompton was frequently the butt of his jokes, acting as Manning's

stooge A stooge or stooges may refer to: * Straight man (stock character), a comedian who feeds lines to another * Shill, a confederate or performer who acts as if they're a spectator * ''The Stooge'', a 1952 American film * The Three Stooges, a comedy g ...

. The set was arranged like a club, so that, rather than being arranged in terraced seating the

studio audience A studio audience is an audience present for the recording of all or part of a television program or radio program. The primary purpose of the studio audience is to provide applause and/or laughter to the program's soundtrack (as opposed to canned ...

would be seated around tables and be served beer and snacks, join in a

singalong Sing-along, also called community singing or group singing, is an event of singing together at gatherings or parties, less formally than choir singing. One can use a songbook. Common genres are folk songs, patriotic songs, kids' songs, spirituals ...

and otherwise engage in

audience participation An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature (in which they are called "readers"), theatre, music (in which they are called "listeners"), video games (in which they are called "players"), or ...

. Crompton, as chairman of the club, would sit at a small table in the corner watching proceedings with apparent lack of interest. He had a large manual fire bell which he would wind and sound purportedly to attract the audience's attention after an act, with various notices from "the Committee" (that is, the officials of the social club of which he was chairman), usually misdemeanours by the club's members or the committee itself: On New Year's Eve a special episode of ''Wheeltappers and Shunters New Year's Eve'' would be broadcast.

Acts

The show featured acts regularly seen on the Northern club circuits and often well-established performers who did well in theatres and clubs but did not succeed so well on British television, such as 1950s crooner

Johnnie Ray John Alvin Ray (January 10, 1927 – February 24, 1990) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Highly popular for most of the 1950s, Ray has been cited by critics as a major precursor to what became rock and roll, for his jazz and bl ...

. But it also gave newer acts their first television exposure, such as Cannon & Ball, the Grumbleweeds,

the Dooleys The Dooleys were a British male–female pop group comprising at its peak eight members – six of them in the Dooley family. The group achieved several UK chart hits between 1977 and 1981, including top-ten hits "Wanted", "Love of My Life" a ...

and

Paul Daniels Newton Edward Daniels (6 April 1938 – 17 March 2016), known professionally as Paul Daniels, was an English magician and television presenter. He achieved international fame through his television series ''The Paul Daniels Magic Show'', which ...

. Some artists to appear on the show were: * Winifred Atwell *

Alvin Stardust Bernard William Jewry (27 September 1942 – 23 October 2014), known professionally as Shane Fenton and later as Alvin Stardust, was an English rock singer and stage actor. Performing first as Shane Fenton in the 1960s, Jewry had a moderately s ...

The Bachelors The Bachelors were a popular music group, originating from Dublin, Ireland, but primarily based in the United Kingdom. They had several international hits during the 1960s, including eight top-ten singles in the UK between 1963 and 1966. Car ...

Brotherhood of Man Brotherhood of Man are a British pop group who achieved success in the 1970s. They won the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest with " Save Your Kisses for Me". Created in 1969 by songwriter and record producer Tony Hiller, Brotherhood of Man was initi ...

* Bill Haley and His Comets *

The Dubliners The Dubliners were an Irish folk band founded in Dublin in 1962 as The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group, named after its founding member; they subsequently renamed themselves The Dubliners. The line-up saw many changes in personnel over their fifty-yea ...

Jim Bowen James Brown Whittaker (born Peter Williams; 20 August 1937 – 14 March 2018), known professionally as Jim Bowen, was an English stand-up comedian, actor and television personality. He was the long-time host of the ITV game show ''Bullseye'', ...

Frank Carson Hugh Francis Carson KSG (6 November 1926 – 22 February 2012) was a Northern Irish comedian and actor from Belfast. He was best known for being a regular face on television for many years from the 1970s onwards, appearing in series su ...

David Copperfield ''David Copperfield'' Dickens invented over 14 variations of the title for this work, see is a novel in the bildungsroman genre by Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from inf ...

Design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design' ...

Stuart Damon Stuart Damon (born Stuart Michael Zonis; February 5, 1937 June 29, 2021) was an American actor and singer. He was best known for his 30-year portrayal of Dr. Alan Quartermaine on the American soap opera ''General Hospital'', for which he won an ...

The Three Degrees The Three Degrees is an American female vocal group formed circa 1963 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Although 16 women have been members over the years, the group has always been a trio. The current line-up consists of Helen Scott, Valerie Holi ...

Lonnie Donegan Anthony James Donegan (29 April 1931 – 3 November 2002), known as Lonnie Donegan, was a British skiffle singer, songwriter and musician, referred to as the " King of Skiffle", who influenced 1960s British pop and rock musicians. Born in Scot ...

Karl Denver Karl Denver (16 December 1931 – 21 December 1998) was a Scottish singer, who, with his trio had a series of UK hit singles in the early 1960s. Most famous of these was a 1961 version of "Wimoweh", which showed off Denver's falsetto yodelling ...

Freddie Garrity Frederick Garrity (14 November 1936 – 19 May 2006) was an English singer and actor. He was best known as the frontman of Freddie and the Dreamers from 1959 until his retirement in 2001. Biography Born in Crumpsall, Manchester, the eldest ...

* Buddy Greco * Kathy Kirby *

The Krankies The Krankies are a Scottish comedy duo who enjoyed success as a cabaret act in the 1970s and on television in the 1980s, featuring in their own television shows and making pop records. Since this period, they have also regularly appeared in pant ...

* Susan Maughan *

George Melly Alan George Heywood Melly (17 August 1926 – 5 July 2007) was an English jazz and blues singer, critic, writer, and lecturer. From 1965 to 1973 he was a film and television critic for '' The Observer''; he also lectured on art history, with a ...

and

John Chilton John James Chilton (16 July 1932 – 25 February 2016) was a British jazz trumpeter and writer. During the 1960s, he also worked with pop bands, including The Swinging Blue Jeans and The Escorts. He won a Grammy Award for Best Album Notes in 1 ...

's ''Feetwarmers'' *

Nana Mouskouri Ioanna "Nana" Mouskouri ( el, Ιωάννα "Νάνα" Μούσχουρη ) (born 13 October 1934) is a Greek singer. Over the span of her career, she has released over 200 albums in at least twelve languages, including Greek, French, English, Germ ...

Roy Orbison Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician known for his impassioned singing style, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. His music was described by critics as ...

Lyn Paul Lyn Paul (born Lynda Susan Belcher; 16 February 1949) is an English pop singer and actress. She came to fame as a member of the international chart-topping pop group the New Seekers in the early 1970s. She has more recently found success and criti ...

* Terri Rogers * George Roper *

Tessie O'Shea Teresa Mary "Tessie" O'Shea (13 March 1913 – 21 April 1995) was a Welsh entertainer and actress. Early life O'Shea was born in Plantagenet Street in Riverside, Cardiff to newspaper wholesaler James Peter O'Shea, who had been a soldier and ...

* Malcolm Roberts * The Kaye Sisters *

The Dooleys The Dooleys were a British male–female pop group comprising at its peak eight members – six of them in the Dooley family. The group achieved several UK chart hits between 1977 and 1981, including top-ten hits "Wanted", "Love of My Life" a ...

Gene Pitney Gene Francis Alan Pitney (February 17, 1940 – April 5, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. Pitney charted 16 top-40 hits in the United States, four in the top ten. In the United Kingdom, he had 22 top-40 hit singles, inclu ...

* Lena Zavaroni * Dukes and Lee *

The show was produced by Johnnie Hamp at

Granada Studios Old Granada Studios (known simply as Granada Studios and previously known as The Manchester Studios) is a television studio complex and events venue on Quay Street in Manchester with the facility to broadcast live and recorded television programm ...

in Manchester, although it was once filmed at the Layton Institute,

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre rivers, and is ...

. Actress

Elizabeth Dawn Sylvia Ann Ibbetson (''née'' Butterfield; 8 November 1939 – 25 September 2017), known professionally as Elizabeth Dawn or Liz Dawn, was an English actress, best known for her role as Vera Duckworth in the long-running British soap opera '' ...

appeared as a waitress before she became more famous for her role as

Vera Duckworth Vera Duckworth (also Burton) is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'', portrayed by Liz Dawn. Vera is known for her long-standing marriage to Jack Duckworth ( Bill Tarmey); they became one of the best-love ...

in ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford. Orig ...

'' (also recorded by Granada in Manchester). A clip from the show can be seen in the film ''

24 Hour Party People ''24 Hour Party People'' is a 2002 British biographical comedy-drama film about Manchester's popular music community from 1976 to 1992, and specifically about Factory Records. It was written by Frank Cottrell Boyce and directed by Michael Wint ...

'', where

Shaun Ryder Shaun William George Ryder (born 23 August 1962) is an English singer/songwriter and poet. As lead singer of Happy Mondays, he was a leading figure in the Madchester cultural scene during the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1993, he formed B ...

, in his formative years, is seen watching Karl Denver perform "

The Lion Sleeps Tonight "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" is a song originally written and recorded by Solomon Linda under the title "Mbube" for the South African Gallo Record Company in 1939. Linda's original was written in isiZulu, while the English version's lyrics were wri ...

" ("Wimoweh"). The music video to Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds' single "Black Star Dancing" depicts the band performing on the show.

Origins of the name

Wheeltapper A wheeltapper is a railway worker employed to check the integrity of train wheels and that axle boxes are not overheating. Typically employed at large railway stations and in goods yards, they tap wheels with a long-handled hammer and listen to ...

s and shunters are railway workers. They were commonly employed by

steam railway This tabulation is for periodicals which do not have their own articles. Magazines ''Australian Railway'' * * Published Trade News Corporation * Feb-Mar 1988 is Vol. 2 No. 1. * Last issue about #23 in approximately Aug 1992. * Size = ~A4 ''A ...

s in Britain and elsewhere, but are still found both on British railways and in Eastern Europe. Although often called "working men's clubs", most such clubs admitted the wives and other women family of the working man, at least some days of the week. This is echoed in the programme's audience being as much female as male.

Episode guide

''Series 1'' *Episode 01: Original Air Date—13 April 1974 *Episode 02: Original Air Date—20 April 1974 *Episode 03: Original Air Date—27 April 1974 *Episode 04: Original Air Date—4 May 1974 *Episode 05: Original Air Date—11 May 1974 *Episode 06: Original Air Date—18 May 1974 *Episode 07: Original Air Date—25 May 1974 ''Series 2'' *Episode 08: Original Air Date—27 July 1974 *Episode 09: Original Air Date—3 August 1974 *Episode 10: Original Air Date—10 August 1974 *Episode 11: Original Air Date—17 August 1974 *Episode 12: Original Air Date—24 August 1974 *Episode 13: Original Air Date—31 August 1974 *Episode 14: Original Air Date—7 September 1974 ''Special'': *Episode 15: Original Air Date—31 December 1974 ''Series 3'' *Episode 16: Original Air Date—15 February 1975 *Episode 17: Original Air Date—22 February 1975 *Episode 18: Original Air Date—1 March 1975 *Episode 19: Original Air Date—8 March 1975 *Episode 20: Original Air Date—15 March 1975 *Episode 21: Original Air Date—22 March 1975 *Episode 22: Original Air Date—29 March 1975 *Episode 23: Original Air Date—5 April 1975 ''Series 4'' *Episode 24: Original Air Date—19 July 1975 *Episode 25: Original Air Date—26 July 1975 *Episode 26: Original Air Date—2 August 1975 *Episode 27: Original Air Date—9 August 1975 *Episode 28: Original Air Date—16 August 1975 *Episode 29: Original Air Date—23 August 1975 *Episode 30: Original Air Date—30 August 1975 ''Special'': *Episode 31: Original Air Date—31 December 1975 ''Series 5'' *Episode 32: Original Air Date—15 May 1976 *Episode 33: Original Air Date—22 May 1976 *Episode 34: Original Air Date—29 May 1976 *Episode 35: Original Air Date—5 June 1976 *Episode 36: Original Air Date—12 June 1976 *Episode 37: Original Air Date—19 June 1976 *Episode 38: Original Air Date—26 June 1976 ''Special'': *Episode 39: Original Air Date—23 February 1977 ''Series 6'' *Episode 40: Original Air Date—14 April 1977 *Episode 41: Original Air Date—21 April 1977 *Episode 42: Original Air Date—28 April 1977 *Episode 43: Original Air Date—5 May 1977 *Episode 44: Original Air Date—12 May 1977 *Episode 45: Original Air Date—19 May 1977 *Episode 46: Original Air Date—26 May 1977 *Episode 47: Original Air Date—2 June 1977 *Episode 48: Original Air Date—9 June 1977 The series was, for at least part of its run, confined to a midnight slot by

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 un ...

and

Southern Television Southern Television was the ITV broadcasting licence holder for the South and South-East of England from 30 August 1958 to 31 December 1981. The company was launched as 'Southern Television Limited' and the title 'Southern Television' was co ...

, who felt it did not suit their, perceived, more upmarket demographics.

DVD releases

The complete first series of ''The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club'' was released on DVD in September 2009 and the second series (including the New Year's Eve Special) was released in July 2010 with the complete third and fourth series being released in February and June 2011. The complete fifth series was released on 23 April 2012. The complete sixth (and final) series is now available as well. The format for the sixth series has changed, each episode being 30 minutes with just one major performer in each.

References

External links