''Arthur's Treasured Volumes'' was a

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

British

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

that aired on ITV in 1960. Starring

Arthur Askey Arthur Bowden Askey (6 June 1900 – 16 November 1982) was an English comedian and actor. Askey was known for his short stature (5' 2", 1.58 m) and distinctive horn-rimmed glasses, and his playful humour incorporating improvisation an ...

, it was written by Dave Freeman and was made for the ITV network by ATV. All six episodes were missing having been presumed

wiped Lost television broadcasts are television programs that were not preserved after their original airing, rendering them permanently unavailable for both public and private screening. Because of this, they are considered a form of lost media, par ...

during the 1960s, until part of the first episode "A Blow In Anger" was recovered by Paul Stroud and shown at the National Film Theatre in November 2003. The remaining episodes were re-discovered in ITV's archive by a researcher from archive television organisation Kaleidoscope in December 2019.

Cast

- Various * Anthea Askey - Herself/narrator *

Sam Kydd Samuel John Kydd (15 February 1915 – 26 March 1982) was a British actor. Most of his film roles were very small but he appeared in more than 290 films, more than any other British actor, including 119 between 1946 and 1952. His best-known ro ...

- Various *

Arthur Mullard Arthur Ernest Mullard ( né Mullord; 19 September 1910His obituary in ''The Times'' gives his date of birth as 10 November 1910 but conflicts with the birthdate given in his death registration. His year of birth appears as 1908, 1910, 1912 and 19 ...

- Various *

Roger Avon Roger Avon (23 November 1914 – 21 December 1998) was an English stage, film and television actor born in Jarrow, County Durham. Some of his television appearances include ''Hancock's Half Hour'', ''Dad's Army'', '' When the Boat Comes In'' ...

- Various *

Tony Sampson Tony Sampson is a Canadian musician, oiler and retired actor. From 1999 to 2009, he voiced Eddy in the Cartoon Network animated series ''Ed, Edd n Eddy''. Biography Tony Sampson was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He has played ...

- Various *

Paddi Edwards Paddi Edwards (December 9, 1931 – October 18, 1999) was a British actress. She worked steadily in film and television. Career She found a niche in television movies, and toward the end of her life, doing voice work in projects for Disney ...

- Various *Billy Tasker - Various *

Barbara Mitchell Barbara Mitchell (4 October 1929 – 9 December 1977) was an English actress who was a familiar face on British television in the 1960s and 1970s, best known for her work in many classic sitcoms of the period. Career Mitchell started out ...

- Various *

Wilfrid Brambell Henry Wilfrid Brambell (22 March 1912 – 18 January 1985) was an Irish television and film actor, best remembered for playing the grubby rag-and-bone man Albert Steptoe alongside Harry H. Corbett in the long-running BBC television sitcom '' ...

- Various *

Patrick Newell Patrick David Newell (27 March 1932 – 22 July 1988) was a British actor perhaps best known for playing Mother in '' The Avengers''. Early life and education The second son of Eric Llewellyn Newell, of High Lodge, Hadleigh, Suffolk, an Oxf ...

- Various *

June Whitfield Dame June Rosemary Whitfield (11 November 1925 – 29 December 2018) was an English radio, television and film actress. Whitfield's big break was a lead in the radio comedy '' Take It from Here'', which aired on the BBC Light Programme ...

- Enid Brown * Janet Davies - Miss Tiddy * David Garth - Hamlet

Plot

''Arthur's Treasured Volumes'' was a series of one-episode sitcoms. At the beginning of each episode, Anthea Askey, Arthur's daughter, takes down a book from a shelf and the story begins. All the 'books' are in fact scripts written by Dave Freeman. In each episode, Arthur Askey, Sam Kydd and Arthur Mullard play different roles. Amongst those who made guest appearances were

and

Geoffrey Palmer Geoffrey Palmer may refer to: Politicians *Sir Geoffrey Palmer, 1st Baronet (1598–1670), English lawyer and politician *Sir Geoffrey Palmer, 3rd Baronet (1655–1732), English politician, member of parliament (MP) for Leicestershire *Geoffrey Pal ...

Episodes

#"A Blow In Anger" (2 May 1960) #"The History of Mr Lacey" (9 May 1960) #"The Command Performer" (16 May 1960) #"Pilbeam of Twickenham" (23 May 1960) #"A Slight Case of Deception" (30 May 1960) #"The Curse of the Bellfoots" (6 June 1960)

References

Mark Lewisohn Mark Lewisohn (born 16 June 1958) is an English historian and biographer. Since the 1980s, he has written many reference books about the Beatles and has worked for EMI, MPL Communications and Apple Corps.

, "Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy", BBC Worldwide Ltd, 2003
British TV Comedy Guide for ''Arthur's Treasured Volumes''

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Arthurs Treasured Volumes 1960 British television series debuts 1960 British television series endings 1960s British sitcoms ITV sitcoms