''Hallelujah!'' is a British television

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

produced by

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

that aired on ITV from 29 April 1983 to 21 December 1984. The series was set in a

Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...

citadel A citadel is the most fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of ''city'', meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. ...

in the fictional

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

town of Brigthorpe during series 1 (and later in the fictional place of Blackwick in series 2). Captain Emily Ridley (

Thora Hird Dame Thora Hird (28 May 1911 – 15 March 2003) was an English actress. In a career spanning over 70 years, she appeared in more than 100 films, as well as many television roles, becoming a household name and a British institution. Hird w ...

) has been posted there, having been an active member of the Salvation Army for 42 years. Despite the town and residents being seemingly pleasant, Emily is determined to flush out sin from behind the net curtains. Assisting Emily is her niece Alice Meredith ( Patsy Rowlands). The programme was a repeat collaboration between Hird and the creator

Dick Sharples Dick Sharples (7 June 1927 – 19 October 2015) was a British TV scriptwriter of British sitcoms. He has also written novels, plays and drama series (for both television and radio). Life and career Dick Sharples was born in Manchester. He beg ...

, who had worked together on the comedy series '' In Loving Memory'' between 1979 and 1986. The series also featured guest appearances from the likes of Hird's ''

Last of the Summer Wine ''Last of the Summer Wine'' is a British sitcom set in Yorkshire created and written by Roy Clarke and originally broadcast by the BBC from 1973 to 2010. It premiered as an episode of ''Comedy Playhouse'' on 4 January 1973, and the first seri ...

'' co-star Michael Aldridge and television presenter

Richard Whiteley John Richard Whiteley (28 December 1943 – 26 June 2005) was an English presenter and journalist, best known for his twenty-three years as host of the game show '' Countdown''. ''Countdown'' was the launch programme for Channel 4 at 4:45 ...

Plot

The show was set in the

based in the fictional Yorkshire town of Brigthorpe during Series 1, and in the equally fictional Yorkshire place of Blackwick during Series 2.

starred as Captain Emily Ridley, with Patsy Rowlands as her niece Alice Meredith and Rosamund Greenwood as Sister Dorothy Smith (who left after the first series and was later replaced by David Daker as Brother Benjamin in the second series).

Cast

as Captain Emily Ridley *

Walter Gotell Walter Jack Gotell (born Walter Jacques Goettel; 15 March 1924 – 5 May 1997) was a German-born British actor. He was well known for his role as General Gogol, head of the KGB, in the Roger Moore era of the James Bond film seriesTom VallancO ...

as Lt. Colonel Henderson * Patsy Rowlands as Alice Meredith * Rosamund Greenwood as Sister Dorothy Smith (series 1) * David Daker as Brother Benjamin (series 2) * Geoffrey Bayldon as Mr Sedgewick * Michael Aldridge as Brig Langton (series 1) * Garfield Morgan as Brig Langton (series 2) *

Derek Benfield Derek Benfield (11 March 1926 – 10 March 2009) was a British playwright and actor. He was born in Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, and educated at Bingley Grammar School. He was the author of the stage farce ''Running Riot'' and pla ...

as Arthur Walton, Andrew Gibson (series 1 and series 2)

Episodes

Series 1 (1983)

Series 2 (1984)

Christmas Special (1984)

Only 15 episodes over two series were made though some sources claim that there were three series made. This is incorrect; there were only two series and one Christmas special shown between 1983 and 1984. In 1985, it was reported that a continuation/sequel of the series was to be produced for

BBC 2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and d ...

. This follow-on series ultimately never appeared; instead, Hird later that year signed up to play Edie Pegden, a character with a number of parallels to her ''Hallelujah!'' character Captain Emily Ridley, in ''

'', a role that was written especially for her by

Roy Clarke Royston Clarke (born 28 January 1930) is an English comedy writer, best known for creating the sitcoms ''Last of the Summer Wine'', ''Keeping Up Appearances'', ''Open All Hours'' and its sequel series, ''Still Open All Hours''. Early life Cla ...

when she became available.

Location filming

The series was filmed mostly in and around both Yorkshire Television Studios and the Leeds area. Most notable filming location was

Leeds General Infirmary Leeds General Infirmary, also known as the LGI, is a large teaching hospital based in the centre of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, and is part of the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. Its previous name The General Infirmary at Leeds is still ...

, especially appearances by old run-down buildings old and new around the Leeds-area at the time. Some scenes in the Christmas special were filmed in the Victorian street exhibition of the York Castle museum. The opening sequence was filmed outside the Garden Gate pub in Hunslet.

Theme music

The theme music was performed by the James Shepherd Versatile Brass, conducted by Robert Hartley.

DVD release

DD Home Entertainment (now known as 'Simply Home Entertainment') released series 1 and 2 in 2008. They claimed that series two was complete at first, However, as the Christmas special was not included, they later dropped this claim (the artwork on the cover stayed the same however) Both series of ''Hallelujah!'' and the Christmas Special are now available from Network DVD. Hallelujah! has been released in Australia by Acorn Media Australia. It is a boxset with both series plus the Christmas special. It has been released as an all region DVD (PAL).

Notes

1. Lewisohn, Mark. Radio Times Guide to British Comedy p. 292.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hallelujah! (Tv Series) 1983 British television series debuts 1984 British television series endings ITV sitcoms 1980s British sitcoms Television series by ITV Studios Television series by Yorkshire Television Television shows set in Yorkshire British English-language television shows