''The Good Old Days'' is a

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

television light entertainment programme produced by Barney Colehan which ran for 30 years from 20 July 1953 to 31 December 1983. It was performed at the Leeds City Varieties and recreated an authentic atmosphere of the Victorian– Edwardian

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...

with songs and sketches of the era performed in the style of the original artistes. The audience dressed in period costume and joined in the singing, especially " Down at the Old Bull and Bush" which closed the show each week. The show was compered throughout its whole run (except for the first two shows) by Leonard Sachs, who introduced the acts from a desk situated at the side of the stage. In the course of its run it featured about 2,000 performers. Each show was up to an hour long.

History

Early in 1953 Barney Colehan devised a one-off show entitled "The Story of the Music Hall" presented by Deryck Guyler. The programme proved so popular that it was decided to create a series under the title of "The Good Old Days". The show was first broadcast on 20 July 1953 and the first two shows were compered by Don Gemmell. Early series of the show were broadcast live. The show included many regulars such as Joan Sterndale-Bennett, Tessie O'Shea, Hattie Jacques, Ray Alan, Roy Castle, Roy Hudd, Ken Dodd,

Barbara Windsor Dame Barbara Windsor (born Barbara Ann Deeks; 6 August 193710 December 2020) was an English actress, known for her roles in the Carry On (franchise), ''Carry On'' films and for playing Peggy Mitchell in the BBC One soap opera ''EastEnders''.

, Eartha Kitt, Danny La Rue, Hylda Baker, Les Dawson, Larry Grayson, Tommy Steele, Frankie Vaughan, John Inman, Bernard Cribbins and Arthur Askey. ''The Good Old Days'' was inspired by the success of the "Ridgeway's Late Joys" at the

Players' Theatre The Players' Theatre was a London theatre which opened at 43 King Street, Covent Garden, on 18 October 1936. The club originally mounted period-style musical comedies, introducing Victorian-style music hall in December 1937. The threat of Worl ...

Club in London: a private members' club that ran fortnightly programmes of variety acts in London's West End. The club was originally founded by Leonard Sachs and business partner Peter Ridgeway. Out of 245 episodes, 108 are believed to survive complete in the archives; 63 of the surviving programmes were rebroadcast on BBC Four between December 2015 and February 2018. On 16 December 1983, ''Goodbye to the Good Old Days'' was shown, a documentary celebrating the end of the 30-year run that year; Barry Cryer served as narrator for the documentary. The final show aired on New Year's Eve that year.

References

External links

*
'History Of The Players' Theatre Club', ''The Players' Theatre'' (2004).
Retrieved 1 June 2005. * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Good Old Days, The 1953 British television series debuts 1983 British television series endings 1950s British television series 1960s British television series 1970s British television series 1980s British television series BBC variety television shows Black-and-white British television shows British English-language television shows Television shows shot in Leeds British variety television shows Music hall