Ben Travers' Farces
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Ben Travers' Farces
''Ben Travers' Farces'' is a British comedy television series which originally aired on BBC 1. It ran for a single series of seven episodes between 19 September and 31 October 1970. Each was a stand-alone adaptation of a farce by Ben Travers. The first six episodes were adaptations of Aldwych Farces beginning with '' Rookery Nook'' while the seventh ''She Follows Me About'' was based on his wartime play of the same title.https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/55864029773c441d867f20978569e39f Main Cast * Arthur Lowe (7 episodes) * Richard Briers (7 episodes) * Jenny McCracken (6 episodes) * Megs Jenkins (3 episodes) * Terence Alexander (3 episodes) * Frank Thornton (3 episodes) * Alec Ross (3 episodes) * Tim Barrett (3 episodes) * Irene Handl (2 episodes) * Elizabeth Knight (2 episodes) * Mollie Sugden (2 episodes) * Geoffrey Palmer (2 episodes) * Jessica Benton (2 episodes) * Polly Adams (2 episodes) * Althea Parker (2 episodes) * Jonathan Cecil (2 episodes) * Edward Dentith (2 episodes) ...
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Ben Travers
Ben Travers (12 November 188618 December 1980) was an English writer. His output includes more than 20 plays, 30 screenplays, 5 novels, and 3 volumes of memoirs. He is most notable for his long-running series of farces first staged in the 1920s and 1930s at the Aldwych Theatre. Many of these were made into films and later television productions. After working for some years in his family's wholesale grocery business, which he detested, Travers was given a job by the publisher John Lane in 1911. After service as a pilot in the First World War, he began to write novels and plays. He turned his 1921 novel, '' The Dippers'', into a play that was first produced in the West End in 1922. His big break came in 1925, when the actor-manager Tom Walls bought the performing rights to his play '' A Cuckoo in the Nest'', which ran for more than a year at the Aldwych. He followed this success with eight more farces for Walls and his team; the last in the series closed in 1933. Most of th ...
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Tim Barrett (actor)
Tim Barrett (31 May 1929 – 20 August 1990) was an English actor best remembered for playing Malcolm Harris, Terry Medford's boss, in several series of the classic British sitcom ''Terry and June''. Career Barrett took the role of Malcolm Harris in ''Terry and June'' after the original actor Terence Alexander became unavailable to return for production to begin on the Christmas special, for he had just begun playing Charlie Hungerford in '' Bergerac''. He played Mr Campbell-Lewiston in ''The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin'', episode 4 "The Bizarre Dinner Party". Barrett played Harris from the 1980 Christmas special to the seventh series of the show, transmitted in late 1983; he was replaced in the eighth series by John Quayle. Four years after leaving ''Terry and June'', Barrett returned, this time playing a different character called Mr Basingstoke in the episode of the final series titled "They Also Serve". He also appeared alongside Quayle in two episodes of '' Farr ...
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BBC Television Comedy
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public broadcasting, public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current state with its current name on New Year's Day 1927. The oldest and largest local and global broadcaster by stature and by number of employees, the BBC employs over 21,000 staff in total, of whom approximately 17,200 are in public-sector broadcasting. The BBC was established under a Royal charter#United Kingdom, royal charter, and operates under an agreement with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. Its work is funded principally by an annual Television licensing in the United Kingdom, television licence fee which is charged to all British households, companies, and organisations using any type of equipment to receive or record live television broadcasts or to use the BBC's streaming service, BBC iPlayer, iPla ...
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Dirty Work (play)
''Dirty Work'' is a farce by Ben Travers. It was one of the series of twelve Aldwych farces that ran in uninterrupted succession at the Aldwych Theatre in London from 1923 to 1933. The play depicts the maladroit but ultimately successful efforts of a shop-walker to outwit a gang of jewel thieves. The piece opened on 7 March 1932 and ran for 193 performances until 26 August. A film adaptation of the play was made in 1934. Background The actor-manager Tom Walls had produced, directed and co-starred in nine farces at the Aldwych since 1923. By the early 1930s his interest was moving from theatre to cinema, and though he produced the new work he did not appear in it. Ben Travers, who had written all but two of the previous farces, made no attempt to write a Walls-type role for another actor to play. Ralph Lynn, who had co-starred with Walls in the previous farces, became the sole star."Aldwych Theatre", ''The Times'', 8 March 1932, p. 12 Many members of the familiar company rema ...
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Plunder (play)
''Plunder'' is a farce by the English playwright Ben Travers. It was first given at the Aldwych Theatre, London, the fifth in the series of twelve Aldwych farces presented by the actor-manager Tom Walls at the theatre between 1923 and 1933. Several of the actors formed a regular core cast for the Aldwych farces. The play shows two friends committing a jewel robbery, for arguably honourable reasons, with fatal results. The piece opened on 26 June 1928 and ran for 344 performances. Travers made a film adaptation, which Walls directed in 1933, with most of the leading members of the stage cast reprising their roles. Background The actor-manager Tom Walls produced the series of Aldwych farces, nearly all written by Ben Travers, starring Walls and his co-star Ralph Lynn, who specialised in playing "silly ass" characters. Walls assembled a regular company of actors to fill the supporting roles, including Robertson Hare, who played a figure of put-upon respectability; Mary Brough in ec ...
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A Cup Of Kindness (play)
''A Cup of Kindness'' is a farce by the English playwright Ben Travers. It was first given at the Aldwych Theatre, London, the sixth in the series of twelve Aldwych farces presented by the actor-manager Tom Walls at the theatre between 1923 and 1933. Several of the actors formed a regular core cast for the Aldwych farces. The play depicts the feud between two suburban families. The piece opened on 24 May 1929 and ran for 291 performances. Travers made a film adaptation, which Walls directed in 1934, with some of the leading members of the stage cast reprising their roles. Background The actor-manager Tom Walls produced the series of Aldwych farces, nearly all written by Ben Travers, starring Walls and his co-star Ralph Lynn, who specialised in playing "silly ass" characters. Walls assembled a regular company of actors to fill the supporting roles, including Robertson Hare, who played a figure of put-upon respectability; Mary Brough in eccentric old lady roles; Ethel Coleridge a ...
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Turkey Time (play)
''Turkey Time'' is a farce by Ben Travers. It was one of the series of Aldwych farces that ran nearly continuously at the Aldwych Theatre in London from 1923 to 1933. The story concerns two guests, staying at the Stoatt household for Christmas, who offer shelter to a pretty concert performer left stranded when her employer absconds, leaving his cast unpaid. The piece opened on 26 May 1931 and ran for 263 performances until 16 January 1932. A film adaptation of the play was made in 1933. Background ''Turkey Time'' was the ninth in the series of twelve Aldwych farces, and the seventh written by Travers. The first four in the series, ''It Pays to Advertise (play), It Pays to Advertise'', ''A Cuckoo in the Nest'', ''Rookery Nook (play), Rookery Nook'' and ''Thark (play), Thark'' had long runs, averaging more than 400 performances each. The next three were less outstandingly successful, the runs getting shorter with each production: ''Plunder (play), Plunder'' (1928, 344 performan ...
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A Cuckoo In The Nest
''A Cuckoo in the Nest'' is a farce by the English playwright Ben Travers. It was first given at the Aldwych Theatre, London, the second in the series of twelve Aldwych farces presented by the actor-manager Tom Walls at the theatre between 1923 and 1933. Several of the cast formed the regular core cast for the later Aldwych farces. The plot concerns two friends, a man and a woman, who are each married to other people. While travelling together, they are obliged by circumstances to share a hotel bedroom. Everyone else assumes the worst, but the two travellers are able to prove their innocence. The piece opened on 22 July 1925 and ran for 376 performances. Travers made a film adaptation, which Walls directed in 1933, with most of the leading members of the stage cast reprising their roles. Background The actor-manager Tom Walls, initially together with Leslie Henson, produced the series of Aldwych farces, nearly all written by Ben Travers, starring Walls and his co-star Ralph ...
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