''Chelmsford 123'' is a British television

situation comedy 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 for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

Hat Trick Productions Hat Trick Productions Limited is an independent British production company that produces television and radio programmes, mainly specialising in comedy, based in London. The company's logo is depicted as a rabbit pulling a man out of a hat inste ...

. It originally ran for two series, of six and seven episodes respectively, in 1988 and 1990. The series is set in the British town of

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Colchester and Southend-on-Sea. It is located north-east of London ...

in the year AD 123 and concerned the power struggle between Roman governor Aulus Paulinus ( Jimmy Mulville) and the British chieftain, Badvoc ( Rory McGrath). Britain is a miserable place, cold and wet – just the place to exile Aulus for accidentally insulting the Emperor's horse, but it also give him something useful to do. Aulus (probably a play on Aulus Platorius Nepos, the real governor of

Roman Britain Roman Britain was the territory that became the Roman province of ''Britannia'' after the Roman conquest of Britain, consisting of a large part of the island of Great Britain. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. Julius Caes ...

between 122 and 125) is a rather delicate Roman and is usually outwitted by the scheming Badvoc, who has not had a haircut for twenty-five years. There are also appearances by many of the other regular "Hat Trick" actors, previously seen in shows such as '' Who Dares Wins''. Both series are available to stream on

, and have been shown in the UK on Rewind TV. Series 1 and 2 were released on DVD by Acorn Media UK on 15 September 2011.

Principal cast

* Rory McGrath as Badvoc, A British chieftain * Jimmy Mulville as Aulus Paulinus, the Roman Governor of Britain * Philip Pope as Grasientus, Aulus' Brother in-law. (Pope also wrote the series' title music.) * Howard Lew Lewis as Blag * Neil Pearson as Mungo * Erika Hoffman as Gargamadua, Badvoc's girlfriend (Series 1 only) * Robert Austin as Functio (Series 1 only) * Geoffrey McGivern as Wolfbane (one episode in Series 1, regular cast member in Series 2) Also appearing in a number of episodes were: *

Geoffrey Whitehead Geoffrey Whitehead (born 1 October 1939) is an English actor. He has appeared in a range of television, film and radio roles. Early life Whitehead was born on 1 October 1939 in Grenoside, Sheffield. After his father was killed in the Second Wo ...

as Viatorus, engineer, bringer of rain, sculptor (3 episodes) *

Andy Hamilton Andrew Neil Hamilton (born 28 May 1954) is a British comedian, game show panellist, television director, comedy screenwriter, radio dramatist, novelist and actor. Early life and education Hamilton was born in Fulham, West London. He was educa ...

as Taranis, British "warrior" (2 episodes) (also sometime programme associate). *

Chris Langham Christopher Langham (born 14 April 1949) is an English writer, actor, and comedian. He is known for playing the cabinet minister Hugh Abbot in the BBC sitcom ''The Thick of It'', and as presenter Roy Mallard in '' People Like Us'', first on ...

as The Gate Guard and later Chief Of Security (2 episodes) *

Bill Wallis William Wallis (20 November 1936 – 6 September 2013) was an English actor who appeared in numerous radio and television roles, as well as in the theatre. Early life Wallis was born in Guildford in Surrey, the only son of Albert Wallis, a trai ...

Emperor Hadrian Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...

(2 episodes).

Episode list

Series 1: 1988

* ''Arrivederci Roma''—9 March 1988 (''sections in Italy played entirely in Latin, until Aulus arrives in Britain'') * ''What's Your Poison?''—16 March 1988 * ''The Girl of My Dreams''—23 March 1988 * ''One For The Road''—30 March 1988 * ''Vidi Vici Veni''—6 April 1988 * ''Peeled Grapes and Pedicures''—13 April 1988

Series 2: 1990

* ''Heads You Lose''—9 January 1990 * ''Get Well Soon''—16 January 1990 * ''Bird Trouble''—23 January 1990 * ''Odi, et Amo''—30 January 1990 * ''The Secret War''—6 February 1990 * ''Mine's a Double''—13 February 1990 * ''Something Beginning With 'E' ''—20 February 1990 (''as with first episode, sections in Italy played entirely in Latin, until the Emperor arrives in Britain'')

References

External links

* * * {{IMDb title, 0094432 Channel 4 sitcoms Works set in Roman Britain 1988 British television series debuts 1990 British television series endings 1980s British sitcoms 1990s British sitcoms Television series by Hat Trick Productions Television series set in the Roman Empire Latin-language television