''Snoddy'' was a six-part Scottish 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 ...

, written and created by Johnny Crawford, that first broadcast on

BBC One Scotland BBC One Scotland is a Scottish free-to-air television channel owned and operated by BBC Scotland. It is the Scottish variation of the UK-wide BBC One network and is broadcast from Pacific Quay in Glasgow. History The BBC Television Service sta ...

on 13 March 2002. The series, which aired at 10:35pm on Wednesdays, starred

Gregor Fisher Gregor Fisher (born 22 December 1953) is a Scottish comedian and actor. He is best known for his portrayal of the title character in the comedy series '' Rab C. Nesbitt'', a role he has played since the show's first episode in 1988. He has also ...

of ''

Rab C Nesbitt ''Rab C. Nesbitt'' is a Scottish television comedy, comedy television series that originally aired between 1988 and 1999. The show returned for a one–off special in 2008, before being re-commissioned in 2010. Its second run was broadcast from ...

'' fame as DCI Samuel J. Snoddy, the head of Scotland's Elite Crime Squad, who is obsessed with spending more time playing golf abroad rather than fighting crimes. Only a single series of six episodes was broadcast, and the series was never shown outside of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. The series was regarded as unsuccessful and was axed by BBC bosses following poor ratings. The series was heavily promoted in and around the

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

area, with a number of billboard posters portraying the tagline "it's a Hotel Oscar Oscar Tango of a show” being put up around the city. Notably, the series has never been made available on DVD.

Production

''Snoddy'' was Johnny Crawford's first television writing credit, eventually being produced by The Comedy Unit for

after first being offered to

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 ...

in 1998. Producer Colin Gilbert described ''Snoddy'' as Crawford's "rich, refreshing, and tangential left-field vision". Scripts for the series were subject to redrafting, with Gilbert commenting, "It's been a challenge for us to control everything into half-hour episodes that make narrative sense and are still funny. John's certainly had to work at making ''Snoddy'' just that bit easier for folk to follow, re-writing and re-writing, but he's become a much better writer as he's gone along."

Cast

as DCI Samuel J. Snoddy *

Dawn Steele Dawn Steele (born 11 December 1975) is a Scottish actress best known for her portrayals of the characters Alexandra "Lexie" MacDonald from the BBC drama '' Monarch of the Glen'', Alice Trevanion in the ITV drama series '' Wild at Heart'' and D ...

as Laura Bonney * Hugh Ross as Chief Inspector Chalmers * Gavin Mitchell as DC Jackie Murdoch * James Young as DC Wilson *

Brian Pettifer Brian Pettifer (born 1 January 1953) is a Scottish actor who has appeared in many television shows, and also on stage and in film. He is the younger brother of folk musician Linda Thompson. Biography He intended to become a photographer, but ...

as Professor Baxter *

Tom Urie Tom Urie (born 1 March 1969) is a Scottish actor and musician. He is best known for his role as Big Bob (Bob O'Hara) in the BBC Scotland soap opera ''River City''. In November 2019, Urie played Gordie in the BBC Scotland drama '' Guilt''. Car ...

as Captain Ortego * Alan McCafferty as PC MacCubbin * Billy Riddoch as PC Greig

Episodes

References

External links

* *{{British Comedy Guide, tv, snoddy, Snoddy Scottish television sitcoms 2002 Scottish television series debuts 2002 Scottish television series endings BBC Scotland television shows BBC television sitcoms British English-language television shows Television shows set in Scotland