''The Sharp End'' was a 1991 British television comedy drama starring

Gwen Taylor Gwen Taylor (born 19 February 1939) is an English actress who has appeared in many British television programmes. She is known for her roles as Amy Pearce in the sitcom '' Duty Free'' (1984–1986); Barbara Liversidge in the sitcom ''Barbara'' ...

James Cosmo James Ronald Gordon Copeland , known professionally as James Cosmo (b. 1947), is a Scottish film and television actor known for his appearances in films including ''Highlander'', '' Braveheart'', ''Trainspotting'', ''Jagame Thandhiram'', ''Tro ...

and

Philip Martin Brown Philip Martin Brown (born 9 July 1956) is a British actor from Manchester. He is known for his long-running portrayal of English teacher Grantly Budgen in the hit BBC One school-based drama series '' Waterloo Road'', which he played from 2006 t ...

. It was written by

Roy Clarke Royston Clarke OBE (born 28 January 1930), usually known as Roy Clarke, 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, '' Stil ...

and directed by Brian Parker and David Penn, and ran for eight episodes on

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins ...

from 12 April 1991. The programme was filmed on location in

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement in Staffordshire and is surroun ...

. Taylor took the leading role of Celia Forrest, a recent widow who had decided to take on the running of her late husband's

Debt Collection Agency Debt collection is the process of pursuing payments of debts owed by individuals or businesses. An organization that specializes in debt collection is known as a collection agency or debt collector. Most collection agencies operate as agents of ...

. However, her decision to do this was much to the displeasure of her more ruthless business rival (Martin Brown), who tried everything in his power to close her business down. James Cosmo also starred as Carmichael, an illiterate hermit who was hired by Forrest as her assistant. He spent much of the series riding around on a

pushbike A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist. Bi ...

with a tape recorder on which Forrest would record instructions of his tasks for the day. The duo managed to keep the company running, but the series was less successful, and was cancelled after one season. It also aired on ABC TV in Australia.

External links

* 1991 British television series debuts 1991 British television series endings 1990s British drama television series 1990s British television miniseries BBC Television shows Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming English-language television shows Television shows set in Staffordshire {{comedy-tv-prog-stub