Seven of One
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Seven of One | |
|---|---|
 Open All Hours and Porridge were the two successful pilots from the Seven of One series. |
|
| Genre | Comedy |
| Creator(s) | Ronnie Barker |
| Starring | Ronnie Barker (only regular) |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of episodes | 7 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC One |
| Original run | March 25, 1973 – May 6, 1973 |
| Links | |
| IMDb profile | |
Seven of One was a 1973 television comedy series featuring Ronnie Barker. It was a series of seven separate comedies that would serve as possible pilots for sitcoms. Originally it was to be called Six of One, which Barker planned to follow up with another series called Half Dozen of the Other. The seven programmes were individually called:
- Open All Hours: Arkwright, a miserly North country shopkeeper and his put upon nephew Granville (David Jason).
- Prisoner and Escort: Norman Stanley Fletcher, a career criminal and his escorts - soft-hearted Mr Barraclough (Brian Wilde) and authoritarian Mr Mackay (Fulton Mackay) going up to prison.
- My Old Man: An embittered former train driver is forced to leave his condemned home, and decides to go & live with his daughter and her 'posh' husband.
- Spanner's Eleven: The tale of ailing football team, Ashfield Athletic, and its trainer, local cabbie / hot dog salesman / chauffeur, Norman Spanner.
- One Man's Meat: A man is forced to go on a starvation diet by his wife. (Barker wrote this episode under the pseudonym Jack Goetz.)
- Another Fine Mess: Ronnie Barker and Roy Castle as two Laurel and Hardy impersonators who become their characters as an evening's farcical events escalate around them.
- I'll Fly You For A Quid: A Welsh family, the Owens, who bet on absolutely everything and anything, discover that their grandfather backed a winner on the day he passed away - but where is the betting slip?
While the majority did not go beyond the Seven of One series, both Open All Hours and Prisoner and Escort did become much loved sitcoms. The first was the sitcom of the same name, while the second became Porridge, giving Ronnie Barker two of his best known roles. Both were voted amongst the top 10 Greatest British Sitcoms in 2004. My Old Man also became a short-lived series for ITV starring Clive Dunn.
Seven of One also featured Bill Maynard, Sheila Brennan, Talfryn Thomas, Prunella Scales, Keith Chegwin, Leslie Dwyer, Robin Parkinson, Sam Kelly, Christopher Biggins, Richard O'Callaghan and Avis Bunnage in supporting roles. The series was released on BBC DVD in 2005.
[edit] External links
| Ronnie Barker |
|---|
| Situation Comedies |
| The Navy Lark | Six Dates With Barker | Hark at Barker | His Lordship Entertains |
Seven of One | Porridge | Going Straight | Open All Hours | The Magnificent Evans | Clarence |
| Sketch Shows |
| Lines From My Grandfather's Forehead | The Frost Report | The Ronnie Barker Playhouse | The Two Ronnies | The Two Ronnies Sketchbook |
| Short Films |
| A Home of Your Own | Futtock's End | The Picnic | By the Sea |
| Other Roles |
| Robin and Marian | The Gathering Storm | My House in Umbria |
| Notable Collaborators |
| Ronnie Corbett | David Jason | Richard Beckinsale | David Frost | Dick Clement | Ian Le Frenais | Roy Clarke |
