| Common As Muck | |
|---|---|
Series One title caption featuring Bernard, played by Richard Ridings |
|
| Format | Live action / Drama / Comedy |
| Created by | William Ivory |
| Starring | Edward Woodward Roy Hudd Tim Healy Neil Dudgeon George Raistrick Nimmy March Kathy Burke Ian Mercer |
| Ending theme | Original music by The Other Two |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of episodes | 12 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Michael Wearing John Chapman(Producer) |
| Running time | 50 mins |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC One |
| Original run | 7 September 1994 – 12 February 1997 |
Common As Muck was a comedy drama serial made by the BBC about the lives of a crew of binmen; it ran for two series.
Contents |
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Edward Woodward | Nev Smith |
| Neil Dudgeon | Ken Andrews |
| Richard Ridings | Bernard Green |
| Tim Healy | Foxy |
| Stephen Lord | Jonno Fox |
| Roy Hudd | John Parry |
| June Whitfield | Irene Watson |
| Kathy Burke | Sharon |
| Terence Rigby | Dougie Houd |
| Saeed Jaffrey | Nat Prabhakar |
| Lesley Sharp | Christine Stranks |
| Freda Dowie | Dulcie Green |
| George Raistrick | Mister Arnold |
| Paul Shane | Mike Roberts |
| Tony Melody | Nev's Friend |
| William Ivory | Vinny |
| Simon Ashley | Stan |
| Anthony Barclay | Sunil Prabhakar |
| Michelle Holmes | Marie |
| Nimmy March | Denice Andrews |
The first series concentrated on the trials and tribulations of a team of bin men through a number of politically-motivated moves by the local council to privatise the refuse collection of the fictional town in which the series is set. The main characters are pitched against the corrupt council leaders and are seen to be taken over by a contractor and ultimately triumphing over an increasingly corrupt management. The first series featured Tim Healy whose character died in the penultimate episode and therefore did not appear in the second series.
7 September 1994
14 September 1994
21 September 1994
28 September 1994
5 October 1994
12 October 1994
The focus of the second series shifted away from the refuse disposal theme, with the opening episode showing the main characters being made redundant; subsequent episodes followed the lives of the characters, showing them experimenting with a number of different jobs including window cleaners, painters and decorators and in the case of Nev Smith coping with retirement after serving 45 years on the bins. A number of new characters were introduced into the second series including those played by veteran actors Frank Finlay, Paul Shane and June Whitfield and a minor role for James Nesbitt as a parish priest.
8 January 1997
15 January 1997
22 January 1997
29 January 1997
5 February 1997
12 February 1997
Owing to the long period of time between the two series the original series was repeated on BBC One immediately prior to the screening of the second series. The two series were also re-shown on the now-defunct satellite channel Granada Plus in 2002.
The series has never been made commercially available on any format.