Not On Your Nellie

Not On Your Nellie is a British sitcom that ran from 1974-75. It starred veteran actress Hylda Baker as Nellie Pickersgill, a Bolton woman who moves to London to help run her ailing father's Chelsea pub. 17 episodes of the series were produced by London Weekend Television for the ITV network.

Premise

When Jed Pickersgill (John Barrett) finds himself too ill to run his Chelsea pub, The Brown Cow, he calls upon his middle-aged daughter Nellie for help. Nellie, however, is teetotal and does not approve of alcohol (or any vice) and attempts to maintain order in the pub by keeping a watchful eye on the regulars and her wayward father. Regular customers included Charlie (Leo Dolan), a window cleaner whose pastimes included booze and women; Ali (Azad Ali), an Asian London Underground worker who was forever being assaulted in the line of duty; George (David Raynor), an effeminate gay man who runs a nearby fashion boutique; and Gilbert (Roger Howlett), his flamboyantly dressed but always silent boyfriend. There was a new 'busty barmaid' in each series (each disapproved of by Nellie), including Beryl (Alexandra Dane), Doris (Wendy Richard), and "Big Brenda" (Sue Nicholls).

Series history

Not On Your Nellie first premiered in 1974, a year after Baker's previous series, Nearest and Dearest, ended. In a 1973 television interview with Baker (available on the Series 7 DVD of Nearest and Dearest), she stated that Not On Your Nellie was planned as a spin-off from Nearest and Dearest and would focus on the character Nellie Pledge after her brother Eli (Jimmy Jewel) deserts her following the end of their family business, Pledge's Purer Pickles.

However, Baker's character in Not On Your Nellie was not Nellie Pledge, but Nellie Pickersgill - an identical character in all but name. Not On Your Nellie was created by Roy Bottomley and Tom Brennand and was based on a stage play that they had written for Baker in the frame of the Nellie Pledge character. Bottomley and Brennand were two of the regular writers for Nearest and Dearest, but were not the series creators ("Nearest" was created by Vince Powell and Harry Driver and was produced by Granada Television). As such, neither Bottomley or Brennand (or London Weekend Television) had any rights to the character of Nellie Pledge, so this is likely what facilitated the name change to Pickersgill.

As with Nearest and Dearest, much of the comedy stemmed from Baker's malapropisms and partially improvised Northern humour, and Not On Your Nellie was essentially a new version (and equivalent) of Nearest and Dearest in a different location. Unfortunately this issue was not helped by the fact that Bottomley and Brennand recycled many of their old gags - and even their entire scripts - from Nearest and Dearest (this can be seen most prominently in the 1975 episode "Feeling The Draught" which was a remake of their 1969 Nearest and Dearest episode "Two Pennies To Rub Together").

The series also allowed Baker, a veteran of comedy, theatre, and music hall, to exhibit more of her stage abilities such as singing, clog dancing, and piano playing, and she wrote and performed the series' occasional end title theme song.

Despite the similarities, Not On Your Nellie didn't at all match the success of Nearest and Dearest. 1975 also saw major cast changes occurred before production of the third series commenced, with Barratt, Raynor, Ali, and Richard all leaving the show to work on other/later TV projects. Two new characters were brought in to accommodate the changes: including the late Jack Douglas as Nellie's cousin Stanley and Sue Nicholls as new barmaid Brenda.

During the taping of the third series in 1975, Baker slipped on set and injured herself. Although she appeared in a wheelchair for one episode after the accident, she then left the series and took legal action against LWT for her injury. One further episode was made without her (where it was explained her character was away in hospital) but the show was then abruptly axed only four episodes into its third series, marking both the end of Baker's time at LWT and her regular television career.

Episodes of the Series

Series 1

• Nellie Comes To Town (15 Mar 74)
• Something In The Night (22 Mar 74)
• The Anniversary Present (29 Mar 74)
• The Restless Spirit (5 Apr 74)
• The Apartment (12 Apr 74)
• Bring On The Dancing Girls (19 Apr 74)
• The Wind Of Change (26 Apr 74)

Series 2

• Brief Encounter (24 Jan 75)
• High Society (31 Jan 75)
• Requiem For A Heavyweight (7 Feb 75)
• Do Unto Others (14 Feb 75)
• The Lady With The Lamp (21 Feb 75)
• Feeling The Draught (28 Feb 75)

Series 3

• Be Prepared (8 Aug 75)
• A-Haunting We Will Go (15 Aug 75)
• The French Correction (22 Aug 75)
• Called To The Bar (29 Aug 75)

DVD release

All three series of the show have been released by Network DVD in the UK. The first series also includes the series finale of Nearest and Dearest as a bonus feature.

External links

• Not On Your Nellie at the Internet Movie Database
• Not On Your Nellie at TV.com