Hardwicke House - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

EdwardHitler · 11-16-2004, 03:15 PM

Now this sounds like something I'd love!!! Talk about hard to get, wonder if it'll ever see the light of day on video?

Hardwicke House
UK, ITV (Central), Sitcom, Colour, 1987
Starring: Roy Kinnear, Roger Sloman, Pam Ferris
Up to end of the 1980s four different school sitcoms had reflected their times. Billy Bunter Of Greyfriars School in the 1950s depicted boyish pranks; Whack-O! in the 1960s was good clean fun, albeit with heavy use of the cane; Please, Sir! in the 1970s was more unruly and delinquent, but still light; and Hardwicke House in the 1980s offered no-holds-barred anarchy. The school's hapless headmaster, R G Wickham, was an alcoholic; deputy head (Mr Mackintosh) took a lewd pleasure in watching the sixth-form girls play hockey; French mistress Ms Crabbe was a fanatical cause supporter; PE teacher Mr Savage lived up to his name; Head of English Mr Fowl had twice murdered to climb his way up the pedagogic ladder; history teacher Dick Flashman was a spiv; maths teacher Mr Magnusson was a lunatic Icelandic prone to eating raw fish; and geography master Mr Philpott liked to routinely electrocute selected pupils.

It was quite a brew - and one which ITV viewers did not enjoy one little bit. After the premiere hour-length episode, and the first of six more half-hours screened the following evening, they complained so loudly that network executives waved the white flag and promptly pulled the series off the air: the five remaining episodes (scheduled to have ended on 1 April 1987) were never shown, and work on a second series was immediately scrapped. Those whose cameo roles in series one were taped but not seen included John Fortune, Bryan Pringle and, in the roles of highly dangerous boys straight out of Borstal, Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson.

Perhaps, however, extending the analogy of school sitcoms reflecting their time, Hardwicke House was merely ahead of the game. Chalk on BBC1 in 1997, was another uncompromising few-holds-barred comprehensive-school sitcom and it drew some rave reviews.

Researched and written by Mark Lewisohn.

11-16-2004, 03:15 PM	#1
EdwardHitler Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Nov 12, 2004 Posts: 64	Hardwicke House Now this sounds like something I'd love!!! Talk about hard to get, wonder if it'll ever see the light of day on video? Hardwicke House UK, ITV (Central), Sitcom, Colour, 1987 Starring: Roy Kinnear, Roger Sloman, Pam Ferris Up to end of the 1980s four different school sitcoms had reflected their times. Billy Bunter Of Greyfriars School in the 1950s depicted boyish pranks; Whack-O! in the 1960s was good clean fun, albeit with heavy use of the cane; Please, Sir! in the 1970s was more unruly and delinquent, but still light; and Hardwicke House in the 1980s offered no-holds-barred anarchy. The school's hapless headmaster, R G Wickham, was an alcoholic; deputy head (Mr Mackintosh) took a lewd pleasure in watching the sixth-form girls play hockey; French mistress Ms Crabbe was a fanatical cause supporter; PE teacher Mr Savage lived up to his name; Head of English Mr Fowl had twice murdered to climb his way up the pedagogic ladder; history teacher Dick Flashman was a spiv; maths teacher Mr Magnusson was a lunatic Icelandic prone to eating raw fish; and geography master Mr Philpott liked to routinely electrocute selected pupils. It was quite a brew - and one which ITV viewers did not enjoy one little bit. After the premiere hour-length episode, and the first of six more half-hours screened the following evening, they complained so loudly that network executives waved the white flag and promptly pulled the series off the air: the five remaining episodes (scheduled to have ended on 1 April 1987) were never shown, and work on a second series was immediately scrapped. Those whose cameo roles in series one were taped but not seen included John Fortune, Bryan Pringle and, in the roles of highly dangerous boys straight out of Borstal, Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson. Perhaps, however, extending the analogy of school sitcoms reflecting their time, Hardwicke House was merely ahead of the game. Chalk on BBC1 in 1997, was another uncompromising few-holds-barred comprehensive-school sitcom and it drew some rave reviews. Researched and written by Mark Lewisohn.