6.6 /10 1 Votes
5.2/10 Country of origin UK First episode date 18 February 1967 | 7.9/10 IMDb Genre Sitcom No. of series 6 (+ pilot) Final episode date 14 September 1971 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Created by Vince PowellHarry Driver Starring John BluthalJoe LynchBernard SpearCyril ShapsEamon Kelly No. of episodes 41 (including mini Christmas special) Number of episodes 41 (including mini Christmas special) Networks ITV, Thames Television, Associated British Corporation Program creators Vince Powell, Harry Driver Cast John Bluthal, Joe Lynch, Cyril Shaps Similar For the Love of Ada, George and the Dragon, Nearest and Dearest, Two in Clover, Bless This House |
Wendy king in never mind the quality feel the width 1973
Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width is a British television sitcom first broadcast in 1967 as a single play in the Armchair Theatre anthology series, later becoming a series of half-hour episodes, which ran until 1971. A total of 40 episodes were made, all but one of them being believed to have aired.
Contents
- Wendy king in never mind the quality feel the width 1973
- Plot
- Film adaptation
- Episodes
- Pilot 1967
- Series One 1967
- Series Two 1968
- Christmas Special 1968
- Series Three 1969
- Christmas Special 1969
- Series Four 1970
- Series Five 197071
- Series Six 1971
- DVD release
- References
It was originally made by ABC Television for the ITV network, with its production being continued by Thames Television.
Plot
The plots revolved around two tailors in business together. Manny Cohen, played by John Bluthal, was a Jew, and Patrick Kelly, played by Joe Lynch, was a Roman Catholic. Above their shop worked Lewtas (Bernard Spear) who was also a Jew and imported cloth. Two further prominent characters were Rabbi Levy (Christopher Benjamin in the pilot (he later reappeared as Dr Shapiro in a later episode), Cyril Shaps in series 1 to 4, David Nettheim and Jonathan Burn as Rabbi Stone in series 5) from the local synagogue, and Father Ryan (Denis Carey in the pilot, Eamon Kelly in series 1 to 4) from the local Catholic church. The Romanian-born Meier Tzelniker also made several appearances as Israel Bloom.
One episode featured Manny and Patrick trading the rights to display their pictures around the shop. When Patrick had two pictures of the Pope on the wall while Manny had one of Moshe Dayan, Manny's comment was "It's the going rate. Two Popes to one Moshe."
Another episode had Patrick, a singer, filling in at the synagogue for a sick cantor, on the occasion of a visit by the Chief Rabbi. Coached to sing phonetically in Hebrew, Patrick performs, every moment milked for comedic value. Finally the Chief Rabbi congratulates Patrick but reveals he knows something is up. When asked how he knows, he replies, "Simple. At the end of the service you genuflected and crossed yourself!" The episode title was "The Not-So-Kosher Cantor".
Notable guest artistes included film actors Dennis Price as a Savile Row tailor and Rupert Davies as a Roman Catholic Bishop, Fred Emney, Harold Bennett, David Kossoff (playing himself), Jack Smethurst, Dad's Army stars Frank Williams (playing another clergyman) and Bill Pertwee, comedian Dick Bentley, Roy Marsden, Victor Maddern, future Coronation Street stars Barbara Knox (as Barbara Mullaney) and Roy Barraclough, George A. Cooper, Rita Webb, On the Buses star Michael Robbins, and Ellen Pollock as Manny's mother Ruby.
Film adaptation
In 1973 Bluthal and Lynch reprised their roles in a film spin off.
Episodes
The pilot and the first two series were produced by ABC; however, the second series (of 6 episodes) did not air until just after Thames launched, who initially aired the six series 2 episodes over August and September 1968. Out of the 40 episodes which were made, 11 episodes no longer exist. These are the pilot, five of the six episodes from Series 1, and five of the six episodes from Series 2. Episodes marked with an * are, according to Kaleidoscope Publishing, currently missing from the archives.
Pilot (1967)
Series One (1967)
Series Two (1968)
Christmas Special (1968)
Series Three (1969)
Christmas Special (1969)
Series Four (1970)
Series Five (1970–71)
Series Six (1971)
DVD release
A 4-Disc set of the show, containing the Thames TV series was released on DVD in June 2010, by Network.