Budgie (TV series)
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| Budgie | |
|---|---|
 (shown left) Iain Cuthbertson and (shown right) Adam Faith in ITV television series Budgie |
|
| Format | Sitcom |
| Created by | Keith Waterhouse |
| Starring | Adam Faith |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ITV |
| Original run | 1970 – 1972 |
Budgie was a popular British television series starring former popstar Adam Faith which was broadcast on ITV between 1970 and 1972.[1]
The series was created by Keith Waterhouse the scriptwriters were Keith Waterhouse, Willis Hall and Douglas Livingstone. Produced by Rex Firkin and Verity Lambert.
[edit] Series plot
The title role, a chirpy cockney petty criminal newly out of prison, was played by former pop singer Adam Faith and was his first starring role for television.[2] His name in the series was Ronald 'Budgie' Bird, after the budgerigar birds sometimes kept as pets in England, and generally known in the USA as parakeets.
The series co-starred Iain Cuthbertson as Charles (Charlie) Endell, a suave and Machiavellian Glaswegian gangster based in London, who employed Budgie, often against his better judgement, or when he was in need of an unsuspecting fall guy. Two series, each of 13 episodes, were made. Although colour TV had been introduced one year earlier the first four episodes were made in black and white. This was due to industrial action by technicians at producers London Weekend Television, affecting many popular shows which should have been made in colour but were, for the period of the 'colour strike', made in monochrome only. This "colour strike" did not affect just London Weekend Television, it also affected all of the other ITV stations.
Far from going straight, Budgie's object was to stay out of regular employment by any means possible, while working on getting his way with his girlfriend who objected to his ways. Each episode was a complete story, usually depicting Budgie's involvement in some harebrained scheme to make money, usually somewhere on the wrong side of legality. However he was continually the victim of circumstance, or of the sharper, more experienced underworld operators he tried to emulate.
Plots included:
- Trying to unload thousands of stolen ballpoint pens he has unwisely bought from one fence, paying too much in the process. He finds that the pens are all stamped with a logo, possibly "Her Majesty's Government", making them unsellable. Apparently these were the classic "trading commodity", the only object being to sell them to another sucker. Charlie offers to take them off Budgie's hands for next to nothing in exchange for a favor or two, and promptly unloads them to another villain.
- Arranging a pornographic film show in a hotel and having assured the "punters" that the film was "the real Laurel and Hardy, if you know what I mean", making his escape before they find out the film really is a Laurel and Hardy movie.
- Accidentally stealing a van load of pornographic magazines from the police and then having to destroy the evidence. The wind blows the pages from the bonfire Budgie and his pal have made and they blow all over a field where a prison wardens versus prisoners rugby match is to be played imminently.
Eventually all his "friends" desert him and he winds up back in jail, ironically for something he had nothing to do with.
Other regular members of the cast included Lynn Dalby as Budgie's girlfriend, Hazel Fletcher, Georgina Hale as his wife, Jean, June Lewis as Mrs Endell and George Tovey as his father, Jack Bird. John Rhys-Davies (later of Sliders) has an early regular role as a corpulent gangster working for Endell, with the colourful name of Laughing Spam Fritter.
The series was cut short when Faith had a serious car accident in 1973 and nearly lost a limb.[3]
In 1979 a spin-off entitled Charles Endell Esq. was made with Iain Cuthbertson reprising his character, but Budgie himself was not present. Due to another ITV technicians' strike which took the network completely off the air for three months, the series was postponed and only six episodes were made.
A musical - based on the characters of the series (but featuring only Adam Faith from the original TV cast) with book by the script writers of the original series - opened at the Cambridge Theatre, London on October 18 1988 and ran for 3 months.
[edit] References
- ^ Budgie | A Television Heaven Review
- ^ Budgie | A Television Heaven Review
- ^ Faith went into semi-retirement for almost a year in 1973 after he was seriously injured in a car crash, in which he almost lost a leg. http://www.televisionheaven.co.uk/faith.htm Retrieved 31/08/07
