Citizen Smith

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Citizen Smith
Format Comedy
Created by John Sullivan
Starring Robert Lindsay
Mike Grady
Cheryl Hall
Hilda Braid
Peter Vaughan
Tony Steedman
Anthony Millan
George Sweeney
Stephen Greif
David Garfield
Country of origin United Kingdom
No. of episodes 30 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time 30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel BBC One
Original run 12 April 1977 – 31 December 1980
External links
IMDb profile

Citizen Smith was a British television sitcom. The show was written by John Sullivan, who went on later to write Only Fools and Horses. The show ran from 12 April 1977 to 31 December 1980.

Citizen Smith starred Robert Lindsay as "Wolfie" Smith, a young Marxist urban revolutionary living in Tooting, South London, who is attempting to emulate his hero Che Guevara. Wolfie is the self-proclaimed leader of the Tooting Popular Front (in reality a small bunch of his friends) the goals of which are "Power to the People" and "Freedom for Tooting". In reality, he is an unemployed dreamer and petty criminal whose plans fall through due to laziness and disorganisation.

Contents

[edit] Cast

  • Robert Lindsay – Wolfie
  • Mike Grady – Ken
  • Cheryl Hall – Shirley (Series 1 & 2)
  • Hilda Braid – Shirley’s Mum
  • Artro Morris – Shirley’s Dad (Pilot Episode)
  • Peter Vaughan – Shirley’s Dad (Series 1 & 2)
  • Tony Steedman – Shirley’s Dad (Series 3 – 1980 Christmas Special)
  • Anthony Millan – Tucker
  • George Sweeney – Speed
  • Stephen Greif – Harry Fenning (Series 1–3)
  • David Garfield – Ronnie Lynch (Series 4)

[edit] History

Sullivan was a scenery shifter at the BBC, and wrote a script after deciding he could do better than some of the scriptwriters whose works he was helping to produce. After approaching producer Dennis Main Wilson, a one-off episode "Roof Over My Head" was produced for Comedy Special (a showcase for new talent which had succeeded Comedy Playhouse). The pilot was a success, and four series and a Christmas special were produced between 1977 and 1980.

[edit] Plot

[edit] Series 1

From a couple of episodes into the run, Wolfie lives with his religious friend Ken in a flat in the house of his girlfriend's family - Shirley (Lindsay's then wife), her kindly but vague mother, who mistakenly calls Wolfie "Foxy" and her authoritarian and conservative father, who disapproves of Smith's lifestyle. Shirley considers herself engaged to Wolfie on account of a fake crocodile tooth necklace he gave her.

Other regular characters in the series were fellow-revolutionaries Tucker and Speed, and local gangster Harry Fenning. Series one consisted of nine episodes including the pilot.

[edit] Series 2

For the first two series, the opening credits of each episode were accompanied by a stirring rendition of the socialist anthem the Red Flag, and always featured Wolfie emerging from Tooting Broadway tube station. The opening sequence always ended with him shouting "Power to the People" in a comedic context, for example, waking a sleeping baby, or shouting it while standing on top of a statue. This was altered from Season 3 onwards. The opening was much the same, retaining the Red Flag, but the "Power to the People" line was always used the same way. In addition, the cast names were accompanied with an onscreen clip of them, rather than just the names that had been used before. Series two consisted of five episodes.

[edit] Series 3

The Glorious Day, which Wolfie had always been plotting, came at the end of the third series, in an episode of the same name, in which the Tooting Popular Front 'liberate' a Scorpion tank and use it to invade the Houses of Parliament, only to find the place empty due to the Parliamentary recess. This episode also came as a joy to all those who loathe garden gnomes. After stealing the Scorpion tank from a firing range, Smith, hides it in a friend's garage. Whilst away, one of the family, curious as to the purpose of this huge vehicle, parked amongst the garden tools, climbs down inside and accidentally steps on the fire button. The result is that their neat garden is raked with high calibre, heavy machine gun fire, and the spectacular, slow motion, annihilation of the 30 or so garden gnomes scattered about it. Series three consisted of eight episodes.

Many fans feel that this should have been the last episode, with The Glorious Day being the show's peak and a satisfying conclusion, and the final series generally being much weaker.

[edit] Series 4

The series was concluded in the penultimate episode, with Wolfie fleeing Tooting to escape Ronnie Lynch, closing with a shot mirroring the opening credits, of Wolfie entering Tooting Broadway Underground Station. However, one further episode, with Wolfie and Ken on holiday abroad, was shown as the 1980 Christmas Special. Series four consisted of seven episodes and a Christmas Special.

[edit] Notes

  • In the penultimate episode, Wolfie's full name was revealed as Walter Henry Smith - W H Smith.
  • One third series episode was called Only Fools and Horses, which writer John Sullivan went on to use as the title of his next hit comedy.
  • Wolfie is a Fulham FC supporter (the club John Sullivan supports) reflecting his own misfortune. He is often seen wearing a Fulham (black and white) scarf.
  • For the Christmas Special the words of the Red Flag were replaced with Oh Christmas Tree, which uses the same tune.

[edit] Episodes

Main article: See List of Citizen Smith episodes

The first episode aired on 12 April 1977. This episode was a pilot. Over the next four years a further four series and a Christmas Special would be aired. This would total thirty episodes. The last episode aired on 31 December 1980.

The series is occasionally re-run on UKTV Drama during the early hours of the morning. All the episodes have been released on DVD in either the first or second boxset. John Sullivan wrote all of the episodes and all episodes starred Robert Lindsay as Wolfie.

[edit] DVD release

Playback has released two DVD volumes of Citizen Smith each with two series. Series one and two were released in 2003 followed by series three and four in 2003. However due to contractual reasons some edits have been made on the episodes.

DVD Release date
The Complete Series 1 & 2 (3 discs) 3 March 2003
The Complete Series 3 & 4 (3 discs) 2 June 2003

[edit] External links