>Johnny Speight sitcom about a golf club starring Eric Sykes. Had a storyline about 1 club member getting a sex change. Lots of "Till Death..."-type humour about bigotry. Enraged the PC crowd, 1 ITV station dropped the last few shows of the series. Was originally going to get 2 series from the off but got killed off by the controversy (I think).
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It hit controversy right away, because it was on at 8pm, and some of its *humour* (what little I saw of it was about as funny as the average golf club banter) offended the mainstream ITV audience. TSW (now WestCountry) didn't show the final two or three episodes.
Anyway, I was doing my A-levels at the time, so don't remember much...
Eric gave a press conference after that, saying "I am past my sell-by date", explaining why most of his work has been in regional theatre since then. Pity.
You really would have thought that a writer of Johnny Speight's calibre and a great comic talent like Eric Sykes [who co-wrote some of the Goon Shows, BTW!] could have come up with something better than this load of old golf balls. The pilot was about a golf club member who wanted to have a sex-change and the club had to decide whether to keep him on because (I know, you're ahead of me) they don't take women. Most of Sykes's dialogue consisted of the words "oh" and "er" and "ah...". It was genuinely painful to watch so much talent being thrown away.
Thank god for PG Wodehouse's golf stories.
>It hit controversy right away, because it was on at 8pm, and some of its *humour* (what little I saw of it was about as funny as the average golf club banter) offended the mainstream ITV audience. TSW (now WestCountry) didn't show the final two or three episodes.
Are you sure TSW didn't show the last two or three episodes? It was one of TSW's few programmes made for the network, after all.
> The pilot was about a golf club member who wanted to have a sex-change and the club had to decide whether to keep him on because (I know, you're ahead of me) they don't take women. Most of Sykes's dialogue consisted of the words "oh" and "er" and "ah...". It was genuinely painful to watch so much talent being thrown away.
Saw an extended clip of this scene, where the panel interview the transsexual (Ken Campbell) and the clip made it seem funny. Big discussion over how difficult it is for a former bloke having to get used to all the accessories and worrying about different sorts of frocks. Still, the series probably was dodgy, if this, the episode with the most humorous possibilities, was the pilot - what else could they have done?
>>It hit controversy right away, because it was on at 8pm, and some of its *humour* (what little I saw of it was about as funny as the average golf club banter) offended the mainstream ITV audience. TSW (now WestCountry) didn't show the final two or three episodes.
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>Are you sure TSW didn't show the last two or three episodes? It was one of TSW's few programmes made for the network, after all.
Pretty sure 19th Hole was made by Regent Productions (William G Stewart's production company) for Central.
Can anyone confirm this for sure?
WGS turned up on R2r complaining about the complaints.
>>Are you sure TSW didn't show the last two or three episodes? It was one of TSW's few programmes made for the network, after all.
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>Pretty sure 19th Hole was made by Regent Productions (William G Stewart's production company) for Central.
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>Can anyone confirm this for sure?
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Yeah I'm sure it was from Central. TSW's only foray into comedy/drama was 'Where There's a Will'. It didn't even extend beyond a pilot, which was shown around midnight in some regions 2 years after it was made.