An out-take from the (untransmitted) Rik and Ade episode was on the 1987 Central TV Xmas tape (see Hidden Archive).
Try here:
http://www.phill.co.uk/comedy/house/
But WHY did it get pulled after only two episodes? Was it contraversial, rude, or just shit?
If you go to the TV Heaven exhibit at the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television you can see episode two of Hardwicke House and get a factsheet on it, all for free. The only problem is that it's in Bradford. Here's what the factsheet says:
HARDWICKE HOUSE
EPISODE NO Two (The First Day of Term)
LENGTH OF PROGRAMME 25 minutes
TRANSMISSION DATE 25 February 1987
TV COMPANY Central
WRITERS Richard Hall and Simon Wright
DIRECTOR John Stroud
CAST Roy Kinnear, Pam Ferris, Tony Haygarth, Duncan Preston, Gavin Richards, Granville Saxton, Roger Sloman, Nick Wilton, Kevin Allen, Paul Spurrier and Micky O'Donoghue.
DESCRIPTION Second episode of a seven episode comedy series based around a comprehensive school staffed by a combination of ineffectual and psychotic teachers, and populated by unruly and stupid pupils. There were fine comic performances from Roy Kinnear, Pam Ferris, Duncan Preston and Nick Wilton, yet most people will never have heard of the programme.
It had been planned to be shown over six weeks, with the double length pilot episode (The Visit) and this episode in TV Heaven, being shown on concurrent nights. It's not clear whether this was an attempt to hook an audience in to the programme early or an indication the ITV network was not totally happy with the show and wanted to clear it from the schedules as quickly as possible.
In any case the remaining five parts were never shown in Britain although Central Television offers all seven for sale overseas.
The problem was that the programme was being shown pre-watershed at 8 pm, far too early for the kind of humour involved, and because of its school background many viewers expected something suitable for family viewing in the tradition of Please Sir! (see TV Heaven Tape 123). As a result there was massive tabloid newspaper complaint about the programme's content and the rest of the series was pulled. The Guinness Book of Sitcoms, presumably working from back issues of the TV Times which may have already gone to press by the time the series was pulled, erroneously states that the whole of Hardwicke House was transmitted in 1987.
In 1996 the BBC launched the sitcom Chalk, which similarly dealt with an out of control school, but particular care was taken to stress in publicity that the show was aimed at an adult audience, and it was scheduled after 9 o'clock at night. Coincidentally Duncan Preston plays a teacher in both series.
Speaking to a TV Heaven curator in 1996, Nick Wilton, who played the character, Philpott, explained he'd been particularly disappointed by the cancellation, as it meant his character's stronger episodes didn't get seen. This museum has approached Central about the possibility of acquiring an untransmitted episode, to demonstrate the direction the programme decided to take. Central, however, have declined, explaining that as the material had not been seen as fit for broadcast they would be unhappy for it to be shown in the Museum.
Popular myth seems to have transformed the programme into a children's series which went way beyond the pale. This was indeed how some perceived it, but the show was never conceived as a children's series. The programme's music came from Peter Brewis, the producer was Paula Burden.
TV HEAVEN TAPE NO 366
> In any case the remaining five parts were never shown in Britain although Central Television offers all seven for sale overseas.
So has it ever been shown overseas?
> In any case the remaining five parts were never shown in Britain although Central Television offers all seven for sale overseas.
At the time Central claimed they had wiped the tapes, I never believed them though, odd that it hasn't turned up on satellite yet, it wasn't that bad,
Given the quality cast, I'm very surprised Central hasn't taken the opportunity to shows this in Britain, now that the original fuss has been forgotten about. There's a precedent for this kind of thing - Frankie Howerd's sitcom "Then Churchill Said To Me" was cancelled because of the Falklands and turned up on satellite 10 years later (and later on BBC2).
I remember this quite well; I even recall Roy Kinnear doing an interview on TVAM promoting the show.
One reason why the show got pulled, and why it provoked such outcry was (and bear in mind this is a long time ago, so I'm really solely on memory here) was that Roger Sloman's character was a paedophile, or at least had tendencies in that direction. In one episode, a young boy pupil turned up in his class with only a few pieces of toilet paper protecting his modesty, after being debagged in the toilets; Sloman's character almost had a fit at the sight of the boy!
I'd also heard the show had been wiped. It couldn't have been pulled due to it's quality as 90% of all ITV sitcoms would've gone the same way!
Fans of Roger Sloman may like to know he also appeared in 2 Norwich Union corporate training videos which I once had to sit through.
>Fans of Roger Sloman may like to know he also appeared in 2 Norwich Union corporate training videos which I once had to sit through.
Let me guess: he was portraying the "How not to do it" style of management?
Typecasting, tch...
I saw the transmitted episode of HH. It was just a really poor ITV sitcom. Don't get any "lost materpiece" ideas about it.
I saw them both on transmission. Saw one again recently. By no means a 'masterpiece', but I'm intruiged...
Seem to recall the vibe at the time was pulled-cos-it-was-shite rather than any pariticular controversy, though this does seem odd in light of the crap that's come after it...
First ep certainly was a bit dodgy, and I seem to recall feeling a bit uncomfortable about scenes of sexy-prefect-chicks-getting-around-the-teachers-by-flirting etc. And I was 17 at the time...
Just recall being disappointed that we never saw the Rik & Ade ep, since it was quite heavily trailed.