Queenie’s Castle

1 9 7 0 – 1 9 7 2 (UK)
18 x 30 minute episodes

Written by Keith Waterhouse & Willis Hall, this was a popular North Country comedy vehicle for the legendary Diana Dors.

Dors starred as the indomitable, iron-willed and downright blunt Queenie Shepherd – drinker of Light Ale by the crate-load, owner of a stout Yorkshire accent and a sharp turn of phrase, and bitter ruler of the roost in her own castle.

In Queenie’s case, the “castle” is Flat 75 in a council tower block named Margaret Rose House, situated in the regally named Buckingham Flats estate (filmed at the – now demolished – Quarry Hill flats at Leeds).

Freddie Fletcher, Barrie Rutter and Brian Marshall co-starred as Queenie’s three more-or-less delinquent sons, itinerant labourer Raymond, freelance van driver Bernard (‘Bunny’) and unemployed Douglas, who hopes to one day make a large fortune from his five-horse accumulator.

While Queenie’s husband, Lionel, is mysteriously absent (assumed in prison, though there are many excuses as to his whereabouts), her beloved boys are involved in all manner of dodgy dealings, and none of them is a stranger to the local magistrates’ court.

Tony Caunter played brother-in-law (and illegal lodger) Jack, with Lynne Perrie (later Ivy Tilsley in Coronation Street) as their nosy patisserie-managing neighbour Mrs Petty, who, as secretary of the Residents’ Association, was viewed as the arch enemy and treated abominably.

Mrs Petty would be heartily relieved to see the back of Queenie and her “Quarry Hill Mafia” – although Jeremy, the landlord of the Builders Arms (regarded locally as the Shepherds’ weekend residence), would probably be forced to seek an alternative income.

The Shepherds’ did not ask for favours, only for tolerance. If their telly blared out across the estate in the late hours, if tea leaves and crusts of bread cascaded from Queenie’s balcony like autumn leaves, if there was the sound of singing when less exuberant mortals were asleep, it was not because they had any thought of giving offence.

Queenie was not a despot. She would always listen (albeit with an icy smile, which froze all but the most intrepid) to any complaint about the running of her household. She would not jump the queue at the butcher’s, although she would affect not to notice if the queue moved nervously to one side to let her pass.

Produced by Yorkshire Television, the last four episodes of series one were recorded in black and white due to the ITV colour strike.

Six months after the end of Queenie’s Castle, Dors was cast as another sassy brassy lassie in another Yorkshire TV sitcom, All Our Saturdays (1973).

Queenie Shepherd
Diana Dors
Jack Henry Shepherd
Tony Caunter
Douglas Fairbanks Shepherd
Barrie Rutter
Raymond Herbert Shepherd
Freddie Fletcher
Bunny (Bernard Anthony) Shepherd
Brian Marshall
Mrs Edith Petty
Lynne Perrie
Mrs Blakey
Kathy Staff
Jeremy the Landlord
Bryan Mosley

Episodes

Episodes

Video

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