Contrived by Granada as a sister show to Coronation Street, with the aim of lifting ITVs weekend schedules (it went out on Fridays and Sundays), Albion Market arrived with a bang and left with a whimper.
The very first episode saw market superintendent Derek Owen (David Hargreaves) being forced to evacuate after receiving an anonymous bomb threat over the phone. With the danger seemingly passed, the day’s trading resumed as usual – until a dramatic explosion erupted, seconds after viewers saw a shadowy figure deliberately starting a fire.
Much was made of the launch of this ambitious new series, but its poor audience ratings (beaten by Open All Hours and even Wogan!) resulted in some ITV regions moving it to even less adventurous time slots. Although lavished with a £3 million budget Albion Market eventually shut up shop a year after it began, after exactly 100 episodes.
Set in a covered Manchester market (actually a converted Salford warehouse), the series monitored the complex lives of an ethnically mixed group of stallholders.
At the forefront of the action were hunky, cake-selling wide-boy Tony Fraser (John Michie), his 19-year-old girlfriend Lisa O’Shea (Sally Baxter), her mum, Lynne Harrison (Noreen Kershaw), who ran a domestic goods stall, and Lynne’s two-timing no-good husband Roy (Jonathan Barlow), who had served a prison sentence for his involvement in a robbery.
Lam Quoc Hoa (Phillip Tan) and Ly Nhu Chan (Pik-Sen Lim) were Vietnamese refugee cousins, Raju (Dev Sagoo) and Jaz (Paul Bhattacharjee) Sharma were expelled Ugandan denim merchants, and Morris and Miriam Ransome (Bernard Spear and Carol Kaye) were the Jewish couple who ran the pottery stall.
Phil (Burt Caesar) was the West Indian who worked in the cafe, and Duane Rigg (Alistair Walker) was the market’s resident teenage delinquent.
Towards the end of its run, two new personalities were introduced in an attempt to give the show a lift. Sixties pop singer Helen Shapiro played Viv, a hairdresser, and former Til Death Us Do Part “Scouse git” Tony Booth was seen as Ted Pilkington, licensee of the market’s local, The Waterman’s Arms.
The final storyline was dominated by the marriage of Derek’s deputy, Keith Naylor (Derek Hicks) to Louise Todd (Kelly Lawrence). The wedding day was unusually chaotic, with the omens for the happy couple not looking good.
We never got to find out. The wedding car drove away, and that was it.
Derek Owen
David Hargreaves
Tony Fraser
John Michie
Lynne Harrison
Noreen Kershaw
Roy Harrison
Jonathan Barlow
Lisa O’Shea
Sally Baxter
Morris Ransome
Bernard Spear
Miriam Ransome
Carol Kaye
Duane Rigg
Alistair Walker
Larry Rigg
Peter Benson
Brenda Rigg
Valerie Lilley
Phil Smith
Burt Caesar
Raju Sharma
Dev Sagoo
Jaz Sharma
Paul Bhattacharjee
Lam Quoc Hoa
Phillip Tan
Ly Nhu Chan
Pik-Sen Lim Geoff Travis
Geoffrey Leesley Eileen Travis
Barbara Pierson Peggy Sagar Paula Jacobs Keith Naylor
Derek Hicks Louise Todd
Kelly Lawrence Ted Pilkington
Anthony Booth
Viv Harker
Helen Shapiro
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