Britain’s first daily serial followed the life of a newlywed young couple – Bill (Howard Pays) and Sally Norton (Patricia Dainton) – who lived in a small bungalow by the side of their garage on a bypass crossroads at Sixpenny Corner in rural Springwood (30 miles from London).
The Associated-Rediffusion series began on ITV’s second day of broadcast with Bill and Sally’s wedding and then followed the development of their business (from the dilapidated garage they bought), opposition to the bypass, and rivalry between the New Town and the original village.
Other main characters included Bill’s father (Robert Webber); Bill’s brothers, Stan (Robert Desmond) and Tom (Bernard Fox); Sally’s mother, Doris (Betty Bowden) and father (Walter Horsbrugh); Sally’s sister, Yvonne (Shirley Mitchell); Uncle Fred (Stuart Saunders), Aunt Mabel (Olive Milbourne) and ‘Susie’ the dog.
When the series began, Bill’s youngest brother, Tom, knocked out a foreign cafe owner while serving abroad in the forces and whisked his daughter, Grete Edler (Christine Pollen), to England and Bill’s house.
First airing on 23 September 1955 (the first full day of independent commercial television (ITV) broadcasting in Britain), the first six episodes were recorded, and thereafter it was transmitted live in fifteen-minute episodes at 10:45 am on weekday mornings.
Initially recorded in Kensington, the show was later transmitted from Wembley in the evening. The series was written by Jonquil Antony and Hazel Adair.
ITV cancelled Sixpenny Corner on 1 June 1956 (along with their other daily serial, One Family). The official explanation was that “the programmes are being rested”, but neither ever resumed.
Two of the cast forged successful television careers in the US, with Shirley Mitchell starring as Kitty Deveraux in Bachelor Father(1958-59) and playing recurring roles in The Beverly Hillbilliesand Petticoat Junction, and Bernard Fox featuring as the warlock physician Dr Bombay in Bewitchedand the inept British Colonel Crittenden in Hogan’s Heroes.
Howard Pays died on 12 April 2002, aged 74. Patricia Dainton died on 31 May 2023, aged 93.
Sally Norton Patricia Dainton Bill Norton Howard Pays Mr Norton (Bill’s father)
Robert Webber Mrs Doris Sharpe (Sally’s mother)
Betty Bowden Uncle Fred Stuart Saunders Aunt Mabel
Olive Milbourne Yvonne Sharpe (Sally’s sister)
Shirley Mitchell
Stan Norton (Bill’s brother)
Robert Desmond
Tom Norton (Bill’s youngest brother)
Bernard Fox Grete Edler Christine Pollen Mr Sharpe (Sally’s father)
Walter Horsbrugh Denis Boyes Edward Judd Mrs Boyes Elizabeth Gott Dr Tim O’Shea
Michael Collins Julie Perkins
Liz Fraser
When the series began, Bill’s youngest brother, Tom, knocked out a foreign cafe owner while serving abroad in the forces and whisked his daughter, Grete Edler (Christine Pollen), to England and Bill’s house.
