Cantankerous Dan Wicklow – “Old Saltie” to his friends – and his cronies in the local Shillingbury brass band resist the attempts by young Peter Higgins, a celebrity pop musician who has moved to the village with his wife Sally, to help improve the band in an English village, when Saltie resigns after some criticism.
But with the band now working to rule can Peter actually win them over or are the days of the brass band doomed for good?
This was the feature-length pilot for the successful series of village life episodes that followed in a quaint drama-sitcom series The Shillingbury Tales.
The entire series (and this pilot film) was filmed on 16mm film and entirely on location. The village of Shillingbury is in reality, Aldbury in Hertfordshire.
Peter Higgins
Robin Nedwell
Sally Higgins
Diane Keen
Saltie
Trevor Howard
Jake Smith
Jack Douglas
Reggie
Sam Kydd
Sam
Eric Francis
Harvey
Joe Black
Basil
Tony Sympson
Council Chairman
John Le Mesurier
Mr Meadows
Patrick Newell
Mrs Simpkins
Diana King
Mr Fennel
Miles Anderson
Director
Val Guest
