1 9 5 5 (UK)
4 x 45 minute episodes
Jim Blake (Robert Raglan) loses his factory job in a Herefordshire town and grows disenchanted with living in rented accommodation. Jim reckons that if the family can return south to his Sussex birthplace, everything will be alright.
So he buys an old bus, turns it into a home on wheels and names it Ellenjean.
Jim and his wife Ellen (Betty Woolfe), eldest son Bill (Martyn Anderson), daughter Jean (Anneke Wills) and little Micky (Douglas Hankin) pack themselves into the bus and enjoy all manner of twee “adventures” en route, meeting gypsies and imagined burglars in four slow-moving episodes.
The publicity in the Radio Times at the time summed it up well: “The cast will also include a cat, a sheepdog and a horse who does not mind being shut up in a pantry”.
Jim Blake
Robert Raglan
Ellen Blake
Betty Woolfe
Bill Blake
Martyn Anderson
Jean Blake
Anneke Wills
Micky Blake
Douglas Hankin
Gypsy
Nicholas Meredith
Mrs Wilson
Madge Brindley
Mrs Parsons
Blanche Fothergill
Mr Oates
Philip Ray
Mr Johnson
Peter Bathurst
Mr Masterman
Kenneth Edwards
Mr de Cartney
Neil More
Mr Lucy
Henry Hutteroth
Ted Masterman
John Scott