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.
The Associated-Rediffusion series started with their wedding and went on to the development of their business (from the derelict 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) and Aunt Mabel (Olive Milbourne).
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 a.m. 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 and lasted for nine months.
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
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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.
