The character of Corrigan Blake had quite a history. Created by Alun Owen, the character had appeared in a number of stand-alone television plays and had been played by a number of different actors including Jack Hedley (in the play You Can’t Win ’em All) as an opportunist seaman who would do anything to make fast money.
Here in the light entertainment series subtitled The Adventures Of A Bird Fancier, the character was radically changed to a Cockney layabout played by John Turner.
Over the course of six half-hour episodes, we followed Corrigan as he pursued his great ambitions – the acquisition of wealth and a “bird”.
The opening episode (‘Let’s Go Home’) found Corrigan in a jail in the Middle East after breaking and entering a harem. His aristocratic cellmate, Wallace St John Smith (Paul Daneman) subsequently became his sidekick throughout the series after Corrigan returned to London.
Through six half-hour episodes, Corrigan encountered six women of different social backgrounds – from the ladybird of impeccable breeding to the thumping bird of Petticoat Lane market with “a fist like a carthorse’s hoof” (Angela Douglas) – and was enchanted with each one of them.
Ultimately though, the women outsmarted, outfoxed, outwitted and used Corrigan for their own ends.
Notable guest stars included Bryan Pringle, Nyree Dawn Porter, Yootha Joyce, Moira Redmond and Steven Berkoff.
Corrigan Blake
John Turner Wallace St. John Smith
Paul Daneman
Episodes
Let’s Go Home | The Removal Men | The Scientific Approach | The Liberty Takers | Lady Bird | Love Bird
