1 9 6 9 (UK)
6 x 30 minute episodes
A sitcom with an insanely fascinating concept – like The Flowerpot Men for grown-ups – with garden gnomes living a clandestine existence alongside their oblivious human owners.
Storylines revolved around the clashes between the solid stone British gnomes of 25 Telegraph Road, led by Big (Terry Scott), Small (Hugh Lloyd) and Old (John Clive), and their plastic European counterparts recently introduced to the neighbourhood.
Passions ran high between the different factions, with racial and cultural differences at the centre of most of the arguments.
These clashes enabled the series to take satirical swipes at the Common Market controversies raging at the time.
The title itself was a play on Harold Wilson‘s famous ‘gnomes of Zurich’ description of Swiss bankers.
Elaborate make-up and costumes, along with the well-honed interplay between Scott and Lloyd, completed the bizarre equation.
Big
Terry Scott
Small
Hugh Lloyd
Old
John Clive
Plastic
Leon Thau
Dolly
Anne de Vigeur
Rita
Lynn Dalby