Pardon The Expression

1 9 6 5 – 1 9 6 6 (UK)
37 x 25 minute episodes

This sitcom from Granada was a spin-off of sorts from the king of all soap operas, Coronation Street. Arthur Lowe starred as Leonard Swindley, the teetotal, lay-preaching assistant manager of a branch of a national chain department store called Dobson and Hawks.

Swindley had previously been the proprietor of Weatherfield’s Gamma Garments boutique.

Mr Swindley seized upon every opportunity to scale the social heights – arranging everything from intimate dinner parties to glittering charity galas and swinging teenage boutiques.

Miss Sinclair (Joy Stewart) was the staff manageress and Ernest Parbold (Paul Dawkins) was Leonard’s buck-passing boss.

When Mr Parbold left after the first series, Walter Hunt (Robert Dorning) took his place.

Mrs Edgeley – played by Betty Driver (Coronation Street‘s future Betty Turpin) – was in charge of the canteen.

Constant displays of bumbling ineptitude in the retail trade were rewarded when everyone received their dismissal from the store at the end of the series.

Dad’s Army favourites John Le Mesurier and John Laurie, and Corrie stars Julie Goodyear and Amanda Barrie guested. Scriptwriters included Jack Rosenthal and Vince Powell.

Pardon The Expression gave birth to a spin-off series of its own, Turn Out The Lights (1967), in which Swindley and Hunt teamed up as a duo of amateur ghost-hunters.

Leonard Swindley
Arthur Lowe
Ernest Parbold
Paul Dawkins
Miss Sinclair
Joy Stewart
Walter Hunt
Robert Dorning
Mrs Edgeley
Betty Driver