1 9 7 7 – 1 9 8 0 (UK)
30 x 30 minute episodes
“Power to the people!”
Wolfie Smith lives in Tooting, South London and is the beret-wearing founding member of a six-man urban terrorist movement called the Tooting Popular Front. Wolfie believes he will lead the revolution come that “glorious day”, but the TPF, in reality, do absolutely nothing, just like their unemployed founder.
The other core members of the TPF are his mates Ken (a weedy vegetarian, pacifist and Buddhist), Tucker (a nervous father of nine who dresses as a cowboy) and Speed (a violent nutter who has been in and out of the nick most of his life).
Wolfie (Robert Lindsay) likes to think of himself as an ‘urban guerrilla’ – The Che Guevara of SW17.
The fact that the TPF only has a handful of members never seems to strike him as particularly significant.
Wolfie’s main aims in life, apart from his revolutionary ambitions, revolve around working as little as possible and avoiding marriage to Shirley (Cheryl Hall), his record shop assistant girlfriend.
He lives in Shirley’s house, along with her parents – The Johnson’s. Shirley’s father hates Wolfie and his “long-haired lout” ways, while her mother always mistakenly calls him “Foxy”.
Wolfie is often thwarted in his revolutionary activities by local pub owner and gangland villain, Harry Fenning, and his firm (Welsh gangster Ronnie Lynch replaced Fenning in the last series).
“Come the glorious day, Citizen, you’ll be first against the wall”
“You’re going to need an awfully big wall, Wolfie”
“Yeh, well I’ve got that sorted. I’m using Hadrian’s Wall”
TRIVIA
One of the episodes of Citizen Smith (27 September 1979) was titled Only Fools And Horses. Writer John Sullivan reused this as the name of his next TV series, which began eight months after Citizen Smith ended.
Walter Henry ‘Wolfie’ Smith
Robert Lindsay
Ken Mills
Mike Grady
Shirley Johnson
Cheryl Hall
Tucker
Tony Millan
Anthony ‘Speed’ King
George Sweeney
Mrs Johnson
Hilda Braid
Charlie Johnson
Peter Vaughn (1)
Tony Steedman (2)
Harry Fenning
Stephen Grief
Ronnie Lynch
David Garfield
Phillipa
Janine Duvitski