Starting off as a 1974 Comedy Playhouse episode called ‘The Big Job’, Mr Big went on to two series of its own on BBC1 in 1977.
The series centred around the illicit activities of Eddie (Peter Jones – who also co-wrote the series with Christopher Bond) – the “Mr Big” of the title – who saw himself as something of a criminal mastermind.
Unfortunately, he had no crew of seasoned criminals to help put his nefarious crimes into action.
Instead, he had to muddle through with his ‘lady’ Dolly (Prunella Scales) – who was intelligent and very practical in her approach to living off the proceeds of a life of crime; his assistant Ginger (Ian Lavender) – who was well-meaning but accident-prone and “as thick as two short planks”, and Ginger’s dumb blonde nymphomaniac girlfriend (and Dolly’s sister) Norma (Carol Hawkins).
The four of them were all squatting in a deserted mansion.
In the first episode, Eddie masterminded a bank robbery, which would net them £250,000 – until at least a dozen things went wrong.
In the final episode of the first series (‘The Ashes’) Dolly was remembered in her Uncle Barney’s will – but with the stipulation that his ashes must be scattered over the wicket at the Oval during a Test Match. Eddie planned the operation, with Ginger streaking across the pitch to create a diversion.
But while a naked Ginger was being pursued around the Oval, Uncle Barney was alive and well and robbing a bank.
By the second series, all the local parking meters and phone boxes had been cleaned out, and Norma had broken the family rule by getting a legitimate job.
Despite this, the family were quite impressed that she was earning 80 quid a week as a filing clerk (even though there were certain conditions – like “confidential filing” for the chairman).
She lost the job thanks to Eddie, but he immediately saw a way to make a fortune by suing for unfair dismissal. So the family took to the courts with Dolly turning up as a medical expert and Ginger as a pretty nurse.
Guests included Alfie Bass, Ronald Fraser, Peter Cleall, Victor Maddern, Geoffrey Hughes, Gorden Kaye, Sam Kydd and Norman Rossington.
Eddie
Peter Jones Dolly
Prunella Scales Ginger
Ian Lavender Norma
Carol Hawkins
Episodes
The Bank Job | Three Nights at the Palace | Going Straight | The Hit Man | The Gravy Train | The Ashes || The Prune Case | Burgle My Neighbour | The Sheiks | The Great Betting Shop Swindle | Easy Money | The Squatters | Vote for Rocksburgh
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Instead, he had to muddle through with his ‘lady’ Dolly (Prunella Scales) – who was intelligent and very practical in her approach to living off the proceeds of a life of crime; his assistant Ginger (Ian Lavender) – who was well-meaning but accident-prone and “as thick as two short planks”, and Ginger’s dumb blonde nymphomaniac girlfriend (and Dolly’s sister) Norma (Carol Hawkins).
By the second series, all the local parking meters and phone boxes had been cleaned out, and Norma had broken the family rule by getting a legitimate job.
