Bric-A-Brac

1 9 8 0 (UK)
1 9 8 2 (UK)
13 x 10 minute episodes

The elderly, nameless and slightly dusty shopkeeper of a bric-a-brac shop (Brian Cant) had developed a passion for phonetics.

Each episode of Bric-a-Brac found the shopkeeper becoming fixated on a particular letter of the alphabet and its pronunciation, which then inspired him to scour the shop in search of items which started with that letter.

The ‘R’ episode found him returning from rambling with the Red Rovers Rambling Society with Rick Robinson’s rucksack (because Rick refused to go rambling because of rheumatism in his right leg). The rucksack contained a raincoat, a roadmap, a roast beef roll (with relish and radish), some Roman relics and a collection of rocks – a round rock, a reddish rock and a rough rock.

The ‘P’ episode, meanwhile, saw Cant looking after Pretty Polly (a parrot) for his friend Peter who owned a pet shop but had gone to Porto (a particularly pretty place in  Portugal). The parrot seed for Polly was kept behind the parrot perch on the piano with the peanuts.

The BBC show aired at lunchtime, with each episode lasting roughly 10 minutes.

Shopkeeper 
Brian Cant