Rep

1 9 8 2 (UK)
4 x 30 minute episodes

This four-part period sitcom from Granada Television was set in 1948 and revolved around the mixed fortunes of a small touring repertory company called the J C Benton Players.

Actor/Manager Benton (Iain Cuthbertson) brought his touring company – with leading lady Angela Soames (Caroline Mortimer) and elderly character actor Wyndham Carter (Richard Hurndall) – to Lytham St Annes for the summer season.

Staying with landlady Flossie Nightingale (Patsy Rowlands), Benton had to contend with Soames losing her voice, the prospect of a Hollywood producer being in the audience, upsetting the local Watch Committee, and, most troubling of all, the proposed closure of the theatre.

Stephen “Blakey” Lewis played the Stage Manager, Royston Flagg.

Rep was a joint creation by Digby Wolfe and Ray Taylor. Six episodes were originally planned but Iain Cuthbertson suffered a stroke with only four episodes in the can. He was so ill the series had to be abandoned (it took him almost two years to recover sufficiently to be able to act again.)

J.C. Benton
Iain Cuthbertson
Royston Flagg
Stephen Lewis
Flossie Nightingale
Patsy Rowlands
Dr Crombie
John Fraser
Wyndham Carter
Richard Hurndall
Stewart Sterne
Brian Carter
Dudley Blake
Clive Carter
Wendy Meadows
Lucy Hornak
Violet Littlejohn
Clare Kelly
Angela Soames
Caroline Mortimer
Felicity (‘Flick’) Harold
Susan Wooldridge
Simone
Jill Kerman

Episodes

The Angry Twilight | No Tears for McTavish | She Knew Her Onions | Frippery Tip