This classic sit-com started life on BBC Television in October 1956 and starred 'Professor' Jimmy Edwards. Written by the masterful team of Frank Muir and Denis Norden, this was undoubtedly one of the major successes of early British television. There were 8 series in all with a couple of special shows, giving a grand total of 60 half hour shows, and 3 shorts. But the story doesn't stop there, and this is one of the more unusual shows where a radio series and even a film were spawned from the TV version.

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Television | Radio | Film

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TELEVISION.

The cast list is huge for the entire series, but the main jobs in Chiselbury were taken by...

Headmaster, Professor James Edwards MA (applied for)... Jimmy Edwards,
Deputy Headmaster, Oliver Pettigrew... Arthur Howard (Series 1-7), Julian Orchard (Series 8).

The series were produced by Douglas Moodie (1-6), Eric Fawcett (7), Douglas Argent (8) with the scripts written by Muir and Norden and adapted for series 8 by Robert Gray.

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SERIES 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

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Series One.

Broadcast fortnightly between the 4th October and 13th December 1956, the show went out generally on a Tuesday evening at 8pm. The first series consisted of 6 half hour shows.

There was also a special short broadcast as part of These Are The Shows on Saturday 28th September 1957 at 8pm.

Series Two.

The second series contained 10 half hour shows broadcast weekly, generally of a Tuesday evening at 7.30pm between the 1st October and 3rd December 1957.

Series Three.

A further 7episodes broadcast between the 23rd September and 4th November 1958 of a Tuesday evening at 7.30pm. There was also a short special on Christmas Night With the Stars broadcast on Christmas Day 1958 at 6.25pm.

Series Four.

Series four was broadcast a year later between 12th May and 16th June 1959 of a Tuedasy evening at 7.30pm and consisted of 6 episodes.

Series Five.

Another 6 episodes formed series five and were broadcast from the 10th November to the 15th December 1959 of a Tuesday evenings at 7.30pm. There was also a short special, Christmas Night With the Stars, broadcast on Christmas Day 1959 at 6.20pm.

Series Six.

The sixth series was another 6 episodes broadcast between the 13th May and 17th June 1960, and went out mostly on a Friday at 8.30pm.

Series Seven.

The last in the main run of series, there were 6 episodes broadcast between 22nd November and 27th December 1960 of a Tuesday evening at 7.30pm.

Series eight.

Series eight was a revival of the show some 11 years after the main run and contained 13 colour episodes. Broadcast between 27th November 1971 and 26th February 1972 on BBC1on Saturdays at 5.05pm.

RADIO.

Cast list Professor James Edwards- Jimmy Edwards Mr. Oliver Pettigrew- Arthur Howard (first show only) Mr. Aubrey Potter- Roddy Maude-Roxby Mr. Alfred Tennyson- Frederick Treves Mr. Arnold Halliforth (series 2&3)- Edwin Apps Matron- June Whitfield A.J.Lumley (series 2&3)- Roger Shepherd Phipps (series 2)- John Coxall Fenner (series 3)- John Coxall

The film 'Bottoms Up!' was made at Elstree in 1960. The script was written by Michael Pertwee with contributions from Frank Muir and Denis Norden - some lines from the film are reproduced exactly in the radio series, identifying them as the work of Muir/Norden. The film was directed by Mario Zampi and provided Professor Edwards with a main student irritant by the name of Wendover (inspirationally played by John Mitchell), who would become Lumley in the radio series.