Oh Happy Band!
{{Short description|1980 British television sitcom}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{Infobox television
| image = Oh Happy Band.jpg
| caption = Animated titlescreen for the series, used from the second episode onwards.{{cite web |title=Aldershot Brass Ensemble - Ho Happy Band |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y32kHVar2_g |website=YouTube |access-date=20 April 2024 |date=18 July 2014}}
| genre = Sitcom
| cinematography = {{Plainlist|
- Max Samett
- Mark Chapman
}}
| editor = {{Plainlist|
- Marcus Thompson
- Mike Robotham
}}
| camera = Multi-camera
| runtime = 30 minutes
| writer = {{Plainlist|
}}
| director = {{Plainlist|
- David Croft
- John Kilby
}}
| starring = {{Plainlist|
- Harry Worth
- Margaret Clifton
- Jonathan Cecil
- John Horsley
- Billy Burden
- Tom Mennard
}}
| theme_music_composer = David Croft
| open_theme = "Oh Happy Band!"
| end_theme = "Oh Happy Band!"
| country = United Kingdom
| network = BBC1
| first_aired = {{Start date|1980|9|3|df=y}}
| last_aired = {{End date|1980|10|8|df=y}}
| language = English
| num_series = 1
| num_episodes = 6
| producer = David Croft
}}
Oh Happy Band! is a British television sitcom written by Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft. The series ran for six episodes on BBC1, from 3 September to 8 October 1980, and featured the final screen appearance of comedian Harry Worth. For musical sequences, the series featured the Aldershot Brass Ensemble.
Since broadcast, the series has not been repeated or released on any home consumer media.
Plot
Harry Bennington (Harry Worth) is the conductor of a brass band in the small, fictional northern town of Nettlebridge. During the course of the series, he and his fellow band members become involved in a campaign to prevent the building of a new airport over their town.{{Cite web |title=David Croft: Oh Happy Band |url=http://www.davidcroft.co.uk/Oh-Happy-Band/ |access-date=7 July 2010 |website=David Croft Official Website}}
Cast
- Harry Worth as Harry Beddington
- Margaret Clifton as Miss Mayhew
- Jonathan Cecil as Mr Herbert
- John Horsley as Mr Braithwaite
- Billy Burden as Mr Sowerby
- Tom Mennard as Mr Pilgrim
- Tony Sympson as Mr Giles
- Jan Holden as Mrs Draper
- Moira Foot as Glenda
- Peggy Ann Clifford as Mrs Tickford
- Harold Bennett as the Vicar
Episodes
{{Episode table|background=#005C5C|total_width=|overall=|series=|title=|director=|directorT=Produced & Directed by|writer=|airdate=|airdateR={{cite web |title=Oh Happy Band! - Episode guide |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02zm1r4/episodes/guide |website=BBC |access-date=20 April 2024}}{{cite web |title=Oh Happy Band! episode guide |url=https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/oh_happy_band/episodes/ |website=British Comedy Guide |access-date=20 April 2024}}|episodes={{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 1
| EpisodeNumber2 = 1
| Title = A Bird in the Bush
| DirectedBy = David Croft
| WrittenBy = Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1980|9|3|df=y}}
| ShortSummary = Note: This episode was produced as a pilot episode,{{cite web |title=Oh Happy Band! Series 1, Episode 1 - A Bird in the Bush |url=https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/oh_happy_band/episodes/1/1/ |website=British Comedy Guide |access-date=20 April 2024}} and featured a different, non-animated title sequence.{{Cite episode |title=A Bird in the Bush |series=Oh Happy Band! |first1=Jeremy |last1=Lloyd |first2=David |last2=Croft |network=BBC1 |date=3 September 1980 |series-no=1 |number=1}}
| LineColor = #005C5C
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 2
| EpisodeNumber2 = 2
| Title = Let Bygones Be Bygones
| DirectedBy = David Croft
| WrittenBy = Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1980|9|10|df=y}}
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = #005C5C
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 3
| EpisodeNumber2 = 3
| Title = A Record to Be Proud of
| DirectedBy = David Croft
| WrittenBy = Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1980|9|17|df=y}}
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = #005C5C
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 4
| EpisodeNumber2 = 4
| Title = Home Cure
| DirectedBy = David Croft
| WrittenBy = Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1980|9|24|df=y}}
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = #005C5C
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 5
| EpisodeNumber2 = 5
| Title = A Song in the Air
| DirectedBy = David Croft
| WrittenBy = Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1980|10|1|df=y}}
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = #005C5C
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 6
| EpisodeNumber2 = 6
| Title = Diplomatic Privilege
| DirectedBy = David Croft and John Kilby
| WrittenBy = Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1980|10|8|df=y}}
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = #005C5C
}}}}
Production
The role of lead character Harry Bennington was originally offered to Gorden Kaye. However, Kaye was unavailable and the role was instead offered to Harry Worth.{{Cite web |date=23 January 2017 |title=Death of 'Allo 'Allo star Gorden Kaye, 75 |url=https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/death-of-allo-allo-star-gorden-kaye-75-606790 |access-date=11 May 2024 |website=The Yorkshire Post}}
Musical sequences in the series were performed by the Aldershot Brass Ensemble.{{Cite web |last=Fox |first=Iwan |date=16 August 2018 |title=O Happy Band! — Why mixing brass bands and political satire may never be a success |url=https://www.4barsrest.com/articles/2018/1727.asp |access-date=20 April 2024 |website=4 Bars Rest |language=en}} A week before the series' premiere on 3 September 1980, British Mouthpiece informed its reader that "a player who took part [in the series] assures our reporter that the actual situations do not try to make the band [Aldershot Brass Ensemble] take part, or make them look foolish, as some of the other shows using bands during the past year have not brought much credit to our movement".
The theme music, "Oh Happy Band!", was composed by series co-writer David Croft. It was performed by the Aldershot Brass Ensemble and sung by the Fred Tomlinson Singers. In 1980, an LP record of the theme tune, along with a B-side of "Our Boys Will Shine Tonight", was released by BBC Records.{{Cite web |title=The Fred Tomlinson Singers with The Aldershot Brass Ensemble – Oh Happy Band |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/9406300-The-Fred-Tomlinson-Singers-with-The-Aldershot-Brass-Ensemble-Oh-Happy-Band |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221110213143/https://www.discogs.com/release/9406300-The-Fred-Tomlinson-Singers-with-The-Aldershot-Brass-Ensemble-Oh-Happy-Band |archive-date=10 November 2022 |access-date=24 August 2024 |website=Discogs}}
Reception
Writer and historian Mark Lewisohn, in the BBC Guide to Comedy, wrote that the series was: "An odd amalgam of ideas from established sitcom creators Lloyd and Croft... Considering the usual dependability of the major protagonists here, it is fair to say that Oh Happy Band! was flat rather than sharp."{{Cite web |last=Lewisohn |first=Mark |author-link=Mark Lewisohn |date=6 April 2005 |title=Oh Happy Band! |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050406100955/http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/o/ohhappyband_7777090.shtml |access-date=7 July 2010 |website=BBC Guide to Comedy}}
Nostalgia Central noted that: "So utterly inept and banal was the show that had it not been written by comedy stalwarts Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft, it likely would have never been screened."{{Cite web |date=14 September 2014 |title=Oh Happy Band |url=https://nostalgiacentral.com/television/tv-by-decade/tv-shows-1980s/oh-happy-band/ |access-date=20 April 2024 |website=Nostalgia Central |language=en-GB}}
Iwan Fox, writing for 4 Bars Rest, described the series as "terrible" and "rather excruciating", criticising the "strained" and "rather threadbare" storylines and the "stereotypical" characters. Fox noted that the casting mirrored that of Dad's Army, with Harry Bennington, "a small, slightly bumptious ineffectual leader of men", mirroring Captain Mainwaring, and the rest of Bennington's band mirroring the members of Mainwaring's platoon. However, Fox acknowledged that there were "occasional gem[s]" in the series.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|0080255}}
{{Jeremy Lloyd}}
{{David Croft}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oh Happy Band!}}
Category:1980 British television series debuts
Category:1980 British television series endings
Category:BBC television sitcoms
Category:Television series created by David Croft (TV producer)
Category:British English-language television shows