Surprising actors in a 1980 TV series

On Monday I watched Bergerac, now shown at 3.00pm on the UK Drama channel.

It featured – as Belle Young, an eccentric boatowner and smuggler – the 1970s actress Judy Cornwall.

Yesterday’s episode about a computer convention in Jersey also featured a computer nerd and mogul Jordan Macleod.

After a few moments I realised that he was being played by Michael Gambon and his American wife by Connie Booth, the one-time wife of John Cleese who played the waitress Polly in Fawlty Towers.

Later, in the evening – on the Talking Pictures channel – I watched Rumpole and the Barrow Boy.

In this one of the criminal family the Timsons is a successful dealer in a posh firm and lives with Rose, the daughter of the scion and founder.

Rose was played by a young Elizabeth Hurley and is certainly a beautiful young woman.

Generally speaking, in both series there are actors who appear in every episode.

However, especially in Bergerac, well-known actors, and/or those who later become famous, appear – such as Celia Imrie, Roy Winstone, Bill Nighy and Bernard Hepton,

Although I recognised Michael Gabon, Connie Booth and Liz Hurley, I cannot say that I was struck by their acting.

By contrast John Nettles was relatively unknown when cast as Sergeant Bergerac, whilst Terence Alexander – playing his foil (the loveable rogue Charlie Hungerford, whose daughter is married to Bergerac) was a mainstay of the series.

Generally in Rumpole the plot is multi-layered: the prosecution against which Rumpole defends; chambers life and its characters; and the marriage of Rumpole to his upwardly-mobile and ambitious wife Hilda.

It makes for interesting viewing. John Mortimer, who wrote it, clearly belong to the John Gay/Berthold Brecht school, hence the Timsons are honourable thieves but the founder of the broking firm – and father of Rose – is a dishonest snob.

It is therefore ironic that the programme now comes with a warning that its content reflects the times as the cast is non-diverse and that – at the chambers meetings – male chauvinistic and indeed racist views are expressed. This said the two series have worn remarkably well   The problem with afternoon viewing is the number of advertising breaks (4 in Bergerac)  though these are more likely now to be promoting Cremations rather than  loans