Oh No Its Selwyn Froggitt

Oh No It's Selwyn Froggitt, known as Selwyn in its final series, is a British television sitcom that was first broadcast on ITV from 1974 to 1978. Initially created by Roy Clarke from a concept by Bill Maynard, most of the series was written by Alan Plater. Set in the fictional Yorkshire town of Scarsdale, it starred Maynard as Selwyn Froggitt, a hapless but good-natured council labourer, handyman and working men's club secretary. The programme, produced by Yorkshire Television, was a major ratings success, with Froggitt's catchphrase "magic!" becoming widely known in the United Kingdom, and making Bill Maynard a nationwide household name. It ran for four series, the last of which carried the title Selwyn and featured only Maynard reprising his role in the new location of a holiday camp. The first three series of Oh No It's Selwyn Froggitt are set in the fictional Yorkshire town of Scarsdale and centre on the bungling exploits of Selwyn Froggitt, a handyman and a council labourer. Bill Maynard described Froggitt, a burly, balding and good-natured man often clad in a donkey jacket, as "this naïve boy who never grew up". Froggitt has an urge to improve his life and that of everyone around him; he carries The Times and often tells people "there was an article about it in The Times" regarding subjects he has brought up. He lives with his put-upon mother (Megs Jenkins) and his brother Maurice (Robert Keegan), whose romance and eventual marriage to Vera Parkinson (initially played by Rosemary Martin, replaced by Lynda Baron for the second and third series) is sometimes subject to Selwyn's interference. A running gag is Froggitt's mother warning him "don't open that cupboard our Selwyn, things fall out!", to no avail. Froggitt is on the committee of Scarsdale Working Men's Club and Institute, serving as concert secretary in charge of booking "turns". Froggitt's colleagues are the dour Scouser Jack (Bill Dean), Harry (Harold Goodwin) and excitable, Welshman Clive (Richard Davies), often called Taff by Froggitt. All decisions taken by the club committee are taken on a "show of hands..." and "carried unanimously". Though clumsy and somewhat incompetent, Froggitt is honest and hard-working, unlike the other committee members, who usually sit back in comfort while Froggitt does the manual labour. They generally tolerate him because he is prepared to volunteer for unwanted tasks, and they sometimes mislead him for their own amusement. The club steward is Raymond (Ray Mort), often seen answering the telephone with a number of fictitious and fanciful addresses. In the fourth and final series, the format of the show changed radically. This version of the programme, retitled Selwyn, featured only Maynard from the earlier series and had Froggitt become entertainments officer under the supervision of manager Mervyn Price (Bernard Gallagher) at the seedy Paradise Valley Holiday Camp.

Director

Roy Clarke, Alan Plater, Bill Maynard