A delightful children's comedy series with a similar premise to the Peter Sellers classic 'The Smallest Show On Earth' ( 1957 ). Peter Potter ( Eden Phillips ) inherits a rundown flea-pit of a cinema when his Aunt Mattie dies. The eccentric staff includes doorman Sidney Bogart ( John Comer ), projectionist Melvyn Didsbury ( Melvyn Hayes ) and usherette Joan Biddle ( Angela Crow ). Seething with indignation is evil cousin Reggie Turpin ( David Lodge ) who sets out to stop Peter making a commercial success of the place. He enlists the aid of incompetent Frank Plank ( Colin Edwynn ), who knows every dirty trick imaginable, but bungles when he tries to carry them out.
The cinema's only regular customer is 'The Kid' ( Bruce Watt ), but he was replaced in the second season by the brat Desmond Bagshaw ( Mark Dempsey ). Turpin was gone too, though Plank remained.
The late Brian Finch wrote ten of the thirteen episodes, 'Grange Hill' creator Phil Redmond managed one, and 'In Loving Memory''s Dick Sharples another. 'Palace' was fond of taking the Michael out of movies, such as the 'James Bond' series and the recently released 'Star Wars', often with the Palace's staff playing the original's characters. The 'Bond' spoof, for instance, had Melvin as 007, Crow as a 'Pussy Galore'-type heroine, and - if you can believe this - Comer as 'Oddjob'. For the 'Star Wars' sketch, Hayes was 'Luke Skywalker', and Comer the villain. They came face to face not aboard the 'Death Star', but a greenhouse. "Are you Darth Vader, Lord of the Sith?", asked Hayes. "No!", replied Comer: "I'm Fred. Bloke what looks after the vegetables.". He then held up his 'light sabre' - and it turned out to be a pocket-sized umbrella!
If the B.B.C. one day decides to set up a channel specially devoted to classic children's programmes ( and I hope it does ), its a fair bet that 'Potter's Picture Palace' will find its way there, along with 'Rentaghost', 'Vision On', and 'Graham's Gang'.
The cinema's only regular customer is 'The Kid' ( Bruce Watt ), but he was replaced in the second season by the brat Desmond Bagshaw ( Mark Dempsey ). Turpin was gone too, though Plank remained.
The late Brian Finch wrote ten of the thirteen episodes, 'Grange Hill' creator Phil Redmond managed one, and 'In Loving Memory''s Dick Sharples another. 'Palace' was fond of taking the Michael out of movies, such as the 'James Bond' series and the recently released 'Star Wars', often with the Palace's staff playing the original's characters. The 'Bond' spoof, for instance, had Melvin as 007, Crow as a 'Pussy Galore'-type heroine, and - if you can believe this - Comer as 'Oddjob'. For the 'Star Wars' sketch, Hayes was 'Luke Skywalker', and Comer the villain. They came face to face not aboard the 'Death Star', but a greenhouse. "Are you Darth Vader, Lord of the Sith?", asked Hayes. "No!", replied Comer: "I'm Fred. Bloke what looks after the vegetables.". He then held up his 'light sabre' - and it turned out to be a pocket-sized umbrella!
If the B.B.C. one day decides to set up a channel specially devoted to classic children's programmes ( and I hope it does ), its a fair bet that 'Potter's Picture Palace' will find its way there, along with 'Rentaghost', 'Vision On', and 'Graham's Gang'.