The very first edition of Vince Powell and Harry Driver's raucous Granada comedy set in a pickle factory in Colne, Lancashire.
Old Joshua Pledge ( John Barett ), aged 97, founder of 'Pledge's Purer Pickles' is dying. As spinster daughter Nellie ( Hylda Baker ) tends to his final needs, he requests his long-lost son Eli return home after fifteen years. Eli ( Jimmy Jewel ) does so, mainly to see if the old feller has left him any money.
The will stipulates that the Pledge brother and sister qualify for a share in their late father's fortune, provided that they first live under the same roof for a total of five years. It won't be easy - they cannot stand the sight of each other...
Though Powell and Driver conceived the show, the character Hylda Baker played was much the same she had played for years on stage. A virginal spinster, forever shaking her shoulders, speaking in malapropisms, and, accompanied by a tall, silent stooge called 'Cynthia' ( one of whom was an unknown Matthew Kelly ), she was a boon to impersonators such as Faith Brown.
Granada Plus mysteriously omitted this instalment from their mid-90's reruns, but fortunately it was remade as part of the 1972 film. It is a good episode, although in 'Far From The Madding Pong' ( the last-ever episode ) in 1973 we never found out whether or not Nellie or Eli got the money. John Barrett, who plays 'Old Joshua', was 'Smellie Ibbotson' in Jack Rosenthal's 'The Dustbinmen', and 'Jed Pickersgill' in Hylda Baker's 'Not On Your Nellie'. Julie Goodyear, a.k.a. 'Sandra' ( Eli's girlfriend ) was better known to millions as 'Bet Lynch/Gilroy' of 'Coronation Street'. As the solicitor, we have good old Tim Barrett, a sitcom veteran.
Funniest moment - Nellie berating her brother for throwing an extra shovel full of soil onto her father's coffin. He replies that it is a common thing to do at a funeral. She tearfully adds: "You did not have to shout 'one for the pot'!".
Old Joshua Pledge ( John Barett ), aged 97, founder of 'Pledge's Purer Pickles' is dying. As spinster daughter Nellie ( Hylda Baker ) tends to his final needs, he requests his long-lost son Eli return home after fifteen years. Eli ( Jimmy Jewel ) does so, mainly to see if the old feller has left him any money.
The will stipulates that the Pledge brother and sister qualify for a share in their late father's fortune, provided that they first live under the same roof for a total of five years. It won't be easy - they cannot stand the sight of each other...
Though Powell and Driver conceived the show, the character Hylda Baker played was much the same she had played for years on stage. A virginal spinster, forever shaking her shoulders, speaking in malapropisms, and, accompanied by a tall, silent stooge called 'Cynthia' ( one of whom was an unknown Matthew Kelly ), she was a boon to impersonators such as Faith Brown.
Granada Plus mysteriously omitted this instalment from their mid-90's reruns, but fortunately it was remade as part of the 1972 film. It is a good episode, although in 'Far From The Madding Pong' ( the last-ever episode ) in 1973 we never found out whether or not Nellie or Eli got the money. John Barrett, who plays 'Old Joshua', was 'Smellie Ibbotson' in Jack Rosenthal's 'The Dustbinmen', and 'Jed Pickersgill' in Hylda Baker's 'Not On Your Nellie'. Julie Goodyear, a.k.a. 'Sandra' ( Eli's girlfriend ) was better known to millions as 'Bet Lynch/Gilroy' of 'Coronation Street'. As the solicitor, we have good old Tim Barrett, a sitcom veteran.
Funniest moment - Nellie berating her brother for throwing an extra shovel full of soil onto her father's coffin. He replies that it is a common thing to do at a funeral. She tearfully adds: "You did not have to shout 'one for the pot'!".