Oh No, It's Selwyn Froggitt!

Oh No, It's Selwyn Froggitt!
Created by	Roy Clarke
Directed by	Derrick Goodwin (pilot) Ronnie Baxter (tv series)
Starring	Bill Maynard Megs Jenkins Robert Keegan Rosemary Martin Lynda Baron Richard Davies Bill Dean Harold Goodwin Ray Mort
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of series	4
No. of episodes	29
Production
Running time	30mins
Release
Original network	ITV
Original release	30 September 1974 – 17 October 1978

Oh No, It's Selwyn Froggitt! is a Yorkshire Television situation comedy which ran on the ITV network from 1974 to 1978.

It stars Bill Maynard as Selwyn Froggitt, a council labourer, Scarsdale Working Men’s Club secretary, hapless handyman and all-round public nuisance. It was created by Roy Clarke, who wrote the pilot episode transmitted in 1974, though the series was mostly written by Alan Plater.

Cast

Bill Maynard - Selwyn Froggitt
Megs Jenkins - Mrs Froggitt
Robert Keegan - Maurice Froggitt
Rosemary Martin - Vera Parkinson (Series 1)
Lynda Baron - Vera Parkinson (From Series 2)
Richard Davies - Clive
Bill Dean - Jack
Harold Goodwin - Harry
Ray Mort - Ray

Plot

Set in the fictional Yorkshire town of Scarsdale, the show was centred on the bungling exploits of Selwyn Froggitt, a burly, balding, good-natured council labourer (Maynard) usually clad in a donkey jacket, with pretensions to intellectual competence (he carried The Times rolled up in the pocket of his donkey jacket, although was hardly ever seen reading it, preferring to tell people that "There was an article about it in The Times") and an urge to improve his life and that of everyone around him. Froggitt was on the committee of his local working men's club, serving as concert secretary in charge of booking "turns".

Froggitt was fundamentally and spectacularly incompetent at everything he turned his hand to, being equally inept at his day job (digging holes and filling them in), do-it-yourself at home, and booking acts for the club. Nevertheless he was extremely honest and hard-working, unlike the other committee members, who usually sat back in comfort while Froggitt did the manual labour. They generally despised him but tolerated him because he was too stupid to realise how dishonest they were.

The show featured a number of catchphrases: Selwyn's "Magic!" accompanied by two thumbs up; and his usual order at the club was, "A pint of cooking and a bag of nuts." (Although at virtually every opportunity whilst in the bar Selwyn would order at least one bag of nuts, he would rarely, if ever, be seen eating the nuts). Raymond the barman (Ray Mort) was fond of answering the telephone with a number of highly fictitious and fanciful addresses. All decisions taken by the club committee were taken on a "Show of hands..." and "Carried unanimously". Another running gag was Selwyn's mum saying "I wish you wouldn't open that cupboard Selwyn, things fall out!" whenever he opened the cupboard in the Froggitt front room upon which a flow of objects would fall onto the floor.

Froggitt's colleagues on the committee included the dour Scouser Jack (Bill Dean), Harry (Harold Goodwin) and excitable, stereotypical Welshman Clive (Richard Davies). His brother Maurice was played by Robert Keegan.

The show's humour included a fair measure of slapstick alongside Plater's typical northern humour. Mainly shot at The Leeds Studios on Kirkstall Road, outdoor location filming for the series took place in Skelmanthorpe, West Yorkshire and Elvington, North Yorkshire.

Selwyn

In 1978 after three successful series under the title of Oh No, Its Selwyn Froggitt. Yorkshire Television changed the format of the show radically. The new version of the series was entitled Selwyn; all of the regular cast bar Maynard departed to focus on other work and the Froggitt character became entertainments manager at a seedy holiday camp on the east coast. Plater was no longer involved with the show during that series. Selwyn ran for only a single series, with disappointing audience reactions; a planned second series was cancelled.

DVD release

All three series of Oh No, It's Selwyn Froggitt! including the complete series of short-lived follow-up sequel Selwyn have been released on DVD. A four-disc set of the complete series of both complete series titles has also been released.

DVD	Year(s)	Release date
The Complete Series 1	1974 1976	25 May 2009
The Complete Series 2	1977	7 September 2009
The Complete Series 3	1977	3 May 2010
The Complete Series 1 to 3 Box Set	1974- 1977	11 October 2010

External links

Roy Clarke

Situation comedies	The Misfit (1970–71) Last of the Summer Wine (1973–2010) Oh No, It's Selwyn Froggitt! (pilot, 1974) Open All Hours (1973, 1976–85) The Growing Pains of PC Penrose (1975) Rosie (1977–81) Potter (1979–83) The Magnificent Evans (1984) First of the Summer Wine (1988–89) Keeping Up Appearances (1990–95) Ain't Misbehavin' (1994–95) Still Open All Hours (2013–)

Other	The Bass Player and the Blonde (1977) Hawks (1988) The Sharp End (1991) A Foreign Field (1993) The Wanderer (1994)

The works of Alan Plater

Television writing	The First Lady The Stars Look Down Oh No, It's Selwyn Froggitt! Get Lost! The Barchester Chronicles On Your Way, Riley The Beiderbecke Affair Fortunes of War The Beiderbecke Tapes The Beiderbecke Connection A Very British Coup Oliver's Travels The Last of the Blonde Bombshells

Films	The Virgin and the Gypsy Juggernaut It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet Priest of Love Keep the Aspidistra Flying

Stage	On Your Way, Riley

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