Spend, Spend, Spend (play)

For the musical also based on Nicholson's football pools win, see Spend Spend Spend.

Spend, Spend, Spend
Written by	Jack Rosenthal
Directed by	John Goldschmidt
Starring	Susan Littler John Duttine
Country of origin	UK
Production
Producer(s)	Graeme McDonald
Cinematography	Phil Méheux
Running time	86 minutes
Production company(s)	BBC
Release
Original network	BBC1
Picture format	16 mm^[1]
Original release	15 March 1977 (UK)

Spend, Spend, Spend is an episode of the BBC's Play for Today anthology series first transmitted 15 March 1977^[2] on BBC1, recounting the life of football pools winner Viv Nicholson.

Written by Jack Rosenthal it is based on the book of the same name by Nicholson and Stephen Smith and recounts Nicholson's life story from the 1950s to the early 1970s in a non-linear fashion.

Rosenthal was a colleague of the PR man who, on behalf of Littlewoods Pools, persuaded Nicholson to allow publicity for her pools win. He wrote in his autobiography: "From that day on, I followed her wild, seemingly stupid adventures in the papers - and believed every snide, snooty, biased word the relentless publicity said. All adding up to one word - that she was a cow."^[3] Being given Nicholson's book by director John Goldschmidt caused Rosenthal to reassess his attitude and "become a fan"^[3] eager to put across an explanation of her behaviour.

The production won the British Academy Best Play Award and Royal Television Society's Writer's Award 1977.^[4] A shortened version - running to 76 minutes - was screened by BBC Four in 2003. The work was released on DVD by Acorn media in 2011, alongside other works by Rosenthal broadcast by the BBC.

References

↑ Phil Méheux, Internet Encyclopedia of Cinemartographers
↑ Michael Brooke "Spend Spend Spend (1977)", BFI screenonline page
1 2 Jack Rosenthal By Jack Rosenthal: An Autobiography in Six Acts, London: Robson, 2006, p.228
↑ "TV Greats - Jack Rosenthal 1931-2004", Television Heaven website

External links

Spend, Spend, Spend at the Internet Movie Database
Spend Spend, Spend at the TV Cream website

The works of Jack Rosenthal

Television writing	Coronation Street (1961–69) Pardon the Expression (1965–66) There's a Hole in Your Dustbin, Delilah (1968) The Dustbinmen (1969–70) The Lovers (1970–71) Another Sunday and Sweet F.A. (1972) The Evacuees (1975) Ready When You Are, Mr. McGill (1976) Bar Mitzvah Boy (1976) Spend, Spend, Spend (1977) London's Burning (1986) Day To Remember (1986) And a Nightingale Sang (1989) About Face (1989–91) Wide-Eyed and Legless (1993) Eskimo Day (1996)

Films	The Lucky Star (1980) P'tang, Yang, Kipperbang (1982) Yentl (1983) The Chain (1984) Captain Jack (1999) Chicken Run (2000)

Stage works	Bar Mitzvah Boy (musical) (1978)

The Play for Today series

Robin Redbreast (1970)
Alma Mater (1971)
Edna, the Inebriate Woman (1971)
Evelyn (1971)
The Foxtrot (1971)
Traitor (1971)
Home (1972)
Horace (1972)
Hard Labour (1973)
Penda's Fen (1974)
The Cheviot, the Stag, and the Black Black Oil (1974)
The Evacuees (1975)
Funny Farm (1975)
Gangsters (1975)
Just Another Saturday (1975)
Rumpole of the Bailey (1975)
Double Dare (1976)
Bar Mitzvah Boy (1976)
Nuts in May (1976)
Abigail's Party (1977)
Spend, Spend, Spend (1977)
The Price of Coal (1977)
The Spongers (1978)
Licking Hitler (1978)
Red Shift (1978)
The After-Dinner Joke (1978)
Our Day Out (1978)
Blue Remembered Hills (1979)
Comedians (1979)
Just a Boys' Game (1979)
The Black Stuff (1980)
The Imitation Game (1980)
The Flipside of Dominick Hide (1980)
Another Flip For Dominick (1982)
Z for Zachariah (1984)
Brimstone and Treacle (1987, completed 1976)
Scum (1991, completed 1977)

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