Up the Elephant and Round the Castle (1983–1985)

Stars:

Jim Davidson, John Bardon, Brian Hall

Cast

Series cast summary:
Jim Davidson	...	Jim London (22 episodes, 1983-1985)
John Bardon	...	Jim's Dad (16 episodes, 1983-1985)
Brian Hall	...	Brian the Barman (13 episodes, 1983-1985)
Sue Nicholls	...	Wanda Pickles (12 episodes, 1983-1985)
Nicholas Day	...	Councillor Arnold Moggs (11 episodes, 1983-1985)

Storyline

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 November 1983 (UK)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Thames Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min 30 min (22 episodes)

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Connections

Spin-off Home James! (1987)

User Reviews

Unfairly maligned sitcom

According to TV critic Mark Lewisohn Up the Elephant and Round the Castle was one of the worst sitcoms ever. I have a lot of respect for Lewisohn, I wholeheartedly agree with him 90% of the time, but I totally don't agree with him on his views on this programme. My opinion on the actor it starred, Jim Davidson: He is a poor stand-up comedian, I tried watching some of his pantomime Sinderella and quite frankly it was awful, but he was brilliant Big Break, The Generation Game and excellent in this sitcom.

It's a simple premise, Jim London inherits a house with a sitting squatter. Regually visiting his house is his interfering Dad, he is always out with his dodgy mate Tosh Carey and lives next-door to the stuck up Councellor Allnut (Series 1) and the even more stuck up Councellor Moggs (Series 2-3). Also living on Jim's road are sex mad but sex less Vera Spiggot and Wanda Pickles. He drinks in The Freemason's Arms where the barman is Brian.

There were some great moments in this sitcom. Maybe the problem with it was because it came out 10 years too late, it would have lined up much better with sitcoms like "On the Buses" but sitcoms like this were dated in the 80's. My favourite character in it was Councellor Moggs because I know many people like him who are dreadful people, but you love them and pity them, rather like Rigsby. There was a great cast in this sitcom. It starred many future soap stars: John Bardon is now playing Jim in Eastenders, Brian Capron played Tosh, he is most famous for playing the evil Richard Hillman in Coronation Street (I don't think he's evil. Anyone who drives David Platt into a canal is a friend of mine) and Sue Nichols played Wanda, she now plays Audrey in Coronation Street. Brian the barman was played by the late Brian Hall, he played Terry the chef in "Fawlty Towers". The first series is out on DVD- I have the complete series. There was a spin off called "Home James", I hope that gets a DVD release.

Best Episode: The Scotch Connection- Series 3 episode 3