Fiddlers Three (1991) User Reviews

Oh fiddle!

[Rabical-91 · 4/10 · 4 February 2021]

Thirteen years after the end of 'The Squirrels', Eric Chappell revisted the show in the form of 'Fiddlers Three'. Sadly, it was no better than the original.

Peter Davidson stepped into Ken Jones' shoes. Here he played Ralph West. His wife Ros was played by Paula Wilcox. At work, his boss was J. J. Morley ( Charles Kay ), who had a secretary in the shape of Norma Dove ( Cindy Marshal Day ). Ralph's work mates were Harvey ( Peter Blake ) and Osborne ( Tyler Butterworth ). The term and title 'Fiddlers Three' stemmed from the three workers' attempts to fiddle the system and do little to no work.

This style of comedy was sadly out of step with the '90's, an era which saw the start of shows such as 'Drop The Dead Donkey' and 'Rab C. Nesbitt' coming to prominence. This time around the gags were just not appreciated.

Fourteen episodes got made before Yorkshire Television decided they would not renew the show. Eric Chappell never wrote another sitcom for television again.

'The Squirrels' was released on DVD a few years back but 'Fiddlers Three' has yet to make a move to that media. Somehow, I don't think it will to be honest, but then I could be proven wrong. Stranger things have happened.

Not a fiddle!

[ShadeGrenade · 9/10 · 15 July 2009]

Having written some of ITV's funniest and most successful sitcoms - 'Rising Damp', 'Only When I Laugh', 'Duty Free', and 'The Bounder' - Eric Chappell seemed to have run out of ideas by the early Nineties. 'Fiddlers Three' was a remake of his ATV hit 'The Squirrels', which ran from 1974-77. The names of the characters were changed, but the scripts were more or less identical ( I did not know this back in 1991, but a fair amount of 'Squirrels' episodes are missing from the archives so a remake was justified ).

Peter Davison replaced Ken Jones as the lead. Peter Blake, Tyler Butterworth ( son of Peter ), Charles Kay, and Cindy Marshall-Day stepped into the shoes vacated by Alan David, Ellis Jones, Bernard Hepton, and Karin MacCarthy. Paula Wilcox of 'The Lovers' and 'Man About The House' took up the Patsy role as the main character's wife.

Both shows were set in the accounts department of a major business concern. The fiddlers - 'Ralph', 'Harvey' and 'Osbourne' - were determined to do as little work as possible, in the face of continual interference from their bad-tempered boss 'J. J. Morley', but there was some consolation in the shape of his sexy secretary 'Norma Dove'.

It was a good cast, and overall it was a decent series. One area where 'Three' scored over its predecessor was that, being a Yorkshire Television production, the canned laughter was rather less obvious than on 'The Squirrels'.

Only 14 episodes were made. British TV comedy was about to undergo a big shake-up, and old-school sitcoms virtually disappeared as I. T. V. Concentrated more on soaps and quizzes. A big mistake. There was no reason why this could not have coexisted with the likes of 'Rab C. Nesbitt'.

Granada Plus repeated 'Three' some years back, but it has yet to surface on D. V. D. Thankfully, some episodes are to be found on You Tube.

Fiddlers Three from Yorkshire Television 1991

[busricky · 10/10 · 4 March 2021]

I heard the scripts from ATVs The Squirrels were reworked to form Fiddlers Three I don't know how true that is?

I enjoyed both series. I have the Squirrels but Fiddlers Three was never released on dvd. Would love to see it again. Please contact me if you find this series on dvd thank you. R Taylor 07737 514 569