Hardwicke House - Episode 1 (Part 1 of 3) - banned UK comedy series

Central situation comedy from 1986, set in an anarchic comprehensive school where the teachers behave worse than the pupils. It has a similar style of humour to other comedy series such as The Young Ones... it certainly isn't Grange Hill!

In his last role before his death, Roy Kinnear stars as the drunk and incompetent headmaster Mr Wickham, and other staff of the inner city school include a murderer, a teacher who is clearly attracted to the pupils and various other dysfunctional individuals.

It was written by Richard Hall and Simon Wright (both uncredited), directed by John Stroud and produced by Paula Burdon.

Recording took place at a disused school in Nottingham (St Bernadette's School), however Hardwicke House is based on Homerton House (later Homerton College of Technology, closed in 2007) in Hackney, London E9. Hall and Wright were both teachers at the school.

Only the first two episodes were shown on consecutive week-day evenings, before tabloid criticism and viewer complaints caused Central to pull the show before the other 5 episodes could be shown. Newspapers incorrectly described it as being "full of school teachers trying to get their pupils into bed".

No repeats of Hardwicke House have ever occurred, it has never been released on video and is now mostly forgotten. This is why Hardwicke House is generally described as "banned". (This video will be removed from Youtube if either it is released on DVD, or if I am contacted directly by Central requesting such an action be taken).

Stars:

Roy Kinnear ("Joe Jones" in Cowboys) as Mr Wickham
Pam Ferris ("Laura Thyme" in Rosemary & Thyme) as Ms Crabbe
Tony Haygarth ("Vic Snow" in where The Heart Is) as Mr Savage
Duncan Preston (currently "Douglas Potts" in Emmerdale) as Moose Magnusson
Gavin Richards ("Capt. Alberto Bertorelli" in 'Allo 'Allo) as Mr Flashman
Granville Saxton as Mr Fowl
Roger Sloman ("Insp. Victor Deffand" in Bergerac) as Mr Mackintosh
Nick Wilton as Peter Philpott

Also stars Deborah Norton, Nigel Pegram, Kevin Allen, Liz Fraser, Paul Spurrier, Micky O'Donoughue, Christopher Driscoll, Pat Doyle, Cindy Day, Chris Pitt, Mark Monero, Paul Darlow, Courtney Roper Knight, Clive Curtis, Stephen Arnold and members of the Central Junior Television Workshop.

Broadcast date: 24 February 1987 at 8pm on Central Independent Television. Episode 1 of 7 "The Visit".

Category:

Comedy

Tags:

• hardwicke house
• central
• itv
• comedy
• sitcom
• roy kinnear
• pam ferris
• duncan preston
• young ones
• grange hill
• educating marmalade
• your mother wouldn't like it
• banned
• censored
• iba
• 1986
• 1987
• 1980s
• eighties
• uk
• british
• outtakes
• compilation
• homerton college of technology
• rik mayall
• ade edmondson
• john fortune
• bryan pringle
• chalk
• black comedy
• children's itv

[Tommiddlecoat]

wheres adrian edmondson?!?

[filmnet]

@Tommiddlecoat In an episode that was never broadcast, no-one's ever seen it, and I don't have it available.

[hazycloudbliss]

Glad to see this has outlived Mary Whitehouse.

[SkaBeatPete]

@Tommiddlecoat there's an outtake on here now with Rik & Ade, unploaded a few weeks back :)

[kg142]

One reason I tuned in was a promo pic of Cindy Day in school uniform a la St Trinians with black stockings and short skirt phwoar!! but I think Nigel Pergram's South African and jokes about the 'blecks' put the final nail in its coffin, at least that is what I remember of this short-lived series. Still offensive today? Who knows, but then Love Thy Neighbour is still considere racist isn't it.

[dunebasher1971]

@rfitzhen100 Network has already tried and been refused by ITV.

[PM1970]

I remember watching this series back in 1987 - names like Frig Wickham echoed back to 1970s political incorrectness, however, I found the series really funny!! I was absolutely gutted when they axed this! It has to be released on DVD!!