Geoff Fletcher
There was a very good one after the recording of the finale episode of “Portrait Of A Lady”. Everyone was invited to a do at an Italian restaurant in Fulham Palace Road – Carlo’s Place maybe?
We all travelled in whatever forms of transport were available – I seem to recall Dave Mutton and an almost equally tall American actress arriving in a baby Fiat! This was on the night of Friday 26 January 1968. According to my diary I’d been tracking Pete Leverick on Cam 2 on the Mole, with Piers Fforde-Crush on the arm for the two days on the show. The restaurant was pretty modern for those days, all bare brick walls and metal pipes and air ducts.
Apparently I got back to my flat in Ealing at 0300. “Portrait Of A Lady” was Richard Chamberlain’s first foray into UK TV (the actor, not Dickie!)
Dave Mundy
So many!
“The Likely Lads” at an Italian restaurant in Pimlico (wives invited),
“The Liver Birds” in a Chelsea mews flat (where one of them lived),
“Angels” in a restaurant at the bottom of Wood Lane,
“Grange Hill" in the second-floor restaurant in TC.
Harry Worth, Cliff Richard, and Vera Lynn, in Oddies basement opposite the TV Theatre (in Harry’s case music provided by the sound dept. – Kevin White (drums), Dave Silk (double-bass) and (query) Malcolm Strutt (sax), and one in Paddy Russell’s house, next to Richmond Park, after an Italian mafia series
Happy days indeed.
Peter Neill, Alec Bray
David Frost once hired Battersea fun fair, at the end of the second series of TW3.
Bob Auger
(After “The Frost Report”)
I was there at a Battersea fun fair party, having done the mini-Fisher boom on Frost for most of the series.
The classic Cleese / Barker / Corbett ‘class’ sketch was in that run, with Tom Lehrer inserts from 16mm TK throughout. Next series was Julie Felix – not quite in the same class.
Most vivid memory of Battersea for me was the piles of (old) pennies in front of all the slot machines. The rides (and food and drink) were free, of course.
Peter Neill
Julie Felix series at her flat in Chelsea – which it turned out belonged to David Frost.
Broom Stages at Gwenan Watford and her announcer husband Richard Bebb’s house somewhere in North London, which was a foreign country to me in those days.
The Songwriters at the London Transport training centre in Wood Lane where Adrian Stocks and Julian Tolkien, among others, discovered the "0"gauge model railway which was used to train signalmen.
John Howell
The most lavish party I went to was after a series of "The Frost Report". David hired the White City Stadium complete with track officials, restaurant, and PA system. We, the crew and behind the cameras staff sat eating a slap up meal whilst the stars ran races on the track for our amusement. Come 1 o’clock there was a line of taxis waiting to take everyone home.
John Hays
The slap up supper laid on for us in. a restaurant on Hammersmith Broadway after the last “Alan Melville A to Z” in 1958 in R1. David Frost hired the Playboy Club for one end-of-series party, can anyone recall that?
Peter Cook
On OB’s there were always drinks after on such as “Come Dancing” and “The Old Boy Network”. From the crew, Camera, Vision and Sound Supervisors only were invited. The prima donnas accepted, the real supervisors declined. EMs were excused even when they were crew specific. Well our cameravans were usually well equipped in the beverage department, and probably of better quality and more generous measures.
The best after party I can remember followed the “Eurovision Song Contest” in Brighton when ABBA won with “Waterloo”. (40 years ago on 6th April 2014!) The crew celebrated the expectation of cleaning out the bookies next day, which alleviated the hangover slightly. In rehearsals there was really no contest.
John Howell
Not to mention “Fawlty Towers” at The San Rocco in Sheen Lane SW14, Menu attached!
