This truly extraordinary find - of a show which until this posting was marked as 'missing' on all archive TV databases - is especially remarkable as it contains the only non-singing, non-dancing appearance of the British actress Vanessa Howard - star of the cult films 'Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush' and 'Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly' - in a British TV programme.
This first episode of the second and final series of 'Sam and Janet' was first shown in the Ulster (Northern Ireland) and Rediffusion ITV regions on 23 January 1968. It was then broadcast in the ATV and Grampian regions on 26 January 1968, directly after the first showing on British TV of the Prisoner episode 'Once Upon A Time'.
Each story in the series featured the trials and tribulations of the eternally bickering Sam and Janet Marshall, who were played by noted comic character actors John Junkin and Vivienne Martin (a stalwart of the West End musical theatre scene). In this one episode only, their two children Patricia and Peter (played by Vanessa Howard and Lee Menzies) added their own share of complications to the couple's elusive search for domestic harmony.
The programme never received a full network broadcast, with some regions refusing to take it at all. The handful of regions which did take it broadcast it on different days and at different times to fill various holes in the schedules, with some of them (such as Rediffusion) dropping the series before the end of its run. Its final showing was on Border TV, which ran the series a month later than anyone else. The show was never repeated.
( There's more info on 'Sam and Janet' and this episode in particular here: / vanessahowardchartoff )
Chris Mitchell, who plays my namesake 'Ron' here, appeared with Vanessa Howard in 'Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush', and also in an obscure film called 'This, That and The Other', shot about a year after this show. He went on to become a far more familiar face as Gunner Parkin in the classic BBC comedy show 'It Ain't Half Hot, Mum!'
All nine episodes of this series of 'Sam and Janet' were recorded on 405-line videotape at Clarendon Road Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire (aka ATV Elstree, later BBC Elstree Studios). Six of these episodes no longer appear to exist. According to the Kaleidoscope British Television Comedy Research Guide, at the time of posting the status of this particular show is 'Does Not Exist'. The 'Lostshows' website shows it as 'Missing'.
NB: Since this video was posted, Vanessa's appearance in the show has now been added to Wikipedia and IMDB. All of her other appearances on youtube are detailed on my 'Vanessa Howard on Film and TV' playlist.
To view the programme in its original broadcast quality, choose 720p in the settings option.
- Ron S. -
Thanks go to -
- Richard Halfhide - for discovering the link between Vanessa Howard and this programme in the first place.
- 'Curseur' of the yt channel 'CurseurTV' - for the use of the clean ATV ident intro.