When I remember Peter Sallis, it is not for Last of the Summer Wine or indeed ‘Wallace and Gromit’ – it is for this BBC TV series which only ran for one season and 14 episodes.
Peter Sallis as Pepys in this portrayal plays the role of Pepys with humour – as the picture above indicates – but also conveys first and foremost that he is a devoted public servant.
This was Peter Sallis’ very first television role – and it was a starring role.
Also cast was Douglas Wilmer – who later played Sherlock Holmes – who played King Charles II with all the requisite charm and style we imagine, aided and abetted by a well-trained spaniel.
Also cast was Paul Eddington as Sir William Coventry and Wensley Pithey who had played Friar Tuck in a BBC Robin Hood serial with Patrick Troughton as Robin Hood – I do remember that one.
Others cast were Bernard Archard and a very young Nannette Newman
I remember watching this serial every week in 1958 when I was eleven and thought it was very good at the time. Like you, when I think of Peter Sallis, I think of him as Samuel Pepys. It would have gone out live at the time, but just may have been telerecorded (filmed off a television monitor) in the days long before video tape. If not, it will remain just a memory and we’ll never see it again. Any way, even if it had been telerecorded over 61 years ago, who knows whether the recording still exist? The BBC have thrown a lot of important recordings away, including The Beatles forming the panel on ‘Juke Box Jury’ in 1963. Now what absolute idiot decided to junk that?
David. I am pleased that someone remembers the series and actually saw it as you did – and I did – although a long time ago, but we still remember it well. Thanks again for your comment. You are right the BBC chucked away a lot of valuable material. However a point I always make is that the advent of satellite TV saw many older programmes unearthed and re-shown with great success. The Galaxy channel was the first to do that some years ago and it woke up the BBC to what they had – and ITV although to a lesser extent. Now we have Talking Pictures doing that for forgotten films – Thankfully not forgotten now. With the regular viewing audience that Talking Pictures gets, that again underlines that a great many of us have been underfed in TV terms for so long. Neil
According to the IMDb, it was never given a cinema release in the UK, but was in Technicolor and ran for 73 minutes. Maybe the BFI might have a copy of it.
Sorry, posted the above on the wrong page.
Absolutely right. I loved Peter Sallis as Peyps and that was the role that always came to mind first whenever his name was mentioned. Fantastic series.
Would love to be able to watch again. So sad that it’ll bever be possible