Underplayed Gems

The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club (1974)

The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club poster
Genre
variety show
Country
United Kingdom
Length
6 seasons, 48 episodes
Rating
6.0 of 10 from 4 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this series is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A variety show set in a fictional working men's club in northern England. It features a host and a chairman who introduce performers and trade jokes while the studio audience sits at tables, drinks beer, and joins in singalongs.

nostalgiclivelyhumorousinformalwarmcheekyold-fashionedcommunal

What happens

The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club was a British television variety show created and produced by Johnnie Hamp for Granada Television. It ran for seven series from 1974 to 1977, with the final series retitled At The Wheeltappers. It was set in a fictional working men's club in the North of England and was hosted by comedian Colin Crompton as the club's chairman. The show's compere was usually Bernard Manning, who as well as telling jokes and introducing acts often started and finished the show with a song. Crompton was frequently the butt of his jokes, acting as Manning's stooge. The set was arranged like a club, so that, rather than being arranged in terraced seating the studio audience would be seated around tables and be served beer and snacks, join in a singalong and otherwise engage in audience participation. Crompton, as chairman of the club, would sit at a small table in the corner watching proceedings with apparent lack of interest. He had a large manual fire bell which he would wind and sound purportedly to attract the audience's attention after an act, announcing various notices from "the Committee" (that is, the officials of the social club of which he was chairman), usually misdemeanours by the club's members or the committee itself. For example: "On behalf of the Committee, I should like to tell you we made a mistake in offering the raffle prize of a diving suit. It is in fact a divan suite." Special episodes were broadcast on New Year's Eve 1974 and 1975. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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