Description
NOT ON YOUR NELLIE
The Complete Series 3-DVD Set
All 17 episodes starring HYLDA BAKER
3 discs. Includes bonus episode of Nearest and Dearest, starring Hylda Baker with Jimmy Jewell. Comedy. Colour. Years: 1974-1975. Running time approx 425 mins.
Cast: Hylda Baker, John Barrett, Jack Douglas, Leo Dolan, Wendy Richard, Roger Howlett, Azad Ali, Sue Nicholls and David Rayner. Directed & produced by Bryan Izzard.
Not On Your Nellie was based on a stage play written for Hylda Baker by Roy Bottomley and Tom Brennand, based on the Nellie Pledge character from Nearest and Dearest. Much of the comedy stemmed from Hylda Baker’s malapropisms and Northern humour, with gems such as: “I am a maiden lady and I can say that without fear of contraception!”
This set contains all three series, including four episodes of the final series which was cut short when Hylda Baker broke her ankle.
When Nellie Pickersgill is summoned from Bolton to London to look after her ailing father, she isn’t expecting to have to look after his pub as well! It’s not the ideal situation for a teetotaller who can’t abide drinkers – or as she puts it: “Alcofrolic liquor is the evil of all root!”
Regular customers include Charlie, a window cleaner who loves booze and women; Ali, an Asian London Underground worker; George and Gilbert, a gay couple; and a succession of busty barmaids, played by Alexandra Dane, Wendy Richard and Sue Nicholls.
Nellie negotiates and survives many episodes of humour and misfortune, which include fending off her father’s ill-intentioned old flame, steering the pub regulars on the right path during a trip to the country; attempting to raise standards at her father’s pub with wine and bistro fare; trying to compete with go-go dancers at a local pub and romantic encounters. She attempts to deter a local wrestler from making The Brown Cow his local; has a go at couple counselling when Gilbert and George experience relationship problems and undergoes a change at home when her father returns to the north and her cousin Stanley arrives.
The series allowed Baker, a veteran of comedy, theatre and music hall, to exhibit her stage abilities such as singing, clog dancing, and piano playing. She also wrote and performed the theme song. Hylda Baker carries everything off with great gusto and when she sings there’s a real sense of the rest of the cast relishing the performance of this great music hall star.
