Nightingales
Encyclopedia
- Not to be confused with the 1989 American series about student nurses.
Nightingales is a British situation comedy
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
set around the antics of three security guards working the night shift. It was produced by Alomo Productions for Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
in 1990.
Outline
Nightingales revolved around the jobs of three bored nightwatchmen working in a deserted office block, the location of which is never revealed, although exterior shots are of a building located on Paradise Circus in BirminghamBirmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
City Centre.
A typical episode involved both very naturalistic dialogue — and the kind of claustrophobic studio-setting that prevailed in shows such as Steptoe and Son
Steptoe and Son
Steptoe and Son is a British sitcom written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson about two rag and bone men living in Oil Drum Lane, a fictional street in Shepherd's Bush, London. Four series were broadcast by the BBC from 1962 to 1965, followed by a second run from 1970 to 1974. Its theme tune, "Old...
— combined with the surreal (the episode 'Terence in the Midst' features a non-speaking gorilla who manages to bag the Heathrow job Carter has been craving for example).
Nightingales ran for two series totalling 13 episodes from 27 February 1990 to 10 February 1993. The long delay was prompted by Channel 4 executive Seamus Cassidy who was not happy with the proposed scripts for the second season and it was nearly three years before the follow-up series was given the go-ahead. The theme tune was a version of the song "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square
A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (song)
"A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" is a romantic British popular song written in 1939 with lyrics by Eric Maschwitz and music by Manning Sherwin.-Setting:...
" sung by Lindsay. Nightingales was written by Paul Makin, who went on to write the more conventional comedies like Goodnight Sweetheart
Goodnight Sweetheart
Goodnight Sweetheart is a sitcom that ran for six series on BBC1 from 1993 to 1999. It stars Nicholas Lyndhurst as Gary Sparrow, an accidental time traveller who leads a double life after discovering a time portal allowing him to travel between the London of the 1990s and the same area during the...
. A US remake (titled "In Security") was piloted
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
but never commissioned.
Characters
- Carter (Robert Lindsay), a pseudo-intellectual whose aspirations were invariably frustrated.
- "Ding Dong" Bell (David Threlfall), a moronic thug who is somewhat in awe of Carter.
- Sarge (James Ellis), an impossibly optimistic veteran watchman (who is occasionally used to parody the naive optimism of Dixon of Dock GreenDixon of Dock GreenDixon of Dock Green was a popular BBC television series that ran from 1955 to 1976, and later a radio series. Despite being a drama series, it was initially produced by the BBC's light entertainment department.-Overview:...
). - Smith - A fourth character who was dead throughout the first series, the other characters kept his body in the building so that they could claim his salary.
Guest characters included Piper the elderly cleaning man, Eric the Werewolf (Ian Sears); an additional security guard who was a gorilla
Gorilla
Gorillas are the largest extant species of primates. They are ground-dwelling, predominantly herbivorous apes that inhabit the forests of central Africa. Gorillas are divided into two species and either four or five subspecies...
; and Mary the Christmas Allegory (Lia Williams
Lia Williams
Lia Williams is an English actress and film director, notable for many stage, film, and television appearances. She is possibly best known for her role in the motion picture, Dirty Weekend...
), who gave birth to consumer products.
Series one
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Lycanthropy Lycanthropy is the professed ability or power of a human being to undergo transformation into a werewolf, or to gain wolf-like characteristics. The term comes from Greek Lykànthropos : λύκος, lykos + άνθρωπος, ànthrōpos... . Problems with the inspector |
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Series two
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Peter Vaughan Peter Vaughan is an English character actor, known for many supporting roles in a variety of British film and television productions. He has worked extensively on the stage, becoming known for roles such as police inspectors, Soviet agents and similar parts... guests as the new inspector who rules with an iron fist. Mutiny is in the air. |
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