The Rag Trade

The Rag Trade is a British television sitcom broadcast by the BBC between 1961 and 1963 and by ITV between 1977 and 1978. Although a comedy, it shed light on gender, politics and the "class war" on the factory floor.

The scripts were written by partners Chesney and Wolfe, who later wrote Wild, Wild Women, Meet the Wife and On the Buses. Wild, Wild Women was a period variation of The Rag Trade.

Synopsis

The action centred on a fictional small clothing workshop (the title is a reference to the textile industry), Fenner's Fashions in London. Although run by Harold Fenner (Peter Jones) and the foreman and pattern cutter Reg Turner (Reg Varney), the female workers are led by militant shop steward Paddy Fleming (Miriam Karlin), ever ready to strike, with the catchphrase "Everybody out!" Other cast members included Sheila Hancock (as Carole Taylor), Esma Cannon (as Lily Swann), Wanda Ventham (as Shirley) in series 2 and Barbara Windsor (as Gloria, during series 1, who later returned as Judy in series 3) replacing Sheila Hancock.

In 1975, a colour pilot was made; with only Peter Jones reprising his role, this colour pilot featured a young Tony Robinson (replacing Reg Varney), Gaye Brown (briefly replacing Karlin), Jumoke Debayo, Diane Langton, Annabel Leventon, Jamila Massey, Mollie Maureen (replacing Esma Cannon) and Trixie Scales.

The theme tune for this colour pilot was performed by Alex Welsh and his Band, however, this was never transmitted, as the BBC rejected the colour revival of the series.

Two years later, the series was revived by ITV company LWT, with Jones and Karlin reprising their roles. The 1977–78 version ran for two series, most of the scripts being based on the BBC episodes from the 1960s, and featured Anna Karen (reprising her role as Olive from On the Buses) and future EastEnders star Gillian Taylforth as factory workers.

The theme tune for the LWT series was written and performed by Lynsey de Paul (credited as Joan Brown) and released as a track on an album of TV themes that also featured another de Paul-penned theme "Hi Summer".

In 1990, the series was remade as the series Fredrikssons Fabrikk by NRK in Norway, it ran for three seasons (1990–93, 17 half hours and one 45min special) and a feature film version Fredrikssons Fabrikk – The Movie in 1994 with a script credited to Chesney and Wolfe, and Norwegian series writer Andreas Markusson.

Cast

1961–1963

1977–1978

• Peter Jones as Harold Fenner
• Miriam Karlin as Paddy Fleming
• Anna Karen as Olive Rudge
• Christopher Beeny as Tony
• Gillian Taylforth as Lyn
• Diane Langton as Kathy
• Deddie Davies as Mabel
• Lucita Lijertwood as Jojo
• Rowena Cooper as Mrs Fenner (series 1)
• Joy Stewart as Mrs Fenner (series 2)

TV episodes

On original transmission many episodes of the original BBC TV series of The Rag Trade were not given titles, so some are from production notes and repeat screenings.

Original BBC TV series

Series 1 (1961)

Series 2 (1962)

Christmas Night with the Stars 25 December 1962 – featured a short sketch. (Has been lost)

Series 3 (1963)

Colour pilot (1975)

LWT relaunch series

Series 4 (1977)

Christmas special (1977)

Series 5 (1978)

Missing episodes

Because of the BBC's wiping policy of that era, of the 36 episodes made only 21 episodes of the original BBC Television version (1961–62) still exist in the BBC archives.

The first series of the original BBC TV version of the show is almost complete, whilst the second series remains incomplete, as two episodes remain missing. Only one of the 13 episodes of the third (and final) BBC TV series (1963) currently exists – "Baby Dolls", which was confirmed to have been unearthed by Philip Morris of the Television International Enterprises Archive and returned to the BBC in 2018.

Music

"The Rag Trade" was the theme song to the 1977 revival of The Rag Trade, The song was written by Lynsey de Paul, but the vocals are credited to Joan Brown singing "It's the rag trade" over a quirky tune, sounding remarkably like de Paul. Indeed, some sources credit the vocal performance of the song to de Paul. The recording was arranged by John Bell and the conductor was Denis King. It was released on an album of TV themes on the DJM Records subsidiary label Weekend Records. The DVD set featuring all 22 episodes of the LWT episodes, with the theme music at the beginning and ending of every episode, was released by Network. The original version of "The Rag Trade" can be heard on de Paul's official website.

DVD release

The 8 (out of the 10) existing episodes of the first series (broadcast in 1961) were released on DVD (DD Home Entertainment) in March 2006, followed by the 11 existing episodes of the second series (broadcast in 1962), released on DVD 7 months later in October 2006.

A 4-disc set consisting all the remaining episodes from the first two series of the show was later released (through Simply Media DVD) on 23 October 2017.

All the episodes of both colour series 4 and 5 of the (1977–78) LWT version of the series, including the 1977 Christmas special, have been released on DVD by Network.

See also

• Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width – ITV sitcom

References

External links

• The Rag Trade (1961) at IMDb
• The Rag Trade (1977) at IMDb
• The Rag Trade at BBC Online
• The Rag Trade at the BFI's Screenonline
• The Rag Trade at British Comedy Guide

1. Rag Trade
2. Clothing industry
3. Chesney and Wolfe
4. Anna Karen
5. Rag-and-bone man
6. Trade magazine
7. Reg Varney
8. Diane Langton
9. Wanda Ventham
10. Miriam Karlin
11. On the Buses
12. Carmel Cryan
13. Rag Trade (horse)
14. Barbara Windsor
15. Sheila Hancock
16. Judy Carne
17. Rowena Cooper
18. Gillian Taylforth
19. Christopher Beeny
20. June Whitfield