Slinger's Day

Slinger's Day is a British sitcom that aired for two series from 1986 to 1987, made by Thames Television for the ITV network. It was a continuation of Tripper's Day, which had originally come to a natural end after Leonard Rossiter's death, and, despite the overwhelmingly negative response it had drawn from reviewers and a section of the viewing public, was revived this time with Bruce Forsyth as a different character to Rossiter but fulfilling the same role, that of the manager of a London supermarket with largely incompetent staff.

Slinger's Day
GenreSitcom
Created byBrian Cooke
Starring
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series2
No. of episodes12
Production
ProducerMark Stuart
Running time30 minutes
Production companyThames Television
Release
Original networkITV
Original release3 September 1986 (1986-09-03) –
14 October 1987 (1987-10-14)
Related

Like Tripper's Day, it was created by Brian Cooke, however, in contrast to the previous series, Cooke only wrote two episodes of the twelve episodes, more than half of them being written by Vince Powell with others being written by Alex Shearer and Sorry! creators Ian Davidson and Peter Vincent, and one episode written by the prolific Andrew Marshall and David Renwick.

Slinger's Day represented Forsyth's only ever situation comedy acting role, and he remained more associated with stand-up routines and gameshows.

Plot

Cecil Slinger (played by Forsyth) is designated by the Supafare supermarket chain as the new manager in the branch that had previously been run by Norman Tripper. Like his predecessor, Slinger is forced to manage a supermarket branch that employs possibly the worst supermarket staff in the world: Mr. Christian (played by Clarkson), the cheerful but naïve assistant manager; Fred (played by Kelly), a lazy, alcoholic and inept security guard; Hardie (played by Bird), the union shop steward; as well as Higgins, Hardie's assistant of sorts (played by Paul), secretary Sylvia (played by Crowther) and checkout cashier Dottie (played by Licorish).

Fred replaced Alf (played in Tripper's by Gordon Gostelow), and in the second series Sylvia was replaced by Miss Foster (played by Church) and Dottie was replaced by Shirley (played by de Paza).

Cast

The three main actors credited in the opening credits of Tripper's Day (Leonard Rossiter, Pat Ashton and Gordon Gostelow) did not reprise their roles for Slinger's Day, with the Rossiter and Gostelow roles replaced respectively by Bruce Forsyth and David Kelly. Many of the supporting cast of Tripper's Day did reprise their roles for the show, however only Philip Bird and Paul Clarkson appeared in both series of Slinger's Day.

  • Bruce Forsyth as Cecil Slinger
  • David Kelly as Fred
  • Philip Bird as Hardie
  • Paul Clarkson as Mr Christian
  • Andrew Paul as Higgins (series 1)
  • Vicky Licorish as Dottie (series 1)
  • Liz Crowther as Sylvia (series 1)
  • Suzanne Church as Miss Foster (series 2)
  • Jacqueline De Peza as Shirley (series 2)
  • Charlie Hawkins as Colin Wilkins (series 2)

Episodes

Series 1 (1986)
No.
overal 		No. in
series 		Title Directed by Written by Original air date
11"New Management"Mark StuartBrian Cooke3 September 1986 (1986-09-03)
Cecil Slinger takes over a struggling Supafare branch.
22"Going Bananas"Mark StuartBrian Cooke10 September 1986 (1986-09-10)
33"Butter Wouldn't Melt"Mark StuartVince Powell17 September 1986 (1986-09-17)
44"A Right Royal Mix-Up"Mark StuartVince Powell24 September 1986 (1986-09-24)
55"Black Letter Day"Mark StuartVince Powell1 October 1986 (1986-10-01)
While trying to get himself a promotion, Slinger inadvertently sends a nasty letter to the area manager.
66"The Nightshift"Mark StuartAlex Shearer8 October 1986 (1986-10-08)

Series 2 (1987)
No.
overal 		No. in
series 		Title Directed by Written by Original air date
71"Lost and Found"Mark StuartVince Powell9 September 1987 (1987-09-09)
82"Whose Baby?"Mark StuartVince Powell16 September 1987 (1987-09-16)
93"Taken for a Ride"Mark StuartIan Davidson and Peter Vincent23 September 1987 (1987-09-23)
104"Initiative"Mark StuartAndrew Marshall and David Renwick30 September 1987 (1987-09-30)
The store must move five hundred units of fishcakes before they go bad.
115"The Stocktake"Mark StuartAlex Shearer7 October 1987 (1987-10-07)
126"A Pane in the Neck"Mark StuartVince Powell14 October 1987 (1987-10-14)
When a window pane is accidentally broken, Mr. Slinger is forced to stay overnight and watch the shop.

Home media

The complete series of Slinger's Day was released on 23 April 2012.

See also

References
  • Mark Lewisohn, BBC Online Comedy Guide/Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy
  • British TV Online Resources
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