This week BBC Radio 4 Extra begins a repeat of the recently recovered second series of Wrinkles, the 1981 sitcom from Grant and Naylor starring Tom Mennard and Anthea Askey. For a comedian with nearly 30 years of experience under his belt the 1980s were a busy period for Tom as he undertook an increasing number of acting roles.
Born in Leeds in 1918 Tom Mennard had appeared in amateur children’s pantomimes. His wartime service was in the Royal Engineers and he also played in Divisional Concert Party Shows. On demob he found work as a bus conductor and then driver with Brighton & Hove Omnibus Co. but the pull of the theatre meant he still performed in amateur revue whenever he could. His time on the buses sounded like an episode of the LWT sitcom with Mennard getting into trouble for his comic antics, telling stories to the local kids rather than taking the bus out and impersonating a ticket inspector.
Coming to the attention of singer Donald Peers, who was touring in Brighton at the time, he suggested Tom go for an audition with the BBC; he was successful and made an appearance on the BBC tv’s Show Case (15 March 1954) presented by Benny Hill. On advice from Hill he auditioned at that well-known training ground for budding comedians, London’s Windmill Theatre. Successful only on his third attempt Vivian Van Damm told him to commence in the show starting in one hour, he stayed there for a year.
Variety and theatre work followed such as the Moss Empire’s New Faces of 1956, the Fol de Rols-“the famous song and laugh show”- Masquerade (this was alongside Pamela Cundall, later Mrs Fox in Dad’s Army), summer seasons back up in Yorkshire at Bridlington and Scarborough and, perhaps most significantly in the touring revue show Music for the Millions. Starring in the show was his idol Robb Wilton, then nearing the end of his career. Wilton’s style of delivery of his famous monologues heavily influenced Mennard’s act, especially his meandering Local Tales. (see below)
Alongside the theatre work there were tv spots including Camera One and The Good Old Days and dozens of radio appearances throughout the 1950s and 1960s on Midday Music-Hall, Workers’ Playtime, Variety Playhouse, Holiday Playhouse and London Lights.
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| from Panto Archive |
In the latter half of the 1960s Tom hosted regular seasons of Old Tyme Music Hall in Newquay and on Radio 2 in 1968 acted as the chairman on Come to the Music-Hall, a radio equivalent of The Good Old Days. Panto work included Goody Two Shoes at Hull’s New Theatre in 1969 which I was in the audience for (oh no you weren’t!). His co-stars were local lad Norman Collier, Jimmy Thompson and McDonald Hobley.
Comedy panel show work followed in the 1970s with regular gigs on You’ve Got to Be Joking (Radios 2 & 4 1977-80) and Funny You Should Ask (Radio 2 1978-80). From 1980 the majority of Tom’s work was as an actor mainly on tv but also in the two series of Wrinkles (Radio 4 1980-81). Wrinkles was made in Manchester by the veteran comedy producer Mike Craig. Writers Rob Grant and Doug Naylor were apparently introduced to Tom Mennard by Mike Craig in the BBC bar. Grant recalls: ‘Tom was a naturally funny guy, with a unique and distinct delivery. He was always “on”. But not one of those annoying, not-really-very-funny people who are always straining to get a laugh: he was actually funny. He would play practical jokes constantly, weaving some fantastical story to innocent, hapless bystanders without making them the butt of the joke. I once saw him on his knees outside a closed lift door, shouting “Well how did you get stuck down there?” That kind of thing.’
In Wrinkles Mennard plays the handyman in an old people’s home. His co-star was Anthea Askey, daughter of big-hearted Arthur who Tom had worked with year’s earlier. He’d appeared with Anthea in Dick Whittington at the Sunderland Empire just the year before. Also in the cast were Ballard ‘Morning Fawlty’ Berkeley, David Ross, Gordon Salkilld and Nick Maloney. After a successful pilot a series was commissioned to air in April and May 1980. A second series followed in November and December 1981. The BBC dumped or otherwise lost the tapes of Wrinkles but off-air recordings were returned and series one was repeated late last year and the second starts today.
It was around this time that Tom was also given his own series on Radio 2. Local Tales was a series of short monologues, each about 13 minutes, that aired at intervals from 1981 to 1987. The scene was his local pub the Goat and Compasses and the rambling stories were about Tom and his mates Harry, Charlie and Fred.
Throughout the 1980s most of Tom’s work was as a actor in a number of tv series, particularly Oh Happy Band with Harry Worth (BBC 1980), Foxy Lady (Granada 1982-84), Open All Hours (BBC 1982-85) and, most notably, as Sam Tindall in Coronation Street between 1985 and 1989. As Sam he would often be sparring with Percy Sugden for the affections of Phyllis Pearce. Sugden and Pearce were played by Bill Waddington and Jill Summers whom Mennard had first met during his Windmill Theatre days. Sam Tindall appeared in the soap, often with his dog Dougal who was, by all accounts, Tom’s own dog, in over sixty episodes. His last appearance was in May 1989. Just six months later Tom Mennard died.
Back to Local Tales and my recording comes from the final series in 1987. There are five shows on YouTube including this one but I’ve also uploaded it as it includes some continuity. The theme is Johnny Pearson’s Corn on the Keys (KPM 1008 issued in 1966).
Tracking down the details of all the broadcasts of Local Tales has not been easy due to some inconsistent labelling of repeats and industrial action affecting the printing of the Radio Times.
3 episodes: 5 March to 19 March 1981
5 episodes: 16 December 1981 to 13 January 1982. All but one of these, the 30 December 1981 programme, are listed as a repeat but given that only 3 episodes were in the first series this can’t be the case.
16 episodes: 21 April to 4 August 1982
8 episodes: 28 January to 18 March 1983
3 episodes: 19 April to 10 May 1983. Not clear if these are new or repeats as the National editions of the Radio Times have reduced listing information.
4 episodes: 1 April to 22 April 1984 (all repeats)
6 episodes: 20 March to 24 April 1985
4 episodes: 27 November to 18 December 1985
6 episodes: 4 February to 11 March 1987
There were selected repeats in late 1989 following Tom’s death and a further six repeated shows in late 1990.
You can hear Tom in a Workers' Playtime revival from 1982 on my YouTube channel here
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