Up the Elephant and Round the Castle
GenreComedy
Written byColin Bostock-Smith
Jim Eldridge
Tony Hoare
Spike Mullins
Directed byAnthony Parker
StarringJim Davidson
John Bardon
Sue Nicholls
Nicholas Day
Brian Hall
Brian Capron
Anita Dobson
Sara Corper
Rosalind Knight
Theme music composerKeith Emerson
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series3
No. of episodes22 (list of episodes)
Production
ProducerAnthony Parker
Running time30 minutes
Production companyThames Television
Original release
NetworkITV
Release30 November 1983 (1983-11-30) –
7 November 1985 (1985-11-07)

Up the Elephant and Round the Castle is a British television sitcom, which aired from 30 November 1983 to 7 November 1985, and was produced by Thames Television for the ITV network.[1] Starring comedian Jim Davidson, who played the role of Jim London, the show spawned a sequel, Home James!, which was also made by Thames. Home James ran from 1987 to 1990.

Plot

Jim London is a young lovable rogue who becomes a man of property when a relative dies, leaving him a run-down Victorian property at 17 Railway Terrace in the Elephant and Castle area of south London. He gets into various problems with the police and spends most of his time getting drunk and chasing women.

Cast

Production

The sitcom's theme tune was composed by Keith Emerson. The full length version can be heard on two of his albums, Hammer It Out and Off the Shelf.

Episodes

Series 1 (1983–84)

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air date
1"A Cuckoo in the Nest"Anthony ParkerSpike Mullins30 November 1983 (1983-11-30)
First Appearance: Jim London & Brian the Barman
2"May the Best Man Win"Anthony ParkerJim Eldridge7 December 1983 (1983-12-07)

First Appearance: Ernie "Dad" London, Lois Tight & Vera Spiggot

Jim's friend Arnold (Played by Christopher Ellison) is marrying Cheryl (played by Linda Robson) and Jim has agreed to be best man even though Arnold never returned some money he borrowed back in 1974. Arnold has asked Jim to calm Cheryl's parents down as they're 'going through a sticky patch' and Jim panics as they are two wrestlers (Jaw Breaker Hawkins and Edna the Human Mangle). When they arrive Jim hides in the kitchen as his talking only makes them more aggressive. Jim then has two problems, one is the parents wrestling each other and the other is Arnold on the verge of missing his own wedding
3"...Up the Public Spirit"Anthony ParkerGeoff McQueen14 December 1983 (1983-12-14)

First Appearance: Terrance "Tosh" Carey

Whilst making regular visits to the DHSS (late ones at that), Jim has been doing some odd jobs for friend Lois. He lands himself in trouble, but manages to get one up on Councillor Allnut thanks to a dodgy ladder.
4"Never On A Sunday"Anthony ParkerPeter Learmouth21 December 1983 (1983-12-21)
Jim's hopes of a quiet lie in on Sunday morning are dashed thanks to visits from his dad, Wanda and even the Salvation Army!
5"A Bird in the Hand is Worth Two in Shepherds Bush"Anthony ParkerColin Bostock-Smith4 January 1984 (1984-01-04)
First Appearance: Jim's Mum
It's good neighbour week and Jim offers to look after Wanda's bird while she goes to hospital. Problems are caused when Jim's Dad gives the bird to Jim's Mum as a birthday present
6"Every Two Minutes"Anthony ParkerTony Hoare11 January 1984 (1984-01-11)
Jim wakes up after a party and finds a woman sleeping in his bath and a bloke with a bag of stuff in his living room. Tosh eventually arrives as Jim tries to piece together the events of the party.

Series 2 (1985)

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air date
7"The Taste of Money"Anthony ParkerSpike Mullins8 January 1985 (1985-01-08)
Jim wakes up next to a stuffed dog which he later discovers has been stolen from British Rail and a £2000 reward is offered for the return of the dog and conviction of the criminals.
8"Wakey Wakey"Anthony ParkerGeoff McQueen15 January 1985 (1985-01-15)
Jim allows two Irish friends to stay in his house and they take a coffin with them, meanwhile Jim hopes to take the wife of a jealous criminal on holiday, however they cannot go as the husband finds out and attempts to catch Jim.
9"Friday the 13th"Anthony ParkerSpike Mullins22 January 1985 (1985-01-22)
Jim begins to believe the superstition of Friday the 13th when the DHSS tell him he is to work as a sewer worker in Scotland
10"Come to the Aid of the Party"[fn 1]Anthony ParkerLouise Ford28 January 1985 (1985-01-28)
Wanda wants to hold a Lingerie party in Jim's house, so Jim must stay out of the house for the day, but he does return to the house with his dad; they find Jim's mother is attending the party.
11"And They Came Unto Jim"Anthony ParkerSpike Mullins5 February 1985 (1985-02-05)
Two children, who have already stolen a wealthy man's coat, burgle Jim's house, when Jim catches them they tell him about the coat and Jim is able to change the children's view. Jim persuades the children to give back the coat inviting the wealthy man round; they say they found it on a bus and Jim says as they stole it they cannot accept any reward offered.
12"The Road to Milton Keynes"Anthony ParkerSpike Mullins12 February 1985 (1985-02-12)
13"Charity Begins"Anthony ParkerSpike Mullins19 February 1985 (1985-02-19)
When an attractive social worker turns up on his doorstep Jim takes a keen interest in charity.
14"The Hostage"Anthony ParkerJim Eldridge26 February 1985 (1985-02-26)
Jim London, his father Ernie London, Arnold Moggs and a lady offering policies are held hostage in Jim's house by a robber with a gun, but he is not very good as his past attempts of robbery have been foiled by ordinary members of the public.

Series 3 (1985)

This series saw a change in the title sequences. The "Morning world..." monologues by Jim have been removed, and the opening video is the video of the closing titles for the previous two series; the closing titles for this series is the opening titles in reverse so instead of zooming into Jim, the camera zooms out.

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air date
15"One in the Rough"Anthony ParkerGeoff McQueen12 September 1985 (1985-09-12)
To impress his girlfriend Fiona Jim learns to play Golf so he can play it with her dad. Brian lends Jim his friend's clubs and says his friend is very fond of the clubs. While practising at home (with an invisible ball) Jim's dad turns up, gives some advice and has a little practice. At the club Fiona's friend, knowing Jim doesn't know what a handicap is, tells Jim to say he is a scratch golfer when Fiona's dad asks. On the green Fiona's dad is paired with Jim and goes mad when he discovers how badly Jim actually plays. Jim is lucky enough to avoid injury and laughs with Brian at the pub at the incident. Finally Brian's friend turns up for the clubs to find a noticeable difference.
16"Goodbye Mr. Wilkins"[fn 2]Anthony ParkerSpike Mullins19 September 1985 (1985-09-19)
When two military police come calling, Jim sees the perfect way to evict his squatter.
17"The Scotch Connection"Anthony ParkerSpike Mullins26 September 1985 (1985-09-26)
18"Rakingshores And Doodlebugs"Anthony ParkerGeoff McQueen10 October 1985 (1985-10-10)
19"A Taxing Problem"[fn 3]Anthony ParkerJim Eldridge17 October 1985 (1985-10-17)
20"Wide Eyed An Legless"Anthony ParkerGeoff McQueen24 October 1985 (1985-10-24)
Jim is rudely awoken with a hangover by councillor Moggs, who comes round to complain about the noise of a party Jim was holding the previous night, he's also angry at the fact one of the guests bared their bottom at him. Wanda pops round and she discovers a false leg in Jim's bed, which the two realise belongs to Fred Burrows and Wanda helped him remove it and use it as a yard of ale glass. Jim carries the leg with him in a sack to the pub where Brian is feeling the effects of his drinking at the party. He then goes for a job interview, and another person guesses what sort of leg it is, but gives in to curiosity and looks in the sack. At the pub Councillor Moggs arrives to find Jim and Miss Hockwhistle (a fellow councillor) there, he then demands to know who the culprit was, only to discover it was the drunk Miss Hockwhistle.
21"The Spy Who Left Me"Anthony ParkerSpike Mullins31 October 1985 (1985-10-31)
22"The Pied Piper of Hamlet"Anthony ParkerSpike Mullins7 November 1985 (1985-11-07)

Home releases

Series one was released on DVD in September 2007. The complete series was released on 5 May 2008 and was later re-released by Network on 3 October 2016.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ On the DVD menu this episode is incorrectly titled "Come to the End of the Party"
  2. ↑ On the DVD menu this episode is incorrectly titled "Goodbye Wilkins"
  3. ↑ On the DVD menu this episode is incorrectly titled "A Taxing Term"

References

  1. ↑ "Up The Elephant And Round The Castle". British Classic Comedy. 6 March 2018. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
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