The Many Faces Of...
- TV documentary
- BBC Two
- 2009 - 2016
- 14 episodes (3 series)
Comedy actors look back at their career, with archive footage and testimony from friends and colleagues. Features Sally Phillips.
Episode menu
Series 3, Episode 3 - The Many Faces Of Sid James
Further details
Sid James was a huge star who learned his craft in post-war British films and who played the same 'Jack the Lad' character for twenty years in a string of television sitcom hits.
He was closely involved with the Hancock radio and television series and matured with his audience into the bewildered father figure of the typical seventies family in Bless This House.
Broadcast details
- Date
- Saturday 6th April 2013
- Time
- 7:30pm
- Channel
- BBC Two
- Length
- 60 minutes
Cast & crew
| Sally Phillips | Narrator |
| Laurence Marcus | Self |
| Olga Lowe | Self |
| Keith Morris | Self |
| Nigel Planer | Self |
| Vera Day | Self |
| James King | Self |
| Matthew Sweet | Self |
| Alan Simpson | Self |
| Ray Galton | Self |
| Liz Fraser | Self |
| Ray Brooks | Self |
| Andy Davidson | Self |
| Bill Maynard | Self |
| Chris Moyles | Self |
| Jacki Piper | Self |
| William G Stewart | Self |
| Sally Geeson | Self |
| Sid James | Self (Archive Material) |
| Gerald Thomas | Self (Archive Material) |
| Charles Stuart | Director |
| Charles Stuart | Producer |
| Stephen Stewart | Executive Producer |
| Alan Tyler | Executive Producer |
| Jane Tubb | Editor |
| Cassie Durham | Editor |
Press
Another episode in The Many Faces of... strand on BBC Two, narrated by Sally Philips, focused on a comic actor famed for his laugh, his acting skill, and his rather wrinkled looks.
Broadcast to mark the 100th birthday of Sid James, which is in a few weeks, this documentary it has to be said didn't start well. This was nothing to do with James or the programme's production, but more to do with the fact that in the third cut-away you discovered that one of the talking heads featured in this programme was Chris Moyles.
But this aside, the other contributors, including Nigel Planer (busy week for him then) were good. There were also some rare outings of comedies now rarely seen such as Citizen James, which was basically Hancock's Half Hour without Tony Hancock, and looked like a decent show in its own right. There was also his straighter acting, which included appearances in a Quatermass film.
The Carry On films were the main area of covered, but for me the most interesting bit was the coverage of ITV sitcom Bless This House. I was unaware of how popular it was. It was one of the most watched comedies of its day, although this was helped by the fact that the show on the BBC at the same time was Panorama. This just goes to prove that what you really need to make a good sitcom is the right timing - not just good comic timing, but good scheduling too boot.
Ian Wolf, Giggle Beats, 8th April 2013A profile of the walnut-faced comic actor with the infectiously lascivious laugh, famously described by Bruce Forsyth as "a natural at being natural". The South African-born star made his name on Hancock's Half Hour and played world-weary father figures in a string of sitcoms such as Bless this House, but James remains best known for his roles in 19 of the Carry On films. Cor blimey.
The Telegraph, 5th April 2013