Slinger’s Day – 1986

Tripper’s Day had come to a natural end after the death of Leonard Rossiter.  However despite being panned by the critics ITV decided to revive it.  This time with Bruce Forsyth took the lead, but as a different character to Rossiter but fulfilling the same role, that of the manager of a London supermarket with largely incompetent staff.

Again produced by Thames Television and created by Brian Cooke, the show ran for twelve episodes over two series.  However unlike Tripper’s Day Brian Cooke only wrote two of the twelve episodes, with others penning the remaining ten.

Slinger’s Day was noted for being Bruce Forsyth’s only ever situation comedy acting role.

Summary

Cecil Slinger (played by Forsyth) is assigned by the Supafare supermarket chain as the new manager in the branch that had previously been run by Norman Tripper.  Just 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 shop assistant; 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 the pop tart-like[clarification needed] 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).

Clips

Cast

Bruce Forsyth
Paul Clarkson
David Kelly
Philip Bird
Liz Crowther
Vicky Licorish
Suzanne Church
Jacqueline de Paza

Details

Channel: ITV
Created By: Brian Cooke
Written By:
Brian Cooke
Vince Powell
Alex Shearer
Ian Davidson
Peter Vincent
Andrew Marshall
David Renwick
Produced By: Thames Television for ITV
Original Transmission Dates: 3rd September 1986 – 14th October 1987

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