Bootsie And Snudge, 1960 and 1974
Bootsie and Snudge was the spin off comedy series of The Army Game, written, in the early days, by Barry Took and Marty Feldman, later writers were: John Antrobus, Jack Rosenthal, ventriloquist Ray Alan and Harry Driver.
The show featured Clive Dunn, more famous as Corporal Jones in Dad’s Army, as well as Alfie Bass and Bill Fraser.
Series 1-3 and 5 centred around a gentlemen’s club called the Imperial Club, whilst the fourth series broadcast as “Foreign Affairs” centred around a British Embassy in Bosnik.
Over the five series, 112 half-hour episodes were made, being broadcast from 1960 to 1964 and in 1974.
In the early 1960’s the show was adapted as a comic strip for the hugely popular British comic ‘TV Comic’.
Summary
Bootsie And Snudge – Series 1 -3
‘Bootsie’ Bisley and his former tormentor Claude Snudge are now working together – not exactly by choice – at the Imperial Club, a gentlemen’s establishment in London.
While boot boy Bootsie continues to play dogsbody to Snudge, now the club’s major-domo, Old Johnson bumbles along in his own determined fashion, dodging retirement and attempting to help his disaster-prone colleagues deal with the inevitable consequences of their actions…
Foreign Affairs – The 1964 Series
In 1964, a fourth series was broadcast as Foreign Affairs, and shows Bootsie (played by Bass) getting a job as a Security Officer at the British Embassy in Bosnik where he is joined by Claude Snudge (played by Fraser).
Snudge not only thinks of himself as ambassador material, but also as usual feels justified in bullying Bootsie around.
Bootsie And Snudge – The 1974 Series
The 1974 series, set ten years after Foreign Affairs, sees the men reunited in a reversal of roles.
Bootsie, now unemployed and living alone, has just won £1,000,000.27 on the football pools under the pseudonym ‘Yilseb’, devised to preserve his anonymity.
Snudge is now a travelling representative of the football pools company who brings the lucky winner his cheque.
As Bootsie has been using the name ‘Yilseb’ (Bisley spelled backwards), Snudge has no idea that the winner he is about to visit is his old friend, Bootsie.
On discovering the truth, Snudge immediately gives up his job with the football pools company and appoints himself as Bootsie’s pompous but subservient financial adviser.
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Cast
Alfie Bass
Bill Fraser
Clive Dunn (series 1-3)
Robert Dorning (series 1-3)
Details
Created By: Marty Feldman and Barry Took
Channel: ITV
Original Transmission Dates:
23rd September 1960 – 20th February 1964, series 1 -4
16th October – 20th November 1974, series 5
Archive
Surprisingly for a show of this time period, most of the 112 episodes that were made still exist.
However, the final episode of the first series, three episodes from the third series remain missing.
These are series 1 episode 40 ‘Back Pay’, series 3 episodes No 2 ‘The Rescue’, No 5 ‘Soul Mates’ and No 7 ‘I’m in a Dancing Mood’, aka ‘Carnet De Balham’. Six of the eight episodes of Foreign Affairs no longer exist; only the first two episodes exist in the archive.