Swizzlewick

A dry, talky satire of small-town politics, more notable for its censorship history than its amateurish, dated charm.

Created by

Douglas Camfield, Hugh David

Genres

Drama

Starring

Arnold Peters, Patrick Mower, Martin Wyldeck

Overview

Swizzlewick was a twice weekly 1964 BBC comedy drama series about the day-to-day events of a local council in a fictional Midlands town. The writers included David Turner who created the series. This series is principally remembered as an early target of 'Clean Up TV' campaigner Mary Whitehouse. An episode in August 1964 featured Mrs Smallgood, a parody of her, who was depicted launching a "Freedom from Sex" campaign with a friend. A scene with a prostitute was cut from another episode of the series, after a television studio worker leaked an advance copy of the script to her. She was told "It's too late to re-shoot.", and answered "I don't want re-shooting, I want cuts." She delivered a letter of complaint in person to the Postmaster General of the United Kingdom, who appears to have passed the matter on to the BBC, and the scene Mrs Whitehouse found offensive was cut. Turner resigned from the series.

How it feels

Satirical, cynical, light and campy. Measured and needs your attention.

About

Corruption, politics, class, media

Content

Mild sexual content and language. No violence or gore.

Note

Written by AI, so it can be wrong. Full breakdown

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