Charlie was our darling
Marion McMullen looks back at programmes from the past The Charlie Drake Show launched 60 years ago but nearly proved fatal for its diminutive star
PINT-SIZED slapstick comedian Charlie Drake was famous for his physical stunts and his cheerful catchphrase “Hello, my darlings!”. Born Charles Edward Springall, he stood just 5ft 1in tall and took his mother’s maiden name for the stage.
He was one of eight children – of whom only four survived – and was already performing at the age of eight, to help boost the family finances.
The Londoner’s career spanned seven decades and he was best loved for stunts that frequently left him battered and bruised.
His BBC sitcom The Charlie Drake Show started on BBC1 on November 25, 1960, but the series left him seriously injured when one stunt went badly wrong during a live transmission.
The script called for him to be pulled through a bookcase and then picked up and thrown out of window.
Unfortunately, carpenters did not realise the flimsy bookcase was intended for a stunt and nailed it down.
Charlie was knocked unconscious as he was pulled through and then hit his head on a stage weight when he was thrown out of the sugar glass window.
The live transmission was immediately blacked out as the director realised what had happened.
Charlie suffered a fractured skull and was unconscious for three days, he later announced he was retiring from showbusiness.
He did not return to television for two years, but made his comeback in what become one of his most successful hits, The Worker, which saw him playing a jobless layabout constantly battling with a badtempered unemployment clerk played by Henry McGee.