John Alderton

John first appeared on our screens in 1962 when he played Dr Moone in the popular ITV soap opera EmergencyWard10. A few film appearances followed but his role as the hapless Bernard Hedges in Please Sir! made him a houshold name. He left the series in 1971 and the following year he made MyWifeNextDoor with Hannah Gordon, then signed up for another popular ITV series with he became the chauffeur, Thomas Watkins, in Upstairs Downstairs opposite his wife, Pauline Collins, as maid Sarah. The pair left the Bellamy family and appeared together in the spin-off series Thomas&Sarah. They also made the sitcom No, Honestly together. He then went on the play Yorkshire vet James Herriot in the film It Shouldn’ t Happen To AVet. John has also appeared in many stage roles as well as voicing all the characters in the original series of Fireman Sam. He played Julie Walters’ husband in CalendarGirls, whose death is the catalyst for the friends’ fund-raising calendar. He has also appeared in DocMartin and opposite his wife in Mrs Caldicot’ s Cabbage War.

Frankie Abbott was played by David Barry who became a writer of both scripts and novels Peter Denyer as Dennis Dunstable. He later moved into producing, directing and writing pantos Malcolm McFee, who played the smooth Peter Craven, became a theatre director before his death at the age of 52