Wheeltappers & Shunters Social Club - Granada TV - Series 1 Episode 1

1st edition of Granada's Wheeltappers & Shunters Social Club from April 13th 1974, complete with preview.
Stars Colin Crompton & Bernard Manning
No copyright infringement intended.

[@stephenguppy7882]

I'll be honest, we had nothing like the northern club circuit in the south, but we used to watch this every time it was on. I loved Colin Crompton! Great memories.😊

[@HarvestHome2000]

Colin Crompton, seconds before a death-defying knife throwing act: "There's still some pies left!" Brilliant!

[@alienxna6511]

Great stuff! Took me back as a kid watching this on a Fri night with all the Family on our black & white TV with hot cocoa & digestives! Wonderful days. Although life was tough at times in the '70's (remember tepid baths by candlelight in '73 during the power-cuts!), it was simpler and people were more of a community than the crap we have to endure today. Having seen and lived various decades I would go back to this time in a heart-beat. Thank you for posting.

[@mufcfan96]

I remember watching this when I was 11yrs old.I’ve not laughed so much in ages, Colin Crompton’s a gem!!..

[@michaelroberts7374]

Colin Crompton is amazing sadly missed

[@justinneill5003]

I never knew Bernard Manning could sing. Pretty good too. Who would’ve thought it?

[@davidbowie2046]

Yeah, he had an album out.

[@ColonelBummleigh]

Aye he could hit the notes richt enough.A very talented man.

[@nicholasmartin297]

I think he played the piano too?

[@Umbrey_Dunctum]

He had a voice that could take pastry of your pork pie!

[@martinkelly6709]

Yeah he was a dance band singer in the 1950s with the Oscar Rabin Big Band.

[@Tokiofritz]

Amazing to think that working-class culture once had its own prime time Saturday night show.

[@Sam_Green____4114]

You do realise it's a comedy don't you ??

[@Tokiofritz]

@@Sam_Green____4114 Yes, comedy and music celebrating working-class culture. Not sure what you're point is.

[@Sam_Green____4114]

@@Tokiofritz Not sure what your point is either fool !

[@Tokiofritz]

@@Sam_Green____4114 You're awful angry, Sam. Have a wee lie down.

[@Sam_Green____4114]

@@Tokiofritz Your original comment is just an amazing example of snobbery and sneering!! l bet you voted Remain didn't you !?

[@anthonywilliams6764]

What a beautiful band, and such great arrangements they played. First class club combo whoever they were. ten out of ten.

[@twerpantine]

agreed

[@suchevski]

Yes we used to watch this of a friday night when I was 7 years old. Enjoyed it very much then and still now. Quality.

[@PomahXomehko]

I know two of the Cossack Brotherhood dance troupe the singer is Roman Kalyta and one of the dancers is Roman Pich originally from Oldham and Huddersfield. I used to rehearse with them in London calling themselves The Black sea Cossacks during the 1980s my brother a accordion player and my self a mandolin player. As with show business it only takes one bad apple through greed of one manager to spoil the whole lot . Roman Kalyta later on founded Mazeppa Cossacks while he was still performing from one agent and litigation followed so Kalyta had to pay compensation to leave contract. His new group lasted over 20 years but a bent solicitor who was a dancer was prosecuted for fraud and stealing money from clients shame about it .

[@purplemoonproductions9269]

wonderful funny acts not like the shite we have now days

[@stevegordon5689]

Most of those blokes in the audience probably fought in the 1 st and 2nd world wars!

[@thebohemian.]

A shame we can’t have programmes like this today. We don’t have the celebrities or talent anymore.

[@boomtish4520]

You’re kidding. Surely.

[@DDandrums]

What nonsense.

[@marvinmuonekejazz]

Bernard Manning had a decent voice! I'm quite surprised!

[@andrewmcintyre8491]

Bernard Manning was so well-behaved on these. I discovered this series at the same time as discovering Bernard Manning comedy.

[@davidgibbs7232]

Loved this show first time round. Fun entertaining TV the likes of which sadly we do not see now. Happier times than the hell we are living in now. Thank you for this. 😊😊

[@DCDPM]

Really? Happier times, the 1970s. Apart from the music my dad told me it was absolutely shite. Take your rose tinted union jack glasses off.

[@Havanacuba1985]

@@DCDPM they were happier times ,you wouldn’t know unless you lived them , we had a lovely life in the 70s until thatcher got voted in in 79

[@meganoikz]

@@DCDPM ​ Comedians who told jokes instead of offering their political views (and didn't need a team to check if any of it was offensive), proper musicians who played instruments and sang, light entertainment acts with talent. Just look at weekend television these days, there are no light entertainment "stars" anymore. I wasn't even alive back then but I can see how far we've fallen.

[@pocketjohnson1820]

I was a kid growing up in the 70s I wouldn't say that it was any better or any worse just different. to us kids the power cuts were quite fun but I doubt my parents saw it that way. my grandfather drove up to Birmingham got bulk candles from an ecclesiastical suppliers we used the last of them in the late 1980s🤣 the biggest thing that affected us was the IRA violence living in London it was bad😕

[@davidgibbs7232]

@@pocketjohnson1820 fair comment but I was happier then than now. We have always had problems but these days just seem evil.

[@adeh503]

Bernard knocking out a tune at the start there 👍

[@flashtheoriginal]

That Cossack Act: Brilliant. My god, they had to be super-fit. Real Pro's

[@johnking5174]

People could never believe this wasn't filmed in a real club - viewers wrote in asking where the show was filmed and were shocked when the reply was Granada Television Studios in Manchester. I think Studio 12 was the one they used. Amazing, as it looks so much like an outside broadcast from a real club.

[@MrGoneTroppo]

Decent set of pipes old Bernard!

[@marktlog]

The guy from Freddy and the Dreamers, it's just nuts

[@donaldpaterson5827]

He’s really good I thought.

[@Umbrey_Dunctum]

He was on an early trial of Care in The Community, which was under the academic auspices of Cambridge University but the funding was effectively through the private sector being a bequest endowed through some shady charitable institute. I think Jon Pilger did a program about it .

[@rockall66]

Freddie Garrity was brilliant! What a great voice he had.

[@mikehudson8884]

Excellent post Julie, I loved this show as a kid in the 70s x

[@brendangeraghty8865]

Thanks so much for sharing this, it's so bad that it's fantastic! My ribs are sore from laughing, my God.

[@DRAINPIPE57]

Great stuff for a Saturday Night

[@connect4glyn]

When comedy was funny , we greatly miss programs like this

[@andymcevoy2080]

Absolute classic remember this as a child

[@DRAINPIPE57]

I'll better watch these quickly as they might get taken off here as mine did

[@TheBrummie60]

The inimitable Colin "Give order!" Crompton: Frank Skinner's dad, perhaps?! 😊

[@purplemoonproductions9269]

I have to say a lot of these acts went onto great stardom xxx

[@markfahey3921]

@@lomate1963 Some were on their way down and trading on a name.

[@adriannorris1486]

Brilliant….Freddie after the dreamers had ended…..fascinating. A genuine variety show.

[@Ology3121]

That was a lot of fun. Thanks for upload.

[@geraldhills41]

Beats the soap operas the are so prevalent today !

[@trevordance5181]

I bet the nearest that the Kosack Brotherhood got to the Ukraine was Uttoxeter!

[@sharky8577]

Think they were from Burnley

[@briandoyle6188]

Sound like scoucers to me when singing 👍..

[@johngibson6758]

Memories of my childhood amazing it was Sunday dinner and bullseye vibe , aunty down the club on a Sunday 🤗

[@colinbrigham8253]

Thank you variety at its best 😊

[@kandylad6862]

Top acts. I watched it as a teenager but only now in my 60s appreciate the shear quality of the acts. No rooms for weak rubbish acts. Sadly we have nothing to compare these days.

[@darryllp9399]

Thanks for uploading. Classic stuff 😀

[@azillliasmith2734]

Bloody hell the cossacks were superb! Wonder if they were from the Ukraine or Barnsley ....

[@ScottReed1]

Barbara Law... my mum!! 💌

[@fattymcfatso1083]

really? what's with the bloke giving her the "wicked" gleam ? 😀

[@keithnaylor1981]

Wonderful stuff from the days when television was entertaining! If you’ve ever tried the Cossack dancing you’ll know it takes amazing strength, agility and stamina to dance like that. They were sensational!

[@alantaylor929]

Breakdancing was invented in Manchester in 1974!

[@marktlog]

I gasped at the knife throwing.

[@oldschoolmotocross5385]

The drunk dad from rita sue & bob too

[@jubileebaby9787]

Willie Ross

[@djpaul146]

Bingo £3 jackpot awesome

[@jayrox40]

Thank you. x

[@davidstooke2608]

Didn't realise what a good singer Bernard was!

[@Katmando376]

Iconic series and us Southerners really thought that Lancashire was like that!

[@DCDPM]

Why are people saying that these shows represented happiness and better times. My father told me it was the shits except for the music. Being piss poor and unemployed should not be looked back on fondly and nor should it be seen as aspirational.

[@fruitcake4t]

well there was always Barbara Law and her nicely toned & tanned body

[@purplemoonproductions9269]

No they were bad times but as we always do in this country we see the happier side and so on as we did in war i.come.from a Welsh mining town and by due things were hard for my family but come weekend a sing song even without beer was a good time I agree yes that rose cloured glasses as we.look.back but it made.us stronger I feel anyway

[@liquidmonkey2000]

Having lived through the 70s as a child I have some fond memories and of course we didn’t know any different. However, I look back on the casual racism and sexism of the times with a degree of incredulity - did we really find these things funny? Then again there was some good stuff back then like punk, Play for Today, and cheap rail fares. Would I want to go back - hell no, and I suspect most of those yearning for a return to these times are forgetting quite how grim much of life was back then.

[@NOTODIVERSITY123]

♥️1970s...

[@eddiebruv]

The days when men with long hair weren’t pretending to be women! 😁

[@dttruman]

Excellent knife throwing act at the 17:59 mark!

[@juleshammond5652]

The past is another country. They do things differently there.

[@streetlegalone]

Impressive Cossack dancing!

[@finanzferdinand9874]

Bernard Manning singing, looking like Elvis in his final days if he had consumed many more burgers

[@paulwestwell7160]

The Ukrainian Cossack brotherhood all the way from Ramsbottom Lancashire.

[@safercyclinguk]

That was incredible to watch

[@jonathanmchugh2582]

Wonderful days when we could just go out and enjoy ourselves!!

[@briandoyle6188]

The Italian (Pontefract) mate with the tray + specs is in Rita, Sue and Bob too... GRT film it's Rita's dad he has a fight with Bob GRT British cinema...

[@OldSonyMan]

I'm surprised that no one's mentioned "Phoenix Nights" yet ! P.S. I only am watching this because I wasn't allowed to 'back in the day' and I had assumed that it was because of the 'Strippers' in the show. (I hope it was worth the wait !)

[@Sam_Green____4114]

He appeared at the La Scala Milan my arse ! The La Scala Skegness more like !!

[@tony-yp6qk]

Is that Willie Ross who was in Rita Bob and Sue

[@anthonymclean9743]

It is mate.

[@sephjnr]

Chicken in a basket for the same price that would only get you a pot of BBQ sauce now.

[@johnross2924]

2024 and the government and authorities no longer want the working class to enjoy life like we once did. RIP united kingdom!! 😩🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇬🇧

[@Gandim45]

Freddie makes me smile

[@jubileebaby9787]

This was actually filmed in a studio at Granada TV In Manchester

[@fattymcfatso1083]

lots of beer for a studio!

[@jubileebaby9787]

Yeah, same as the other Granada studio which housed the Rovers Return Inn.

[@fattymcfatso1083]

@@jubileebaby9787 nice

[@paulcrisp9861]

Also used for Mrs merton where bernard manning appeared so I believe, a lifetime of famous faces no longer with us sadly. Those were the days 🙏❤️🇬🇧❤️🙏 Mar twenty four

[@johnnyboy-f6v]

My family were blue collar working class but this show was considered vulgar in my house.

[@peterfenton2750]

Had a good singing voice did "our bernard"

[@sharonjones873]

Peter Kay nicked this for Phoenix Nights for sure!

[@dixieboy5689]

Ukranian dancers ?? Nice culture. Thoughts and prayers. March 2022.

[@jimoreton]

The Ukrainian Kossak Brotherhood. I wonder if they are still going?

[@tonyj3042]

3 QUID bingo jackpot, you could buy a house near the club now

[@daveramm43]

Was that Bernard Manning singing at the beginning?

[@NOTODIVERSITY123]

great song I wish I knew what it's called ...

[@davidbowie2046]

@@NOTODIVERSITY123 It's called Night and Day by Cole Porter.

[@Umbrey_Dunctum]

This is so Ethel Cain coded.I'd loved to have seen Nicole Dollenhanger do her Ena Sharples impression and Grimes...? I'd like to think of doing a damn good comedy skit with Colin Crompton (Lord of the green ringular dingle clqnger): Grimes would be standing at the front of the stage crying , with her head down , pointing at Colin saying 'that man's whole act is worse than the man who sexually assaulted me in the song Oblivion. And his jokes are worse than the bitter, mebbe he should clean his pipes out! Colin would then take a sup from his foaming pint and roll his clanger on on his prominence, and declaim " Order!Order! There has been an announcement from the Committee, that Wheeltappers will agree to provide funding to support the release of Book2.

[@nelchid]

Hey, old Bernard could sing a bit couldn't he?

[@NOTODIVERSITY123]

Great voice ..I enjoyed his tune👍

[@Sam_Green____4114]

Straight from the Ukraine with a Yorkshire accent !!! How's that done ?

[@williamforsyth-ye4rc]

The two dancers may well have been Cossacks, but the farthest east the singer ever got was Bridlington!

[@ColonelBummleigh]

23:00 Freddy on fire!

[@safercyclinguk]

On the buses would have been on earlier. This is a studio and not a real club of course.

[@loftlegacy]

Eurovision winners 2023

[@apocalyptomillstone6001]

I only put this on hoping to see Noel Gallagher and his high flying birds.

[@Keltibarian]

All I can say is entertainment in the 70s looked horrific if this was the standard.

[@ianbentley7276]

you wouldn't say that if u were around then

[@fattymcfatso1083]

yeah because drake is so much better

[@alantaylor929]

Lamberto Rossinni? More like Lambert & Butler :)

[@nicksvinylbutty5488]

Didn't Lamberto Rossini play in midfield for Inter Milan ??? This is grand old light entertainment 👍👍👍

[@marshmallow0417]

23:00 freddie

[@bradleymilton9372]

COMMITTEE

[@NOTODIVERSITY123]

Ukrainian b boy breakdance moves 1974..

[@paulbowler6262]

.

[@alecmiddleton1842]

:

[@TeriWilde]

. .

[@linmanfu913]

The quality of these acts varies enormously. Colin Crampton(?) is genius. The knife-thrower was impressive. The 'Cossack Brotherhood' were OK. Lambert & Ross were just awful. And Bernard Manning might be able to sing, but watching him paw the women is 🤮

[@fattymcfatso1083]

Barbara Law can belt out a song.

[@boundsgreenboy]

Some seriously cringe worthy stuff here.

[@fattymcfatso1083]

i luv it

[@duckman5642]

@@fattymcfatso1083 me 2👌

[@fattymcfatso1083]

@@duckman5642 hey - nice!

[@ricko3k]

Love Colin Crompton but Bernard Manning.. no thanks.

[@NOTODIVERSITY123]

Bernard manning Mr Manchester 🇬🇧. the English working class hero

[@TheWacoKid1963]

Peter Lambert & Willie Ross, after the duo split, Willie took up acting, his most famous role was the drunk dad in the film, Rita, Sue & Bob Too