Citizen James

Citizen James
Genre	Comedy
Starring	Sid James Sydney Tafler Alec Bregonzi Bill Kerr
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	3
No. of episodes	32 (21 missing)
Original release
Network	BBC TV
Release	24 November 1960 (1960-11-24) – 23 November 1962 (1962-11-23)

Citizen James is a BBC sitcom that ran for three series between 24 November 1960 and 23 November 1962. The show featured comedian and actor Sid James and Sydney Tafler with Bill Kerr and Liz Fraser appearing in early episodes. It was initially written by the comedy writing team of Galton and Simpson, who based the characters very much on the "Sidney Balmoral James" and "Bill Kerr, the dim-witted Australian" roles that they had played in Hancock's Half Hour.

The first series was set around 'Charlie's Nosh Bar', a cafe in Soho, and centred on Sid's get-rich-quick schemes. He is helped by "Billy the Kerr" and quite often frustrated by the local bookmaker Albert Welshman (Tafler). Liz Fraser played Sid's long-suffering girlfriend who has been waiting for seven years for Sid to set the date.

Changes were made to the format after the first series. Sid James' character was changed to be something of a people's champion, campaigning for social justice. Bill Kerr and Liz Fraser departed and Sidney Tafler played a different character: Charlie Davenport. The location switched from Soho to Sid and Charlie sharing a house.

Later episodes were written by then Morecambe and Wise writers Sid Green and Dick Hills.

Despite not being written by Galton and Simpson, the sets and familiar supporting cast gave these last two series a recognisable Hancock feeling to the proceedings.

Episodes

Like many BBC series of this time, episodes were not necessarily retained (see Wiping). Only eleven episodes from the three series are known to still exist.

Episodes

Episode	Broadcast	Title	Synopsis
Series 1
1		The Race	Out of money, Sid hits on an idea to fix a "waiter's race" by use of a ringer.
2		The Elixir	Sid and Bill try their hand in the snake-oil business, selling "Dr." Sidney James's Magical Elixir.
3		The Money	Liz entrusts £300 to Sid to take to the Bank, but Sid and Bill soon find themselves parted from the money by Albert.
4		The Rivals	Albert has a wager with Sid that he can get a date with Sid's fiancée. And at 10-1, Sid can't resist the odds.
5		The Raffle	Sid and Bill have to organise a raffle to replace the 'Nosh Bar' Christmas money which went on Sid's gambling debts.
6		The Brand Image	Sid and Bill try their hand at selling cigarettes but need an actor to help launch their new brand.
Series 2
2		Crusty Bread	Sid and Charlie set out to find why the old style crusty bread loaves have disappeared. Why aren't they baked any more if people still want them?
11		Teenagers	Sid and Charlie go rushing across the country to stop a young couple on their way to Gretna Green.
Series 3
1	31 August 1962	The Hospital (missing)
2	7 September 1962	The Play's The Thing (missing)
3	14 September 1962	The Tennis Ball (missing)
4	21 September 1962	It's Not Cricket (missing)
5	28 September 1962	The Reporter (missing)
6	5 October 1962	The Day Out
7	12 October 1962	The Transistor (missing)
8	19 October 1962	The Old People's Outing (missing)
9	26 October 1962	A Perfect Friendship? (missing)
10	2 November 1962	The Watchdog	Finding a burglar in their house the boys take security for the street into their own hands.
11	9 November 1962	The Librarian (missing)
12	16 November 1962	The Tube Station (missing)
13	23 November 1962	The Jury	The boys are on jury duty, Sid is hoping for major case.

DVD

The then-surviving episodes, comprising the complete Series One, and two episodes each from Series Two and Series Three, were released as a collection by Acorn Media UK in February 2012. A further episode, the sixth episode of series three, was subsequently found in a store room of Monaco Television, by Philip Morris.

External links

• Citizen James at BBC Online
• Citizen James at the BBC Online Comedy Guide
• Citizen James at British Comedy Guide
• Citizen James at IMDb
• Citizen James at British TV Resources