No 73, later re-titled 7T3, was a British 1980s children's TV show produced by Television South

Television South

Television South was the ITV franchise holder in the south and south east of England between 1 January 1982 and 31 December 1992. The company operated under various names, initially as Television South plc and then following reorganisation in 1989 as TVS Entertainment plc, with its UK...

 (TVS) for the ITV

ITV

ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 network. It was broadcast live on Saturday mornings and ran from 1982 to 1988. The show starred, amongst others, Sandi Toksvig

Sandi Toksvig

Sandra Brigitte “Sandi” Toksvig is a Danish comedian, author and presenter on British radio and television.-Career:...

, Neil Buchanan

Neil Buchanan

Neil Buchanan is an English television presenter best known for his work on the CITV programme Art Attack, a television programme that he presented during its run from 1990 to 2007...

, Andrea Arnold

Andrea Arnold

Andrea Arnold OBE is a filmmaker and former actress from England, who made her feature film directorial debut in 2006 with Red Road.-Early TV work:...

 and Richard Waites

Richard Waites (actor)

Richard Waites is a British actor who is most famous for appearing as Cuthbert Lilly in all 131 episodes of the popular CITV show ZZZap!.-Career:...

.

When Television South won the contract to provide ITV coverage for the South of England in 1980, the first thing they set up was a children's department. A team put together with a background in theatre and drama, soon decided to produce a Saturday morning show that differed from the usual Tiswas

Tiswas

Tiswas was a Saturday morning children's British television series which ran from 5 January 1974 to 3 April 1982 and was produced for the ITV network by ATV Network Limited....

 and Saturday Superstore

Saturday Superstore

Saturday Superstore was a children's television series, broadcast on BBC1 from 1982 until 1987. It was shown on Saturday mornings with presenters including Mike Read, Sarah Greene, Keith Chegwin and John Craven. The show was very similar to its predecessor Multi-Coloured Swap Shop.A regular spot on...

 formula: This show would feature actors in character as hosts, performing their own comedic storyline around the usual guests, music videos, competitions and cartoons. Much of the show was improvised, and a whole week of rehearsals plus an extensive dress rehearsal on Friday preceded each live broadcast on Saturday morning.

First series: January-February 1982

No 73 opened its door to the public for the very first time on 2 January 1982 at 10.30 am, but only as a regional programme in the South and South East of England (much of the ITV network continued to carry Tiswas). Ethel Davis (Sandi Toksvig), an eccentric old lady who progressively got younger as the show went on, owned the place. Harry Stern (Nick Staverson) was introduced as her bumbling nephew. Dawn Lodge (Andrea Arnold), the roller boot wearing female lodger quickly became the go-to person for the animal spot with international vet David Taylor. Most eccentric of all, Patrick Doyle

Patrick Doyle

Patrick Doyle is a Scottish musician and film score composer. A longtime collaborator of actor/director Kenneth Branagh, Doyle is known for his work scoring such critically acclaimed films as Henry V , Sense and Sensibility , Hamlet , and Gosford Park , as well as noteworthy blockbusters as Harry...

 appeared as Percy Simmonds, inventor and love interest to Ethel. Each episode ended with Ethel hosting the (daring, dazzling, death-defyingly dull, devastatingly dangerous, delectable, delicatestible, divinely decadent) Sandwich Quiz, a madcap general knowledge game pitting two of that week's guests against each other.

Second series: Summer 1982

The show returned in the summer of that same year, still being broadcast from Southampton studios and only shown to TVS viewers. Neil Buchanan had unofficially joined the cast as the resident caricaturist and another major castmember, Kim Goody

Kim Goody

Kim Goody , is an English actress, composer, singer and song writer.She has starred in television shows such as Play Away and No. 73. She wrote the music for The Magic House and the 1994 revival of Rainbow with her husband Alan Coates...

, first appeared this season performing at the TVS theatre in Gillingham, where Percy held a job as handyman. Neighbours Martin and Hazel Edwards (Richard Addison and Jeannie Crowther) from No 75 also started to figure into the storyline, usually with Martin being at odds with Ethel.

Third series: April-August 1983

Now broadcast across all the ITV regions, the production moved to TVS's new Maidstone studios, changing postcodes (though the house remained the same) and Percy was now supposed to be his own Scottish cousin Alec, enabling Patrick Doyle to speak with his own accent. This did not stop him from leaving at the end of this series. The combination of crazy sit-com (with soap opera overtones), music, dance and all around creativity was finally being seen all across Great Britain. In this series, Sandi and the resident inventor, Tony English, created the Hover Cupboard and later tested it out at sea travelling from Southampton to Cowes on the Isle of Wight.

Fourth series: Summer 1984

New regular visitors (i.e. cast members) included Fred the Postman (Tony Aitken

Tony Aitken

Tony Aitken is an English actor, known for playing small parts in popular television programmes....

) - who had a thing for Ethel for a while, Tony Deal (Nick Wilton

Nick Wilton

Nick Wilton is an English actor and scriptwriter. His best known roles are playing Mr Lister in the BBC soap opera EastEnders a recurring character, making his first appearance on the 3 January 2008. He also appeared in Carrott's Lib, Fast Forward and Jackanory.-Early and personal life:Wilton was...

) - the local confidence trickster always trying to sell Ethel everything and anything, and Eazi Target (Tony Hippolyte) - Ethel's friend from her days at the paper. With Colin Daly holding his Supersleuth competition over several episodes dressed like Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...

, there was certainly no shortage of silly looking characters around. Meanwhile Dawn had her rollerboots spraypainted by Paul King

Paul King (musician, MJ)

Paul King is an Irish singer, musician, VJ, and TV presenter.-Biography:Paul King was born in Galway, Ireland, but moved to Coventry, England with his parents at a young age....

 (as per King

King (band)

King were a British New Wave pop band of the mid 1980s, from Coventry. Their name comes from the surname of lead singer Paul King. The band recorded two albums for CBS Records ; both were produced by Richard James Burgess and certified gold.-Overview:The band was formed from the remnants of...

's music video "Love and pride").

Fifth series: February-July 1985

Ethel started running a Bed and Breakfast in this series and held the memorable matchbox competition to see who could cram the most objects into one tiny matchbox (the winner somehow managed to fit in 73 items). While Fred and Eazi left the series after failing to start a radiostation in the backyard shed (aptly named "Radio Shed"), Ethel fell in love with her most unlikely suitor yet, bank manager Frederick Crossfield (Michael Maynard). The courtship lasted two episodes, with the series finale leading up to the wedding and a cliffhanger.
All the cast members (save Maynard) got the chance to act out countless different characters in three different pun-laden serials, produced by "Front Door productions"

Sixth series: January-April 1986

It turned out the wedding was cancelled by mutual agreement at the very last moment. As the show grew more and more popular, it became increasingly difficult for other Saturday morning shows to compete. With the failure of a show called "TX", No 73 returned a month earlier than planned. There was no new 'Front Door Production', instead Neil and Kim held a treasure hunt across three counties to win the spare 'box room'. Kim won, but ended up sharing the room with Dawn, while Neil bunked up with Harry. By the end of the series the two rivals had fallen in love. Tony Deal appeared in two memorable episodes, first on the run from the police and then trying to lure the guest to No 75 with Martin Edwards, but disappeared by the end of the series.

Seventh series: September 1986 - April 1987

The show was rescheduled to the winter season, with the location bound Saturday morning show Get Fresh

Get Fresh

Get Fresh was a children's television programme that ran from 1986 to 1988 in the United Kingdom.-Premise:Broadcast on the Children's ITV network, the show starred Gareth Jones , Charlotte Hindle, and a puppet named Gilbert the Alien...

 taking over summer duties. It was revealed in passing that Ethel had emigrated to Australia to live with her cousin, leaving Harry, Dawn, Neil and Kim collectively in charge. The Sandwich Quiz was replaced by the 'Duster Muster', the winner of which got to clean the house on Saturday afternoon. There was also a new serial, spoofing The A-Team

The A-Team

The A-Team is an American action adventure television series about a fictional group of ex-United States Army Special Forces personnel who work as soldiers of fortune, while on the run from the Army after being branded as war criminals for a "crime they didn't commit". The A-Team was created by...

, called 'The Z-Team'. Former member of Copycats

Copycats

Copycats is a gameshow on CBBC presented by Sam Nixon and Mark Rhodes, which first aired on 23 November 2009. It involves two family teams, each of six contestants, battling against each other in a series of games. Each episode consists of a number of rounds. Three of the rounds are based on...

 Andrew O'Connor

Andrew O'Connor

Andrew O'Connor is a British actor, comedian, magician, television presenter and executive producer.-Television career:...

 moved in, while Scottish housekeeper Maisie McConochie (Kate Copstick

Kate Copstick

Kate Copstick is a Glasgow-born Scottish actress, television presenter, writer, critic, director and producer.-Career:She is best known for her roles on the children's TV shows No. 73 and ChuckleVision. She also played Marlene Marlowe in Marlene Marlowe Investigates and performed as part of the...

) became the new resident klutz. Martin introduced his nephew Geoffrey (Nicolas Barnes), but none of these three stuck around for the next series. At the end of November the gang started introducing a line-up of children's programmes on Sunday morning, which developed into "Sunday at 73" by January. This was a shorter, less elaborate version of the show, with fewer guests and more breaks for cartoon. The new and evil landlord, J.C. Birch (Bill Steward) started threatening to demolish not only No 73, but the entire neighbourhood and replace them with luxury flats. Indeed the house started to crumble down around its inhabitants. The series finale had the bathroom crashing down into the lounge and Martin Edwards losing his mind. He and Hazel left the series at this point.

On 7 March 1987, the day after the sinking of the Herald of Free Enterprise, when breaking off for a news report on the disaster, a humorous caption read "sea you later", unwittingly giving the impression of callousness.

Eighth series: September 1987 - March 1988 (as 7T3 from Jan '88)

More new characters seemed to join the household each week, including Julian Callaghan, American Nadia de Lemeny and Rob 'the builder' Debenham. The eccentric Hamilton Dent (Richard Waites

Richard Waites

Richard C. Waites, J.D., Ph.D., , a noted board certified trial attorney and social psychologist, is an internationally recognized expert in jury and courtroom decision maker research, a field he helped to develop and that he continues to advance...

) moved into No 75. Harry premiered his latest and last film epic, "From Flusher with love". J.C. Birch finally saw fit to tear down the entire street and build a Wild West theme park

Amusement park

thumb|Cinderella Castle in [[Magic Kingdom]], [[Disney World]]Amusement and theme parks are terms for a group of entertainment attractions and rides and other events in a location for the enjoyment of large numbers of people...

 in January, and from then on the show was called "7T3". This development saw the entire cast move into a Western saloon, with the numbers 7 and 3 painted on each saloon door, and a brass fixtures forming the shape of a 'T' when closed, hence the new title, and had them run around a mock Western

American Old West

The American Old West, or the Wild West, comprises the history, geography, people, lore, and cultural expression of life in the Western United States, most often referring to the latter half of the 19th century, between the American Civil War and the end of the century...

 town (in winter) with the same musical guests and dancers. It only lasted until March 1988. The next September saw the premiere of a more traditional Saturday morning show called Motormouth

Motormouth

Motormouth was a Saturday morning children's television series that was produced by Television South and aired across the ITV network for four series, running between 3 September 1988 and 4 April 1992...

; presenters included Tony Gregory, Neil Buchanan, Gaby Roslin and Caroline Hanson as well as using part of the 7T3 set.

Front Door Productions

Front Door Productions was a fictional production company located in Maidstone, Kent and founded by Ethel Davis (Sandi Toksvig) in January 1985 to produce serials in five to six parts starring herself and all the regulars from the Saturday morning children's variety programme "No 73". Local shop keeper Mr Pattels gave the residents of No 73 a special offer on developing their super 8 home movies, and even went to the trouble of editing the scenes together. Ethel and the rest made all the costumes, built all the sets and played every part.

In reality of course, TVS Television provided the sets and costumes, while Sandi Toksvig and Nick Symons wrote the pun-invested scripts. The regulars did play every part though. There were five major Front Door Productions, all of which can only be described as 'spoofs'. Broadcast as part of No 73's Saturday morning line-up, the 1985 season featured three in a row, while the two following years only had one each.

"Roman Around"

This first production starred Ethel (Sandi Toksvig), Harry (Nick Staverson), Dawn (Andrea Arnold) and Neil (Neil Buchanan) in an epic set in ancient Rome (but filmed in Hever Castle, Kent). Between the four of them they played up to 34 different parts. Clearly the aim was to create a less smutty version of the classic Carry On movies.

"How many for dinner?"

Having missed out of the first production, four other prominent members of the revolving No 73 cast got a 1920's murder mystery of their own, inspired by, if not exactly written by Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie

Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...

. Kim (Kim Goody), Martin (Richard Addison), Hazel (Jeannie Crowther) and Fred (Tony Aitken) divided all speaking parts between them, though they started off with considerably fewer characters than the Roman production, and the cast-list predictably grew slimmer by the episode.

"The Three Musketeers"

(1 June 1985 – 29 June 1985) An extremely loose adaptation of the Alexandre Dumas novel, Ethel, Tony Deal (Nick Wilton) and Eazi (Tony Hippolyte) starred as the titular musketeers, Athos, Bathos and Pathos as well as every other character (though some of the horses were not portrayed by them).
This five-parter was shown over the last five episodes of the fifth series, and with three serials to one series, every cast member had gotten a change to show his or her versatility (and almost all of them had to play different genders at one point or another).

"The Z-Team"

(20 September 1986 – 25 October 1986) Convicted as toddlers of a crime they did not commit, Corporal Tom "Cannibal" Stiff (Neil), Dimpleton 'Skates' Wreck (Dawn), Marginally Mental Murky (Kim) and Mr. P as B.A. Brat (Harry) are still on the run from the Parks Department. Police 5s Shaw Taylor

Shaw Taylor

Shaw Taylor MBE is a British actor and television presenter.He served in the RAF and trained at RADA. He then acted on stage in the West End and on tour. He was an announcer for ATV when the normal announcer was not available...

appeared in the first and last chapter as kidnap victim of the evil Pirates (also played by Neil, Dawn, Kim and Harry). Both teams were hunted (for different reasons) by Agent Perkus (Martin) and social worker Mrs Goose (Hazel). In the finale it was revealed that Perkus and Goose were actually the parents of both the Z-Team and the Pirates.

"From Flusher with love"

(3 October 1987 – 7 November 1987) Written and directed by Harry and starring Dawn as a female spy called Janice Bond (agent 0073). This Bond took her orders from 'Erm' as opposed to 'M', who had a male secretary called Spendapenny. Gadgets were provided by 'Cue'. A love interest was provided in the form of American counterpart Aaron Dreck. Harry himself appeared as Tony Toogood.

External links

• No. 73 https://sites.google.com/site/no73thetributefilms/