On The Buses

[Arthur Pringle]

Some Bob Grant smudges from mirrorpix & other places-

"Bob Grant, Wedding Day, 1st October 1971.
Bob Grant, actor weds Kim Benwell, a bunny girl, at Caxton Hall, London."

Stephen Lewis was best man, looks like he came dressed as a chimney sweep.

Bob Grant & Stephen Lewis wrote & starred in the 1970 BBC Comedy Playhouse 'The Jugg Brothers'- "Two brothers work as caretakers in a block of flats in London. They pass their time by competing for the perks of the job". Also starred Fanny Carby & Queenie Watts.

Bob Grant co-wrote this stage farce with Anthony Marriott ( co writer of 'No Sex Please We're British' & with Roger Marshall co creator of 'Public Eye' ), his wife Kim is wearing the t shirt.

"It's all smiles from the cast of "Darling Mr London" which has its world premier at Billingham Forum next week. And to give the play a publicity boost, Kim Grant, wife of one of the farce's writers, has the title displayed on a T-Shirt. Pictured with Kim are members of the cast. They are (back row, left to right) Janet Edis, Leena Skoog, Derek Newark and Bob Grant. In the front are Rose Hill, Valerie Leon, Doreen Keogh and David Jason. 6th March 1975.

Bob played 'Uncle Ernie' ( played by Keith Moon in the film version ) in the 1979 stage version of 'Tommy'. It played for 118 performances at the Queens Theatre London. Also in smudge with Pete Townshend, Allan Love who played Tommy, Anna Nicholas as the Acid Queen & Peter Straker as narrator.

As Ben Gunn in 'Treasure Island' pantomime at Birmingham Repertory Theatre 1984. This version had music by Denis King who composed the score to 'Sweeney!'

From the On The Buses fanclub site-

"Bob Grant appeared in the 1970s (as Jack Harper) in Finnish TV commercials of "Lontoon rakeet" (London drops), Finnish still-popular licorice candy. His catchphrase (in Finnish) "Niin lontoonraetta" (Sooo London drops) has been associated with the product since then. London drops are a type of liquorice candy sold in Finland first by Chymos, later by Fazer. "Lontoon rakeet" in Finnish. London drops are oblong-shaped sweets about 2 cm long and 5 mm thick. They consist of a soft liquorice-flavoured core inside a hard, sugary aniseed-flavoured coating. They are coloured in pastel colours, coming in white, pale purple and pale yellow."

I looked on youtube & remarkably there is a tv ad for this Finnish sweet featuring Bob Grant-

[Deleted]

They look like brother and sister lol

GC

[Palmer]

That advert is amazing...!! Makes me yearn for some liquorice...!

I think Bob Grant would have made a great Sweeney villain at some point in the 4 series run...  It would have been great to seeing him playing 'against type' as it were!  I can imagine him as a villainous Paul Raymond type chap.

[Del Boy]

I like the snaps of the cast of Mr London and what a good line up that is.  Great snap of Bob and the Tommy stage show cast too. 

I'm off to book a chimney sweep and buy some liquorice  

Thanks for posting, Art.

[Arthur Pringle]

I looked up those sweets, apparently salty liquorice is very popular in Finland.

[D.C. Burtonshaw]

Cheers Art for those, some great shots of a look back at Bob's other work, quite interesting, as I'd not heard of those productions.

[The Saint]

A behind the scenes look at a new documentary featuring some unseen 2002 filmed interviews with Reg Varney, Stephen Lewis, Anna Karen and the writers Ronald Woolf & Ronald Chesney.

The Saint

[Arthur Pringle]

Thanks Saint. Interesting to see these clips, the OTB cast & writers haven't had the sort of coverage other sitcoms have had.

Looking at Ronald Wolfe's imdb page I notice that Warren Mitchell was his cousin.

[Charles Bronson]

I've just finished watching this short video in which some of the On The Buses cast and crew talk about Stephen Lewis. I very much enjoyed it, and found it slightly moving when Stephen revisits the Blakey character and starts acting the part once more.

[Arthur Pringle]

Interesting to hear Stephen Lewis talk at length. Blake is quite a hardnose in the first series compared to the character he became. Ronald Chesney sounds like a comic character himself with that curious voice of his. I thought he slighted Stephen by saying 'I don't think he could do much else' but play a variation on Blake, an actor can only play the roles he's offered.