Slinger's Day
Slinger's Day is a British sitcom that aired for two seasons from 1986 to 1987, made by Thames Television for the ITV network. It was a continuation of Tripper's Day, which had originally come to a natural end after Leonard Rossiter's death, and, despite the overwhelmingly negative response it had drawn from reviewers and a section of the viewing public, was revived this time with Bruce Forsyth as a different character to Rossiter but fulfilling the same role, that of the manager of a London supermarket with largely incompetent staff.
| Slinger's Day | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Created by | Brian Cooke |
| Starring |
|
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 12 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Mark Stuart |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | Thames Television ITV |
| Original release | 3 September 1986 – 14 October 1987 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Tripper's Day |
| Related shows | Check It Out! Full Frys |
Like Tripper's Day, it was created by Brian Cooke, however, in contrast to the previous series, Cooke only wrote two episodes of the twelve episodes, more than half of them being written by Vince Powell with others being written by Alex Shearer and Sorry! creators Ian Davidson and Peter Vincent, and one episode written by the prolific Andrew Marshall and David Renwick.
Slinger's Day represented Forsyth's only ever situation comedy acting role, and he remained more associated with stand-up routines and gameshows.
Plot
Cecil Slinger (played by Forsyth) is designated by the Supafare supermarket chain as the new manager in the branch that had previously been run by Norman Tripper. Like his predecessor, Slinger is forced to manage a supermarket branch that employs possibly the worst supermarket staff in the world: Mr. Christian (played by Clarkson), the cheerful but naïve assistant manager; Fred (played by Kelly), a lazy, alcoholic and inept security guard; Hardie (played by Bird), the union shop steward; as well as Higgins, Hardie's assistant of sorts (played by Paul), secretary Sylvia (played by Crowther) and the pop tart-like checkout cashier Dottie (played by Licorish).
Fred replaced Alf (played in Tripper's by Gordon Gostelow), and in the second series Sylvia was replaced by Miss Foster (played by Church) and Dottie was replaced by Shirley (played by de Paza).
Episodes
Series 1 (1986)
| No. overal | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "New Management" | Mark Stuart | Brian Cooke | 3 September 1986 | |
| Cecil Slinger takes over a struggling Supafare branch. | ||||||
| 2 | 2 | "Going Bananas" | Mark Stuart | Brian Cooke | 10 September 1986 | |
| 3 | 3 | "Butter Wouldn't Melt" | Mark Stuart | Vince Powell | 17 September 1986 | |
| 4 | 4 | "A Right Royal Mix-Up" | Mark Stuart | Vince Powell | 24 September 1986 | |
| 5 | 5 | "Black Letter Day" | Mark Stuart | Vince Powell | 1 October 1986 | |
| While trying to get himself a promotion, Slinger inadvertently sends a nasty letter to the area manager. | ||||||
| 6 | 6 | "The Nightshift" | Mark Stuart | Alex Shearer | 8 October 1986 | |
Series 2 (1987)
| No. overal | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 1 | "Lost and Found" | Mark Stuart | Vince Powell | 9 September 1987 | |
| 8 | 2 | "Whose Baby?" | Mark Stuart | Vince Powell | 16 September 1987 | |
| 9 | 3 | "Taken for a Ride" | Mark Stuart | Ian Davidson and Peter Vincent | 23 September 1987 | |
| 10 | 4 | "Initiative" | Mark Stuart | Andrew Marshall and David Renwick | 30 September 1987 | |
| The store must move five hundred units of fishcakes before they go bad. | ||||||
| 11 | 5 | "The Stocktake" | Mark Stuart | Alex Shearer | 7 October 1987 | |
| 12 | 6 | "A Pane in the Neck" | Mark Stuart | Vince Powell | 14 October 1987 | |
Home release
The complete series of Slinger's Day was released on 23 April 2012.
See also
- Check It Out! (Canadian-produced series following the Tripper's/Slinger's format with Don Adams)
References
- Mark Lewisohn, BBC Online Comedy Guide/Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy
- British TV Online Resources