Queenie's Castle

Queenie's Castle
Main cast
Genre Sitcom
Written by Keith Waterhouse
Willis Hall
Starring Diana Dors
Freddie Fletcher
Brian Marshall
Barrie Rutter
Tony Caunter
Lynne Perrie
Bryan Mosley
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original language(s) English
No. of series 3
No. of episodes 18
Production
Producer(s) Yorkshire Television
Release
Original network ITV
Original release 5 November 1970 – 5 September 1972

Queenie's Castle is a British sitcom set in early 1970s Leeds, West Yorkshire. The series was made for the ITV by Yorkshire Television and aired from 1970 to 1972. The series starred popular British actress Diana Dors.

Plot

Starring Diana Dors as the eponymous Queenie Shepherd, the series revolved around the lives and, often illegal, activities of the residents of a tower block in early 1970s Leeds, West Yorkshire. Queenie's husband Lionel never appears, leaving the neighbours and viewers alike to assume he is in prison.[1] Various excuses are made, such as "He's working on the motorway in Carlisle", but this changed throughout the series.

The family's archenemy, Mrs Petty, lives on a ground floor flat and runs a cake shop in a row of shops at the bottom of the flats. Mrs Petty's main friend is Mrs Blakely who also dislikes the Shepherds. Although Mrs Petty is seen to live in a ground floor flat—and this is made perfectly obvious throughout the series—on more than one occasion she claims to live next door to the Shepherds, who quite clearly live several floors up.

Production

The Quarry Hill flats were the setting for Queenie's Castle

Produced by Yorkshire Television, the scripts were written by Keith Waterhouse (author of Billy Liar) and Willis Hall.[2] The remaining four episodes of series one were recorded in black and white due to the ITV colour strike.

Although the location was unspecified on screen, parts of the series were filmed in Quarry Hill, Leeds. The council flats, where it was filmed have since been demolished.[1] They were notable as the first council flats of their kind, built in art deco style in the 1930s.

Cast

Episodes

Series 1

  • We Humbly Beseech (5 November 1970)
  • The Great Debate (12 November 1970)
  • They Also Served (19 November 1970)
  • Just Good Friends (26 November 1970)
  • Trial By Fury (3 December 1970)
  • Unaccustomed As I Am (10 December 1970)

Series 2

  • Sweetness And Light (3 June 1971)
  • The Ladykillers (10 June 1971)
  • The Breadwinner (17 June 1971)
  • Industrial Relations (24 June 1971)
  • On The Wagon (1 July 1971)
  • Castles In The Air (8 July 1971)

Series 3

  • The Prowler (1 August 1972)
  • New Broom (8 August 1972)
  • The One That Got Away (15 August 1972)
  • England Expects (22 August 1972)
  • Mr Faintheart (29 August 1972)
  • The Patter Of Tiny Feet (5 September 1972)

DVD releases

All three series of Queenie's Castle were released (separately) by Simply Media in May 2009. Network DVD has released a three-disc box set of the complete series in August 2009.

DVDYear(s)Release date
The Complete Series 1197018 May 2009
The Complete Series 2197118 May 2009
The Complete Series 3197218 May 2009
The Complete Series 1 to 3 Box Set1970-
1972		10 Aug 2009

References

  1. 1 2 Michael Brooke. "BFI screenonline: Queenie's Castle (1970-72)". Retrieved 2009-07-07.
  2. ↑ Wroe, Nicholas (14 April 2001). "The Guardian profile: Keith Waterhouse". The Guardian. Retrieved 2009-07-07.


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