The Dustbinmen
Cheese And Egg is the leader of a gang of work-shy refuse
collectors who operate a council dustcart (refuse truck) that they
call 'Thunderbird 3'.
He's in charge of Smellie Ibbotson, Heavy Breathing (so named
because he believes he has a way with women), Eric and Winston (an
ardent Manchester City supporter).
The inspector from the Corporation Cleansing Department - who
they nickname Bloody Delilah - is their sworn enemy (much like
Blakey in On The Buses).
The foul-mouthed, beret wearing Cheese and Egg - so nicknamed
because CE are his initials - is respected by the others for his
brains. Together, the dustbinmen flout every rule, shirk work
whenever possible and discuss (usually disparagingly) local
residents by their address or some other recognisable feature,
hence "Mrs 23 Valetta Street", "Mrs 14b Kimberley
Terrace", "Mrs 24 The Alley" or "Mrs
Manchester United".
The series was certainly earthy, provoking the ire of the
clean-up TV campaigners and, inevitably, proving extremely popular
with viewers at home. It was so well liked in fact, that every
episode in the first series of six went straight to the top of the
ratings - the first time this had happened - although the fact
that there had been a refuse-collecting strike in Britain the same
year was a help: clearly the topic was on everyone's mind.
The series originated from a 90 minute Playhouse
production titled There's A Hole In Your Dustbin, Delilah.
Writer Jack Rosenthal drew his characters from real-life refuse
collectors he had met while out and about conducting research, and
he set his play in the Lancashire coastal town of Fylde, near
Blackpool.
Rosenthal began to withdraw from The Dustbinmen part-way
through its short life. Having written and produced the initial
series he dropped first the production role and then the writing
so that, by the final series, he no longer had any involvement in
his creation, preferring instead to work on his next sitcom, The
Lovers (which starred Paula Wilcox, who made two appearances
in The Dustbinmen as Naomi, Winston's girlfriend). Julie
Goodyear (of Coronation Street fame) also appeared in a
pair of episodes.
|
