Pinwright's Progress

The world's first ever sit-com is reputed to have been a BBC show called Pinwright's Progress. The black and white thirty minute production was screened in November 1946 and lasted for 10 episodes through to May 1947, being shown every other week. The star was James Hayter, pictured twice above, on the left as a younger man and on the right as Mr Percival Tebbs in Are You Being Served? in 1978, his final TV role. There were some similarities between Pinwright's Progress and Are You Being Served? Both were set in shops - Macgillygally's Stores and Grace Brothers. And Pinwright's Progress had a character called Mrs Sigsbee, played by Doris Palmer, who was an early version by all accounts, of Mrs Slocombe.

James Hayter played J Pinwright, the owner of Macgillygally's, and storylines revolved around his feud with a hated rival, and the antics of his staff. He went on to be a familiar TV face for a further three decades, notably as Mr Pickwick in Pickwick Papers, The Forsyte Saga, and The Onedin Line. His sound however, was perhaps even more famous than his face in the late 70's and 80's. He was the original voice of Mr Kipling - that maker of 'exceedingly good cakes'.

No tapes exist of Pinwright's Progress as it was not recorded. I was not around in 1946 (honest I wasn't), but I thought it nice to document the point at which sitcom first started.