Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays

1954 United Kingdom

Comedy serial written by Peter Ling (co-creator of Compact and Crossroads) made by the BBC Children's Television department and broadcast throughout the school holidays of 1954. 

Happy Holidays

In it, real life husband and wife John Le Mesurier and Hattie Jacques play Mr and Mrs Mulberry - a childless couple, who, for the summer, look after four children whose own parents are in Ceylon. When the Mulberry's London flat proves to be too small to accommodate all of them they take off for the seaside where the action takes place at the end of a disused pier. Clive Dunn also appeared in the series as the suitably named Mr Grimble. The studio scenes were filmed at the BBC's Lime Grove studios and the exterior seaside scenes were shot on location at Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex. The six episodes were shown fortnightly on Saturday afternoons between July and September. 

Happy Holidays

Share on...

Published on December 20th, 2018. Written by Laurence Marcus for Television Heaven.

Read Next...

Dad's Army

Also starring John Le Mesurier

"If the quality of the writing was a major factor in Dad's Army's resounding success, then that quality was more than matched by a cast which not so much interpreted the writing, as physically embodied it."

Sherlock Holmes 1951 tv series

Also starring John Le Mesurier

The first British television series featuring Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's iconic master-detective was written by a celebrated film and television critic

Hattie Jacques
Biographies

Also starring Hattie Jacques

Although she presented an imposing figure on screen Hattie Jacques managed to play a diverse range of roles when she may so easily have become typecast. Eric Sykes summed her up perfectly when he said, "She was one of the best comedy actresses we have ever had and a very lovely lady."

Flight of the Heron

Also tagged Childrens Drama

Epic period drama made by Scottish Television and based on D.K. Broster's 1925 novel centred round fictional events at the time of the non-fictional Jacobite Rebellion of 1746 and leading up to the battle of Culloden.

The Wrong Arm of the Law
TVH Plus

Also starring John Le Mesurier

Crooks, coppers, and chaos collide as rival gangs team up to stop police impersonators, with Peter Sellers and Lionel Jeffries gleefully trying to outdo each other in a fast-moving, distinctly British comic caper

Clive Dunn in My Old Man

Also starring Clive Dunn

"40 years you live in a house then suddenly someone decides its a slum. So down it comes and out you goes. Daft beggars!"

Box of Delights

Also tagged Childrens Drama

John Masefield's enchanting children's fantasy The Box of Delights, tells the story of a young boy whose chance meeting with a Punch-and-Judy man leads him to a world where almost anything is possible.

The Bloodhound Gang

Also tagged Childrens Drama

A group of young detectives solving cases using scientific methods.