Moody In...

Moody In...

1961 United Kingdom

Born on 8th January 1924 in Tottenham, North London (as Ronald Moodnick), Ron Moody is perhaps best known to generations of filmgoers as the villainous yet lovable rogue Fagin in Lionel Bart's Academy Award winning Oliver! 

On stage from 1952, he specialised in revue and first played Fagin in the original stage version in 1960. The following year the BBC offered Moody his own musical sitcom series in which he appeared with a small company of players; actors, singers and dancers. The series ran for six weeks and each was a self contained programme that featured a different setting - those settings being Moody In...Storeland, Tin Pan Alley (pictured), Clock Factory Land, Theatreland, Musketeerland and Teleland

It was the only British sitcom that Moody appeared in and he only appeared in one other, the 1980 US sitcom Nobody's Perfect (retitled Hart of the Yard in the UK). The US title was more apt, though. The series was simply awful. Unfortunate indeed as a performer of Ron Moody's talent deserved far better.

Share on...

Published on January 8th, 2019. Written by Laurence Marcus for Television Heaven.

Read Next...

Beyond A Joke tv series

Also tagged Sketch Comedy

Short lived sketch comedy starring Eleanor Bron and John Bird

The Avengers TV Series

Also released in 1961

Few television series have transcended their original concept and evolved to actually help shape and define the era in which they flourished. But then of course, there’s precious few series quite like The Avengers.

Behind the Fridge

Also tagged Sketch Comedy

A one-off special featuring a series of sketches portraying the eccentricities of the British courtesy of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.

French and Saunders

Also tagged Sketch Comedy

The comedy sketch show French and Saunders, written by and starring the iconic comedy duo, first aired in 1987 and ran for a whopping 30 years.

Dr. Kildare

Also released in 1961

At Blair General Hospital a young intern has to learn to deal with his surgeon mentor.

Alas Smith and Jones

Also tagged Sketch Comedy

British sketch comedy show that followed hot on the heels of Not The Nine O'Clock News which also featured the programme's stars, Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones.

A for Andromeda

Also released in 1961

Now recognised as a classic science fiction series, A for Andromeda was developed for television by writer and BBC producer John Elliot from an original storyline by Cambridge astronomer and novelist Fred Hoyle.

The Arthur Haynes Show

Also tagged Sketch Comedy

Britain's foremost sketch-show comedian of the early 1960s in his own series.

Comedy Playhouse

Also released in 1961

Series of unrelated one-off comedies used to showcase the talents of both writers old and new to television -as well as established and up-and-coming sitcom stars, Comedy Playhouse produced some of the best loved sitcoms on British television.