Vacant Lot

Alfie Bass and Bill Fraser first performed together in Granada Television’s hit series The Army Game in 1959. Bass had appeared from the first series in 1957 as Private Montague ‘Excused Boots’ Bisley, and when Fraser joined the cast as Sergeant Claude Snudge — replacing the departing William Hartnell’s bellowing Sergeant Major Bullimore — a memorable comedy pairing emerged. Before The Army Game was demobbed, Bass and Fraser were spun off into Bootsie and Snudge, which ran from 1960 to 1963. They were reunited once more in 1964 for the short‑lived Foreign Affairs, again playing the same characters. By the end of that run it appeared that Bootsie and Snudge had run their course, and the two actors went their separate ways.

Although professionally they split, the pair continued to meet socially for what they described as ‘a pie and a pint’ at weekends. Over the next three years Bass moved house twice and Fraser once, and their conversations frequently returned to the bizarre situations that arose from moving and building work. It was from these experiences that the idea for a new comedy series emerged.

The concept was pitched to ABC, with Milo Lewis — who had directed them on both The Army Game and Bootsie and Snudge — brought in as director. Writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais contributed the pilot episode, with later scripts supplied by writers including Jeremy Lloyd and Jimmy Grafton. Somewhat unusually, the pilot was transmitted last in the series.

Vacant Lot largely reprised the familiar dynamic of Bootsie and Snudge, with Bass and Fraser again inhabiting roles that were close in spirit, if not in name. “The old love‑hate [relationship] — it’s difficult to pinpoint exact characterisation. That sort of grows as you go along,” Bass remarked at the time. Fraser agreed, noting that “there was an awful lot of Alfie Bass and Bill Fraser in Bootsie and Snudge. That’s always the way when you put your heart and soul into a part.”

Fraser played William Bendlove, the Managing Director of Bendlove and Bodium Ltd. (Bodium was deceased), a gloriously eclectic firm that advertised itself as 'Builders and Decorators, Cabinet Makers to the Gentry, Funeral Directors and Taxi Hire specialists (estimates given free).' Bass played Bendlove's brother-in-law and the Works Foreman, Alfie Grimble.

The supporting cast included Laurie Leigh as Sandra, Jack Haig as Stoker, Nicky Henson as Rock and Arthur Mullard as Chippy.

The series was not fully networked. While it was broadcast in the North and the Midlands, it never secured a slot in the London region. With greater success it would likely have reached London audiences in time, but after just seven episodes Vacant Lot came to an end and was never repeated. Bass and Fraser did have one last hurrah though, when Bootsie and Snudge returned in 1974 for a last run of six episodes.