A documentary series chronicling the career of the West Country musical icon and his ‘Scrumpy ‘n’ Western’ band.
Presented by Roger Bennett, this three-part series documents the life and career of singer-songwriter Adge Cutler. The programmes trace the group’s origins in 1966, from Cutler’s decision to form a band rooted in West Country culture to the recruitment of the original Wurzels. It recounts their swift rise to fame with a unique ‘Scrumpy ‘n’ Western’ sound, the recording of their classic live album at a pub in Nailsea, and the success of their signature song “Drink Up Thy Zider”. The series also addresses Cutler’s untimely death in a car crash in 1974 and the band’s continuation of his legacy.
Broadcast seventeen years after the singer’s death, this documentary series confirms Adge Cutler’s status as a singular figure in British popular music. His ‘Scrumpy ‘n’ Western’ was a conscious act of cultural defiance, a rejection of the dominant American-influenced pop of the 1960s in favour of an identity forged from Somerset folklore, dialect, and wry humour. The programmes reveal how Cutler, a former road manager for jazz musician Acker Bilk, created a musical persona that was both a celebration and a gentle caricature of rural life. His success, recording live in a pub rather than a sterile studio, demonstrated a national appetite for a regional authenticity that was raw, witty, and entirely at odds with the polished productions of the era.
Broadcast: ITV – HTV, 3 Episodes, 20 September 1991 – 4 October 1991
Presenter: Roger Bennett
Contributors: Tommy Banner, John Miles, Pete Budd
Archive Footage: Adge Cutler, The Wurzels
