A musical play celebrating the life and career of legendary Midlands showman Pat Collins.
This biographical drama chronicles the sensational career of fairground proprietor Pat Collins (David Calder) from 1914 to 1939. The story follows Collins and his wife Flora (Marjie Lawrence) as they build their travelling enterprise, its fortunes tested by the upheavals of the First World War and the economic hardships of the Depression. Along the way, they encounter a host of colourful characters who populate the fairground world, from sideshow attractions like Scotch Jack (Sylvester McCoy) to the fair’s resident medical man, Dr. Berry (Roger Kemp).
An ambitious and distinctly regional production from ATV, this one-off play is a work of theatrical biography. Instead of a straightforward drama, writer Ken Hill constructed his tribute to the Midlands showman as a bustling musical. His script privileges pageant over psychological insight, using the showman’s life as a framework to celebrate a lost era of popular entertainment. The production, staged with a deliberate theatricality by director Glyn Edwards, attempts to recreate the raucous atmosphere of the fairground for a television audience, celebrating a local legend whose influence shaped the leisure time of a generation.
Broadcast: ITV – ATV, 1 Episode, 18 November 1979
Written by: Ken Hill
Songs by: Alan Klein, Ken Hill
Director: Glyn Edwards
Producer: Nicholas Palmer
Designer: Ann Croot-Hawkins
Main Cast: David Calder (Pat Collins), Marjie Lawrence (Flora Collins), Roger Kemp (Dr. Berry), Larry Dann (Nightingale), Sylvester McCoy (Scotch Jack), Griffith Davis (Smiler), Peter Eden (Billy), Toni Palmer (Marge), Caroline Villiers (Mave), Jacquey Chappell (Maureen)
