Then Churchill Said to Me

Then Churchill Said to Me
Genre	Comedy
Written by	Maurice Sellar and Lou Jones
Directed by	Martin Shardlow
Starring	Frankie Howerd Nicholas Courtney Joanna Dunham
Theme music composer	Ronnie Hazlehurst
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	6
Production
Producer	Roger Race
Original release
Network	UK Gold
Release	1 March (1993-03-01) – 5 April 1993 (1993-04-05)

Then Churchill Said To Me is a television comedy series starring Frankie Howerd and Nicholas Courtney. Made in 1982, the series was not screened until 1993.

Outline

The comedy is set in Winston Churchill's secret underground wartime bunker. Howerd plays a soldier named Private Potts who according to the DVD's cover "acts as a batman to a group of officers" who, like the character of Lurcio in the popular Up Pompeii! is hell-bent on avoiding work and gets into various scrapes as a result.

The premise of the show was similar in content to the previous Howerd vehicles (see also Whoops Baghdad) but in a more contemporary setting. In one episode Private Potts is revealed to be a doppelganger of a high-ranking general, also portrayed by Howerd, echoing storylines from these series and their big screen adaptations.

Transmission and commercial release

The series was made in 1982 but was not shown at the time owing to the outbreak of the Falklands War, the programme was deemed unsuitable for transmission owing to its setting. It was first broadcast by the satellite channel UK Gold in 1993, and was finally broadcast on BBC Two in 2000.

Three episodes were released by the BBC on VHS in 1993 and subsequently in its entirety on DVD in 2006 as part of a box-set also including Up Pompeii! and a compilation of Howerd's best moments including clips and interview material.

External links

• Then Churchill Said to Me at BBC Online
• Then Churchill Said to Me at IMDb