Favorite one-off characters

M

manfromoswestry

Dedicated Member
I'm talking about characters that lasted maybe one or two episodes and were never heard from again.

I liked the waitress in the boarding house when the trio went to Scarborough in the two-parter of "The Great Boarding House Bathroom Caper" and "Cheering Up Gordon". She was cranky in a funny way, especially when Compo was sneaking bits of chicken up to his room for the ferrets, and she commented, "Does he eat the bones too?"

The tramp in "Big Day At Dream Acres". I thought that, for a one-off character, he was quite well developed in terms of his crafty and cunning personality and how he fooled the trio into switching donkeys and how he feigned injuries on Clegg's bicycle. A shame he was never heard from again, because if he was developed further as a repeat character, it would have worked well for the show.

Florrie in "All Of A Florrie" was funny in terms of her naivete and how shocked she was when Truly plotted to put her right off him.

Ludovic in "Cheering Up Ludovic" was the classic drunk. The way he acted so brash towards Foggy was funny, and his shoddy van that kept falling apart created some hilarious moments for the trio.

The school crossing guard in, "Who's That Dancing With Nora Batty Then", whose name escapes me at the moment. I liked the scene where he was teasing Compo over a love interest in his youth named Aggie Duckett.
 
Good topic. I would of course be bias and say Amos of course. The bandit from Stoke on Trent. He would have been good see again.

Maybe Kevin the wiseman of the woods or Like you put the tramp played by Ray McNally. Gosh we have seen so many one offs its hard to remember most of them.
 
I liked the traffic warden who Marina fancied,laughed when he pulled the windscreen wiper of after Foggy had a go at him about his uniform.
 
I did think of Bobby Ball as Lenny who I thought was quite good, but he did appear in 3 episodes. I would have liked to have seen him as a more regular character.

Another well known name was John Challis of Boycie fame who appeared as Jeremy the fantasist jewel thief who thought he was a modern day Raffles, in Is Jeremy Quite Safe. His character had potential, especially with Truly of the yard being on his case.
 
Probably one of the finest one-off characters ever was Ogden Butterclough, as played by the excellent Brian Glover.
 
It might have been nice to see Smiler's wife at least a few more times. She seemed like she would have made a good accomplice with Nora and Ivy.
 
Gavin Hinchecliffe!

Although I have two biases here.

1. It the very first episode I watched.

2. I have fond memories of Bernard Cribbins in Fawlty Towers.
 
Goff Helliwell - The Miraculous Curing of Goff Helliwell.

I though he was great. I forget the details; he was choosing to die on Wednesdays because his wife cooked a good Meatloaf on Tuesdays?
 
Frank Middlemass as Judd, the barber. Always liked him in As Time Goes By.

Christine Cox as Cousin Olive. A bit of a precursor to the Marina Character IMO.

Michael Stainton as the vicar in Of Funerals and Fish. Didn't really care for the other vicars, a bit too full of themselves.
 
Don said:
....
Michael Stainton as the vicar in Of Funerals and Fish. Didn't really care for the other vicars, a bit too full of themselves.
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actually quite a good portrayal rather than a caricature which was what some of the other vicars were, in my opinion - but then I might be biased!!
 
chris said:
I liked the traffic warden who Marina fancied,laughed when he pulled the windscreen wiper of after Foggy had a go at him about his uniform.
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Cyril Gridley. I think he was in about 3 episodes and yes I liked him too.
I also liked Matthew Kelly has the policeman in Leg Up For Christmas.
 
I liked Chip in Pate and Chips, I think it would have been good to have him as a reoccurring or semi regular character. There could have been some good interaction between Compo and Chip giving us an insight into the dynamic of the Simmonite family, which would surely have made for some interesting viewing ;) :D ;D
 
I liked Jack Smethurst in Deviations with Davenport and Kenneth Cope in the Love Mobile

Hector
 
Don said:
Michael Stainton as the vicar in Of Funerals and Fish. Didn't really care for the other vicars, a bit too full of themselves.
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Big Unc said:
Nicholas Smith as the retired vicar in "Cooper's Rules".
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Roy Clarke definitely had a great time with Vicars over the years. I enjoy the Vicars being too full of themselves. The character doesn't have to have a great personality in order to be funny. The Vicar and his train tracks in Go With the Flow might be my favorite.
 
Hector said:
I liked Jack Smethurst in Deviations with Davenport and Kenneth Cope in the Love Mobile

Hector
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One of the things I remember about Kenneth Cope was the wig he was wearing. At one point point Wesley takes a sneaky look round the back to see the join. He appeared again later on In All That Glitters Is Not Elvis. His wife was Mavis out of Open All Hours. What an argumentative pair they were.

Talking of wigs, does anyone know why Russ Abbot wore one as Hobbo? It's not like he wears one anymore in real life. I think his character would have looked better without it.
 
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