Comedy Playhouse: Nicked At The Bottle (BBC, George Cole)

In one off comedy Nicked At The Bottle, an entry in the Comedy Playhouse series, Lawyer Mossy (George Cole) advises Mrs Emily Trout (Margaretta Scott) and her family of crooks.

The production didn’t receive much media attention but there was a short preview in the Daily Mirror of Saturday November 16, 1963 focused on the glamour aspect of the cast: Gabriella Licudi, 21 year old redhead from Morocco, is an upper-class pickpocket in tonight’s Comedy Playhouse episode Nicked at the Bottle (BBC, 9.25). Her brother, played by James Villiers, is a pickpocket too – in fact the whole family are villains. If you want to see more of Gabriella, watch ITV’s No Hiding Place on Monday. Gabriella plays a model involved in a murder mystery. Who said crime doesn’t pay.

H.E.B. previewed the production in The Birmingham Post, also Saturday 16 November 1963: Nicked at the Bottle, the title of the Comedy Playhouse production on BBC tonight (9.25pm) is a description of pick-pockets being caught in the act. The thieves are the Trout family who have limited success in their chosen field. The solicitor who acts for them when they are caught is Mossy Marcus (George Cole), a not very eminent member of the legal profession. Mrs Emily Trout is played by Margaretta Scott, a classical actress making a new departure into comedy.

Cast: George Cole (Mossy), Margaretta Scott (Mrs Emily Trout), Doris Hare (Mrs Martin), James Villiers (Jeremy Trout), Charles Heslop (Mr McMurtrie), Gabriella Licudi (Samantha Trout), Joan Ingram (Lady In The Tube), Anthony Mayne (Man In The Tube), Tim Buckland (Magistrate), Peter Stephens (Nosher Fawkes), Richard McNeff (Policeman), Dennis Ramsden (Judge)

Writer: Marty Feldman / Music: Ron Grainer / Production Design: Raymond Simm / Producer and Director: Michael Mills

UK / BBC ‘Comedy Playhouse’ / 1×30 minutes / Saturday 16 November 1963 at 9.25pm