Potter’s Picture Palace: Children’s Sitcom from the 70s

Potter’s Picture Palace, a well-made children’s sitcom, aired on BBC One from 1976 to 1978. The series revolves around Peter Potter (Eden Phillips), who inherits a run-down picture house from his aunt and embarks on a mission to restore it to its former glory. However, in the first season, his cousin Reggie Turpin (David Lodge) attempts to sabotage his efforts as he hopes to demolish the cinema and replace it with a block of flats.

The show consisted of 13 episodes, each lasting 25 minutes. It was broadcast in two seasons, with the first season airing from September 13th to October 25th, 1976, and the second season airing from April 14th to May 19th, 1978.

Potter’s Picture Palace’s cast included Eden Phillips as Peter Potter, Melvyn Hayes as Melvyn Didsbury, John Comer as Sidney Bogart, David Lodge as Reggie Turpin (in the first season), Angela Crow as Joan Biddle, Colin Edwynn as Frank Plank, Bruce Watt as The Kid (in the first season), and Mark Dempsey as Desmond Bagshaw (in the second season).

Some notable episodes from the series include “That Darned Kid!,” “The Phantom of the Palace,” “The Little Dictator,” “The Night of the Triffids,” “The Mouse That Snored,” “Gums,” and “King Kong Phooey” in Season One. In Season Two, viewers enjoyed episodes such as “Gold Fever,” “The Great Escape,” “One of Our Spaceships is Missing,” “The Girl Friend,” “Gone Dancing,” and “Down Memory Lane.”

The series was created by writers Brian Finch, Phil Redmond, and Dick Sharples. The series was produced by John Buttery and directed by Tony Harrison (Season 1) and Jeremy Swan (Season 2).