Vernon Scripps (Geoffrey Hughes)

[mikea]

Sadly, those of us in Ontario saw the end of the role of Vernon. Geoffrey Hughes was the perfect actor to take over when our beloved Bill Maynard left. Somehow I doubt this new Aunt Peggy character will be as good of a fit as Geoffrey was.

Good episode...Wolf in Sheep's Clothing. Though it was sad to see Vernon have to say good-bye, it was nice to end the show on a funny note as Vernon slips across the channel dressed up as a women. It was also good to see Bernie catching on that his brother is indeed alive.

By his departure, I am sure this means, Vernon will come back some day.

[drawlight]

I agree, Mike, I liked Vernon too. In fact, as I first saw Heartbeat about 2 months ago only, I can still remember that he was the first character to really intrigue me. And I too am glad that he is still alive and that Bernie catches on.

Well I guess we'll see Aunt Peggy soon - and I hope we'll grow to like her as much as we like Vernon.

[sootycat]

He was a good character was Vernon.
Sadly, I don't think you will warm to Peggy much.
She is I think, my least favourite ( Full time ) character ever.

[NorthernDancer]

I hope that Vernon will come back. I don't think there is anything about Peggy that makes it possible for a person watching to warm up to. I wonder how he is doing in real life, if the cancer scare he had turned out in his favour or what?.............Wish there was a way we could find out.:(

[flick]

I would like to see Vernon return someday too.

[reepicheep]

hope so. he was real funny

[NorthernDancer]

I hope he will consider a move back to the show.

[Nick Rowan]

I hope he would but it seems unlikely, not many HB actors that have left return

[Cynthia]

More on Ken Kitson's "Fistful of Dreams" project:

In addition to John Duttine as previusly posted in his thread, Geoffrey Hughes wants a role in this film.

Here's the link:http://www.kkpmovies.com/cast.htm

[NorthernDancer]

Great link as usual, Cynthia.....how was your summer, as I said to Mike in another post, looks like Ontario was a bit muggy!

[Cynthia]

From express and star.com:

Norman Wisdom describes himself as “a very lucky lad”, yet part of his childhood was spent living on the streets. Cathy Spencer catches up with the star who was filming in the Midlands yesterday.

Norman Wisdom, normally known for his scruffy air, badly-fitting suit and loose-legged swagger, is sitting in a cafe dressed as a vicar.But while he is trying to write his sermon a fly starts to harass him. The rest of the cast try not to giggle as the comedy genius tries to swat the fly to comic effect.

Norman, who will be 92 next month, has come out of retirement to appear in a short film called Expresso, which is being shot at Waseley Country Park near Halesowen.

“I love making films - I can’t say I have a favourite because they have all been wonderful,” he says.

“I am a very lucky lad. It is great to come to the West Midlands. I have a friend, Geoff Francis, who lives in Birmingham so I’ll visit him while I’m here.”

His appearance in Expresso marks the 60th anniversary since his first television debut in 1947.

The film is a series of short stories set around one table in a cafe and also stars Geoffrey Hughes, who is better known as Onslow in Keeping Up Appearances, Don Warrington from Rising Damp and Vincent Franklin from The Office.

Norman says: “I was interested in the script because it sounded funny.

“I play the part of a vicar and I’ve been looking forward to playing it because I think it suits me.”

His appearance in the Midlands attracted a lot of attention from fans eager to get a glimpse of their twinkly-eyed idol.

But he was not fazed by the swarm of photographers, fans wanting to be by his side and eager reporters desperate for an interview

Away from the glitter, he says, the best times of his life were when he signed on as a cabin boy on a cargo ship taking coals from Cardiff to Argentina.

“I was 14, and I loved the sea - I love everything that has happened to me but I especially love the sea,” he says. “It is important to focus on the good things - how can you smile otherwise?” At just 14 Norman walked from London to Wales. It took him three weeks, he slept in haystacks along the way and by the end the soles of his feet were bleeding.

He had the cabin boy’s job and when he arrived in Argentina the rest of the crew encouraged him to become a street fighter.

“If I could last one round against the local hero, I’d get about a pound. Two rounds meant £2.”

His mother had gone to live with another man when Norman was nine, leaving him and his brother Fred with their father, who was drunk and violent and soon abandoned them.

The brothers found themselves homeless and Norman used to sleep rough behind a statue near Victoria Station.

He scrounged cups of Bovril and meat pies from a man who ran a late-night stall. He joined the army and was posted to Lucknow in India, with the 10th Royal Hussars, and learned to play eight instruments. But this wasn’t enough for Norman.

Inspired by the films of a burgeoning new dancer called Fred Astaire, he taught himself tap.

He volunteered to demonstrate his new-found talent in the officers’ mess one night - and discovered, quite by chance, that he could make people laugh.

“I was captivated by the laughter and the applause,” he says.

“It was the first real affection I’d known and it was addictive. I couldn’t get enough of it.”

His 1953 film, Trouble In Store, has become a classic, and hit records such as Don’t Laugh At Me Because I’m A Fool are still taking in cash.

He is even a favourite with the royal family.

He first married in 1939, at the outbreak of the Second World War but his wife left him after three months. Then he married Freda, a chorus girl, and they had two children Jacqui and Nicholas.

Meanwhile, Expresso film director Kevin Powis, who lives in Halesowen, says he was overwhelmed when Norman agreed to star in the film.

“We thought that Sir Norman would be perfect for the job of the vicar,” he says.

“His performance was fantastic and it was the smoothest filming we have ever done. If the actors involved in the film were doing it for real money then it would be a multi-million pound scheme.

“But we had a good script and it was a great story - the actors found it irresistible.”

As he gets up to leave the table Norman Wisdom gives his audience a mischevious wink just to let them know that his famous character Norman Pitkin may be old, but he is still alive and kicking.

* For more information about the film, log on to www.last independent.com or www. expressofilm.com

[Cynthia]

There's an article and a picture on a Corrie blog at:
http://www.corrieblog.tv/2007/10/eddie_yeats_sta.html

[Cynthia]

From LiverpoolEcho.co.uk - 10 December 2007

Christmas spectacular
Dec 10 2007 by Paddy Shennan, Liverpool Echo

Chief feature writer Paddy Shennan talks to actors Geoffrey Hughes and Nerys Hughes about this Sunday’s Liverpool Nativity, a BBC musical extravaganza set on the streets of the city

IT’S a spectacular story, being told in a spectacular setting – for what will (hopefully!) be a spectacular, hour-long live TV broadcast.

Liverpool Nativity will be acted out by a cast of 300, with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the city’s Sense of Sound choir, and brought to us by a technical crew of 150.

But Liverpool actor Geoffrey Hughes, when asked about having the leading role in what the BBC calls the largest televised music drama ever attempted live on any city’s streets, reckons he can sum up his feelings in just one word.

“Terrified!” he says, before going on to explain: “No one does live TV any more, although I have actually done a play live – but it was 40 years ago!

“Another problem is you can’t really rehearse it, while it’s a heck of a logistical operation.”

And, of course, there are certain things that can’t be controlled: “Yes, it’ll probably rain!” says Geoffrey, who was born and brought up in Kirkdale, before his family moved to Norris Green when he was six.

“But seriously, I’m really looking forward to it. I think it will be a great night. It’s a really big event and being live will give it an extra edge.”

Geoffrey, 63, will play the Angel Gabriel – who doubles as a CCTV operator! – in a modern-day version of the nativity story, written by Liverpudlian Mark Davies Markham.

Mary and Joseph are played by young Liverpool actors Jodie McNee and Kenny Thompson. Joseph, an asylum seeker, is instructed to report to the nearest passport office, while Mary discovers she is pregnant and must fight to protect both Joseph and her unborn child.

Cathy Tyson plays a female Herod – Herodia – while Joe McGann, David Yip and Louis Emerick will be the Three Kings, Jennifer Ellison an angel, Andrew Schofield a shepherd and Full Monty star Paul Barber the innkeeper. Former Liver Bird Nerys Hughes will play Betty, who runs the dockside cafe across the Mersey where Mary works.

“It’s an excellent cast, isn’t it?” says Geoffrey, of Coronation Street, Keeping Up Appearances, Heartbeat and The Royle Family fame.

What an unbeatable combination: great Liverpool actors, the great backdrop of the city of Liverpool – and great Liverpool music.

The production will be set to songs by Liverpool’s favourite bands – sung by cast members – including The Beatles’ All You Need is Love, You Will You Won’t by The Zutons and There She Goes by The La’s.

Geoffrey, who now lives on the Isle of Wight, describes his role as like that of a narrator who brings the action together, and says: “I’ll be helping the choir, if ‘helping’ is the right word! But no, I won’t be singing solo.”

Organisers, who created the Manchester Passion for Easter last year, hope thousands will turn out for the hour-long performance in and around William Brown Street. It will be broadcast live on BBC Three this Sunday at 8pm and shown on BBC1 at a later date.

Crowds will be able to watch the actors, spread across city centre locations with their own bands of musicians, on giant screens, while The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra will play on a stage outside St George’s Hall.

Mary and Joseph will be seen being befriended by the kindly Betty, played by Rhyl-born and now London-based Nerys Hughes, who is making a nostalgic return to the city where she made her name in The Liver Birds.

Nerys, 66, says: “It’s the most wonderful production, a colossal enterprise and such a fabulous idea. My character is a kindly figure in Mary and Joseph’s lives. I suppose you could call it a gritty role – I wear a pinny and make sarnies!

“It’s a fabulous cast and the actors playing Mary and Joseph are just wonderful. I was so proud and thrilled to be asked to be in it because I like to think of myself as an honorary Liverpool person. And I think it’s going to be a really exciting event.”

She adds: “I started work on The Liver Birds in 1970 and I think I’ve seen the best and worst of Liverpool. There was a truly horrible time when they took out the middle of Liverpool. Every time we went back there was another community gone. They moved everyone outside the city.

“But things have come full circle and there has been a total regeneration. It’s a different city now – a really stunning one.”

The Royal Variety Performance at the Empire, the Turner Art Prize at Tate Liverpool and now the Liverpool Nativity . . . a triple whammy which tells the world we’re ready to embrace our year as the European Capital of Culture.

Liverpool Nativity will be staged at 8pm this Sunday, December 16 – and shown live on BBC Three.

[Cynthia]

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/resources/images/807639/?type=displayLETTERARY AGENT: Geoffrey Hughes as Frank in Absolutely Frank, which plays Harrogate Theatre later this month


MOST actors are lucky to create one memorable TV character in a career.

Geoffrey Hughes has no less than four to his credit.

He was slobbish, vest-wearing Onslow, brother-in-law of Hyacinth Bucket in Keeping Up Appearances, and binman Eddie Yates in Coronation Street. In the Yorkshire set and filmed series Heartbeat, he was rascally Vernon Scripps.

And most recently, he’s been seen as dodgy goods dealer Twiggy in The Royle Family.

When he appears on stage at Harrogate Theatre later this month, it will be in something completely different – as a veteran of industrial signage who dreams of seeing his own name in letters, on the cover of spy novels.

See full article here:
http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/features/4109366.A_sign_of_the_times/

[Cynthia]

From "Isle of Wight County Press Online"

The Island’s three new Deputy Lieutenants, Geoffrey Hughes, Anne Longford and Dr Charles Mobbs, received their commissions

Full article here: http://www.iwcp.co.uk/news/news/island-heroes-are-honoured-29070.aspx

[Rowan]

Yes - Geoff is a regular in the county press. It's strange that after all these years of following Heartbeat, an actor from my fav programme lives on the same Island as me!

I quite often see him shopping in Sainsbury's - he's very down to earth and I'm glad he's chosen to live here. :-)

[Cynthia]

Hello Rowan,

By coincidence, someone from Ryde on the Isle of Wight recently sold an autographed Heartbeat script on eBay. It was Season 12, Episode 7 "No Man's Land" - the one where Vernon gets a bump on the head in a car accident and turns 'nice', even mowing the grass in the churchyard for free and giving David a holiday.

Cheers,
Cynthia

[sootycat]

A sad bit of news today from The Press association.


Geoffrey Hughes - the TV actor best known as Coronation Street's Eddie Yeats and Heartbeat's Vernon Scripps - is battling cancer after the disease returned.

The 66 year old collapsed with back pains at his Isle of Wight home on Friday.

He is thought to have been found by his wife Sue and was rushed by ambulance to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Portsmouth for intense radiotherapy.

His spokeswoman Meg Poole said: "Geoffrey is in hospital and having radiotherapy. His wife has asked for privacy at this difficult time."

The actor - who also starred as slobbish Onslow in hit BBC sitcom Keeping Up Appearances and Twiggy in The Royle Family - thought he had beaten prostate cancer a year ago.

But medics at the Portsmouth hospital, where wife Sue has been keeping a bedside vigil, gave the star the news that the disease had returned.

Geoffrey, who has publicly supported cancer charities, first appeared in 1960s classics such as Z-Cars and The Likely Lads and was the voice of Paul McCartney in the Beatles film The Yellow Submarine.


This is so sad to read .
I hope the chemo is successfull.
Get well soon Geoffrey.

[Rowan]

An update on Geoff here:

http://www.iwradio.co.uk/newscentre/island-news/geoffrey-hughes-to-be-allowed-home-next-week-1268