Bootsie and Snudge

Bootsie and Snudge was a UK television series written by Barry Took and Marty Feldman, also known for the BBC radio series "Round the Horne". It featured Clive Dunn, more famous for being in "Dad's Army" as well as Alfie Bass and Bill Fraser and was a follow on from "The Army Game". It centred around a gentlemen's club called the Imperial Club. 104 half-hour episodes were made, being broadcast from 1960 to 1974.

The traditional gentlemen's club in Britain has long been used for comedic purposes in films, usually because of the eccentric characters with whom it can be populated, and the arcane rules. The rule of absolute silence in the reading room, notwithstanding several old men snoring under copies of The Times, is a common feature of such comedy. Memorable moments include Kenneth Connor, in the film Carry On Regardless, being forced to mime "Your flies are open" to one of the members.

In the Imperial Club Bootsie and Snudge resumed their roles of snivelling and bullying sergeant, with contributions from the ancient and always-bumbling dogsbody, Johnson (Clive Dunn), all under the tyrannical eye of the "Hon. Sec.", the club secretary played by Robert Dorning. The Hon. Sec.'s way of dealing with arguments was to drown out the opposition with repetitions of "Tup! Tup!", rising in volume until the other party stopped trying. Thus Bootsie's name for the character was "Ol' Tuptup".

In the early 1960s, the show was adapted into a successful strip cartoon in the British comic TV Comic.

DVD Release

An episode of Bootsie & Snudge has been released on "The Army Game Vol 2" DVD, Bootsie & Snudge - The Collection is due in 2009

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