Call Me Sam – Nostalgia Central

1 9 5 9 (UK)
6 x 30 minute episodes

Premiering on Wednesday 26 August 1959, this short-lived light comedy series from the BBC was set in the small London restaurant – “somewhere off the Strand” – run by Sam and Hetty Callahan (Irish actor Eddie Byrne and Australian actress Betty McDowall).

Sam’s kindly disposition always led him to do good turns for his customers (which usually ended in disaster), while the more level-headed Hetty had to keep things on the right track.

The other staff included barman Archie (Hugh Lloyd) and the Italian chef, Mario (Paul Whitsun-Jones).

Guests included Desmond Llewelyn, Aubrey Morris, Bill Shine, Peter Hawkins, and Ina De La Haye. The writer of the series was Lee Loeb, who had written extensively for American television.

The series received a critical pounding, with one critic declaring, “Call Me Sam is one of those programmes which are so very bad that one can feel nothing but sympathy for those who have the misfortune to appear in the cast” and another calling it “a tedious and Americanised Philistine cannonade”.

Sam Callahan
Eddie Byrne
Hetty Callahan
Betty McDowall
Archie 
Hugh Lloyd
Mario
Paul Whitsun-Jones