
Filmed at Pinewood Studios in the break between taping of the final episodes of the popular TV series at Granada in Manchester, this feature film spinoff from Hammer Films reworks elements from various episodes of series, including ‘It Comes to Us All’, ‘Take a Letter’ and ‘Lead Me to the Altar’ from the 1968 series, and ‘Wish You Were Here’ and ‘The Birds and the Bees’ from the 1969 series.
The plot (such as it is) begins with old Joshua Pledge (John Barrett), founder of Pledges Purer Pickles, on his deathbed. His last wish is to see his long-lost son, Eli (Jimmy Jewel), before he passes away.
His daughter, Nellie (Hylda Baker), manages to locate her brother by placing an advertisement in a newspaper. He returns home after fifteen years in time to see his father before the old man finally pops his false teeth into the waiting glass – the sign that he is at last ready to go.
After the funeral, attended by Cousin Lily (Madge Hindle) and her ever-silent spouse Walter (Edward Malin), Nellie and Eli find themselves joint owners of the pickle factory.
Eli is desperate. Lazy and happier at the pub rather than at work, he’s always hated the place. Why didn’t the old man leave them the cash instead? Finally, he determines to make changes and modernise methods.
“Not over my dogsbody”, states the bossy and domineering Nellie.
The annual summer holiday is soon upon them, and the entire factory is closed down.
Nellie takes Eli to a Blackpool boarding house run by a needy widow, Mrs Rowbottom (Yootha Joyce), whose eyes alight eagerly on bachelor Eli as a definite “possible”.
Eli, however, only has eyes for the busty Freda (Pat Ashton), a curvaceous blonde he left behind when he had to return home.
Anxious to install her at Pledges and have the place for themselves, he decides that he will get rid of Nellie by marrying her off.
A chance meeting in his holiday pub with a fellow pickling entrepreneur, one Vernon Smallpiece (Norman Mitchell), is just the opportunity he has been waiting for.
However, Vernon is a con man who pretends to want to marry Nellie, but is actually only interested in her inheritance (the pickle factory).
Sadly, by the time of filming, the relationship between Jimmy Jewel and Hylda Baker had deteriorated to the point where they would only communicate with each other through the director John Robins.
Jimmy Jewel’s real-life son, Kerry Jewel, appears in a small role as hapless employee Claude. Southend-on-Sea in Essex (especially the Kursaal amusement park) doubled for Blackpool in the film.
Nellie Pledge
Hylda Baker
Eli Pledge
Jimmy Jewel
Walter Tattersall
Edward Malin
Lily Tattersall
Madge Hindle
Stan Hardman
Joe Gladwin
Vernon Smallpiece
Norman Mitchell
Freda
Pat Ashton
Bert Henshaw
Bert Palmer
Court Bailiff
Peter Madden
Mrs Rhoda Rowbottom
Yootha Joyce
Joshua Pledge
John Barrett
Club Hostess
Carmel Cryan
Scarlet O’Hara
Sue Hammer
Vinegar Vera
Janie Collinge
Vicar
Donald Bisset
Claude
Kerry Jewel
Mimi la Vere
Adele Warren
Bouncer
Nosher Powell
Director
John Robins
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