Reg Varney became a huge star at the height of the success of 'On The Buses'. He became in such high demand that he would frequently be called up to host charity events and such. He even managed to land his own weekly series entitled simply 'Reg Varney' which was a mixture of stand-up, sketch and musical comedy ( Reg was a highly accomplished pianist ). He even managed to land film roles in productions such as 'Double Take' and 'The Best Pair Of Legs In The Business'.
Reg felt enough time had elapsed since the end of 'On The Buses' to return to the world of sitcom and in 1975 came up with the idea of a show set in Billingsgate's renowned fish market, which he put to writers Roy Tuvey and Maurice Sellar ( who had written for Reg on his earlier weekly series ), who provided the scripts and called the show 'Down The 'Gate'. Reg played Reg Furnell, a porter at Billingsgate market. He was married to the lovely Irene ( played by the late Dilys Laye ). In the first episode, Irene wanted a new central heating system installed but Reg squandered the deposit money for it on a horse. Notice the strong 'On The Buses' feel to the show already emerging? Reg friends at the market included Len Peacock ( Tony Melody ) and scruffy Old Wol ( played by Australian actor Reg Lye ), who both had tendencies to drop Reg in the proverbial. In the second series, Tony Melody left and Percy Herbert was brought in to play Mr. Preston, Reg's new boss who was very much like Stephen Lewis' Blakey albeit not as much of a pushover.
Well, if you wanted to see what 'On The Buses' would be like if it was set in Billingsgate, then this was it. Sadly, it enjoyed nothing like the success of the previous show. Reg Varney found himself heavily typecast as Stan Butler and was unable to shake off that shadow ( a problem Gregor Fisher later encountered as a result of his portrayal of 'Rab C. Nesbitt' ). ''Whatever I did after 'On The Buses', no one wanted to know about it!'' said Reg in an interview. Despite the strong 'Buses' flavour to 'Down The 'Gate', I still found plenty to enjoy. Varney was as wonderful as ever. Dilys Laye did the very best with her role as Varney's long suffering wife Irene, though the best of all the supporting characters was Percy Herbert as the constantly grumbling Preston.
'Down The 'Gate' was Reg's final major television series. The failure of the show meant he was no longer in demand for television work. He later retired, despite plans for 'On The Buses' to make a comeback, due to health issues. That seemed to be the end of it.
Sadly, of the twelve episodes, only half of them survive ( all from the second series ). The remaining episodes only still exist as Reg recorded the episodes himself off air with a video recorder. The remaining episodes were put on DVD ( with the commercials from the recordings kept in as an Easter Egg ) along with scripts for the missing episodes and enjoyable stuff it is too. Geoff Love's saxophone theme tune is excellent too.
Reg felt enough time had elapsed since the end of 'On The Buses' to return to the world of sitcom and in 1975 came up with the idea of a show set in Billingsgate's renowned fish market, which he put to writers Roy Tuvey and Maurice Sellar ( who had written for Reg on his earlier weekly series ), who provided the scripts and called the show 'Down The 'Gate'. Reg played Reg Furnell, a porter at Billingsgate market. He was married to the lovely Irene ( played by the late Dilys Laye ). In the first episode, Irene wanted a new central heating system installed but Reg squandered the deposit money for it on a horse. Notice the strong 'On The Buses' feel to the show already emerging? Reg friends at the market included Len Peacock ( Tony Melody ) and scruffy Old Wol ( played by Australian actor Reg Lye ), who both had tendencies to drop Reg in the proverbial. In the second series, Tony Melody left and Percy Herbert was brought in to play Mr. Preston, Reg's new boss who was very much like Stephen Lewis' Blakey albeit not as much of a pushover.
Well, if you wanted to see what 'On The Buses' would be like if it was set in Billingsgate, then this was it. Sadly, it enjoyed nothing like the success of the previous show. Reg Varney found himself heavily typecast as Stan Butler and was unable to shake off that shadow ( a problem Gregor Fisher later encountered as a result of his portrayal of 'Rab C. Nesbitt' ). ''Whatever I did after 'On The Buses', no one wanted to know about it!'' said Reg in an interview. Despite the strong 'Buses' flavour to 'Down The 'Gate', I still found plenty to enjoy. Varney was as wonderful as ever. Dilys Laye did the very best with her role as Varney's long suffering wife Irene, though the best of all the supporting characters was Percy Herbert as the constantly grumbling Preston.
'Down The 'Gate' was Reg's final major television series. The failure of the show meant he was no longer in demand for television work. He later retired, despite plans for 'On The Buses' to make a comeback, due to health issues. That seemed to be the end of it.
Sadly, of the twelve episodes, only half of them survive ( all from the second series ). The remaining episodes only still exist as Reg recorded the episodes himself off air with a video recorder. The remaining episodes were put on DVD ( with the commercials from the recordings kept in as an Easter Egg ) along with scripts for the missing episodes and enjoyable stuff it is too. Geoff Love's saxophone theme tune is excellent too.