Television Club/Roy and the Danelli Job

From LookingAndSeeing.co.uk - a website about schools broadcasting

A new venture for Television Club as an entire term is taken up with one serialised and quite grown-up crime story about an innocent young man who is entangled with a series of antiques robberies.

The target age range for the series was slightly raised for this unit, 12-14 year olds up from the usual 11-13, and the main characters were adults who had already left school and begun work. But Roy was generally unsuspecting and innocent, leaving the disciplined world of his ship to seek work and deal with human relationships, just as the viewing children would have to do when they left school.

In creating the character of Roy, the writer and producer took care to avoid the condescension of portraying a non-white character as unbearably virtuous. He is an "innocent abroad" who is caught up very easily and quickly by the criminals, and whose naive behaviour often causes problems, but he also has the steadiness and convictions that his English friends lack. Kenneth Fawdry, then Head of BBC School Television, praised both writer and actor for achieving "quite an effective mix of weaknesses and strengths in this West Indian character," and developing his personality in some depth.^[1]

By contrast the English characters have a greater appreciation for the perils facing them in London, but not enough to save themselves from danger, and in particular Harry's hotheaded and dominant personality causes a lot of problems. The teacher's notes pointed out that if he had allowed the police to be called at the end of episode 4, "the major part of the plot would never occur."^[2]

The end of the story as filmed must have been especially atmospheric, as the boys first ride their motorbike through the countryside in the middle of the night, and then arrive at the stunning Avebury henge as dawn breaks.

There was no Club element or presenter in these episodes, it was simply a drama serial, but children were still invited to send their work in to the BBC, for which they would continue to be awarded with a Television Club Certificate^[3].

Contents 1 The Story 2 Episodes 3 Credits 4 Resources 5 In The Archive 6 A Sequel? 7 Sources & References

[edit] The Story

Roy is a young sailor who leaves his ship to seek his fortune in London. He is soon engaged to drive a van delivering antiques to an expensive house. Roy realises that he has been tricked into stealing the antiques, but only after the crooks have already made their escape with the loot.

Roy then teams up with a young antiques salesman named Harry, also suspected of involvement by the police, to clear their names by tracking down the real crooks. But the more they investigate the more evidence builds up against Harry. After a brazen second robbery takes place, Roy stumbles across a link between the crooks and a great friend of Harry's, and a cryptic message sends the boys to the historic stone circles at Avebury in pursuit of the gang.

There is a much more in-depth description of the plot to every episode, illustrated with photographs, available on this website. Follow this link.

[edit] Episodes

The programmes were first shown in the summer term 1971, on Tuesdays at 2:05pm repeated on Fridays at 10am.

They were shown again in the summer term 1974, on Tuesdays at 2:25pm repeated on Thursdays at 10:25am.

An in-depth guide to the plot of every episode is available on this website, illustrated with photographs.

Num	Title	Broadcast
1.	The streets are paved with gold...	27 April 1971
2.	Take your money and go...	4 May 1971
3.	Find the furniture...	11 May 1971
4.	Follow him...	18 May 1971
5.	Quick - to the garage...	25 May 1971
6.	Are you Mr Perkins?	8 June 1971
7.	The proof we need...	15 June 1971

[edit] Credits

Most cast credits were published in the Radio Times for the first broadcast. I have guessed the characters played by Powell Jones and John Caesar based on characters who had speaking roles in the episodes for which they were credited.

Starring

Kenneth Gardnier as Roy Speed Stephen Bradley as Harry Wainwright Pamela Moiseiwitsch as Vicky Wainwright Hilary Mason as Mrs Wainwright Michael Forrest as Jim "Slattery" Talfryn Thomas as Jim's foreman / Rollo Perkins Godfrey Jones as Mr Mullins Leonard Kingston as Georgie Barrie Fletcher as Chief Inspector Powell Jones as Mr Danelli John Caesar as van driver

Script by	Leonard Kingston
Produced by	Andrée Molyneux

[edit] Resources

[edit] In The Archive

All seven episodes of this story are listed in the free online version of the BBC Programme Catalogue - indicating that all episodes exist complete in the BBC archives.

This is unprecedented for Television Club as normally only a few example episodes of each unit have been kept by the BBC.

[edit] A Sequel?

I think that Roy from Roy and the Danelli Job is the same character as Roy from the Look and Read story Len and the River Mob.

Len and the River Mob was created three years earlier, by the same producer and the same writer, and was aimed at children about 3 years younger than Television Club's audience.

Take a look at these other similarities between the two and see if you agree.

Len and the River Mob	Roy and the Danelli Job
Written by Leonard Kingston (from a story by Roy Brown)	Written by Leonard Kingston
Produced by Andrée Molyneux	Produced by Andrée Molyneux
With Kenneth Gardnier as Roy	Starring Kenneth Gardnier as Roy Speed
Roy is a sailor from the West Indies	Roy is a sailor from the West Indies
Roy's ship berths at the London docks	Roy's ship berths at the London docks
Roy is seen flinging water over the side of his cargo ship, so he could be a cook	Roy is "second cook on a cargo ship" per the teacher's notes
Roy loves to sing and play his guitar	Roy loves to sing and play his guitar
Roy singing to Len and Pat	Roy singing to "Mr Slattery"

[edit] Sources & References

• BBC (1971) Television Club Notes for the Teacher, Summer 1971. ISBN 0 563 10074 5
• Fawdry, Kenneth (1974) Everything But Alf Garnett: A Personal View of BBC School Broadcasting, London: BBC. ISBN 0 563 12763 5 pp.148-9
• Kingston, Leonard (1971) Roy and the Danelli Job, London: BBC. ISBN 0 563 10073 7
• Radio Times programme listings, 1971 and 1974

1. ↑ Information about creating the character and Kenneth Fawdry quote from Fawdry (1974) pp.148-149.
2. ↑ Reference to Harry's hotheaded personality and quote about "the major part of the plot would never occur" from BBC (1971) p.1.
3. ↑ Invitations for children to submit work and offer of Television Club certificates in BBC (1971) p.2