Hinge and Bracket - Television

Television

A number of Hinge and Bracket gala and concert performances were televised by the BBC between 1978 and 1983. Venues included the Royal Hall, Harrogate and the Opera House, Buxton, and the repertoire ranged from Verdi through light opera and musical comedy to music hall. In addition, the BBC recorded a "Dear Ladies Masterclass" (with early-career contributions from baritone Gerard Quinn and pianist Janet Mellor) held at the Royal Northern College of Music and a special performance, co-scripted by Gyles Brandreth, from the Princess Hall, Cheltenham Ladies' College in 1983.

Hinge and Bracket appeared in their own series called Dear Ladies on BBC 2, between 1983 and 1985. The theme music ('Dear Ladies, the fairest of all to see') was written and performed by Logan and Fyffe themselves and the scripts were written by Gyles Brandreth. Locations were picturesque Cheshire towns and villages, including Knutsford, Great Budworth and Nantwich. Three series were made, including a pilot, (in the pilot, Tewkesbury the butcher and Donald the vicar were played by different actors), but Frances Cox who played Grace Pullit, the librarian in the pilot, continued to play her in all three series. A few small changes were made to some of the props in Series 3, this included the sofa and arm chairs, which were now covered in pink cushion covers, (instead of rose patterned ones) and Dr.Evadne herself was now wearing a slightly different pair of Brown half-moon spectacles and chain, also a different font of lettering was used for the opening and end credits. In this final series, there is a scene where we get to see Hinge and Bracket wearing identical patterned dresses, (normally they didn't share the same taste in clothes), but it showed that occasionally these two old friends did share the same taste in things, other than in music.