Norman Wisdom's film career seemed to be well and truly over by 1970 ( his last cinematic outing being 1969's 'What's Good For The Goose'), so he accepted an offer from A.T.V. to do a sitcom. 'Norman' was penned by Ray Cooney and John Chapman, and cast him as 'Norman Wilkins', an Inland Revenue man who hates taking money. With Sally Bazely and David Lodge ( both of whom had appeared with him in 'Goose' ), it was a modest success.
His next show was not for another three years, and a strange beast it turned out to be. No laugh track, for one thing. And little of the slapstick for which Norman was renowned and loved.
Norman played 'Nobody', a loser with no personality of his own. But when he put on a hat, he suddenly adopted the characteristics of its owner. Were he to don a policeman's helmet, for example, he'd suddenly start bending his knees and whistling the 'Dixon Of Dock Green' theme. If he put on a schoolboy's cap, he would begin acting like Just William. Give him a deerstalker and he'd become Sherlock Holmes. The show was basically 'Mr.Benn' without the fancy dress shop.
'Nobody' lived with his domineering old trout of a mother ( Natalie Kent ), whom his girlfriend Grace ( Priscilla Morgan ) tried to get him away from.
Each week 'Nobody' found himself in a different situation, playing a variation on his character. One episode had him doing a brilliant impersonation of Peter Falk's 'Columbo', but another had him roughed up by gangsters, and his Stan Laurel-like cries were pathetic rather than amusing.
Though a reasonable ratings success, 'Nobody' wasn't seen again, and Norman went on to do the more successful 'A Little Bit Of Wisdom'.
His next show was not for another three years, and a strange beast it turned out to be. No laugh track, for one thing. And little of the slapstick for which Norman was renowned and loved.
Norman played 'Nobody', a loser with no personality of his own. But when he put on a hat, he suddenly adopted the characteristics of its owner. Were he to don a policeman's helmet, for example, he'd suddenly start bending his knees and whistling the 'Dixon Of Dock Green' theme. If he put on a schoolboy's cap, he would begin acting like Just William. Give him a deerstalker and he'd become Sherlock Holmes. The show was basically 'Mr.Benn' without the fancy dress shop.
'Nobody' lived with his domineering old trout of a mother ( Natalie Kent ), whom his girlfriend Grace ( Priscilla Morgan ) tried to get him away from.
Each week 'Nobody' found himself in a different situation, playing a variation on his character. One episode had him doing a brilliant impersonation of Peter Falk's 'Columbo', but another had him roughed up by gangsters, and his Stan Laurel-like cries were pathetic rather than amusing.
Though a reasonable ratings success, 'Nobody' wasn't seen again, and Norman went on to do the more successful 'A Little Bit Of Wisdom'.
