Jam & Jerusalem

Jam & Jerusalem
Still frame from the title sequence of Jam & Jerusalem
Also known as	'Clatterford'
Genre	Situation comedy
Created by	Jennifer Saunders
Starring	Sue Johnston Pauline McLynn Dawn French Joanna Lumley Jennifer Saunders
Theme music composer	The Kinks
Opening theme	"The Village Green Preservation Society" by Kate Rusby
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of series	3
No. of episodes	16
Production
Running time	12x30 minutes 1x40 minutes 3x60 minutes
Release
Original network	BBC One
Picture format	576i (16:9 SDTV)
Original release	24 November 2006 – 23 August 2009
External links
Website

Jam & Jerusalem is a British sitcom that aired on BBC One from 2006 to 2009. Written by Jennifer Saunders and Abigail Wilson, it starred Sue Johnston, Jennifer Saunders, Pauline McLynn, Dawn French, Maggie Steed, David Mitchell, and Sally Phillips. Earlier episodes also starred Joanna Lumley and Doreen Mantle. On BBC America the first series was aired as Clatterford.

The show centres on a Women's Guild in a small, fictional, West Country town called Clatterford St. Mary. It first aired on 24 November 2006. The second series began airing on 1 January 2008 with a 40-minute special and finished on 1 February 2008. The third series was filmed from April 2009. It consists of three one-hour specials, and began its broadcast on BBC One on 9 August 2009.

In November 2009, on her blog, Pauline McLynn announced that Jam & Jerusalem would not be returning for a fourth series. She later stated that it was the decision of the BBC and not Jennifer Saunders.

The first episode of Jam & Jerusalem was shot in Autumn 2005 as a pilot (not broadcast at the time) and led to the BBC commissioning of the rest of the six-part series and a Christmas special which were filmed in Autumn 2006. The second series was filmed in Autumn 2007. Both series were filmed in North Tawton, Devon, on nearby Dartmoor, and in Staines.

The programme is one of a group of shows being recorded in High-Definition for a trial run in November on the BBC. The theme tune is a version of The Kinks' "The Village Green Preservation Society" sung by Kate Rusby, whose songs are also used as incidental music. Jam & Jerusalem has no laugh track and is not recorded before a studio audience. The title phrase has traditionally been associated with the Women's Institute in England and Wales, which is popularly supposed to devote much time to the making of jam, and for which the hymn "Jerusalem" is an unofficial anthem.