No. 73
| No 73 | |
|---|---|
Door to the No. 73 house as featured in opening credits
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| Genre |
Children's Entertainment |
| Created by | John Dale |
| Directed by | J. Nigel Pickard Michael Kerrigan Mike Adams Janie Grace Alistair Clark |
| Starring |
Sandi Toksvig Neil Buchanan Andrea Arnold Nick Staverson Kim Goody Patrick Doyle Jeannie Crowther Richard Addison Tony Aitken Tony English Nick Wilton Tony Hippolyte Michael Maynard Kate Copstick Julian Callaghan Nadia de Lemeny Richard Waites Robert Debenham Jo Connor David Rubin Tessa Morton Frank Sidebottom |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 8 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Richard Leyland Anna Home J. Nigel Pickard Janie Grace John Dale |
| Producer(s) | John Dale J. Nigel Pickard Jeff Dowson Tim Edmunds |
| Camera setup | Multiple-camera setup |
| Running time | 75 to 105 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV Network (CITV) |
| Picture format | 4:3 |
| Original release | 2 January 1982 – 2 January 1988 |
No 73, later re-titled 7T3, was a British 1980s children's TV show produced by Television South (TVS) for the ITV network. It was broadcast live on Saturday mornings and ran from 1982 to 1988. The show starred, amongst others, Sandi Toksvig, Neil Buchanan, Andrea Arnold, Kim Goody and Kate Copstick.
When Television South won the contract to provide ITV coverage for the South of England in 1980, the first thing they set up was a children's department. A team put together with a background in theatre and drama, soon decided to produce a Saturday morning show that differed from the usual Tiswas and Saturday Superstore formula: This show would feature actors in character as hosts, performing their own comedic storyline around the usual guests, music videos, competitions and cartoons. Much of the show was improvised, and a whole week of rehearsals plus an extensive dress rehearsal on Friday preceded each live broadcast on Saturday morning.
No 73 opened its door to the public for the first time on 2 January 1982 at 11.00 am, but only as a regional programme in the South and South East of England (much of the ITV network continued to carry Tiswas). Ethel Davis (Sandi Toksvig), an eccentric old lady who progressively got younger as the show went on, owned the place. Harry Stern (Nick Staverson) was introduced as her bumbling nephew. Dawn Lodge (Andrea Arnold), the roller-boot-wearing female lodger, quickly became the go-to person for the animal spot with international vet David Taylor. Most eccentric of all, Patrick Doyle appeared as Percy Simmonds, inventor and love interest to Ethel. Each episode ended with Ethel hosting the ("daring, dazzling, death-defyingly dull, devastatingly dangerous, delectable, delicatestible, divinely decadent") Sandwich Quiz, a madcap-general knowledge game pitting two of that week's guests against each other.
The show returned in the summer of that same year, still being broadcast from Southampton studios and only shown to TVS viewers. Neil Buchanan had unofficially joined the cast as the resident caricaturist and another major cast member, Kim Goody, first appeared this season performing at the TVS theatre in Gillingham, where Percy held a job as handyman. Neighbours Martin and Hazel Edwards (Richard Addison and Jeannie Crowther) from No 75 also started to figure into the storyline, usually with Martin being at odds with Ethel.
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