The Dustbinmen
| The Dustbinmen | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Comedy |
| Written by |
Jack Rosenthal John Antrobus Kenneth Cope Adele Rose |
| Starring |
Graham Haberfield Bryan Pringle Trevor Bannister Tim Wylton John Barrett |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 20 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Granada Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV |
| Original release | 23 September 1969 – 31 August 1970 |
The Dustbinmen is a British television sitcom made by Granada Television for ITV, which starred Bryan Pringle, Trevor Bannister, Graham Haberfield and Tim Wylton. The show was a spin-off from a one-off 90-minute television film There's a Hole in Your Dustbin, Delilah (1968) written by Jack Rosenthal and directed by Michael Apted. This led to the sitcom which ran for three series between 1969 and 1970. Rosenthal wrote all of the episodes of the first two series.
Cheese and Egg, Heavy Breathing, Winston Platt and Eric were the crew of dustcart 'Thunderbird 3' of the Corporation Cleansing Department—the name obviously being an ironic reference to the aircraft in Thunderbirds. Also known as 'Number 3 Gang', throughout the day they collect dustbins and treat each other, or anyone else, with rudeness and disdain. Cheese and Egg, whose real name was C. E. Petty, is a fervent communist and the natural-born leader of the gang; with his knowledge, the gang can escape sticky situations if they are lucky. Heavy Breathing, "the one with the good looks", is obliged to spend much of his time pleasuring housewives—something he finds quite annoying when he would prefer to be resting. Winston Platt, a die-hard fan of Manchester City, viewed player Colin Bell as a god. Welsh Eric, the more sensitive Coronation Street-fan, spends most of time talking about television and saving to buy a colour TV for his mother.
The Cleansing Department's inspector was always known as Bloody Delilah regardless of who he was. He kept the nickname because, according to Cheese and Egg in episode 2.1, "They're all bloody Delilahs". Another character, who appeared in all 20 episodes, was Smellie Ibbotson. He started as the scavenger on the tips but was later promoted to be Bloody Delilah's lapdog, reporting on who was skiving and what they were up to. Not everyone liked Smellie, not just because he was smelly, but also since he was difficult to understand (as he had no teeth).
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