The Rag Trade


The Rag Trade is a British television sitcom broadcast by the BBC between 1961 and 1963 and by ITV between 1977 and 1978. Although a comedy, it shed light on gender, politics and the "class war" on the factory floor.
The scripts were written by partners Chesney and Wolfe, who later wrote Wild, Wild Women, Meet the Wife and On the Buses. Wild, Wild Women was a period variation of The Rag Trade.

Synopsis

The action centred on a fictional small clothing workshop, Fenner's Fashions in London. Although run by Harold Fenner and the foreman and pattern cutter Reg Turner, the female workers are led by militant shop steward Paddy Fleming, ever ready to strike, with the catchphrase "Everybody out!" Other cast members included Sheila Hancock, Esma Cannon, Wanda Ventham in series 2 and Barbara Windsor replacing Sheila Hancock.
In 1975, a colour pilot was made; with only Peter Jones reprising his role; this pilot featured a young Tony Robinson, Gaye Brown, Jumoke Debayo, Diane Langton, Annabel Leventon, Jamila Massey, Mollie Maureen and Trixie Scales.
The theme tune for this colour pilot was performed by Alex Welsh and his Band. However, this was never transmitted, as the BBC rejected the colour revival of the series.
Two years later, the series was revived by ITV company LWT, with Jones and Karlin reprising their roles. The 1977–78 version ran for two series, most of the scripts being based on the BBC episodes from the 1960s, and featured Anna Karen and future EastEnders star Gillian Taylforth as factory workers.
The theme tune for the LWT series was written and performed by Lynsey de Paul and released as a track on an album of TV themes that also featured another de Paul-penned theme "Hi Summer".
In 1990, the series was remade as Fredrikssons Fabrikk by NRK in Norway. The cast comprised both Norwegian and Swedish actors, and the series was broadcast by SVT in Sweden as well. It ran for three seasons and a feature film version Fredrikssons Fabrikk – The Movie in 1994 with a script credited to Chesney and Wolfe, and Norwegian series writer Andreas Markusson.

Cast

All series

On original transmission many episodes of the original BBC TV series of The Rag Trade were not given titles, so some are from production notes and repeat screenings.

Original BBC TV series

Series 1 (1961)

Series 2 (1962)

Christmas Night with the Stars
25 December 1962 – featured a short sketch.

Series 3 (1963)

Colour pilot (1975)

LWT relaunch series

Series 4 (1977)

Christmas special (1977)

Series 5 (1978)

Missing episodes

Because of the BBC's wiping policy of that era, of the 36 episodes made only 20 episodes of the original BBC Television version still exist in the BBC archives.
Series 1 of the original BBC TV version of the show has eight episodes surviving and two episodes missing from the archive. The DVD release of Series 1 has the episodes out of broadcast order. Series 2 of the original BBC TV version of the show has 11 episodes surviving and two episodes missing from the archive, with the episodes in their correct broadcast order on the Series 2 DVD release. Only one of the 13 episodes of the third BBC TV series currently exists – "Baby Dolls", which was confirmed to have been unearthed by Philip Morris of the Television International Enterprises Archive and returned to the BBC in 2018.

Music

"The Rag Trade" was the theme song to the 1977 revival of The Rag Trade, The song was written by Lynsey de Paul, but the vocals are credited to Joan Brown singing "It's the rag trade" over a quirky tune, sounding remarkably like de Paul. Indeed, some sources credit the vocal performance of the song to de Paul. The recording was arranged by John Bell and the conductor was Denis King. It was released on an album of TV themes on the DJM Records subsidiary label Weekend Records. The DVD set featuring all 22 episodes of the LWT episodes, with the theme music at the beginning and ending of every episode, was released by Network. The original version of "The Rag Trade" can be heard on de Paul's official website.

DVD release

Eight of the ten surviving episodes from Series 1 were released on DVD by DD Home Entertainment in March 2006, although they were out of broadcast order. The 11 existing episodes of Series 2 were released on DVD by Simply Media 7 months later in October 2006, in their correct broadcast order.
A 4-disc set consisting of the 19 surviving episodes from the first two series of the show were later released on 23 October 2017 by Simply Media, although Series 1 episodes remained out of broadcast order.
All 22 episodes of both colour series 4 and 5 of the LWT version of the series, including the 1977 Christmas special, have been released on DVD by Network, under the titles "The Rag Trade: The Complete First LWT Series" and "The Rag Trade: The Complete Second LWT Series", and then all re-released under the title "The Rag Trade: The Complete LWT Series".