Maureen Sweeney

Maureen Sweeney:

Getting her first camera appearance in 'Holiday On The Buses' (1973) as another of those easy-going dollybirds unfathomably drawn to brilliantined bus driver Stan, Maureen Sweeney went on to establish a solid career lasting well into the 2000s.  

'Holiday On The Buses' (1973)

A string of tough, sassy roles followed, mostly playing villains' wives, barmaids, and blue collar mums in various London-set dramas and comedies. She had a regular stint in the caravan comedy 'Romany Jones' with Arthur Mullard and the irreplaceable Queenie Watts, and later appeared in women's prison melodrama 'Within These Walls' and matronly mobster series 'She's Out'.      

In an episode of 'Dempsey & Makepeace' from 1985 

Perhaps surprisingly, she only pops up once in 'The Sweeney', but can be spotted in programmes as varied as 'The Dick Emery Show', 'Crossroads', 'The Duchess Of Duke Street', 'Only Fools And Horses', Rik Mayall's short-lived comedy 'Believe Nothing', and the teen TV drama 'Running Scared'.    

In the 1986 kids' TV drama 'Running Scared' 

And the Clive Owen mini series 'The Echo' from the BBC in 1998 

Later appearances see her move into the familiar TV territory of 'The Bill' and 'Casualty' with her last role to date seemingly being in 2006. 

Maureen Sweeney-imdb

Alan Ford

Alan Ford:

You know him. Intense, real-deal, London-born actor who has virtually created his own sub-type of the gimlet-eyed cockney villain: hard, trim, mod-stylish, a ruthless but rational enforcer or fixer. A slightly different proposition from the affable yet psychopath mob boss (typified by Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, Johnny Shannon, etc), you can watch him in action in some tough East End crime movies beginning with 'The Squeeze' (1977) and encompassing the classic 'The Long Good Friday' (1980) and the latter-day set of 'Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels' (1998) and 'Snatch' (2000) – running through to 'Jack Falls' (2011) and the less than satisfactory reboot of 'The Sweeney' (2012).

 

Rare image from the 1975 schools TV series 'Viewpoint',
radical and sophisticated media studies for the time.   

In the interesting London-set Stacey Keach vehicle
'The Squeeze (1977).  

On TV, as you might expect, there's a lot of London hardcase actioners and cop shows, sometimes on the side of law and order but more often than not as a villain of some sort. He's in 'Minder' ('90s variety) and 'Strangers', as well as a selection of lesser fare: 'Bergerac', 'Chinese Detective' etc,  - and he's racked up an impressive eight different characters in episodes of 'The Bill' stretching from 1985 to 2006...     

With DI Bulman (Don Henderson) in the excellent
ITV cop series 'Strangers' 

Less expected are the roles in a range of comedies. He was in the later series of 'Romany Jones' after the death of James Beck, playing (fell-off-the-back-of-a) lorry driver, Ken. He also appeared in 'Birds Of A Feather', 'Keep It In The Family' and 'The New Statesman', before a memorable turn as a boxing promoter in 'Knowing Me Knowing You With Alan Partridge' led to 'The Armando Iannucci Shows' and Matt Berry projects 'Snuff Box' and 'Toast Of London'.   

         

Despite the robes, delivering the full-on Alan Ford London
geezer treatment. A regular in Matt Berry's 'Snuff Box'.
   

All good stuff, and I notice he's also providing voice performances alongside the remarkable David Graham as one of Parker's dodgy mates, Light-fingered Fred, in the latest version of 'Thunderbirds Are Go'.  

Alan Ford-imdb 

Gay Soper

Gay Soper:

Multi-talented actress and singer Gay Soper is a doyenne of the musical theatre, but has a few interesting points of contact with British TV and film. Her stage career includes the original London production of 'Godspell' with David Essex, Julie Covington, Marti Webb and Jeremy Irons, and playing Mme Thenardier in 'Les Miserables' on the West End.

As Janice, the short-sighted barmaid in 'Bless This House'

Eee, it's 'The Flumps'. Oh Pootle, you are silly.

On TV, she can be seen in the later series of 'Romany Jones', when the writers brought in a posh neighbour couple in place of the late James Beck. Played by Gay Soper and Jonathan Cecil, they provided the comic contrast to rough-and-ready Arthur Mullard and Queenie Watts, with city clerk Cecil bringing in a measly £22 a week and Mullard on five times as much as a manual labourer with a few scams on the side.

Jonathan Cecil seems less keen on leaving his mother's house
for the romantic caravan lifestyle, in 'Romany Jones'.

She also appears in several sitcoms: 'Bless This House', 'Never The Twain', and she co-starred in 'Rude Health' as the wife of put-upon GP John Wells. But perhaps her most lasting claim to television fame came with her narration and singing for the tiny tot series 'The Flumps', about a family of fuzzy Yorkshire gonks living in a desolate moorland cottage.

With John Wells in Channel 4's 'Rude Health'

Movie-wise, there's not too much to report, although she does get to do a striptease for Dickie Attenborough and get spanked by Bob Todd in 'The Ups and Downs of a Handyman' (1976) which starred her then-husband, Barry Stokes. Perhaps unsurprisingly, neither it, nor the X-rated 'Love is a Splendid Illusion' (1970), gets a mention on her website.  

Gay Soper-imdb

Jo Rowbottom

Jo Rowbottom: 

Tending to be cast as strong-willed and sassy women, she was often seen in TV comedies and drama in a string of parts as barmaids, tarts and troublesome servants. She was equally adept at portraying society ladies as she was cockney sparrows, but is best remembered as Betty in "Romany Jones' with the late James Beck. See also 'Little Women', 'I, Claudius' (as Calpurnia), 'The Professionals', 'Z-Cars', 'Steptoe & Son', 'The Baron', 'London's Burning' and 'Dr Who' ('The Evil of the Daleks' in 1967). Terrific legs apparently.

Jo Rowbottom - imdb profile