Random front of house film still of the day -

This still is taken from the Gerry and the Pacemakers film, 'Ferry Cross The Mersey' (1965) where Margaret played Norah, art student and part of the 'gang' that hang around with the Gerry and the other Merseybeat groups featured in the film. More on this film to come...

Adam Adamant Lives! (1966)

Frozen in time Edwardian gent is revived in 1966 where he fights crime and combats dastardly deeds! - oh those 'wacky' sixties television ideas!

The BBC looking for their take on The Avengers consulted many of the people originally behind 'Doctor Who' and this is what they came up with. An entertaining show, well acted by the then dashing Gerald Harper and sixties 'chick' Juliet Harmer. Special mention must be made of the Edwardian ability to drive a Mini Cooper!!! Despite this series being such a silly premise, I still enjoy watching it a lot.

Margaret plays a femme fatale used to as a honey trap to extort money from wealthy 'respectable' businessmen who should really know better. Whilst a small role for Margaret, clearly her plausibility as a seductive lure holds up here and despite some 'clunky' acting from some of the other cast members, she comes out the other side quite intact from this quirky slice of sixties nonsense!

FULL EPISODE for your pleasure(!) here -

 

Another lost BBC programme...

Does anyone have any more material on this? or even video?? 

Get in touch if you have.

Budgie T.V. Series

In the 1970's, film star and singer Adam Faith had a highly successful drama series where he starred as lovable rogue Ron 'Budgie' Bird. Despite having a long suffering girlfriend, Budgie also sought solace with Inga  - played by Margaret.

Inga crops up in many episodes but a key episode to feature her is 'Brief Encounter'. Broadcast in 1972, I find this episode is a bittersweet tale brilliantly acted by all involved, with a particular emphasis on Margaret's quite moving portrayal as poor Inga. I have included a link to the YouTube clip from 'Brief Encounter'!

Toomorrow film (1970)

 

Somewhat of a curious project this one, involving aliens requiring the power of music! Nevertheless, Margaret turns in a sterling performance as alien agent 'Johnson'. One of two aliens sent to capture a band, Johnson adopts the form of a glamorous female to lure band member Vic Cooper or as Johnson refers to him, "VICCOOPER".

Interestingly, this film seems to act as more of a vehicle to showcase the singing talents of the then fledgling star, Olivia Newton-John. She went on to have a successful music career before hitting the big time in the film 'Grease'. The film itself was produced by the Rank Organisation, directed by screen legend Val Guest and Bond producer Harry Saltzman co-produced with Don Kirshner, all big names for such an oddball film!

With about twelve and a half thousand views on YouTube to date, this collection of Margaret clips (below) vamping it up as a seductive alien 'Johnson' seems to be very popular despite the relative obscurity of the film.

  

 

 

BBC 'Hugh and I' comedy programme

A highly successful comedy series starring comedy legends Hugh Lloyd and Terry Scott.
This was so successful, the BBC commissioned six series of this show (but sadly many of these episodes are deemed destroyed or missing.) 
The episode 'Goodbye Dolly' featuring Margaret as Dolly and is one of the many of those episodes 'missing in action' and apart from a few remaining episodes available to view on YouTube, material on this series is very hard to track down. I managed to locate a clipping with a brief few words from Margaret.

http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/ - The BBC Genome website - for those interested in classic television this site is a must. Established a couple of years ago, it lists the Radio Times published t.v. schedules for the BBC from 1923 to 2009!

 

This also means that the missing 'presumed destroyed' broadcasted programmes that include Margaret appear here so you can at least get an idea of synopsis, transmission date and cast list.


Below is a grab of a search for Margaret Nolan related material -