Budgie (TV series)

Lore & Background

The series consisted of a sequence of stories, sometimes spread across two episodes, depicting Budgie's involvement in hare-brained schemes to make money, usually on the wrong side of legality, and invariably for local boss Charlie Endell. Budgie often failed, being continually the victim of circumstance or sharper underworld operators. The opening credits showed Budgie trying to grab banknotes blowing in the wind. Plots included trying to unload thousands of stolen ballpoint pens stamped with a logo possibly reading 'Her Majesty's Government', arranging a pornographic film show that turned out to be a real Laurel and Hardy movie, and accidentally stealing a police van full of confiscated pornography that blew away during a cricket match.

Reader's Guide

Budgie holds significance as a distinctive British television series from the early 1970s, showcasing Adam Faith's transition from pop star to actor. The show was originally going to be called The Loser, a title rejected by the network. Two series of 13 episodes each were made, with the first four episodes in monochrome due to industrial action despite colour equipment being available. A third series was possibly planned for 1973 but coincided with Faith being seriously injured in a car crash and announcing his retirement from acting; despite his recovery, a further series was never commissioned. The series co-starred Iain Cuthbertson as Charlie Endell, leading to a short-lived spin-off, Charles Endell Esquire, produced by Scottish Television in the late 1970s. A musical based on the characters opened at the Cambridge Theatre in London in 1988, running for three months. The series was repeated on Talking Pictures TV from 13 April 2024.

Did You Know?

• The series was originally going to be called The Loser, but this was rejected by the TV network.
• The entire first series (13 episodes) was filmed in black and white because of a technicians' strike, even though colour equipment had been introduced two years earlier.
• A musical based on the series opened at the Cambridge Theatre in London on 18 October 1988 and ran until 21 January 1989.
• London Weekend Television produced a short-lived spin-off series, Charles Endell Esquire, during the late 1970s.

Production & Creative Vision

The Budgie series was a product of London Weekend Television, one of ITV's regional companies, and aired across the ITV network from 1971 through 1972. Behind the camera, the writing duo of Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall crafted the scripts, while Verity Lambert served as producer and Rex Firkin held the executive producer role. In a 2006 interview tied to the DVD release, Lambert revealed that the programme was initially slated to carry the title "The Loser," a name the network ultimately rejected. The show's musical identity shifted between its two series: the first opened with "The Loner," performed by The Milton Hunter Orchestra, while the second adopted "Nobody's Fool," a composition by Ray Davies brought to life by the band Cold Turkey. The opening credits sequence featured Budgie reaching out to catch banknotes swirling in the wind, a visual that set the tone for his perpetual chases after easy money.

Plot & Episodic Structure

Each episode of Budgie followed Ronald "Budgie" Bird as he stumbled into some ill-conceived money-making scheme, typically on the sketchy side of the law and almost always at the behest of his local boss, Charlie Endell. The stories sometimes stretched across two episodes, and Budgie's plans consistently unraveled through bad luck or the superior cunning of more seasoned criminals he was trying to imitate. One memorable storyline saw him purchasing thousands of stolen ballpoint pens from a fence, only to discover they bore a government logo, rendering them unsellable. In another, he arranged a "pornographic" hotel screening that turned out to be a genuine Laurel and Hardy film, forcing a hasty exit before the audience realized their error. A third plot involved accidentally commandeering a police van loaded with confiscated adult magazines, then attempting to destroy the evidence in a bonfire whose pages scattered across a field moments before a prison cricket match was due to begin.

Cast & Character Relationships

Adam Faith, already a household name as a pop singer, took on his first television starring role as Budgie, a chirpy Cockney petty criminal whose nickname derived from the budgerigar birds popular as English pets. Opposite him, Iain Cuthbertson brought a suave, Machiavellian quality to Charlie Endell, a Glaswegian gangster operating out of London who employed Budgie both against his better judgment and as a convenient scapegoat. Endell's silent wife, Mrs Endell, was played by June Lewis. Lynn Dalby appeared as Budgie's girlfriend Hazel Fletcher, with Stella Tanner as her mother. Rio Fanning made three appearances as Grogan, Budgie's gullible Irish companion. Guest stars included Georgina Hale as Budgie's wife Jean, George Tovey as his father Jack, and Adrienne Posta as a young stripper. John Rhys-Davies, in what was an early semi-regular role, portrayed a corpulent henchman for Endell named Laughing Spam Fritter. The character of Charlie Endell proved so popular that Scottish Television later produced a short-lived spin-off, Charles Endell Esquire, in the late 1970s.

Narrative Arc & Character Trajectory

The two-series run of Budgie traced a deliberate downward spiral for its protagonist. Series One opened with Budgie's release from an open prison and his immediate entanglement with Endell's criminal world, culminating in his arrest for handling a stolen fruit machine—a charge Endell himself had engineered to use Budgie as a fall guy. Series Two picked up with Budgie back inside at Fern Open Prison, where Endell visits solely to extract three thousand pounds from a fellow inmate, offering Budgie a ten percent cut as incentive. Upon release, he faces a cascade of personal losses: his wife has been unfaithful with a prison acquaintance, his mother has died, his father refuses him, and his girlfriend Hazel is now pregnant. A beating from Endell and one of his henchmen, combined with a stripper he has taken a liking to announcing she is emigrating, leaves Budgie in a state of deep desolation. The series closes with him walking away from all of it, heading toward an uncertain new life.