Rest Assured

Rest Assured was a proposed comedy series that would be a spin-off from Coronation Street in much the same way as Pardon the Expression was between 1965 and 1966.

The premise of the series was to follow the comic misfortunes of Street characters Ray Langton and Jerry Booth as played by Neville Buswell and Graham Haberfield and the series got as far as the recording of a half-hour pilot episode entitled Lift Off in 1972. For unknown reasons a series was never commissioned and although some sources (e.g. Internet Movie Database) state that the pilot was screened on Monday 20th November 1972 the programme does not appear in either the TV Times or newspaper television listings. It is possible that the date quoted was an intended broadcast date or even a recording date.

The pilot was both written and produced by H.V. Kershaw and directed by Nick Burrell-Davies. Among the guest cast was Fred Feast who earlier in the year had made his Street debut as Fred Gee, a bit-part part which would develop into a regular cast member from 1976 to 1984.

The master tape of the pilot still exists in the Granada archives.

Lift Off
Jerry and Raymond are insurance salesmen and we follow their adventures as they interact with their clients in a set of flats.

Cast

 * Jerry Booth - Graham Haberfield
 * Ray Langton - Neville Buswell
 * Mrs Johnson - Gwyneth Powell
 * Mrs Heywood - Betty Hardy
 * Beryl - Margaret Shelvin
 * Unknown - Fred Feast
 * Mrs Minto - Ruth Kettlewell
 * Boy - Bruce Watt