Plot[]
Charity balls are not easy to organise as Mr Swindley finds out when he volunteers to organise the annual ball for the benefit of the Cottage Homes for retired Dobson and Hawks staff. A £500 target is set and Swindley’s idea to reach this high target is to organise a cabaret evening at the local prestigious Queen’s Hotel. Having overheard the singing voice of Mrs Edgeley he asks her to perform a song with him from The Arabian Princess and they rehearse after work but this brings along suspicions on the part of the jealous Mr. Edgeley. An Arab Sheik, Harun El Kebir, deposed from his own country, is staying at the Queen’s Hotel and a problem is encountered on the night at the fund-raiser when Swindley (in full Arabic costume) mistakes one of the Sheik’s many wives for his canteen manageress. Brought before the Sheik’s Grand Vizier he is coerced into adopting the guise of the Sheik when an emissary from his deposers visits him and brings gifts of dates, figs, Turkish delight and crystallised fruit, all secretly poisoned. Swindley adopts his usual salesman tactic of not buying any foodstuffs that the representative himself would not eat and the plot is revealed. A grateful sheik gives Swindley the £500 needed for the charity and his ensuing cabaret act with Mrs Edgeley in front of Brigadier Hawk is also a success.
Cast[]
Regular cast[]
- Miss Sinclair - Joy Stewart
- Mr Hunt - Robert Dorning
- Leonard Swindley - Arthur Lowe
- Mrs. Edgeley - Betty Driver
Guest cast[]
- Brigadier Hawke - Anthony Sharp
- Grand Vizier - Jerry Desmonde
- Edgar Edgeley - Jimmy Gay
- Captain of the Guard - Leon Greene
- Sheik Harun El Kebir - John Barrard
- Emissary - Norman Chappell
Notes[]
- The episode carried an extra credit of "Song in Sunny Samarkand: lyrics by Christopher Bond, music by Derek Hilton".
- This episode was transmitted on Wednesday 20th April at 9.10pm by both Border Television and Tyne Tees Television; on Thursday 21st April at 6.30pm by Television Wales and the West and on Friday 22nd April at 9.10pm by Scottish Television. Anglia Television did not transmit the episode and along with the rest of the second season the episode was not transmitted by Westward Television, Ulster Television, Channel Television or the Teledu Cymru service of Television Wales and the West either.
- Viewing Figures: First UK broadcast - 6,800,000 homes (8th place).
Commercial releases[]
This episode was included in Network DVD collection Pardon the Expression - The Complete Second Series, released on 24th August, 2009.