For June

For June

Having a Classic or Vintage television DVD collection is like having shelves crammed full of old dusty family albums of relatives you never knew you had or had vaguely heard about. Such is the power of that television or radio that sits in the corner of your sitting room. It has the illusion to cultivate an extended family you either wished for or thanked your lucky stars you weren’t in the middle of.

It’s very rare, nay impossible, to have that familiar televisual family member who not only runs the course of most the albums but is woven into their very fabric. Yesterday that very binding was loosened by the sad loss of that rarest of those jewels, the immortal entertainer.

June Rosemary Whitfield was one of those eternal faces that is almost burnt into the very DNA of television light entertainment. A person who can be relied upon to bring calm where there is calamity and stability where there is stupidity, but yet remain believable and rock solid.

June started her career choosing to sing for her supper in musicals at local theatres; spotted there she managed to join the cast on a BBC radio show in 1946 with Wilfred Pickles. Returning to the stage her big break came in early 1953 where she joined the established BBC radio comedy ‘Take It From Here’ starring alongside such established performers as Jimmy Edwards and Dick Bentley. Here June was in the good creative writing hands of Frank Muir, Denis Norden and Barry Took and from this platform June would start to mould her future house style as the unflappable and formidable comedic female foil.  With the odd appearance with comedy master Tony Hancock as the ‘token female in the sketch’ in this male dominated Television series she managed to rise head and shoulders above the regular artists making sure not to eclipse Hancock himself.

Now comfortable inhabiting the world of the fickle viewing public, June was beginning to become a regular face on the box and a she recalled being a very shy reluctant television personality.

On the 24th May 1966 the 'Comedy Playhouse' transmitted a pilot for a new situation comedy called ‘Beggar My Neighbour’, the leading role being credited to June.

This was the moment when her situation comedy tag begins to swing in the light breeze. But never underestimate the power of June’s comedic performance, just because it's light entertainment or Situation Comedy it doesn’t mean her performance is bland treadmill stuff. The series also stared Reg Varney and Peter Jones, and it ran for 3 series from 1967 with a short sketch for ‘Christmas Night With The Stars’, such were the characters' popularity.

Alas like many early shows most of its episodes have been wiped, save for a handful from the first two series.

The sharp wit and observant eye of June could raise the level of the other performers' delivery and boost a lack lustre script. June had a gentle but professional way about her which sat well with the audience and gained her great professional respect.

Moving through the 1970s she would eventually come to meet her comedy onscreen partner that would help create the immortal persona of the suburban husband and wife.

'Terry And June' wasn’t the only meeting of these two ‘old hands’ that would burn indelibly into the memories of the viewing public. ‘Happy Ever After’ aired by the BBC from 1974-1978 ran for 6 series. A family sitcom that would regularly get top prime time  billing and became the target of many a spoof comedy show of life in curtain twitching suburbia .

Following the ending of this series in 1978 the now legendary situation comedy ‘Terry And June’ started to air. There were similarities with ‘HEA’, however ‘Terry And June’ had dropped the tired format of the comfortable family group and the surname of ‘Fletcher’ (no relation to Norman Stanley…….. I hope) was replaced by the surname ‘Medford’. The series would run for 65 episodes, often viewed as sitcom royalty by BBC and the viewing public. It spawned the now iconic patio calamity scene featuring both Terry and June in various acts of failure, helping to promote the impression of a good clean family sitcom.

To get here, June would appear in a number of ‘Carry On’ films, make guest appearances in such comedy programmes as ‘The Goodies’, ‘The Dick Emery Show’ and the Thames Television sitcom ‘Bless this House’ on one occasion. It seemed June was never off our screens, often seen as a safe familiar face by the advertising companies and appeared on many commercial television prime time ads.

From the early 1980s June returned to the radio and could be heard every week on Radio 4’s ‘The News Huddlines’ with Roy Hudd which ran until 2001. She was well know for her parodies of a certain Prime Minster and her Majesty the Queen.

June had this ability to reach out and touch many a television generation, and through the anarchic BBC show ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ she was to find a new persona and space in the hearts of this new viewing generation. As that sharp tongued under-appreciated mother of Jenifer Saunders’s character Eddie Monsoon she cut a swathe through modern fast-moving comedy without breaking a sweat, like the ‘old pro’ she had become.  For me she was the best thing in it, cutting other characters to the quick with her conversation stopping ‘one-liners’.

Again, June would go on to appear in many BBC and ITV television dramas, casting off the shackles of the sitcom mantle which she had carried for nearly 3 decades, even appearing in an episode of 'Doctor Who' as an over-amorous pensioner.

Never forgetting her wireless roots June would return time and again to the BBC to appear in both comedy and serious drama.

And after this tireless career of entertaining the masses, she was made a Dame in 2017.

It saddens me to think that this television immortal June Whitfield may only be remembered by the public as Terry Scott’s TV wife and comedy foil. June brought so much to the world of entertainment that is often forgotten or lost to the sands of eternity through the wiping of her early television appearances. She was witty, versatile, a friendly smiling face at times of adversity and a really safe pair of hands. So many owe so much to this talented lady who once said she would never be the beautiful leading lady in a production, but was happy with the breaks life had given her.

So, in my head now, I can see a small semi in a quiet 1970s London suburban street having its front door opened by a charming, slim, light haired woman wearing one of those red 1970s knee length heavy knitted coats with fake black fur collars and cuffs. She closes the door behind her and hangs her coat up in the hall. A man’s voice calls out from the sitting room ‘Is that you, June?’

June walks into the sitting room where Terry greets her. ‘Hello dear’ replies June. Terry hands her a glass of sherry which she takes. He raises his glass of scotch to her sherry glass, they clink together. ‘It's not been a bad life has it’ say Terry.

The audience applauds, the credits roll and the screen fades to black.

Thanks for the laughs June, you shall always be that unforgettable relative I never met.

June Whitfield DBE 1925-2018

(Written by Warren Cummings)

('Round The Archives' cover by Martin Holmes)