Room at the Bottom is a Britcom that aired on BBC1 in 1967 (with a Pilot airing the previous year), starring Kenneth Connor and Deryck Guyler.
Gus Fogg (Connor) is the head of the maintenance department at Titan Products Ltd., working out of the basement of the manufacturing business' large company tower block.
Working under Fogg were "Happy" Brazier (Gordon Rollings), Horace Robinson (Kenny Lynch), and Mr. Salisbury (Brian Wilde), and the quartet went about doing their work as easily as possible and knocking off whatever supplies they could for themselves.
Fogg and his team, by working in maintenance, managed to have the upper hand over many of the high-up executives. In the middle of it all is the Director of Internal Personnel, Mr. Powell (Guyler). Mr. Powell believed that his position gave him superiority over the maintenance men and that he was able to keep them on his side through his ability to "relate to the common man". He was dead wrong though, and as a result, wasn't liked by either the workers or the bosses.
Appearing regularly was Lord Percy (John Horsley), a powerful man who at one point put in a bid to take over Titan Products.
Writers John Esmonde and Bob Larbey were given the chance to write the series after their success with the 1965 radio sitcom Spare a Copper, which also starred Connor with Guyler playing many characters. Guyler would later go on to star in their next sitcom, Please Sir!, as the pedantic and cranky school caretaker, Norman Potter.
The series was wiped after its initial 1967 run, following The BBC's archival policy at the time, meaning the series has been lost to time. However, it wasn't completely forgotten, as it inspired a series of the same name in 1986, with the titular bottom floor now being used by a light entertainment department of a television studio.
Tropes at the Bottom:
- Alliterative Name: The first episode had a One-Shot Character called Cyril Culpepper.
- British Brevity: Only seven episodes following a Pilot were produced in two years.
- "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: The series' theme was done by Kenny Lynch, who also played Horace.
- Dropped After the Pilot: The Pilot featured a character called Mr. Dillington, who was played by Francis Matthews. When the pilot was turned into a full series the next year, Mr. Dillington wasn't included and in his place was Horace, played by Kenny Lynch.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Mr. Powell is one at Titan Products to both the workers and executives; The workers see right through his act of trying to relate to him, whereas the bosses don't think much of him at all.
- No Full Name Given: We don't get to find out Mr. Powell, Happy, or Mr. Salisbury's first names at all during the series' eight-episode run.
- One-Steve Limit: In addition to Lord Percy, there was also a One-Shot Character, Uncle Percy, who appeared in one of Lord Percy's three episodes.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: While Happy's surname (Brazier) was commonly used, his first name was never used in favour of his nickname.
- Pilot: The series had one on Comedy Playhouse in 1966. Notably, Horace wasn't in the pilot and Mr. Dillington (played by Francis Matthews) was in his place, while Happy was played by Richard Pearson.
- Pointy-Haired Boss: Mr. Powell, the Director of Internal Personnel at Titan Products, is hopeless at keeping the workers under him happy and on-task. His superiors know this too, and don't give him much regard.
- The Pollyanna: Mr. Powell is relentlessly optimistic, although he is ineffectual and disliked by everyone at Titan Products.
- Short-Runners: The series only aired for a Pilot and a one-series run of seven episodes.
- Shout-Out: The series' title was a play on the 1957 novel Room at the Top.
- Sticky Fingers: Fogg and his men get up to all sorts of petty pilfering at Titan Products, leading to the hiring of a new Internal Security Officer.
