King’s Lynn beer expert Jeff Hoyle takes a look at TV’s soap opera pubs

Most quiz regulars will know that the first commercial to appear on TV in this country was for Gibbs SR toothpaste. The year was 1955 and since then we have become familiar with the ad break where all kinds of products are touted to the watching public.

In the early days the boundaries between the programmes and the adverts were not so clear cut and a strand of programmes known as admags (advertising magazines) was aired.

One of the best known was Jim’s Inn produced by Granada TV between 1957 and 1963 and set in a fictional village pub supposedly in Wembleham. It was hosted by Norwich born Jimmy Hanley, a child actor who later featured in films such as Olivier’s Henry V (1944) and The Blue Lamp (1950) but more importantly for people of my generation, father of the wonderful Jenny Hanley, presenter of the children’s programme Magpie.

Jim’s Inn featured characters such as Roma who ran a beauty salon, Fred, her husband, the owner of the local garage, Jack, a farmer, Dennis, a commuter and Peggy his wife. They would gather round the bar and discuss a wide variety of products such as those which featured in the 250th edition, Thermos brand vacuum flasks, Gaymer’s Cider, Waft, Goddard’s Gardstick, Ekco Baby-Sitta, Trout Hall Orange Juice, Aquafilter, Fison’s Liquisprayer, and a regular, Ben Truman bitter which, alongside Players cigarettes, was openly on display.

The early episodes went out live with minimal rehearsal. In essence it was the precursor of the soap opera, and it ran for six years and over 300 episodes before the BBC forced it to close down, arguing the programme was misleading a credulous public into thinking that no advertising was taking place.

I believe that there is little evidence of the programme remaining except for one outside broadcast episode from the 1961 Ideal Home exhibition and an LP featuring the whole cast entitled Singalong at Jim’s Inn. In 1960 the Pilkington Committee was set up to report on advertising in British Broadcasting and a result was that in 1963 Admags were banned by an Act of Parliament having been deemed to be misleading.

However, I would suggest that the spirit of Jim’s Inn lives on in the fictional pub found in the soap operas such as the Rover’s Return in Coronation Street. Indeed, Coronation Street was first broadcast in 1960, three years before Jim’s Inn was forced off the air, though in the early days of the Rover’s, women were not allowed to linger at the bar after they had been served, so discussing thermos flasks and the like might have been more difficult.

Situation comedies have also benefitted from the pub or bar setting with The Nags Head appearing in almost every episode of Only Fools and Horses and the American show Cheers seeing the action revolve around the titular bar. Recently, Heineken signed a deal to promote its 0.0% alcohol-free draught beer which can be seen on the bar of the Rovers Return and also The Woolpack in Emmerdale and have characters specify it when ordering their drink.

This has been sanctioned by the NHS due to the perceived health benefits and therefore has been exempted from the rules on product placement.

Thanks to Chris Murray and the Pub History Society for his excellent article in a recent magazine which drew my attention to a programme of which I previously knew nothing.

bar.man@btinternet.com