City Lights (1984 TV series)

This article is about the BBC Scotland show. For the ITV show, see City Lights (ITV series). For the Canadian show, see City Lights (1973 TV series).

City Lights
Genre	Comedy
Written by	Bob Black
Directed by	Ron Bain Colin Gilbert
Starring	Dave Anderson Andy Gray Gerard Kelly Iain McColl
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	6
No. of episodes	39
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Original release
Network	BBC1
Release	21 December 1984 (1984-12-21) – 16 December 1991 (1991-12-16)

City Lights is a Scottish television sitcom made by BBC Scotland and set in Glasgow. It ran from 1984 to 1991 (networked 1987 to 1991) and was written by Bob Black. Two stage shows, featuring the original cast, toured Scotland.

Premise

It starred Gerard Kelly as Willie Melvin, a bank-teller at the fictional Strathclyde Savings Bank (whose logo was very similar to the TSB), with dreams of becoming a novelist. Most of the plots revolved around his attempts to get his book, the autobiographical My Childhood Up A Close, published, however his efforts are continually thwarted by both his own incompetence and overall gullibility. He frequently gets led astray by best friend Chancer Andy Gray, who has a penchant for get-rich-quick schemes and various dodgy dealings that backfire, with Willie getting caught up in the resulting mess. None of this ingratiates Willie with his long suffering boss and bank manager McLelland (who is always looking for an excuse to fire him), and constantly exasperates his mother, played by Jan Wilson.

Cast and characters

He was held back in this by his own incompetence, the dodgy dealings of his best friend Chancer (Andy Gray), and the lack of support he gained from his mother (Jan Wilson), the bank's manager Adam McLelland (Dave Anderson) and his obsequious fellow teller, Brian (Jonathan Watson). Other recurring characters included Chancer's friend Tam (Iain McColl) and Willie's love interests, Janice (Elaine Collins, Series 1 and 2) and Fiona (Ann Bryson, Series 4 and 5).

Billy Connolly guest-starred in one episode.

External links

• City Lights at BBC Online
• City Lights at BBC Online Comedy Guide
• City Lights at IMDb
• City Lights at British TV Resources