Tom Mennard stepped into Coronation Street as Sam Tindall in 1985 - preparing for a local bowling tournament. He quickly became a suitor for that Weatherfield femme fatale Phyllis Pearce - but, sadly, she didn't really reckon 'im. He lacked the drive and persona of a certain Mr Sugden. Of course, our Phyllis weren't above using Sam to try and arouse a bit of jealousy in old Percy. Bowls? Formation dancing? She was that desperate she'd have tried anything. But it was all to no avail.
Never mind. Sam did try to sell his dog Dougal's services to Terry Duckworth and Curly Watts as a ratter in 1985, and in the same year he was happy to win Percy Sugden's Christmas pudding in a raffle - until Alf Roberts sat on it.
Sam was a 'permanent occasional' character in Coronation Street from September 1985 to May 1989. He arrived unheralded as a customer at Jim's Café, and left the same way.
Sam was quite fun, and - sometimes carrying his dog Dougal in a bag - was a distinctive sight around the Street, although, like Phyllis, he never actually lived there.
I enjoyed Sam. Not the most fascinating of characters, but quite a gentle one, well played by the actor. Characters like that were an asset to the Street back then.
But I was already a huge fan of Tom Mennard before his Street debut and felt that his talents were rather underused on the show.
Picture it... the early 1980s... a scruffy young ratbag in a dreadful 'lad's cave' bedroom is twiddling his radio knob in despair. In those days, Radio 1 with John Peel in the evenings played 'music' that sounded like a tin bath falling down a flight of concrete steps. The scruffy young ratbag usually listened to Radio Luxemburg instead, but the reception was lousy and on this particular night he was desperately seeking something half decent he could actually hear when he happened upon the dulcet tones of Tom Mennard, talking about his mates at a pub called the Goat and Compasses and the dreadful affect fresh air could have on a body when it left a pub. You see, it wasn't alcohol at all...
I (AKA the scruffy young ratbag) listened - at first bemused and then amused.
I later discovered I was listening to a series called Tom Mennard Tells Local Tales on BBC Radio 2. Radio 2?! Yuck, wouldn't usually give it house room, but I was going through a touch of the love life traumas at the time (don't get me started) and was in the mood to be soothed by a bit of comforting older generation daftness.
I liked what I heard.
Local Tales began in March 1981, and ran for a few years - ending sometime in the mid-to-late decade. Each tale only lasted about twelve minutes, but, although I preferred the blossoming alternative comedy scene, there was no denying Tom's ability to spin a good yarn and I was captivated.
The Radio Times synopsis for 12 March 1981 read:
Tom Mennard
Tells Local Tales
Welcome to Tom's world. The scene is the ' Goat and Compasses ', the cast - Tom, Harry , Charlie and Fred. The stories, well, they're just Local Tales. Order yourself a pint, sit down and listen. Written by TOM MENNARD Producer MIKE CRAIG BBC Manchester
The set-up was Tom doing a spot of stand-up, weaving tales of himself and his pals. There was nothing trendy or ground-breaking about it. Radio 2 was a station for fogies (it plays 1980s music these days and I listen to it regularly, so it obviously isn't for fogies anymore), but I'd always been partial to old fogey tales. Tom wrote it all himself and I think he was a bit of a genius.
Whether white-washing the local sewers or watching a male stripper on a coach outing to Blackpool, Tom, sounding like a rather more animated Sam Tindall, made me smile. Lots.
It was all beautifully droll and charmingly naïve. When hearing that the wife of a bloke in the local pub was having an affair, Tom assumed that the reason for the bloke's distress was because she'd got expensive caterers in.
Well, you would, wouldn't you?
Tom, born in Beeston, Leeds, had once been a bus driver in Brighton. He began writing scripts for local amateur village hall-style shows and in the mid-1950s began a career as an entertainer in music hall, radio and television. Through this, he first met Jill Summers and Bill Waddington - later, of course, his Street co-stars.
While The Good Old Days was shamelessly nostalgia-based, the Local Tales landed Tom and his pals squarely in the 1980s, with mentions of the Unions, unemployment and government cutbacks.
Tom had quite a lot to do with BBC radio in the 1980s. In 1980 and 1981 he starred in a Radio 4 series called Wrinkles - set in an old folks' home and written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor - who gave us the sublime Red Dwarf on TV in 1988. I didn't hear Wrinkles at the time, but I have heard several episodes since. It's fab - probably a bit ahead of its time - with distinctly surreal touches. Tom starred as the caretaker at the home. It's highly recommended. Superlative in fact (you'll get the reference if you have a listen).
Tom also had acting roles in other TV shows apart from the Street - including Dad's Army, All Creatures Great and Small and Open All Hours.
Jim's Café, 1985. Sam and Phyllis talk hotpot.
Tom's own rare Lhasa Apso miniature dog, Dougal, played the Dougal of bag fame in the show. Tom also kept hamsters, tropical fish and caged birds, including zebra finches, a cockatiel, canaries and a wydah bird.
Dougal even had his own bank account and fan club. Lucky lad. I wonder if he had Mr Dog for dinner?
The character of Sam Tindall was simply designed as a component of the Phyllis/Percy scenario. He was a pawn in lovelorn Phyllis's game really - her desire to win Percy's affections was so great she'd stop at nothing. The occasional Street appearances suited Tom, who was then living in Dorset. But I think he could have brought a lot of fun to a larger role, particularly if the production team had revealed the Goat and Compasses to be Sam's usual local when not pursuing Phyllis - thus revealing a hidden and hilarious life for Sam. With a bit of tweaking, Tom's tales would have fitted beautifully into the Street setting.
Tom died in November 1989. Back On The Street remembers him fondly.
