Alexander the Greatest

Alexander the Greatest was a sitcom produced by ATV that ran for two series in 1971 and 1972. Like so many shows of that era it is lost in the midst of time for most viewers but in this case that does seem unfortunate.

The show was focused on the title character of Alexander Green, a 16-year-old schoolboy who may be set for great things if he is not thwarted by his family and the "deprivations" of being raised in suburban affluence. The memorable title song highlights how he should be admired and the opening titles show him on a park's football field not just firing a shot at goal but also saving it while watched by admiring young female spectators; then in upbeat mood he marches up in his school uniform to get an ice cream from a van. All seems set fair for this talented young man. This title song was the work of three men - Ron Roker, Barry Green and Bernard Kops, a successful writer of novels and plays as well as of this series. Both Ron Roker and Barry Green were pop songwriters with Barry Green going on to solo fame under the more memorable name of Barry Blue, best known for a big hit in 1973 with "Dancin' on a Saturday Night"; both also worked at times with Lynsey de Paul so it's no surprise they turned out a memorable song here.

Bernard Kops was Jewish and often wrote about Jewish characters and life and that is to the fore here with the Greens being Jewish - this was quite possibly the first British sitcom about a Jewish family. It comprised of parents Joe and Fay, eldest child Renata and Alexander. Veteran actor Sydney Tafler played Joe with Canadian actress Libby Morris as Fay. She was an experienced comic performer as was Adrienne Posta as their daughter Renata. Gary Warren as Alexander was the least experienced of the four but had already been one of the young stars in the acclaimed 1970 film version of "The Railway Children". Peter Birrel also featured regularly in the first series as Renata's fiancé Murray. Also making a number of early appearances were Spencer Banks (who had just starred in science fiction show "Timeslip") as Alexander's mild-mannered friend Anthony, usually known by the nickname of "Four Eyes" with Sara Clee as his more outgoing and provocative sister Lucinda. Oddly Maggie Wells is credited as playing Lucinda in one episode and the part may have been recast which would be very unusual within the same short run of episodes. Another unusual feature was that the scheduled first episode "The Match" - which contained the football footage seen in the opening titles - was postponed and shown fourth with "A Week To Live" taking its place.

Although there were Jewish references Bernard Kops also wanted the show to have a broader appeal therefore many of the storylines and sources of humour were typical sitcom ones such as misunderstandings, mishaps, family squabbles, subterfuges and misguided fears and aspirations. Although these are commonplace - universal even - that doesn't mean they can't be done in inventive and appealing ways. An interesting source of humour in this show were Alexander's radical, egalitarian ideas and these were shared by some of his friends. In the episode "The All Night Party" he apologises to his potential girlfriend Lucinda for his parents' "bourgeois" lifestyle and compliments her for "rising from the jungles of Hendon". In another early episode "The Third World Starts Here" he and his friends plan a revolution. Typically their radical ideas don't get very far and they aren't very keen on really giving up their comfortable suburban existences. Another notable and provocative feature in the party episode is Alexander telling his family he might lose his virginity and implying that the party will be an "orgy". The flirtatious Lucinda seems happy to comply but - as this was a family sitcom - things were not likely to go that far.

Series 2 followed in March 1972 but saw some notable changes. Libby Morris did not return as Fay as she was committed to her one-woman show so British actress Stella Moray took over the role. Peter Birrel who had played Renata's fiancé also departed but there was a new regular role for experienced actors David Lodge and Thelma Ruby as neighbours Sam and Bella. This second series certainly had a chequered broadcast history with even its home region of ATV taking three months to show the seven episodes, all of them in late slots after the ten o'clock news. Some of the slots were even later on other channels with LWT broadcasting the last episode after midnight while in other regions it was delayed and maybe not shown at all. Quite why the late slots occurred isn't clear. Sometimes a show starts in a peak slot and gets moved to a late one due to low ratings or - less often - sensitive content but in this case the whole series was shown late which is very unusual for new episodes of a domestic sitcom. Whatever the reason late broadcasts are a recipe for low ratings and it was probably no surprise that no further series followed.

In common with many ATV shows of the early 1970s which were made on colour videotape Alexander the Greatest now almost wholly exists as black-and-white copies of the original colour tapes which were wiped for reuse. Only two or three still exist on the original format. It's possible this discouraged a DVD release by the now sadly defunct Network label which released a huge number of ITV shows. With Network gone the show is likely to remain permanently in the archives, unfortunate given some of its novel aspects and accomplished writer.