Misremembered titles

[Brock]

From misremembered lines to misremembered titles. I was listening to Richard Coles on Radio 4's Saturday Live this morning, talking about "an episode of The Kids From 'Fame'". There was no such programme, of course: The Kids from "Fame" were a group put together by some of the cast of the American TV series Fame after it became popular in Britain, and The Kids from "Fame" was also the title of their first album.

This is by no means the first time I've heard the series referred to this way; I presume it came about because some people heard the record before they saw the TV series. What other programmes are commonly referred to by the wrong title?

[Ian Wegg]

I never heard anyone refer to The Phil Silvers Show as anything but "Bilko".

[Brock]

I never heard anyone refer to The Phil Silvers Show as anything but "Bilko".

That's an interesting one because the BBC actually promoted the programme under that title, amongst others. Looking through Genome, it appears that reruns were billed in 1961 as "The Best of Bilko" and in 1966 as "Bilko Returns". From 1973 onwards it's routinely billed as "Sergeant Bilko" (or "Phil Silvers as Sergeant Bilko"), then from 1988 as just "Bilko". Seems to go back to "The Phil Silvers Show" in 1994.

(To confuse things further, some early episodes are billed under the original title "You'll Never Get Rich".)

[ian b]

Miss Marples.

[stearn]

Miss Marples.

The daughter of Ernest gets to the bottom of missing and undelivered post in the first series, and then works out why the buses weren't running on time in the second, and last, series.

Obviously one for the teenagers there.

[Brock]

That's not the only spurious "s" I've come across. If I had a pound for every time I heard someone talk about Spitting Images...

[rosalyn]

To my surprise, I once heard someone say Mr Who instead of Dr Who, but that was a one off.

An oft misspelled title of a series in print media, Captain Scarlett.

[murphy1961]

I never heard anyone refer to The Phil Silvers Show as anything but "Bilko".

No, me either. When watching repeats as a kid in Australia in the 60s and 70s, it was nearly always referred to by people as Bilko or Sergeant Bilko, never The Phil Silvers Show. Yet in some TV listings from the early-70s I’ve seen, it’s actually listed as “Sergeant Bilko”. I just wonder whether it was an official syndication title in a similar way that repeats of Gunsmoke were sometimes called Marshall Dillon.

I can’t possibly remember, but I wonder whether there were actually titles made that said “Sergeant Bilko” instead of The Phil Silvers Show. I can only recall the well-known animated intro which I assume said “The Phil Silvers Show” as they do on the DVDs.

On a similar theme, people often referred to Till Death Us Do Part as simply Alf Garnett. You would go to school sometimes and someone would ask “did you watch Alf Garnett last night”? Some official titles are probably just a bit to much of a mouthful, so people, as they do now, like to abbreviate things.

[rosalyn]

Alf Garnett, yes you're right. I remember everyone called it that.

I think the Daily Mirror used to list "The Phil Silvers Show" as "Sergeant Bilko" when it was on BBC1? Wasn't it remade into a film in 1996 with Steve Martin, where they did officially call it "Sgt Bilko"?

The other series I remember was "Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads" which was always referred to as "The Likely Lads", the original series title. Understandable I suppose because of the number of words.

[Brock]

I think the Daily Mirror used to list "The Phil Silvers Show" as "Sergeant Bilko" when it was on BBC1?

Yes, I remember that. As I've already said earlier in the thread, the Radio Times listed it as "Sergeant Bilko" during the 70s, and I assume that other publications receiving listings from the BBC would have done the same.

Wasn't it remade into a film in 1996 with Steve Martin, where they did officially call it "Sgt Bilko"?

It was.

The other series I remember was "Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads" which was always referred to as "The Likely Lads", the original series title. Understandable I suppose because of the number of words.

Indeed - and the title reverted to "The Likely Lads" in the 1976 film.

[Simon Coward]

I never heard anyone refer to The Phil Silvers Show as anything but "Bilko".

I suppose because we've never really used that style in this country, referring to a situation comedy as "The such and such Show" still seems quite odd to me.

We used it a lot for shiny-floor variety-type shows where such and such was the host, but never really for sitcoms.

[Michael]

I much enjoyed the series Travelling Man when it first aired but for years afterwards was convinced it was called Lomax. It's funny how sometimes memory can be so wrong.

[Ian Wegg]

My dear old grandmother, God bless her, loved her telly but would never know the correct name of any show she watched. She would often use a descriptive term or the name of one of its stars, which in turn she would not remember properly. A particularly difficult decryption was "Crowler" for Stars In Their Eyes.

[Brock]

My dear old grandmother, God bless her, loved her telly but would never know the correct name of any show she watched.

My late great-aunt was like that. "This is Life" was one of her favourite titles, which could mean That's Life, This is Your Life, Where There's Life... or any other show with "Life" in the title (maybe others as well!).

[jeffcv]

I seem to recall the late Charlie Chester making a subtle change and referring to Till Death Do Us Part.

[Ian Wegg]

I seem to recall the late Charlie Chester making a subtle change and referring to Till Death Do Us Part.

Of course, Charlie was correct. Till Death Us Do Part is an example of a title that is itself a misquote. A more recent, and very similar, example is Peter Jackson's war documentary that should have been called They Shall Grow Not Old.

[Brock]

I seem to recall the late Charlie Chester making a subtle change and referring to Till Death Do Us Part.

Of course, Charlie was correct. Till Death Us Do Part is an example of a title that is itself a misquote.

Are you sure?

"I N. take thee N. to my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I plight thee my troth."

https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer- ... -matrimony

A more recent, and very similar, example is Peter Jackson's war documentary that should have been called They Shall Grow Not Old.

Agreed on that one.

[Cole]

...
An oft misspelled title of a series in print media, Captain Scarlett.

It's always referred to as Captain Scarlet, but it's full title is Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons.

[spflog1]

Children's BBC1 1974 animation series Roobarb is forever being incorrectly called Roobarb and Custard.

[spflog1]

YTV's early 1970's series Follyfoot was often referred to as The Lightning Tree because of its memorable theme tune.

[spflog1]

Continuing with my early seventies kid's TV examples, BBC1's 1972 show Fingerbobs is often erroneously named after its main character Fingermouse.

[Brock]

Continuing with my early seventies kid's TV examples, BBC1's 1972 show Fingerbobs is often erroneously named after its main character Fingermouse.

Fingermouse was the title of the follow-up 1985 series.

[Juswuh]

An oft misspelled title of a series in print media, Captain Scarlett.

There actually was a film called Captain Scarlett, made in 1952 and starring Richard Greene pre-Robin Hood.

[spflog1]

Continuing with my early seventies kid's TV examples, BBC1's 1972 show Fingerbobs is often erroneously named after its main character Fingermouse.

Fingermouse was the title of the follow-up 1985 series.

And likewise there was a follow-up series to Roobarb in 2005 by Channel 5 called 'Roobarb and Custard Too'. I can't help but feel in both cases, their names reflected the common misconceptions held about the names of their predecessors.

I'm now waiting for Netflix to make a follow up series to Follyfoot called 'The Lightning Tree - Second Strike'.

[Brock]

Going back to the earlier issue of whether "Till Death Us Do Part" or "Till Death Do Us Part" is the correct version: it looks as though the first is the original one, still used by the Church of England, and the second is a more recent (North American?) version. Wikipedia in a footnote says 'the phrase "till death us do part" ("till death us depart" before 1662) has been changed to "till death do us part" in some more recent prayer books, such as the 1962 Canadian Book of Common Prayer'.

The Till Death Do Us Part version has been used in the titles of a number of films, songs and US TV series, which may account for the confusion.

[brigham]

Going back to the earlier issue of whether "Till Death Us Do Part" or "Till Death Do Us Part" is the correct version: it looks as though the first is the original one, still used by the Church of England, and the second is a more recent (North American?) version. Wikipedia in a footnote says 'the phrase "till death us do part" ("till death us depart" before 1662) has been changed to "till death do us part" in some more recent prayer books, such as the 1962 Canadian Book of Common Prayer'.

The Till Death Do Us Part version has been used in the titles of a number of films, songs and US TV series, which may account for the confusion.

This is one of the drawbacks of Anglicanism spreading throughout the World!

[Bob Richardson]

That's not the only spurious "s" I've come across. If I had a pound for every time I heard someone talk about Spitting Images...

Cliff Richards, Trivial Pursuits, Ideal Homes Exhibition. Where will it end?

[Brock]

And there's the dispute over The Steve Jones Game(s) Show, which I don't think we ever quite resolved - see this thread. (I believe it started out with an "s", which was subsequently dropped.)