Citizen Smith started life as a Comedy Special on 12 April 1977. The sitcom was written by John Sullivan and starred Robert Lindsay. Lindsay was Wolfie Smith, the leader of the Tooting Popular Front. Wolfie’s ambitions - to overthrow the system and bring freedom to the people of Tooting – never quite came to pass. For many people, Tooting is forever associated with the cry "power to the people" from the opening credits of each episode.
In the pilot we meet Wolfie - in his ubiquitous beret and Che Guevara t-shirt. Through a misunderstanding he becomes engaged to his girlfriend Shirley (Cheryl Hall). This news is met with varying degrees of enthusiasm by her mother (Hilda Braid) and father. Arto Morris played father in the pilot but was replaced by Peter Vaughan for the first series. Wolfie's rubbish revolutionary plans are aided by his friend Ken (Mike Grady).
Citizen Smith ran for four series until 1980. Wolfie was so popular there was a danger Lindsay would be type cast, but his career path - including the drama GBH on television and Shakespeare and the musical Me and My Girl on the stage – has disproved that. Lindsay returned to BBC sitcoms in 2000 in My Family. Sullivan went from strength to strength, creating Only Fools and Horses, Just Good Friends and Dear John, and won an OBE for services to drama before his untimely death in 2011.
April anniversaries
Radiophonic Workshop founded
1 April 1958
The Boat Race first televised
2 April 1927
The Family first episode
3 April 1974
The Good Life
4 April 1975
