Budgie Bird, Charlie Endell &
Co.
Adam Faith was a pop idol during the early
1960's, making dozens of records and regularly topping the
charts:
By
1967
however,
his
glittering music career began to look less secure as British tastes and fashions
began to change,
so, he decided to try and cut his
teeth
in
the
acting
profession....
He started on stage, initially touring as the lead in Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall's "Billy Liar", then appearing as Feste in "Twelfth Night" and with Dame Sybil Thorndyke in Emlyn Williams' "Night Must Fall", before the lure of the silver screen beckoned.
Things were a bit more difficult for Adam in this
particular field, as he began appearing in a handful of
fairly mediocre films
including
"Beat Girl", "Never Let
Go", "What A
Whopper"
and "Mix
Me
A
Person",
before
moving
up
the
success-ladder by
a few
rungs with
his two
supporting actor roles
in
"Stardust",
(opposite
another
singer
-
David
Essex),
and
"McVicar"
(Roger
Daltrey, frontman
vocalist
for
The
Who
rock
group),
which
bought
him
some
critical
success,
in
addition
to
appearing in
"Yesterday's Hero"...
Altogether,
not bad
for
a geezer who grew
up on a
council estate in
Acton,
West
London!
Then lady-luck REALLY smiled down from the heavens!
An exceptional television acting opportunity saw
Adam Faith, [real name
Terence
(Terry) Nelhams-Wright],
spread his
wings and fly in
1971, when he
played lead
role in
the London Weekend Television series "Budgie "
...
...originally to be called "The Loser"...before LWT
changed the title to one that would be more popular.
Adam became Ronald,
(Budgie),
Bird,
chancer
,
small
time
villain
wannabe,
supreme
optimismist,
(Fulham
supporter), eccentric and
dedicated
follower
of
fashion,
(clock
his
flashy
clobber).
Budgie
was
a hopeless
bungler
most
times,
dreaming of
schemes how
to
get-rich-quick,
yet
always
messing-up,
remaining skint
and
tasting prison food
on a fairly
regular basis.
Lack of professional
acting
experience didn't
prove
a problem to
Faith,
he only
needed to
play
himself
and
act
naturally
(as
the
old
song
goes);
and in doing
so,
he
towered over
many
of
his
television
counterparts where
versatility and
on-screen
charisma
were
concerned.
Apart from the main man, (Mr # 1 himself),
there
were
several
other
factors
which
held
great
appeal
for
viewers
of
Budgie.
Such
as
the
talented
stage
star
Iain
Cuthbertson,
with his iconic
performances
of
Charles
Endell.
Yes, good-old Charlie Endell, whose birth name was actually Angus McIntyre, having changed identity after vacating his old Glasgow manor to set- up in London; a move made necessary because of a certain American geezer by the name of King Jorgenson, who wanted him dead after "Angus" burnt his Miami gaming club down following a $50,000 losing streak whilst on vacation there.
Charles, McLaughlin, Endell, ('C-ME'), soon took over parts of Central London with Endell Enterprises, which consisted of numerous dodgy, adult book shops, (mainly down the backstreets of Soho and Piccadilly ), sex boutiques, peepshow/strip joints , (some being mere fronts for 'knocking' shops, advertising their sleazy services in telephone boxes all over London), 'dancing' clubs, (such as the 'Naughty Nighties'), various 'cinemas'/ porno production and distribution film studios, gambling and drinking emporiums... and even 'Hers Personally' pregnancy testing clinics; how's that for having everything sown up?
"a right hard
bastard" and the self-crowned King of
Vice.
The show's supporting cast of colourful characters were
equally as popular...including regulars John Rhys-Davies,
as Laughing Spam
Fritter, 
...good old Laughing
"S"...
and Budgie's long-suffering girlfriend Hazel
Fletcher, played by the
fab
Lynn
Dalby.
His lippy ex-wife Jean, played by the lush Georgina Hale, was another important part of the storyline,
albeit for two episodes only.
"Budgie" one-offs, like the delicious Adrienne
Posta,
("Out"),
who
is today
the
queen
of
voice-overs
on tv
ads'
etc,
and David Bauer, 
("King For a Day")...
+ theatrical figures like James Bolam , John Thaw , Gordon Jackson , Jack Shepherd , (Detective Constable Leadbetter, the cop who didn't even know what a " tranny " in "The Outside Man"), Derek Jacobi , Kenneth Cranham , Stella Tanner , Jack Woolgar , Peter Sallis , Norman Rossington , Anthony Valentine , Joe Gladwin , George Tovey , June Lewis , Betty Marsden , George A. Cooper (II) , Rio Fanning and Alfie Bass provided the jam, cream and icing for this most delicious of televisual cakes.
Why, even Margaret Nolan, the ex blue film
actress, 
(pic here is linked to MN's
Official Web Site and her fabulous artwork)
turned Carry On and Bond
Girl, revealed that she was not just a pretty
thing, but
pretty good at
the old acting lark as
well, when
she
appeared in three
episodes
as
"Inga",
Budgie's
bit-on-the-side....
(pictured here in 2007
)
Yet, the Budgie Bird would never have been conceived
at all if it wasn't for the true-to-life screenplay
writing of Keith Waterhouse and Willis
Hall . 
Nor would the series have been so finely polished, without producer Verity Lambert
and some good directors, such as Michael Lindsay-Hogg .
I believe that I speak for many fans when I say that this is probably the finest TV production of its genre...more superior even, (it could be argued), than the likes of "Minder", brilliant though that particular series was in its own right.
Millions
were eagerly tuning in every week to watch
Budgie trying to make a few
dishonest bob
and getting
Charlie's
back
up in
the
process;
situations
which
added
a
comedic
feel to the
series. As
different as
chalk
and cheese
these two characters.
Charlie
looked
upon Budgie as a
harmless
enough
chancer
who
always landed up "standing" for
something...a
fact which
Charlie
found very
amusing;
while
Budgie on
the other
hand,
considered Charlie as
a
good
mate,
and
looked
up
to
him
as
the big time
crook that
he
would
like to have been,
(in
another
life
perhaps).
Charlie persevered
with Budgie's
annoyances
throughout
the series right up until
"Run,
Rabbit, Run,
Run,
Run",
(a
particularly moving
episode
when
Budgie pushes his luck a
bit
too far and becomes the
victim of
Charlie's
near-psychotic
wrath),
when their fragile
alliance breaks down
irrevocably. Attention to detail was
another
contributing factor which
has
since
caused Budgie to
achieve cult
status
amongst
fans; wonderful
finishing
touches such
as
the
often
very descriptive nicknames
of key
characters;
i.e.Wossname,
Laughing
Spam
Fritter,... together
with
some
of the series'
lesser known
individuals
as
well, including Starting Handle
Harry,
Morris The Greek
and even Peter The
Pastry!
saw
the
hatching of
the first
series in
the form of 13 x
50
minute editions...(colour
format
with the exception of
episodes 1,2,3
and
4
which
were
screened
entirely
in
black and
white
due to a
technicians
strike
at
the
time),
then a
follow-up
series
being shown in 1972;
again
this was
13
episodes-worth, all
shown in
colour this
time...
No. Episode. Air
Date.
1 Out 4/9/1971
2 Some
Mother's Sons 4/16/1971
3 Brains
4/23/1971
4
Grandee Hotel 4/30/1971
---------------------
| Episode "Grandee Hotel": Just One Example of Some Clever Casting. | |||
| Richard Butler | .... | Braithwaite | |
| Dan Gillian | .... | The Van Driver | |
| Sylvia Kay | .... | Eileen | |
| Preston Lockwood | .... | Grindley | |
| Anthony Valentine | .... | Jeff Staines
(already linked above) | |
Reg Pritchard |
.... |
Griffin | |
| Peter Sallis | .... | Peter Olliphant | |
| Jack Smethurst | .... | Saunders | |
| Jack Woolgar | .... | Benskin (already linked above) | |
---------------------
5 In Deep 5/7/1971
6 Could Do Better 5/14/1971
7
Best Mates 5/21/1971
8 Everybody Loves a Baby
5/28/1971
9 A Pair of
Charlies
6/4/1971
10 Fiddler
on the Hoof:
Part
1
6/11/1971
11
Fiddler
on
the
Hoof:
Part 2
6/18/1971
12
Sunset
Mansions or
Whatever Happened
to
Janey
Babe?
6/25/1971
13
And
in
Again
7/2/1971
14 Dreaming of Thee 4/21/1972
15 And the Lord Taketh
Away 4/28/1972
16 Louie the Ring is Dead and Buried in
Kensal
Green
Cemetery
5/5/1972
17
The
Jump-Up
Boys
5/12/1972
18
Our
Story So
Far
5/19/1972
19 Do Me a
Favour
5/26/1972
20 Glory of
Fulham
6/2/1972
21 24,000
Ball Point Pens
6/9/1972
22 King for
a
Day
6/16/1972
23
The
Outside
Man
6/23/1972
24
The
Man
Outside
6/30/1972
25
Brief
Encounter
7/7/1972
26
Run
Rabbit,
Run
Rabbit,
Run,
Run,
Run
7/14/1972.
Vital Trivia: In 1967, Adam Faith married his long-time girl friend Jackie
Irving, who was a professional dancer. The wedding took
place at Caxton Hall,
Westminster on
19
August
1967.On
19
December
1970,
his
daughter
Katya
was
born.
The
birth was
premature, and
the
baby
had
to
struggle
for
life,
but
happily
she
survived.
Before
moving
to
the
village of
Tudeley,
Kent in
latter years,
Faith
used to
live at
Crowhurst
Place, Hartfield,
Crowborough
and
Henfield. The
star
almost died
in 1973 at Cowfold, near
Horsham,
when
he
crashed
his
car
into
a
tree. Faith
nearly
lost
a
leg,
was unconscious
for
a week
and
spent
a
fortnight
in
Crawley
Hospital
with a
broken leg,
arm and
chest
injuries. Later
he
described the
accident as a
turning point in
his
life. Adam
made
an
emotional
return
visit
to
the
hospital
21
years
later
while
appearing in Alfie
at
Crawley's
Hawth Theatre, one
of the
south's busiest
arts
venues.<<<
'Budge'
disappeared from
the
box
for
a
while,
until
our
chirpy
little
fella
was once
again gracing our
screens
during
the
mid-80's,
in a
series
re-run on
C4
.
Obviously, many took the opportunity at the time
to videotape this classic while they were able, as the
series
had
never
been
made
available
for
private
purchase
in
any
format
until
more
recently.
Next,
during the mid 1990's, (thanks
to
the
advent
of
recordable home
dvd
machines),
fans
were
able to
buy
pirated,
video-to-dvd
transfers
of Budgie
on
e-Bay for
a
while.
This
auction
was run
courtesy
of a certain
Greek geezer,
(no, not
Morris
the
Greek),...and
yes, even I
stood
for
these low
quality,
jolly roger
discs,
cos
that's
all
we had
at
the
time!
But
then, come
in!
2006
was
the year
when Granada,
(c/o
Network DVD), finally
got
it
into
their little
brain
bonces to
officially release Budgie
on dvd, for us to
savour
in all
its original glory!
Series One.
And savour it we
do...this
material
is
oh
so
tasty,
rather like
a
decent
bit
of
top nosh
down
the
West
End.
Series Two.
(the
special
features on these are
excellent as
well!)
The
$164,000
question
still
remains, why
did
the
TV
bosses
take
so
long
to
make
the
show
available for
the
public
to buy in the first
place?
Yes,
Budgie
is
back...and still seems as
fresh
and
interesting today as
it
did
back in
the 1970's ...
...maybe
even
better
in
some
respects.
For
a
start we
can
view
the
series in
great
clarity
thanks
to
dvd
technology and
also, let's
face
it... with
only *a
few
notable exceptions,
there has
been *little
on
television since
that comes
remotely close to the
calibre
of
"Budgie".
[*In
the
80's we
had the superb BBC
series
"Big
Deal",
then
there was "Minder" of
course...
and
more
recently, "Life on
Mars" and "Hustle", which are suitably cool as
well.]
What
have we got today to fill
the
vacuum..."Casualty",
"Emmerdale",
"The Weakest Link",
"X-Factor", "Big
Brother",
"Coronation
Street"?....do
behave
yourself
squire,
leave
it
out!!!
Perhaps
you are left a bit
surprised
at
what
you DIDN'T
previously
know
about
this
character! 
but hang-around, the legend that is
Budgie
ain't quite
dun
wiv yet!
In 1974 he returned to film acting. Producer David Puttnam persuaded him to
play the manager of the rock star character played by
David Essex in Stardust.
In the
Guardian, Derek Malcolm
enthused
that Faith's "portrait of
a rough
diamond on the
make could
scarcely be more authentic". Faith later starred in
Yesterday's Hero (1979) and McVicar (1980). On the
West
End stage he appeared in
Stephen
Poliakoff's City Sugar
(1975).
In the 1980s, Faith reinvented himself again, this time as a financial guru for the yuppie generation. Although he had invested in property since the 1960s, he had less success on the financial markets. He became a columnist for the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday but was also associated with Roger Levitt. When Levitt's investment empire collapsed, Faith was reported to have lost £10m. Faith later became a partner in The Money Channel on cable and satellite television, but its failure in 2001 cost him £32m and forced him into bankruptcy.
In the 1990s, Faith returned to stage and television acting, appearing in the sitcoms Love Hurts with Zoë Wanamaker and The House That Jack Built with Gillian Taylforth. In the West End he starred in a revival of Bill Naughton's Alfie and in the musical A Chorus Line. In 1996 he wrote a memoir, Acts Of Faith.
He had a history of heart problems and was given open heart surgery to
relieve blocked arteries in 1986.
Adam Faith,
singer, actor and businessman, died March 8th, 2003: He is
survived
by his
wife,
the
former
dancer Jackie Irving,
whom he
married
in 1975,
and their
daughter Katya.
Faith was with his 22-year-old lover TANYA ARPINO on the night he died.
The 62-year-old had just finished a stage show and had returned to his hotel room, where Arpino was waiting for him, when he suffered a heart attack.
Waitress Tanya says, "It was like being in a horror movie. Adam was rushed through the hotel lobby on a trolley. A girl said as he was put into the ambulance, 'Don't worry, your dad will be alright'. I thought, 'If they knew who I really was'.
"It was a nightmare. One minute he was fine, the next minute he was fighting for his life.
"I was in this hospital room watching as they tried to save Adam, giving him a heart massage. I can't explain what it was like seeing the person you love die in front of you."
Tanya says Faith's wife Jackie, 60, was furious about their affair and banned her from attending the singer's funeral.
She adds, "I wasn't allowed to go to his funeral. Jackie said 'Absolutely no way'.
"I can understand why she said that but then I thought, I was the last person to see Adam."
"little man, you've had a busy day!"...remembering Adam Faith.
IF ANY PERSON DEPICTED IN THESE IMAGES IS CONCERNED THAT THEIR OWN COPYRIGHT HAS BEEN COMPROMISED IN ANY WAY, THOSE IMAGES WILL BE REMOVED IMMEDIATELY UPON RECEIVING NOTIFICATION IN WRITING AT THE ADDRESS BELOW. WHILST EVERY CARE HAR BEEN TAKEN IN PRODUCING THIS SITE, WE DO NOT WISH TO CAUSE ANY INFRINGEMENTS OF PERSONAL COPYRIGHT.
Write to:- Kenneth Parsons, 29 Field Road, Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 9DJ, United Kingdom