Charley's Grants is a Britcom that aired on BBC2 in 1970, starring Hattie Jacques and Willoughby Goddard.
Lord Charley (Goddard) is an on-his-uppers aristocrat who runs into a series of financial difficulties. To regain his fortune, he sets out to gain arts grants from the Heritage Trust by any means necessary.
The head of the Trust is Miss Manger (Jacques), a no-nonsense woman who is the only one standing in the way of Lord Charley getting what he wants. Other members of the trust include Angus Black (Aubrey Morris), Waterbrain (Howard Goorney), and the rest (Olivia Breeze, Diana King, Roland MacLeod, and Keith Smith).
The series never found its audience thanks to the fact that it was buried in a late Sunday night timeslot. It was never repeated after initial transmission and all the episodes were subsequently wiped.
Charley's Tropes:
- British Brevity: Only one series of six episodes was made.
- Impoverished Patrician: Lord Charley is an aristocrat reduced to trying to scrounge for arts grants due to a series of financial difficulties.
- No Full Name Given: We don't get to find out Lord Charley, Miss Manger, or Waterbrain's first names.
- Pun-Based Title: Charley's Grants is a play on Charley's Aunt, reflecting how Lord Charley wants to get his hands on some arts grants.
- Riches to Rags: Lord Charley was once quite wealthy, but financial difficulties mean his only hope of reclaiming what he once had is through ill-gotten arts grants.
- Short-Runners: The series ran for only six episodes at 25 minutes each.
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Miss Manger is to Lord Charley, often being the only one standing in the way of him getting his grants.
- Take That!: The Heritage Trust was intended to be a piss-take of organisations such as the arts councils that distribute taxpayers' money to nourish creativity of one kind or another, the joke being that someone as un-artistic as Lord Charley could be able to take them for all they were worth.
