Shine a Light is a Britcom that aired on ITV in 1970, starring Timothy Bateson and Tony Selby.
The action (or lack thereof) takes place at Bachelor Rock Lighthouse. It's miles out at sea, meaning Senior Lighthouseman Wally Trott (Bateson) and Junior Lighthouseman Les Robinson (Selby) have precious little to do there, spending most of their time bickering or trying to find new ways to pass the time.
Their only regular visitor to the lighthouse is Captain Taffy Lewis (Howell Evans), who delivers their food provisions on his transport ship. The only other visitor Wally and Les had in the series was Lighthouseman Lionel Parrott (John Le Mesurier), who briefly came to take over in "The Great Relief".
The series was never repeated after 1970, and all the episodes are now lost.
Tropes in this Series:
- Acquired Situational Narcissism: After spotting the Royal Yacht in "On Her Majesty's Service", Wally and Les get ahead of themselves and believe that the reputation of the service depends on them.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Wally and Les are always bickering, but when Les plans to leave him in "Two's a Crowd", Wally gets genuinely upset.
- Big Damn Heroes: When Wally and Les are running out of food in "The Chips are Down", Taffy arrives with his supply ship to replenish their stock.
- Bottle Episode: The series never left Bachelor Rock Lighthouse, and two of the episodes ("On Her Majesty's Service" and "The Robinson Mutiny") feature only Wally and Les.
- British Brevity: Only one series of six episodes was made.
- Double-Meaning Title:
- "The Great Relief" both refers to the arrival of relief lighthouseman Lionel Parrott, and the fact that it is a great relief for Wally and Les to get some time away from each other.
- "The Chips are Down" both refers to the serious situation Wally and Les are in (running out of food) and the fact that their chip supply is literally down.
- Feud Episode: Wally and Les spend "The Chips are Down" at each other's throats due to the stress of their food supply dwindling.
- Lighthouse Point: The series is set in Bachelor Rock Lighthouse, a lonely point that is miles out at sea.
- Minimalist Cast: In "On Her Majesty's Service" and "The Robinson Mutiny", Wally and Les are the only characters to appear
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: The third episode, "The Robinson Mutiny", is a play on the novel The Caine Mutiny, but with Les' surname.
- Second Episode Introduction: The series' only recurring character, Taffy, isn't introduced until the second episode, "Red Letter Day".
- Short-Runners: The series only ran for six episodes.
- Shout-Out: Lionel from "The Great Relief" is always reading Charles Dickens' work... from memory, as it isn't possible to take a lot of luggage to Bachelor Rock.
- Talking with Signs: Wally and Les decide to talk only with letters in "Red Letter Day", purely out of boredom.
- With a Foot on the Bus: Les gets a posting to another lighthouse in "Two's a Crowd", and plans to leave, much to Wally's disappointment.
