# The Squirrels (TV series)

The Squirrels is a British television sitcom created by Eric Chappell. It was produced by ATV for ITV and broadcast from 1974 to 1977 running for 3 series and 28 episodes. Chappell later created the Yorkshire Television sitcoms Rising Damp, among other series.

## Plot and background

The theme was office politics in the accounts department of a fictitious TV rental company. Little work was seen to be done as the staff were usually skiving or engaging in office romances. Bernard Hepton played Mr Fletcher, the authoritarian boss who also saw himself as a 'ladies man' and Ken Jones played Rex, an unassertive subordinate.
Phil Redmond, the creator of the soap opera Brookside, was also a writer for the series. The scripts written by Eric Chappell formed the basis of a remake, Fiddlers Three, broadcast in 1991.

## Cast

* Bernard Hepton as Mr Fletcher
* Ken Jones as Rex
* Patsy Rowlands as Susan
* Alan David as Harry
* Ellis Jones as Burke
* Karin MacCarthy as Carol

## Episodes
### Pilot (1974)

| No. | Title | Written by | Original release date |
| Pilot | "The Squirrels" | Eric Chappell | 8 July 1974 (1974-07-08) |

### Series 1 (1975)

| No. | Title | Written by | Original release date |
| 1 | "We Don't Want To Lose You" | Eric Chappell | 18 July 1975 (1975-07-18) |
| 2 | "Men Without Women" | Eric Chappell | 25 July 1975 (1975-07-25) |
| 3 | "Man Most Likely To" | Eric Chappell | 1 August 1975 (1975-08-01) |
| 4 | "The Yes Man" | Eric Chappell | 8 August 1975 (1975-08-08) |
| 5 | "The Fiddle" | Eric Chappell | 15 August 1975 (1975-08-15) |
| 6 | "The Favourite" | Eric Chappell | 22 August 1975 (1975-08-22) |
| 7 | "The Whizz Kid" | Eric Chappell | 29 August 1975 (1975-08-29) |

### Series 2 (1976)

| No. | Title | Written by | Original release date |
| 8 | "Ashes To Ashes" | Eric Chappell | 9 July 1976 (1976-07-09) |
| 9 | "Fluffy-Bun" | Eric Chappell | 16 July 1976 (1976-07-16) |
| 10 | "Burke In Clover" | Richard Harris | 23 July 1976 (1976-07-23) |
| 11 | "The New Broom" | Eric Chappell | 30 July 1976 (1976-07-30) |
| 12 | "On the Carpet" | Kenneth Cope | 6 August 1976 (1976-08-06) |
| 13 | "The Renaissance" | Alan Hackney | 13 August 1976 (1976-08-13) |
| 14 | "The X Factor" | Richard Harris | 20 August 1976 (1976-08-20) |
| 15 | "The Weaker Sex" | Eric Chappell | 27 August 1976 (1976-08-27) |

### Series 3 (1976–77)

| No. | Title | Written by | Original release date |
| 16 | "The Snatch" | Eric Chappell | 25 November 1976 (1976-11-25) |
| 17 | "Leap Frog" | Kenneth Cope | 2 December 1976 (1976-12-02) |
| 18 | "The Cruise" | Brian Finch | 9 December 1976 (1976-12-09) |
| 19 | "The Bonus Scheme" | Phil Redmond | 16 December 1976 (1976-12-16) |
| 20 | "The Long Hot Summer" | Eric Chappell | 23 December 1976 (1976-12-23) |
| 21 | "The Argument" | Alan Hackney | 30 December 1976 (1976-12-30) |
| 22 | "What a Way To Go" | Kenneth Cope | 6 January 1977 (1977-01-06) |
| 23 | "Shoulder To Shoulder" | Eric Chappell | 13 January 1977 (1977-01-13) |
| 24 | "The Game's the Thing" | Brian Finch | 20 January 1977 (1977-01-20) |
| 25 | "The Cover Up" | Alan Hackney | 27 January 1977 (1977-01-27) |
| 26 | "The Break-In" | Phil Redmond | 3 February 1977 (1977-02-03) |
| 27 | "Men of Straw" | Brian Finch | 10 February 1977 (1977-02-10) |

## Archive status and home release

Surviving episodes of The Squirrels were released by Network DVD in the UK (Region 2) on 29 April 2013. This DVD consisted of the existing 22 episodes (out of 28). Scripts for some of the missing episodes are included in .pdf format on disc one. The missing episodes are the pilot, 1/1, 1/5, 1/6, and 1/7. The rest of the first series survives only in inferior recordings to the original video format, either re-converted from NTSC copies (1/2, 1/3) or as a domestic videotape (1/4).