Turn out the Lights Turn out the Lights was a short - lived spin - off from " Pardon the Expression " , itself a spin off from " Coronation Street " . Leonard Swindley and Wally Hunt had been fired from their jobs at Dobson and Hawks department store in the last episode of " Pardon the Expression " . Developing an interest in astrology Swindley travelled the country employed as professional speaker on the subject . Wherever they went Swindley and Hunt stumbled across supernatural mysteries and set about exploring them . The series was a mixture of comedy and light drama . Six fifty - five minute - long episodes gained their first broadcast on ITV from Monday 2nd January to 6th February 1967 on Associated Rediffusion ( London ) and Tyne Tees Television ( North East England ) with all the other regions , including Granada Television , broadcasting the episodes on the following Friday from 9 . 10 to 10 . 05pm . The series was also broadcast in two ITV regions ( Westward Television and Channel Television ) where no single episode of " Pardon the Expression " had ever been shown however it was not shown by Teledu Cymru . Though a smaller number of episodes were commissioned the double running time essentially meant this series lasted as long as the first season of " Pardon the Expression " . The series was produced by Derek Granger , the second producer of " Coronation Street " and later producer of " Brideshead Revisited " . Peter Eckersley and John Finch were two of the writers and the former co - wrote two of his episodes with Kenneth Cope , alias Jed Stone . Denis Parkin , the original designer of " Coronation Street " designed three of the episodes . Several " Coronation Street " regulars made appearances in the series ; Neville Buswell , Judith Barker , William Moore , Joan Heath and Noel Dyson although Leonard Swindley was the only " character " from the programme to appear . In addition to these cast members , several notable actors , including some who appeared on the " Street " made contributions including Ben Kingsley , Wendy Richard , Yootha Joyce and Bob Todd . The first episode of the series was critically panned by Nancy Banks - Smith in the 3rd January edition of " The Sun " ( not " The Guardian " as has sometimes been claimed ) when she said … She went to describe the storyline as " confused " , and commented on the " loose ends " and the " sickly modulation to pathos and homespun philosophy at the end . " John Finch has described his contribution as the " worst thing I ever wrote " . Although almost everyone seems to have hated the programme , Arthur Lowe for one is described as having thoroughly enjoyed it and a theory has been posited that he might have signed for another series if ongoing fame the following year in the role of Captain George Mainwaring in " Dad ' s Army " hadn ' t beckoned . The series performed favourably at first in the charts with the first episode achieving 7 , 250 , 000 , more than either episode of " Coronation Street " shown in the same week . After that , ratings dropped slightly but never fell below 6 , 100 , 000 homes . Along with the Dry Runs and the inserts for the " All Star Comedy Carnival " , the six episodes of " Turn out the Lights " are the only " Coronation Street " - related material missing from the Granada Television archives .