Jim Eldridge
Encyclopedia
Jim Eldridge is a radio, TV and movie scriptwriter with hundreds of radio and TV scripts broadcast in the UK and across the world in a career spanning over 30 years.
Eldridge is the creator and writer of radio shows including Parsley Sidings
, King Street Junior
, Crosswords, Albert and Me
and The Demon Headmaster
. On TV, he has created children's science fiction drama Powers
and Time of My Life, and written for The Ghost Hunter
, Julia Jekyll and Harriet Hyde
and Up the Elephant and Round the Castle
, in addition to other TV and radio series.
He has had 50 books published, which have sold over a million copies. http://www.jimeldridge.com/index.htm
Best Children’s TV drama series for Bad Boyes (co-written with Duncan Eldridge)
Writer's Guild Award
Best Light Entertainment Show (Radio) 1973 for co-writing Lines from My Grandfather's Head (starring Ronnie Barker
).
(Montreux) 1998
Shortlist for Best Situation Comedy for Upwardly Mobile (RTÉ - 1997)
Prix Danube (Bratislava) 1999
Best Children’s Drama for Whizziwig
: Double Trouble
Chicago International Festival Of Children's Films 1999
Short Children’s Film/Video (Live Action Category) for Whizziwig: Double Trouble
BAFTA 1989
Best Children’s TV Series for Bad Boyes
Sony Award 1988
Radio comedy for King Street Junior
Writers Guild (UK) 1991
For King Street Junior
Writers Guild (UK) 1992
For King Street Junior
Sunday Times Literary Award 1987
For “Save our Planet - an anti-nuclear guide for teenagers” (1986).
REVIEW 'They can't keep us Carlisle blokes from popping up. Knock us down and we pop up again,' says Billy Stevens a lad who comes from the red-bricked terraced houses and cramped cobbled streets of Denton Holme. It had been a good place to be brought up, despite the poverty. Everyone knew everyone else and there was always someone to help you out if you were in trouble or short of something.
Billy Stevens has enlisted in the Lonsdale Battalion and is fighting in the trenches in the First World War. He'd been under-aged, but like so many lads he'd lied about his age - the sixteen year-old had told the recruiting sergeant he was nineteen - so that he could go and live a hero's life out on the Western Front. Their training had been at Blackwell Camp, repeatedly digging and filling in trenches. Billy had been a trainee telegraph operator at the Citadel Station and was transferred to the Royal Engineers.
Out in France they found out how un-heroic life was.
Billy tells his story in the latest book by Jim Eldridge, who lives in Port Carlisle. Jim's stories are a form of docu-fiction. The people are imaginary, but all the circumstances and details of life are true and meticulously observed. His books have all the information and accuracy of a history text-book, but all the interest, excitement and drama of a novel. In that way, the children the books are aimed at middle-school pupils-girls as well as boys, of course absorb a sense of what life was really like and come away with a far more vivid picture of history.
Part of Jim's method is localizing the novel, hence the details of Carlisle. But another part of his approach is being able to describe the processes of everyday life. He tells, for instance, in detail how a telegraph works. And he is able to present the famous posters Lord Lonsdale had put up round Carlisle. 'Are You A Man Or A Mouse?' they asked. 'Are you to be handed down to posterity as a ROTTER and a COWARD?' We are also given a very sharp picture of life at the headquarters of the Western Front and General Haig himself, when Billy works as a relief telegraph operator.
But it is life in the Trenches themselves that is most vividly and unsentimentally described: - the bully beef rations and hard biscuits, the camaraderie, the mud and the physical horror, the different sense of social class at the time, even the famous Christmas truce when Fritz and Tommy exchanged Christmas presents. The fighting itself is not glorified - this isn't Boy's Own stuff - but realistic. Billy's friend, Rob Matthews, is shot as a traitor because one day he talks about the stupidity of the fighting. Billy witnesses his friends being killed and is taken to field hospital after being gassed.
By Angus Lumsden
Eldridge is the creator and writer of radio shows including Parsley Sidings
Parsley Sidings
Parsley Sidings was a BBC Radio sitcom created by Jim Eldridge. It starred Arthur Lowe and Ian Lavender , together with Kenneth Connor from the Carry On films....
, King Street Junior
King Street Junior
King Street Junior was a Radio Comedy about a junior school aired by the BBC from March 1985 to November 1998. A continuation of the series renamed King Street Junior Revisited started in 2002 and continued until 2005...
, Crosswords, Albert and Me
Albert and Me
Albert and Me was a radio series that ran from 1977-1983. There were 19 half hour-long episodes and it was broadcast on BBC Radio 2. It starred Richard Beckinsale and Pat Coombs...
and The Demon Headmaster
The Demon Headmaster
The Demon Headmaster is a series of books by Gillian Cross which were later adapted as a television series starring Terrence Hardiman in the title role and Frances Amey as Dinah....
. On TV, he has created children's science fiction drama Powers
Powers (TV series)
Powers is a United Kingdom television series first broadcast in 2004 on BBC One. The series was created by Jim Eldridge. It was promoted as a children's version of The X-Files, although many regarded it as a successor to The Tomorrow People. Powers ran for one 13-episode season, and was also...
and Time of My Life, and written for The Ghost Hunter
The Ghost Hunter
The Ghost Hunter is a general name for a series of novels by Ivan Jones about a Victorian shoe-shine boy who has become a ghost. The boy, called William Povey, is trying to escape from the evil and obsessive Ghost Hunter, Mrs Croker...
, Julia Jekyll and Harriet Hyde
Julia Jekyll and Harriet Hyde
Julia Jekyll and Harriet Hyde was a British children's television series which aired on BBC One in the UK for 53 episodes between 1995 and 1998....
and Up the Elephant and Round the Castle
Up the Elephant and Round the Castle
Up the Elephant and Round the Castle was an ITV sitcom which aired from 1983 to 1985, starring comedian Jim Davidson, who played the role of Jim London. The show spawned a sequel, Home James, which was also made by Thames Television. Home James ran from 1987 to 1990. "Up the Elephant and Round the...
, in addition to other TV and radio series.
He has had 50 books published, which have sold over a million copies. http://www.jimeldridge.com/index.htm
Awards won
Royal Television Society 1988Best Children’s TV drama series for Bad Boyes (co-written with Duncan Eldridge)
Writer's Guild Award
Best Light Entertainment Show (Radio) 1973 for co-writing Lines from My Grandfather's Head (starring Ronnie Barker
Ronnie Barker
Ronald William George "Ronnie" Barker, OBE was a British actor, comedian, writer, critic, broadcaster and businessman...
).
Award nominations
Rose d'OrRose d'Or
The Rose d’Or is one of the most important international festivals in entertainment television. It was founded in Montreux in 1961 and has taken place in Lucerne since 2004. Producers, executives from independent and public service broadcasters and heads of production companies from over 40...
(Montreux) 1998
Shortlist for Best Situation Comedy for Upwardly Mobile (RTÉ - 1997)
Prix Danube (Bratislava) 1999
Best Children’s Drama for Whizziwig
Whizziwig
Whizziwig was a science fiction children's programme broadcast on CITV between 1998 and 2000 based on the books by award winning children's author Malorie Blackman.-Plot summary:...
: Double Trouble
Chicago International Festival Of Children's Films 1999
Short Children’s Film/Video (Live Action Category) for Whizziwig: Double Trouble
BAFTA 1989
Best Children’s TV Series for Bad Boyes
Sony Award 1988
Radio comedy for King Street Junior
Writers Guild (UK) 1991
For King Street Junior
Writers Guild (UK) 1992
For King Street Junior
Sunday Times Literary Award 1987
For “Save our Planet - an anti-nuclear guide for teenagers” (1986).
"Warpath" Series
- Warpath 1: Tank Attack (1999)
- Warpath 2: Deadly Skies (1999)
- Warpath 3: Behind Enemy Lines (1999)
- Warpath 4: Depth Charge Danger (1999)
- Warpath 7: Night Bomber (2000)
- Warpath 8: Island Of Fear (2000)
“My Story” Series
- My Story: The Trenches (2002)
- My Story: Armada (2002)
- My Story: Flying Ace (2003)
- My Story: Spy Smuggler (2004)
- My Story: Desert Danger (2005)
External links
REVIEW 'They can't keep us Carlisle blokes from popping up. Knock us down and we pop up again,' says Billy Stevens a lad who comes from the red-bricked terraced houses and cramped cobbled streets of Denton Holme. It had been a good place to be brought up, despite the poverty. Everyone knew everyone else and there was always someone to help you out if you were in trouble or short of something.
Billy Stevens has enlisted in the Lonsdale Battalion and is fighting in the trenches in the First World War. He'd been under-aged, but like so many lads he'd lied about his age - the sixteen year-old had told the recruiting sergeant he was nineteen - so that he could go and live a hero's life out on the Western Front. Their training had been at Blackwell Camp, repeatedly digging and filling in trenches. Billy had been a trainee telegraph operator at the Citadel Station and was transferred to the Royal Engineers.
Out in France they found out how un-heroic life was.
Billy tells his story in the latest book by Jim Eldridge, who lives in Port Carlisle. Jim's stories are a form of docu-fiction. The people are imaginary, but all the circumstances and details of life are true and meticulously observed. His books have all the information and accuracy of a history text-book, but all the interest, excitement and drama of a novel. In that way, the children the books are aimed at middle-school pupils-girls as well as boys, of course absorb a sense of what life was really like and come away with a far more vivid picture of history.
Part of Jim's method is localizing the novel, hence the details of Carlisle. But another part of his approach is being able to describe the processes of everyday life. He tells, for instance, in detail how a telegraph works. And he is able to present the famous posters Lord Lonsdale had put up round Carlisle. 'Are You A Man Or A Mouse?' they asked. 'Are you to be handed down to posterity as a ROTTER and a COWARD?' We are also given a very sharp picture of life at the headquarters of the Western Front and General Haig himself, when Billy works as a relief telegraph operator.
But it is life in the Trenches themselves that is most vividly and unsentimentally described: - the bully beef rations and hard biscuits, the camaraderie, the mud and the physical horror, the different sense of social class at the time, even the famous Christmas truce when Fritz and Tommy exchanged Christmas presents. The fighting itself is not glorified - this isn't Boy's Own stuff - but realistic. Billy's friend, Rob Matthews, is shot as a traitor because one day he talks about the stupidity of the fighting. Billy witnesses his friends being killed and is taken to field hospital after being gassed.
By Angus Lumsden