The Riff Raff Element was a 1990s British television series written by Debbie Horsfield

Debbie Horsfield

Debbie Horsfield is a British theatre and television writer and producer.- Early life and career :Hosfield was born in Eccles, Lancashire and she attended Eccles College before studying at Newcastle University....

 and directed by Jeremy Ancock, who also directed Dressing for Breakfast

Dressing for Breakfast

Dressing for Breakfast is a Channel 4 sitcom which ran between 1995 and 1998 about two women, Louise and Carla . The series was based on a 1988 book with the same title by Stephanie Calman who also wrote the series.....

 and episodes of The Bill

The Bill

The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...

 and Bergerac

Bergerac (TV series)

Bergerac was a British television show set on Jersey. Produced by the BBC in association with the Seven Network, and screened on BBC1, it starred John Nettles as the title character Detective Sergeant Jim Bergerac, a detective in "Le Bureau des Étrangers" Bergerac was a British television show...

.
It was nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series

British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series

The British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series is one of the major categories of the British Academy Television Awards , the primary awards ceremony of the British television industry...

 in 1994.

Plot

The basic plot was "the Tundishes, down-at-heel southern

Southern England

Southern England, the South and the South of England are imprecise terms used to refer to the southern counties of England bordering the English Midlands. It has a number of different interpretations of its geographic extents. The South is considered by many to be a cultural region with a distinct...

 aristocrats, are compelled to live cheek-by-jowl with the vulgar Belchers from Salford" so simultaneously drawing on the English north-south divide and class divide.

Cast

• Jayne Ashbourne -- Carmen
• Dicken Ashworth
  Dicken Ashworth
  Dicken Ashworth is an English actor who has made several appearances in film and television.His film credits include: Force 10 from Navarone, Tess, Krull, and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.On television, can be a regular cast member in several soap operas - playing Alan Partridge...
  
   -- Nelson
• Stewart Bewley -- Oliver Tundish
• Kate Binchy -- Dearbhla
• Susan Brown (actress)
  Susan Brown (actress)
  Susan Brown is a British actress of the stage and screen.-Theatre:She has appeared in numerous theatre productions including: The Wild Duck , Henry IV Parts 1 & 2, Playing with Fire, Cardiff East and The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other, Easter, Romeo and Juliet, Richard III and Bad Weather...
  
   -- Maggie Belcher
• Brenda Bruce
  Brenda Bruce
  Brenda Bruce was a British actress. She had a long and successful career in the theatre, radio, film, and television.-Early life:Brenda Bruce was born in Manchester...
  
   -- Granny Grogan
• George Costigan
  George Costigan
  -Early life:Costigan was born in Portsmouth and grew up in Irlams o' th' Height and Weaste in Salford. He attended St. Augustine's C of E Primary School on Bolton Road in Pendlebury, then Wardley Grammar School on Mardale Avenue in Wardley near Swinton.-Career:...
  
   -- Vincent
• Nicholas Farrell
  Nicholas Farrell
  Nicholas Farrell is an English stage, film and television actor. His early screen career included the role of Aubrey Montague in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire. In 1983, he starred as Edmund Bertram in a television adaptation of the Jane Austen novel, Mansfield Park...
  
   -- Boyd Tundish
• Pippa Guard
  Pippa Guard
  Philippa Ann Guard is a British actress.Guard was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and belongs to a well-known theatrical family, whose members include her uncle Philip Guard, cousins Christopher Guard and Dominic Guard, and younger brother Alex Guard. Her father was an engineer who moved the family to...
  
   -- Phoenix
• Lionel Guyett -- Father Casper
• Richard Hope (actor)
  Richard Hope (actor)
  Richard Hope is a British actor.-Career:Born in Kettering and brought up in Norfolk, Mr. Hope attended Oakham School in Rutland from 1967–1971 and trained at the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain from 1972 - 1976. He is a member of the National Youth Theatre Association and an Associate...
  
   -- Mortimer Tundish
• Celia Imrie
  Celia Imrie
  Celia Diana Savile Imrie is an English actress. In a career starting in the early 1970s, Imrie has played Marianne Bellshade in Bergerac, Philippa Moorcroft in Dinnerladies, Miss Babs in Acorn Antiques, Diana Neal in After You've Gone and Gloria Millington in Kingdom...
  
   -- Joanna Tundish
• Cal MacAninch
  Cal Macaninch
  Cal MacAninch is a Scottish actor, best known for portraying the character of DI John Keenan in police drama Holby Blue on BBC 1 during 2007-8....
  
   -- Declan
• Trevor Peacock
  Trevor Peacock
  Trevor Peacock is an English stage and television character actor. He was born in Tottenham, London, the son of Alexandria and Victor Edward Peacock.-Television and Film Career:...
  
   -- Acky Belcher
• Ronald Pickup
  Ronald Pickup
  -Life and career:Pickup was born in Chester, England, the son of Daisy and Eric Pickup, who was a lecturer. Pickup was educated at The King's School, Chester, trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, and became an Associate Member of RADA.His television work began with an episode...
  
   -- Roger Tundish
• Stewart Pile -- Oliver Tundish
• Mossie Smith -- Petula Belcher
• Greg Wise
  Greg Wise
  Greg Wise is an English actor and producer. He has appeared in many British television works, as well as several feature films .- Early life :...
  
   -- Alister
• Ashley Wright (actor) -- Nathan Tundish

External links

• Plot summaries at BFI