The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club was a British television variety show created and produced by Johnnie Hamp for Granada Television. It ran for seven series from 1974 to 1977, with the final series retitled At The Wheeltappers. It was set in a fictional working men's club in the North of England and was hosted by comedian Colin Crompton as the club's chairman. The show's compere was usually Bernard Manning, who as well as telling jokes and introducing acts often started and finished the show with a song. Crompton was frequently the butt of his jokes, acting as Manning's stooge.
The set was arranged like a club, so that, rather than being arranged in terraced seating the studio audience would be seated around tables and be served beer and snacks, join in a singalong and otherwise engage in audience participation.
Crompton, as chairman of the club, would sit at a small table in the corner watching proceedings with apparent lack of interest. He had a large manual fire bell which he would wind and sound purportedly to attract the audience's attention after an act, announcing various notices from "the Committee" (that is, the officials of the social club of which he was chairman), usually misdemeanours by the club's members or the committee itself. For example: "On behalf of the Committee, I should like to tell you we made a mistake in offering the raffle prize of a diving suit. It is in fact a divan suite."
Special episodes were broadcast on New Year's Eve 1974 and 1975.
The show featured acts regularly seen on the Northern club circuit, and well-established performers who did well in theatres and clubs, but did not succeed so well on British television, such as 1950s crooner Johnnie Ray. It also gave newer acts their first television exposure, such as Cannon & Ball, The Grumbleweeds, The Dooleys and Paul Daniels. Some artists to appear on the show included:
The show was produced by Johnnie Hamp at Granada Studios in Manchester, although one episode (Series 2, ep. 2) was filmed at the Layton Institute, Blackpool.
Actress Liz Dawn appeared as a waitress before she became more famous for her role as Vera Duckworth in Coronation Street (also recorded by Granada in Manchester).
A clip from the show can be seen in the film 24 Hour Party People (2002), where Shaun Ryder, in his formative years, is seen watching Karl Denver perform "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" (a.k.a. "Wimoweh").
The music video to Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds' single "Black Star Dancing" depicts the band performing on the show.
The series was, for at least part of its run, confined to a midnight slot by London Weekend Television and Southern Television, who felt it did not suit their, perceived, more upmarket demographics.
In December 2024 the UK channel Talking Pictures TV began broadcasting the series.
Wheeltappers and shunters are railway workers. They were commonly employed by steam railways in Britain and elsewhere, but are still found both on British railways and in Eastern Europe.
Although often called "working men's clubs", most such clubs admitted the wives and other women family of the working man, at least some days of the week. This is echoed in the programme's audience being as much female as male.
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Special:
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Series 6 is a spin-off show called At The Wheeltappers, with a format similar to the original but having only one act for the whole show.
According to Talking Pictures Episode 47 was the end of the series (and the show). So Episode 48 might not exist.
Leslie Halliwell wrote: "Attempt to do for club acts what Stars and Garters had done for pub entertainers, i.e. present them in a fictitious and larger-than-life club setting. Thanks to a droll running performance by Colin Crompton as the entertainments committee chairman and insults from ex-Comedians comic Bernard Manning it became popular viewing. There were also one or two special (e.g. New Year) editions and a seaside outing".
The complete first series of The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club was released on DVD in September 2009 and the second series (including the New Year's Eve Special) was released in July 2010 with the complete third and fourth series being released in February and June 2011. The complete fifth series was released on 23 April 2012, followed by the complete sixth (and final) series. The format for the sixth series has changed, each episode being 30 minutes with just one major performer in each.