Jam & Jerusalem

The first episode of Jam & Jerusalem was recorded in Autumn 2005 as a pilot (not broadcast at the time) and led to the BBC commissioning the rest of the six-part series and a Christmas special, which were filmed in Autumn 2006. The second series was filmed in Autumn 2007, and the third beginning in April 2009.[5] The show was filmed in North Tawton, Devon,[6] on nearby Dartmoor, and in Staines. The first two series were a co-production of the BBC and Saunders & French Productions in association with BBC America; the third was solely a BBC production.[7]

Saunders, who had moved to Devon in 1999, created the show out of frustration at stereotypical portrayals of Devonians on television, as well as a desire to work with Johnston. Saunders wrote the pilot alone, but co-wrote the rest of the show with her longtime personal assistant, Abigail "Abi" Wilson.[8] Wilson was credited for "additional material" for episodes 2-6, then credited alongside Saunders beginning with the Christmas special.[9]

The programme was one of a group of shows recorded in the then-new High-Definition format for a trial run in November 2006 on the BBC. The theme tune is a cover of The Kinks' "The Village Green Preservation Society" performed by Kate Rusby, whose songs are also used as incidental music, and who wrote the show's score with her longtime collaborator John McCusker. Jam & Jerusalem has no laugh track and is not recorded before a studio audience. The title phrase has traditionally been associated with the Women's Institute in England and Wales, which is popularly supposed to devote much time to the making of jam, and for whom the hymn "Jerusalem" is an unofficial anthem.[10]

Jennifer Saunders' real life daughters, Ella, Beattie Edmondson and Freya Edmondson, all appear in the show: Ella playing a folk singer, whilst Beattie and Freya appear as the daughters of Saunders' character, Caroline, also respectively named Beattie and Freya.

In November 2009, Pauline McLynn announced on her blog that Jam & Jerusalem would not be returning for a fourth series. She later stated that it was the decision of the BBC and not Jennifer Saunders.[11] Saunders later lamented the show's cancellation despite its improving ratings, noting that the cast had offered to take pay cuts for a fourth series, and attributed the cancellation to "some twat in a meeting".[8]

Regular characters

Occasional characters

Jam & Jerusalem is set in the small West Country town of Clatterford St. Mary[4] and is based around Sal, a local practice nurse. The surgery's indiscreet receptionist, Tip, is also her best friend, and both are at the centre of community life. Despite this, Sal is not a member of her local Women's Guild, but after the death of her husband, the local GP, and the loss of her job, she soon joins.[23] Tip is married to a farmer, Colin. The chairwoman of the Women's Guild is Eileen Pike, who always wears her chains of office. Other members include lollipop lady Queenie, elderly church organist Delilah Stagg, and Rosie, a cleaner who has an angry and rude alter ego called Margaret. Delilah is absent from the second series except a brief appearance in the first episode. Wealthy Caroline and Susie are slightly separate from the rest of the Guild. Sal's family consists of James, her son, and his wife, Yasmeen. Sal's daughter, Tash, has a son of her own, Raph, and she has a boyfriend Marcus until the end of the second series.[24] Tash's friend Samuel "Spike" Pike, a postman, is a fellow hippie who becomes her husband in the final episode of Series Two.[24][25]

Sal Vine

Sal (Sue Johnston) is practice nurse at the Clatterford Health Centre. She is mother to James and Tash, and widow of Mike. After the death of her husband, James takes over the surgery and replaces Sal with his wife, Yasmeen. Sal subsequently joins the Women's Guild to give herself something to do. Her best friend Tip helps her get her old job back by bringing in James' old headmistress Joyce Midge for a smear test. Overwhelmed with embarrassment, James accepts Sal back part-time on her old wage. As the practise nurse, Sal is responsible for Rosie's well being, and is sympathetic towards her condition. She usually steps to defuse the situations caused by Rosie and Margaret's antics, maintaining that she is no danger to anyone. In the Christmas Special, it is revealed that Sal had still not scattered Mike's ashes, and she asks Spike to send them up over the town in a firework. This is not quite done to plan, as the firework is instead used to end the pantomime that Sal helped produce, cast and choreograph, and the ashes end up scattered over the audience and the cast. In the third series, Sal is dismayed to find that her privacy is being invaded by builders and bulldozers, as a residence for esteemed actor Charles Dance (ostensibly) was to be built behind her house. In addition, she begins seeing older patients at her house, which leads to accusations of her being a prostitute. Sal's attitude to the builder (Jock, played by Clive Russell) subsequently thaws, and in the last episode they are seen to share a kiss.

Tip Haddem

Tip (Pauline McLynn) is an Irish woman, who worked as the receptionist at the health centre for the first two series. She is married to Colin, who owns a farm. She is best friends with Sal, and helps her in many situations, such as getting James to rehire her. She is very indiscreet, and often reveals people's personal medical information gleaned from patient files. Tip joins the Guild with Sal despite being Catholic; she was apparently brought up in a convent in Ireland, and loved it, saying she would not hear a word said against the nuns there. In the Christmas special, Tip is cast as the Wicked Stepmother, but, as in previous years, spends most of the panto at the pub, arriving drunk for the finale. In the second series, her marriage to Colin is deteriorating. In the last episode, he sleeps in a caravan outside the house, and the two communicate by writing to each other on the back of an envelope. By the end of the episode, however, their marriage seems to be back on track. Tip takes a job as bartender at the Fountain pub in series 2; in series 3, she is regularly seen there, having left the health centre. Throughout series 3, she is a supporter of Sal's protest against the building behind her house.

Rosie Bales

Rosie (Dawn French) is a sweet, if naïve, woman with an alter ego called Margaret, who is angry, rude and hateful towards anyone and everyone. Rosie has at least two sons and an unseen husband called Ricky, all of them unseen. Rosie works at the local cheese factory, and often presents cheese as presents for things such as luck, remembrance and welcoming. She has numerous adventures and incidents during the series, such as forgetting to order pasties for a picnic, finding a potato with Jesus' face on it, going on a celebrity diet (and subsequently swallowing a marigold glove because she couldn't find a balloon), stealing from the Spar, and getting the Guild bowls team disqualified for indecent exposure. Rosie is implied to be intellectually disabled as well as having dissociative identity disorder, the latter of which seems to stem from a bad experience (implied to be sexual abuse) as a child with a man called Peter. In the Christmas special, Rosie borrows decorations from around the town to make her costume for the pantomime, in which she plays the Fairy Godmother.

Delilah Stagg

Delilah (Joanna Lumley) is the elderly church organist, and often gets herself into problematic situations. These include getting jammed in her car, taking a day to put her donkey called Hetty on a lead, nearly choking on her false teeth, and trying to buy a tomato, during which the shopkeeper gave her 10p to go away. At the subsequent bring-and-buy, she is influenced by the shopkeeper's actions and ended up giving away all of the profits. Delilah once reveals that her family were Nazis; one one occasion, she is seen in a photograph shaking hands with Hitler, who she says had more charisma than anyone she had ever met, apart from Lester Pigott. In the Christmas Special, Delilah comes to audition before anyone else had arrived, then leaves as soon as Eileen, Queenie and Pauline arrived to hold the auditions. She always says a simple sharp "Goodbye" when leaving. In the pub, she offers youths drinks before leaving them to pay the tab. Delilah has a bad cycling accident in the first episode of the second series and does not return.

Eileen Pike (née Brewer)

Eileen (Maggie Steed) is self-proclaimed chairwoman of the Women's Guild, and proudly marks her position with some handmade "regalia", which Rosie insists are medals or armour of some sort. Eileen has a haughty personality and a superiority complex. She is revealed to be adopted in the first series when she takes her adoptive father to a hospice. Sal and Tip use Genes Reunited to find that she had a brother, in whom at first she has no interest, but after consideration contacts, learning she also has nieces and nephews. Eileen is very sympathetic towards Rosie's condition, and assists Sal in reprimanding the Vicar after he is less than sensitive towards Rosie. However, she is not as adept at dealing with it as Sal, as she is frightened by Margaret. Eileen helps cast, produce and choreograph the pantomime in the Christmas special with Queenie and Sal. In the third series, Eileen agrees to help with Sal's protest against the development behind Sal's house until she finds out that the person moving into the development is apparently Charles Dance. She regularly suffers from hot flushes, and always orders a Bénédictine at the pub.

Caroline Martin

Caroline (Jennifer Saunders) is a wealthy mother of four: Mikey, who is in a rock band; Christopher, who is in the army; and two daughters, Beattie and Freya. She is married to a man called John. She enjoys horse-riding, and does not understand why Freya does not show the same enthusiasm. Caroline often spends time with the various celebrities that her son Mikey knows, particularly Sting and Trudie Styler. While a prominent member of the Guild, she and Susie seem separate from it, keeping their own company. Caroline often mistakes words such as dogging and rimming to mean something completely different from what they actually mean, like taking dogs to the river to swim, and wetting the rim of a glass and making a tune (respectively). It is Susie who divulges their true meanings, to which Caroline expresses deep shock. In the Christmas Special, Caroline helps backstage with make-up and general organisation. In the third series, she initially supports Sal in her protest, but changes her mind after learning that the development will bring Charles Dance to Clatterford. Saunders deliberately chose to play a character with little screen time in Jam & Jerusalem, stating she preferred to write, sit back and watch, though the second episode of the third season is centred around Caroline.

Dr. James Vine

James (David Mitchell) is Sal's elder child, who inherits the practice after the death of his father, Mike. He is married to Yasmeen, who takes Sal's job as practice nurse, despite Yasmeen being horrifically squeamish. James is uptight and often has difficulty connecting with patients. He dislikes his mother's interference in his work, and often harshly reminds her she is no longer employed at the practise. After Sal helps James deal with an embarrassing smear test of his old headmistress, he brings her back part-time. In the Christmas special, he takes his deceased father's place in the Clatterford Christmas Panto and plays an Ugly Sister in Cinderella. His relationship with his sister Tash is very negative, yet he expresses his love for her wedding, at which he speaks on behalf of their deceased father. In the third series, he believes a rumour that his mother was a prostitute, and also expressed interest in becoming Clatterford's local MP. He shows that he has emotionally matured when he approves of the relationship between his mother and Jock.

Natasha "Tash" Vine

Born in 1971, Tash (Sally Phillips) is Sal's younger child, who is a hippy. She has a son from an unknown relationship, called Raph. Her selfish and irresponsible behaviour causes frequent disputes between her and her mother, and extremely barbed exchanges with her brother. In the first series, she is in a relationship with a man called Rufus, who then leaves her. A recurring theme throughout the show is Sal's frustration with her inability and refusal to settle down and care for Raph; Mike once kicked her out of the house in the hope the reality of life would shock her into action, but she carried on as before. She plays the lead role in the Christmas pantomime (for the 21st time running, despite being 36 at the time), and subsequently starts a relationship with an old school friend called Marcus. She eventually leaves him in the second series, and marries his rival for her affections, fellow hippy Spike. In the third series, she, Spike and Raph are all living in the old portable library outside Sal's house, which is then removed by force, partly because they refused to move it themselves, but mostly because the battery in the engine was dead. When they finally repair and move the van, Sal is concerned she will not take her responsibilities as Raph's mother seriously, but her first decision is to arrange a van-warming party for him, in the hope he will feel at home.

Queenie

Queenie (Doreen Mantle) is verger at the church and local lollipop lady, despite there being hardly any traffic in Clatterford. She is seemingly second-in-command to Eileen in the Guild. In the first series, it is mentioned that she has a daughter called Gaye, who coincidentally is a lesbian. In the Christmas special, she is director of the pantomime, but often falls asleep during rehearsals, and seems more interested in eating biscuits. In the second series, she has her arm in a sling, changing arms sometimes. Queenie is absent from the third series, having moved in with her sister.

Yasmeen Vine

Yasmeen (Salima Saxton) is wife to James, and becomes practice nurse after he inherits the practice, putting Sal, her mother-in-law, out of a job. She is terrible at her job due to being extremely mysophobic and squeamish, unable to even say "smear". She is accomplished in netball and tries to teach the Guild how to play, despite coming to blows with Susie over who is the better player. Owing to her infrequent visits to Sal's home, Sal and Tash often assume that Yasmeen is pregnant whenever she turns up. Yasmeen is Muslim.

The Vicar / Hillary

Hillary (Patrick Barlow) is the fussy, old-fashioned and grumpy vicar at the local church. He has difficulty suffering the eccentric townsfolk of Clatterford, saying that "being vicar around here is like ploughing bloody concrete". In the second series, he has a girlfriend called Veronica, who reveals his first name to be Hillary, to which the Guild all respond with laughter. His attempts to make himself look dignified in front of his parish almost invariably end badly. The Vicar is opposed to plans that might damage the community, such as the cancellation of the re-enactment of the Clatterford Skirmish, and the building of Charles Dance's residence behind Sal's house.

Kate Bales

Kate (Rosie Cavaliero) is a self-pitying, lonely and irritating young widow who is initially disliked by the majority of Clatterford, once described by Eileen as having "the charisma of a flip-flop". Her husband died shortly after they got married, and she is still wallowing in grief after five years. She became a bereavement counsellor but often ends up being counselled by those she is trying to help. In addition, she works as a teacher in series 1, but by series 2 has become a real estate agent. Despite being an atheist, she joins the Guild to try to come out of mourning. In the Christmas special, she almost inaudibly sings "Nine Million Bicycles" at her audition, but subsequently admits that she does not want to be on stage and so is enlisted to be a ticket saleswoman. Kate is also the guild's computer wizard, despite a lack of real expertise. She runs a class for older people who wanted to learn to use a computer, called the "Silver Surfers". In the third series, Kate and the Vicar have a whirlwind romance after Kate supports him during his emotional crisis over the safety of Caroline's soldier son.

Susie

Susie (Suzy Aitchison) is a wealthy friend of Caroline's and a Guild member, and is married to a man called Charles. She often mistakes Caroline's son Mikey for being in a pop band rather than a rock band. She is very competitive, especially about playing centre in netball. In the Christmas special, she wants and expects to be cast as Prince Charming, but is recast as Dandini when her performance opposite Tash makes Eileen and Sal uncomfortable. She goes to Sal for advice when she had a pregnancy scare in the second series. She acts as something of a dogsbody to Caroline on many occasions, and often has to inform her of the real meaning of slang terms.

Jock

Jock (Clive Russell) is a builder who renovates the barn behind Sal's house in the third series. Sal discovers the planning application too late (Tash saw it but ignored it), and takes her ire out on Jock. Jock, having an abrasive, no-nonsense personality, ignores all protests. Rosie, on speaking to Jock, gets the mistaken idea that the house was being built as a hideaway residence for Charles Dance. The thought of a celebrity in the village removes local opposition to the build, leaving Sal without support. Jock, over time, becomes friendly with Sal, eventually becoming her love interest. When it dawns on Sal and Tip that Charles Dance will not be appearing at the local Ladies meeting, it is Jock who saves the day.

The first series of Jam & Jerusalem was broadcast on BBC America in the United States.[46] The first series was screened in Australia, starting in December 2007 on the ABC.[47][48] In late 2007, the show began to air in Canada on BBC Canada, and in India on BBC Entertainment.

The first series and 2006 Christmas Special of Jam & Jerusalem were released in the United States (Region 1) as Clatterford: Season 1, on 8 May 2007.[49] The first series was released in the United Kingdom (Region 2) on 21 January 2008[50] and in Australia (Region 4) on 3 January 2008.[51]

The Complete Series 2 was released on DVD in the UK on 3 August 2009, and 1 September 2009 in the US. The Complete Series 3 was released on DVD in the UK on 2 August 2010, alongside the Complete Series 1–3.

• Jam & Jerusalem at BBC Programmes
• Jam & Jerusalem at British TV Comedy
• Jam & Jerusalem at British Comedy Guide
• Jam & Jerusalem at TV.com
• Jam & Jerusalem at IMDb