Citizen Smith is a British television sitcom written by John Sullivan, first broadcast from 1977 to 1980.^[1]

It starred Robert Lindsay as Walter Henry "Wolfie" Smith,^[2] a young Marxist^[3] "urban guerrilla" in Tooting, south London, who is attempting to emulate his hero Che Guevara.^[4] Wolfie is a reference to the Irish revolutionary Wolfe Tone, who used the pseudonym "Citizen Smith" in order to evade capture by the British. Wolfie is the self-proclaimed leader of the revolutionary Tooting Popular Front (the TPF, merely a small bunch of his friends), the goals of which are "Power to the People" and "Freedom for Tooting".

Wolfie dresses in a stereotypical fashion for rebellious students of the period: logoed T-shirt, denim jeans, Afghan coat and black beret. He supports Fulham and occasionally wears a Fulham scarf. He rides a scooter and spends most of the time at his girlfriend's house, which means he constantly clashes with her parents.

• Robert Lindsay as Walter Henry "Wolfie" Smith
• Mike Grady as Ken Mills
• George Sweeney as Speed (Anthony "Speed" King)
• Tony Millan as Tucker
• Cheryl Hall as Shirley Johnson (series 1–2)
• Hilda Braid as Florence Johnson, Shirley's mother
• Artro Morris as Charles Johnson, Shirley's father (pilot episode)
• Peter Vaughan as Charlie Johnson, Shirley's father (series 1–2)
• Tony Steedman as Charlie Johnson, Shirley's father (series 3–4; 1980 Christmas special)
• Stephen Greif as Harry Fenning (series 1–3)
• David Garfield as Ronnie Lynch (series 4; 1980 Christmas special)
• Susie Baker as Mandy Lynch (series 4; 1980 Christmas special)
• Anna Nygh as Desiree, Speed's girlfriend (series 1–2)
• John Tordoff as policeman, Brian Tofkin (series 3-4)

John Sullivan became a scenery shifter at the BBC in 1974^[5] because of his desire to write a sitcom outline he had called Citizen Smith; fearing rejection if he sent the idea in, he decided it would be better to get a job, any job, at the BBC, learn more about the business and then meet someone who would actually take notice of his as yet unwritten script. After he approached producer Dennis Main Wilson, the first Citizen Smith script was written. Main Wilson loved the script, and saw the potential for a series; it was put into production almost immediately as a pilot for Comedy Special — a showcase for new talent, which had succeeded Comedy Playhouse — under the title Citizen Smith. The pilot was a success, and four series and a Christmas special were produced between 1977 and 1980.

It has been claimed that the "Tooting Popular Front" — fictionally based near to writer John Sullivan's childhood home of Balham — was partly inspired by a real-life fellow-South London far-left group, the Brixton-based Workers' Institute of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought.^[6] The group's activities were reported in The Times' diary of April 1977,^[7] the same month the pilot episode of Citizen Smith was broadcast.^[8]

The opening titles of each episode of the first two series always began with Wolfie emerging from Tooting Broadway Underground station, followed by a shot of him kicking a can across a bridge until he is in close up, accompanied by a background rendition of the socialist anthem The Red Flag. They always ended with him shouting "Power to the People", resulting in awkward consequences such as waking a sleeping baby or causing a vehicle to crash. From the third series, the shots of Wolfie on the bridge were replaced with on-screen clips of other cast members and their names, rather than just the list of names that had been used previously, and the reactions to Wolfie's shout were dropped entirely. Series 4 had a new title sequence, which began with Tucker's van driving past Tooting Broadway tube station with "The Revolution is Back" painted on it. The rest of the credits were backed by clips from the last episode of series three, "The Glorious Day", and Wolfie's shout is heard, but he is not seen.

This section does not cite any sources. (June 2020)

• Some sources erroneously name the pilot as "A Roof Over My Head", which was actually the title of the previous week's Comedy Special, written by Barry Took (which also led to a series).
• In the penultimate episode, Wolfie's full name was revealed as Walter Henry Smith – W H Smith.
• Early episodes state that there are six members of the Tooting Popular Front, but only four appear onscreen. In series 3 Wolfie says that two founder members have left the TPF: Dave the Nose (the TPF's Foreign Secretary) has emigrated, and Reg X (a Black Panther) is playing second oil drum in a steel band at Butlins.
• In the 1980 Christmas special, the Italianate village of Portmeirion in North Wales stood in for Rimini, with other locations in the vicinity used for other parts of their journey across Europe.
• The 1980 Christmas special featured the Beatles' song "Here Comes the Sun", which has been replaced on subsequent DVD releases, owing to licensing issues.
• In the original television broadcast of the episode, "Working Class Hero" the music that accompanies Wolfie's commute on his first day at work is "Carry That Weight" from the Beatles' Abbey Road album. This too was substituted on the DVD issue, with a nondescript jazz tune.
• The end title theme was written by John Sullivan and sung by Robert Lindsay, and is called "The Glorious Day".

The first episode aired on 12 April 1977. This episode was a pilot. Over the next three years, a further four series and a Christmas special were aired, totalling thirty episodes. The last episode aired on 31 December 1980. There is a mythical episode called "Right to Work" which appears in some episode guides; the confusion may arise from the episode "Working Class Hero", which opens with Wolfie involved in a "right to work" protest.

The entire series was repeated on BBC1 in 1992–1993. The series has also been re-run on satellite channels UKGold/UKTV Drama and on Gold, though one episode has never been repeated – "A Story For Christmas" from 1977.^{[original research?]} All the episodes have been released on DVD.

Citizen Smith, a novelisation of the first series written by Christopher Kenworthy, was published by Universal books, London in 1978.

In 2015, Lindsay was reported as saying he was very keen to reprise the role of Wolfie Smith, particularly with the rise of Jeremy Corbyn.^[9] However, it was also reported that the family of the by then deceased Sullivan, who own the rights, did not want to bring it back.^[10]

Playback released two DVD volumes of Citizen Smith, each with two series. Series one and two (including the pilot) were released in 2003 followed by series three and four later that year.

Only two episodes have actually been cut: "Changes" – where Tucker and Wolfie miming to the Beatles tracks "Till There Was You" (and Tucker's line "I think they like us.") and "Help!" have been cut from the scene where Tucker serenades June; and "Prisoners" – where a short scene of Wolfie singing along to the Beatles track "She Loves You", which comes in between the shot of Speed throwing stones at Wolfie's window and the shot of the window breaking, has also been cut.

Cinema Club bought the rights to the series, and later released all four series in a complete series set on 17 July 2017.

This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (May 2009)

• Steve Clark The Only Fools and Horses Story, pp26–28, ISBN 0-563-38445-X, first published 1998,
• Mark Lewisohn Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy, (A Roof Over My Head, p172, 658.) ISBN 0-563-48755-0, reprinted 2003.
• Universal/Playback DVD Series 1/2 and Series 3/4. 2003.