Jam & Jerusalem (also known as Clatterford in the United States) is a British sitcom that aired on BBC One from 2006 to 2009. Written by Jennifer Saunders and Abigail Wilson, it starred Sue Johnston, with an ensemble cast including Sally Phillips, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Rosie Cavaliero, Patrick Barlow, Joanna Lumley, Maggie Steed, Pauline McLynn, Suzy Aitchison, David Mitchell, Salima Saxton, and Doreen Mantle.
The show centred on a Women's Guild in a fictional small West Country town called Clatterford St. Mary. It first aired on 24 November 2006, and the second series began airing on 1 January 2008 with a 40-minute special, finishing on 1 February 2008. The third series was aired as three one-hour specials, and began its broadcast on BBC One on 9 August 2009.
Plot Jam & Jerusalem is set in the small West Country town of Clatterford St. Mary and is based around Sal, a local practice nurse. The surgery's indiscreet Irish 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. 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 factory worker and 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. Tash's friend Samuel "Spike" Pike, a postman, is a fellow hippie who becomes her husband in the final episode of Series Two.
Production 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. The show was filmed in North Tawton, Devon, 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.
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. Wilson was credited for "additional material" for episodes 2–6, then credited alongside Saunders beginning with the Christmas special.
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.
Saunders' real life daughters, Ella, Beattie, and Freya Edmondson, all appear in the show: Ella plays 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. 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".
Cast Regular characters ActorCharacterEpisodesSeries OneSeries TwoSeries ThreeSue Johnston Sal Vine Dawn French Rosie Bales Jennifer Saunders Caroline Martin Joanna Lumley Delilah Stagg 1–4, Special 1 Doreen Mantle Queenie All episodes 1–4, 6 Patrick Barlow Reverend Hillary All episodes 1, 3-6 1-4Maggie Steed Eileen Pike Pauline McLynn Tip Haddem All episodesAll episodes 1, 2, 5, 6Sally Phillips Natasha 'Tash' Vine 1–4, 6, Special All episodes All episodesSuzy Aitchison Susie All episodesAll episodes 3-6David Mitchell Dr. James Vine 1, 2, 4, Special 1, 4, 5, 6 1, 2, 5, 6Salima Saxton Yasmeen Vine 1, 2, 4, 5, Special 1, 2, 4-6 1–3, 5,6Rosie Cavaliero Kate Bales All episodesAll episodes 1, 3-6Menna Trussler Megan Boyd 1, 2, 6 1, 2, 4, 6 5Thomas Assafuah Raph 1–4, Special 6 1, 3-6Hazel John Pauline All episodes 1, 3, 4 All episodesRobbie Richardson Colin Haddem 2, 3, 6, Special 1, 2, 4-6 Nigel Lindsay Marcus 2–4, Special 1-5 Simon Farnaby Samuel 'Spike' Pike 3, 5, 6, Special All episodes 1, 2, 5, 6Freya Edmondson Freya Martin 1, 3, 5, Special 1, 2, 4 Elanor Grimes Janine 5, 6, Special 1, 2, 4-6 3, 4Clive Russell Jock All episodes Recurring and guest characters Actor Character EpisodesHywel Bennett Dr. Mike Vine Series One: 1Ella Edmondson Folk singer Series One: 3Wendy Hill Mrs Otterley Series One: 3; Series Two: 1, 2Miriam Margolyes Joyce Midge Series One: 4Natalie Grady Mary Webb Series One: 4Marcia Warren Lady Anne Crump Series One: 5; Series Two: 3Brian Knight Elijah Truelove Series One: 5The Magic Numbers Themselves Series Two: 2Beattie Edmondson Beattie Martin Series Two: 1, 2Helen Blatch Ida Helston Series Two: 1Sue Vincent Ida's daughter Series Two: 1Jan Hartley Veronica Series Two: 3, 4Adrian McLoughlin Will, cheese factory supervisor Series Two: 4Dan Mersh Community support officer Series Two: 4Alex Kirk Policeman Series Two: 4Alexis Bowater Newsreader Series Two: 4Simon Saunders Landlord Series Two: 4Chris Stanton Tim Series Two: 5Patricia Potter Amy Series Two: 6Tish Series Three: 5Barbara Horne Registrar Series Two: 6Ben Chamberlain Ben Series Two: 6Kate Rusby and her band Themselves Series Two: 6Tim Vine Tim, the local MP Series Three: 2Alex Roe Chris Series Three: 3Charles Dance Himself Series Three: 6
Characters 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 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; on 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)