Opening Credits vs End Credits - Juliette Kaplan's name almost never up front?

Lino

Lino

Member
I haven't seen every episode but I started noticing an odd thing quite a while back (because she's a favorite) - it seems Juliette Kaplan's name almost never appears at the beginning credits, even when she has a significant part to play. Did it have something to do with star ranking, personal choice, seniority, British film custom or just coincidence? Or maybe I've missed many when she did, but now it's a thing with me that I check out at the start. I've noticed a single one recently, but I don't recall the episode name.
 
Well.... That is something I'll be looking at this weekend. What series are you watching?
 
I jump around quite a bit, but I was into the Michael Aldridge years lately. It seems earlier years they only listed a very few up front, but in later years there would be two screens of names in the beginning.
 
She didn't have a really big part in the Michael Aldridge years so that might explain it. I think they added more name to the beginning as the cast grow but you've peaked my curiosity now so I'll check that out over the weekend :)
 
IIRC, the up front credits for much of the run limited itself to the main trio and then sometimes a notable guest star. Eventually they added Thora Hird and Jean Alexander to reflect their status. Finally, they began to note other cast members in the latter years, basically giving Jane Freeman and Kathy Staff some up front credit. The rest of the cast was rarely given up front credit.
 
Sarkus said:
IIRC, the up front credits for much of the run limited itself to the main trio and then sometimes a notable guest star. Eventually they added Thora Hird and Jean Alexander to reflect their status. Finally, they began to note other cast members in the latter years, basically giving Jane Freeman and Kathy Staff some up front credit. The rest of the cast was rarely given up front credit.
Click to expand...

That is how I remember things. On the Wikipedia main article about the show at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_of_the_Summer_Wine
there is a box in which it lists a few main facts about the show including what it designates as the "Stars" under 'Starring". I do recall someone was absolutely scrupulous at excluding anyone from that list who had not had at least one up front credit. I suppose it could be that as part of a contract the actor's agent would negotiate that the actor's name be included.

If I remember correctly, the up front credit was just the actor's name except occasionally the part was added. In contrast closing credits are both name and part and included everyone in the episode usually provided they had spoken at least once.
 
I had never noticed this before and having checked out quite a few episodes, it is interesting that Juliette Kaplan is very rarely listed at the start of the show even in later post-Compo series. Sarah Thomas, Mike Grady, Stephen Lewis, Josephine Tewson etc. all seem to get listed more than her.

It seems she was finally listed in the Hobbo years.

As Big Unc said, it may well be due to the fact that certain agents requested different things for their clients. For example, as I`m sure most people know, one of Kathy Staff`s stipulations when returning to the show was that she wanted to be listed with the main 3 on the first page of the credits...
 
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