Skip to content
Windsor Davies has died aged 88 on Thursday, and is best known for the BBC sitcom It Ain’t Half Hot Mum, written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, which ran for eight series from 1974 to 1981. Set during World War II, it focused on what a Royal Artillery Concert Party got up to with Davies playing the Sergeant Major, and set during the last months of the Second World War, starting just prior to VE Day in 1945, so it’s amazing they got eight years’ worth of comedy out of just a few months of time.
However, you won’t see it repeated any time soon since political correctness came along and since white actor Michael Bates was cast as the Indian bearer Rangi Ram, this was considered an example of ‘blackface’, aka ‘blacking up’; and that’s why we also don’t see The Black And White Minstrel Show repeated any more, but then that’s something that very much of its time.
I hadn’t seen Windsor Davies on the tellybox in almost 20 years, as I remember BBC’s Saturday night comedy/drama Sunburn being pretty good in 2000, but he also had a few small roles after that up until 2004’s My Family. I’m also reminded, with Paul Putner’s tweet below, that he was also in Sean’s Show with the late, great Sean Hughes.
In the above picture, Davies takes centre-stage amongst Don Estelle (left) and Melvyn Hayes, and it’s with the former that he had a No.1 hit with a cover of Whispering Grass, which lasted 3 weeks at the top, as they sang the song in character; the song originally having been written by Fred Fisher and Doris Fisher, and was a hit in 1940 for both Erskine Hawkins and his Orchestra, and then by The Ink Spots, and you can see the cover version below.
RIP Windsor Davies x
I've just found out Windsor Davies has passed away. I worked with him in 1991 in a West End farce and he was such a gifted actor. Also one of most generous, lovely blokes you could ever wish to meet. Gave me great encouragement. R.I.P. pic.twitter.com/5PAWnuGp9L
— Paul Putner (@RealPaulPutner) January 19, 2019
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.