Why classic 'Hot' series may
never be screened again...
Peter White concludes his two-part interview with the Ryde-based actor Melvyn Hayes
O
f all his stage, television and
film appearances, Melvyn
Hayes is still perhaps best
known for his role of Gunner
‘Gloria’ Beaumont in the hilarious TV
series ‘It Ain’t Half Hot Mum’.
Broadcast on the BBC for seven years
until1981, the comedy show portrayed
the adventures of a Royal Artillery
Concert Party in India and Burma just
before the end of World War Two.
The series proved so popular it was sold
across the world, but Melvyn fears it will
never be repeated on English television. He
says it is because his character was a gay
soldier, while Michael Bates was a white
man playing a black man, now considered
as not politically correct, even though
Michael was the son of an Anglo-Indian
civil servant, and served as a Major with
the Brigade of Gurkhas in Burma.
Melvyn explained how he was cast as
Gloria. He said: “I was out of work because
I had been knocked down by a car and
I had to learn to walk again. During my
recovery I went to teach young actors at
a drama school, and while I was there
one of the teachers said her husband was
going to do a new show on television and
I could play a part in it.
“She told me it was It Ain't Half Hot
Mum. Her husband was Michael Knowles
who played Captain Ashwood in the
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