Programme:	Stella Street
Filmed:	1997 - 2001     (BBC)
Episodes:	37 (4 series)
Starring:	Phil Cornwell, John Sessions
Written by:	John Sessions, Phil Cornwell, Peter Richardson
Synopsis:	In Surbiton, Surrey, film stars Michael Caine, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino and others share a street with the likes of musicians Mick Jagger, David Bowie and soccer pundit Jimmy Hill. Although the residence are all in somewhat reduced circumstances they behave just like they're still in the bigtime. For example, Rolling Stones Mick Jagger and Keith Richards run the nearby corner shop but continue to act with their usual arrogance. The only common person is old Mrs Huggett, the local cleaner who is the butt of their verbal and even physical abuse. In the second series Dirk Bogarde moves out, selling his house to Pam and Gary Slurrey, an irritating middle class couple. The third series sees Marlon Brando joining the street and heaping even more abuse on poor Mrs Huggett.
BSG Review:	Although the episodes are short by sitcom standards (10 or 15 minutes each) they manage to pack a lot in. Impressionists Cornwell and Sessions (also responsible for the bulk of the writing) do a fantastic job in recreating the idiosyncrasies of Caine, Nicholson, Jagger, Al Pacino and the rest of the gang against the backdrop of very funny story lines and daft situations. But the language is often as foul as the action is violent. For example, when John Hurt rolls out of a taxi drunk and refuses to pay the fare, he's beaten up by the cabbie who's parting shot is: "Now the next time you play the Elephant Man you won't need no f***ing make-up".
Notes:	Two residents of Stella Street, Al Pacino (Sessions) and Jimmy Hill (Cornwell), turned up in 1998 in Stephen Fry's "Live From The Lighthouse", a Channel 4 charity telethon. There has also been a TV movie.