{{Short description|Television series}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}} {{Use British English|date=November 2025}} {{Infobox television | image = Big_Breadwinner_Hog.jpg | runtime = 50 minutes | creator = [[Robin Chapman]] | starring = [[Peter Egan]]<br />[[Timothy West]]<br />[[Donald Burton]]<br />Rosemary McHale | country = United Kingdom | company = [[Granada Television]] | network = [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] | num_episodes = 8 | first_aired = {{Start date|1969|4|11|df=y}} | last_aired = {{End date|1969|5|30|df=y}} }} '''''Big Breadwinner Hog''''' is a [[British television]] [[Thriller (genre)|thriller]] [[Serial (radio and television)|serial]] devised by [[Robin Chapman]], produced by [[Granada TV]] and transmitted in eight parts, starting at 9.00 pm on 11 April 1969 on the [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] network.
==Overview== The series focussed on the ruthless rise through the criminal underworld of the trendy young [[London]] [[gangster]] Hogarth ([[Peter Egan]]). He exploits the resources of a declining gangster, Ryan ([[Godfrey Quigley]]), to take over the dominant crime syndicate Scot–Yanks, controlled by the equally ruthless and manipulative Lennox ([[Timothy West]]). The key to Hogarth's success is knowledge of a murder arranged by Lennox, of which there is a crucial witness, Ackerman ([[Donald Burton]]), a one-time private eye who has been blackmailed into working for Scot–Yanks and bitterly resents Lennox.
The eight-part serial was widely condemned at the time for its amorality and violence. Its first episode featured a scene in which a jar of [[hydrochloric acid]] was thrown into a rival's face. "Barely minutes after the first episode was transmitted, the Granada TV switchboard was inundated" with viewers' complaints about the violence and the second episode was preceded by a Granada apology for the previous week's episode.<ref name="Adventure page 87">The ITV Encyclopaedia of Adventure, page 87, pub 1988 by Boxtree Ltd for TV Times Publications</ref> Granada toned down some of the more violent aspects of later episodes but despite this, viewer complaints continued and from episode 5 some ITV regions moved transmission to a later timeslot.<ref name="Adventure page 87" /> [[Southern Television]] and [[Anglia Television]] stopped transmission of the serial.
The serial was directed by [[Mike Newell (director)|Mike Newell]] (later of ''[[Four Weddings and a Funeral]]'') and [[Michael Apted]]. It gave an early role to [[John Challis]], later Boycie of ''[[Only Fools and Horses]]'' and an important role for [[Priscilla Morgan]]. Peter Egan is also better known these days for [[sitcom]]s like ''[[Ever Decreasing Circles]]'' (1984–1989), ''Joint Account'' (1989) and ''[[Home Again (TV series)|Home Again]]'' (2006).
==Cast== {{div col}} * Hogarth – [[Peter Egan]] * Edge – Rosemary McHale * Ryan – [[Godfrey Quigley]] * Spicer – Barry Linehan * Singleton – [[Tony Steedman]] * Lennox – [[Timothy West]] * Gould – [[Hamilton Dyce]] * Moira – [[Priscilla Morgan]] * Ackerman – [[Donald Burton]] * Greenwood – Brian McDermott * Izzard – [[Alan Browning]] * Grange – [[David Leland]] * Raymond – James Hunter * Nicholson – [[Tenniel Evans]] * Walker – [[Arthur Pentelow]] * Parker – [[John Horsley (actor)|John Horsley]] * Raspberry – Peter Thomas * Operative – [[John Challis]] {{div col end}}
==DVD release== The series was released on Region 2 DVD in a box set with Chapman's earlier ''[[Spindoe]]'' by Network DVD in June 2007. The series is presented on the DVD from the original videotapes, except episode one (containing the infamous acid-throwing scene) which exists only via a [[Kinescope|telerecorded]] film copy, where the image quality is noticeably inferior to the other episodes. Disc 3 (the 3rd "Hog" disk) contains an episode of the 1972 LWT series, ''Villains'', a serial as seen from the bank robbers point of view. The included episode focuses on womanising safe-cracker Charles Grindley as played by Bob Hoskins.
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb title|0063870|Big Breadwinner Hog}}
[[Category:1960s British drama television series]] [[Category:1969 British television series debuts]] [[Category:ITV television dramas]] [[Category:1969 British television series endings]] [[Category:Television series by ITV Studios]] [[Category:Television shows produced by Granada Television]] [[Category:English-language British television shows]]