Conception Bill Maynard had the initial idea for the show, wishing to create a sitcom based around the members of the
working men's club in his home village of
Sapcote, Leicestershire. He later said "every character came from that club". Wright had arms too muscular to fold properly so he kept them high on his chest, another attribute Maynard borrowed. Additionally, Maynard took inspiration from
Shakespeare's ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream'', with Froggitt as
Bottom and the committee at the working men's club as the
mechanicals. Robert Keegan believed Maynard based Selwyn "on himself". Maynard considered Froggitt's interest in reading
The Times an important part of the character, explaining "I wanted him to be intelligent, always anxious to improve himself. The easy route would've been to use old clichés, like
malapropisms and
spoonerisms, but that would have made the character too one-dimensional. By getting him to read
The Times and be an ardent student of dynamic word power, we gave him the breadth to spread the comedy over a wide range of subjects. We wanted people to laugh
with him, not
at him". He identified "a lot of drama and a certain amount of
pathos" in the character. Wood commissioned a pilot after he had moved to
Yorkshire Television to be Head of Light Entertainment. Wood brought in
Roy Clarke, the creator of
Last of the Summer Wine, to write the pilot for the series. As Clarke felt he lacked the familiarity to write about a working men's club, Maynard took the train to
Leeds to assist him. Clarke devised the title ''Oh No It's Selwyn Froggitt'', and the pilot episode was transmitted on 30 September 1974 as part of a six-week season of Yorkshire Television comedy specials. This initial episode rendered Selwyn's surname as "Froggit". The first series of ''Oh No It's Selwyn Froggitt
was commissioned in September 1975, following the end of another sitcom starring Maynard, The Life of Riley''. Feeling the pilot had been at odds with his original concept, the actor met again with Clarke to discuss the show's direction. According to Maynard, Clarke admitted he had found it difficult to write about situations he had not thought up himself and decided he was not right for the job. He would later comment that Maynard had "a constitutional resistance to learning the script". It was mainly shot at
Yorkshire Television Studios on Kirkstall Road, Leeds, whilst outdoor location filming for the series took place in
Skelmanthorpe,
West Yorkshire and
Elvington,
North Yorkshire. The programme's theme tune was written and composed by
Bill Dean, who starred as Jack, and performed by the Tony Mansell Singers. The theme would feature different lyrics for each episode. Froggitt became a
cult figure, with his catchphrase "magic!" and thumbs-up becoming widely known in the United Kingdom.
Rosemary Martin, who played Maurice Froggitt's partner Vera, left the programme after its first series. Interviewed in July 1976, she stated "I was sick of playing silly, mindless women. And
Selwyn Froggitt, although a very successful show, was one of the unhappiest jobs I have ever had. I left it thinking I must be a quarrelsome, bad tempered person who couldn't get on with anybody." Martin was replaced by
Lynda Baron, who had recently appeared as Nurse Gladys Emmanuel in the first series of
Open All Hours. The second series topped the national ratings for four of the seven weeks it was on air. Interviewed during its run, Maynard described the second series as the last, saying the Froggitt role was "starting to take me over". Maynard was uncomfortable with the prospect of being
typecast and refused to appear in character as Selwyn for public appearances. When starring in a
pantomime production of
Jack and the Beanstalk in Norwich, Maynard insisted his character be called "
Simple Simon" rather than the scripted "Simple Selwyn". The immense popularity of ''Oh No It's Selwyn Froggitt'' led to the commissioning of a third series by June 1977. A
Christmas episode, "On the Feast of Selwyn", concluded the third series. Maynard had considered the third series the last, but was persuaded by Duncan Wood to return for a new version of the programme, simply titled
Selwyn. Maynard drew on his 1950s experience as a comedian at
Butlin's for the holiday camp setting. ==Reception and legacy==