one summer
one summer
A fan site dedicated to the 5 part TV series produced by Yorkshire Television for Channel 4, broadcast in 1983
Written by Willy Russell
Directed by Gordon Flemyng
Produced by Keith Richardson
Starring David Morrissey, Spencer Leigh & James Hazeldine
A fan site dedicated to the 5 part TV series produced by Yorkshire Television for Channel 4, broadcast in 1983
Written by Willy Russell
Directed by Gordon Flemyng
Produced by Keith Richardson
Starring David Morrissey, Spencer Leigh & James Hazeldine
about this site
This site celebrates the powerful drama One Summer, about two troubled Liverpool lads who escape in pursuit of a distant idyllic memory of a school trip to Wales, and the reclusive Kidder who befriends them.
Produced by Yorkshire television in 1983 to great acclaim, but also controversy, it had a huge impact on a generation of UK teens, and almost 40 years later is still seared into the memories of many of those that saw it.
Written by influential Liverpudlian playwright Willy Russell, and starring newcomers David Morrissey and Spencer Leigh, the series developed a cult following, despite a major controversy leading to the series being virtually unseen following its original broadcast. After years of lobbying, the series was finally released in 2005 on DVD, and now in 2020 is available on Blu-ray.
This website is currently under construction, and the original version, which includes much more extensive information is still available at one-summer.tv83.net
dedication and thanks
Dedicated to the memory of James Hazeldine, and with enormous thanks to David Morrissey, Spencer Leigh and Keith Richardson for sharing their memories, memorabilia and continued support.
blu-ray release
Network who produced the excellent and long dreamt of DVD release in 2005, have announced a completely remastered HD Blu-ray, produced from the original film elements.
Currently the Blu-ray can only be ordered directly for the neworkonair website.
In 2002 the original One Summer website was created, and over nearly 2 decade fans recorded their memories of the show
graeme mercer on August 31st 2017
mark on August 23rd 2017
Tim on November 20th 2016
Andy J on May 5th 2016
andy on August 22nd 2015
Tara on August 20th 2015
Jon on August 9th 2015
nik on June 17th 2015
Ian C. Matthe on February 6th 2015
Moz on January 21st 2015
Jon on August 8th 2014
chris robey on June 4th 2014
Kev on December 30th 2013
Tony Lally on April 8th 2013
gary weightman on December 28th 2012
adrian walton on August 28th 2012
Carl Myers on August 26th 2012
Howard on August 17th 2012
Jon on August 5th 2012
janice on January 6th 2012
John-Barry Hughes on October 27th 2011
Richard Donnerstag on September 24th 2011
Fiona on July 24th 2011
Gav on June 23rd 2011
Iggy69 on March 30th 2011
ernest deVries on November 11th 2010
carl stephens on October 23rd 2010
MICHAEL BAKER on October 12th 2010
David Gibbons on September 6th 2010
patrick on July 8th 2010
Sam on June 8th 2010
Adam Thomson on April 29th 2010
Alan Vella on April 19th 2010
Dan on January 18th 2010
Darren Stokes on December 28th 2009
Claes Göran Engström on November 22nd 2009
rachel on October 16th 2009
Carly on September 30th 2009
Sarah on August 5th 2009
Paul Bell on July 19th 2009
Susan Shaw on April 17th 2009
C Julien on January 29th 2009
Bob on December 29th 2008
Michael Lonergan on December 16th 2008
Wayne on November 13th 2008
wilf on November 2nd 2008
Gordon on October 16th 2008
craig on September 19th 2008
sue on September 6th 2008
Adam on July 4th 2008
starring

David Morrissey was born in 1963 in Liverpool. He was attended the local Everyman Youth Theatre when cast as Billy in One Summer, and he celebrated his 18th birthday during filming.
Following the success of One Summer, David was accepted into RADA, later acting with the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre for four years. He has since had a highly successful career on stage and screen in the UK and internationally as both an actor and director.

A native of Liverpool, Spencer Leigh also attended the Everyman Youth Theatre and later studied full time at a Liverpool Drama college. He was 19 when cast as Icky.
He appeared in a range of film and TV in the 1980s, most notably many films by avant-garde director Derek Jarman, including Caravaggio, The Last of England, Aria and The Garden. His TV appearances included the premiere episode of Inspector Morse.
In 1991 Spencer Leigh moved to the United States where he has worked in advertising and directing.

Born 4th April 1947, James Hazeldine died on 17th Dec 2002, aged 55. He was rehearsing for his role as Sigmund Freud in a new stage play, The Talking Cure, at the time.
Best know for playing Bayleaf in the firefighting drama London's Burning, a role he played continuously for seven years from 1988 to 1995. His other TV appearences included the popular sci-fi series The Omega Factor, and Chocky. James Hazeldine was also an accomplished and successful stage actor.
The blog on the original website is a time capsule of the efforts to get One Summer re-released, finally realized in 2006.
live streaming cast reunion 19th November 2020
bluray release and new website 2020
Blog Post for 6th July 2006
Blog Post for 4th June 2006
Blog Post for 10th February 2006
Blog Post for 23rd January 2006
Blog Post for 22th December 2005
Blog Post for 17th December 2005
Blog Post for 4th November 2005
Blog Post for 2nd November 2005
Blog Post for 24th August 2005
Blog Post for 13th August 2005
Blog Post for 5th August 2005
Blog Post for 15th May 2005
Blog Post for 14th April 2005
Blog Post for 18th December 2004
Blog Post for 11th December 2004
Blog Post for 5th December 2004
Blog Post for 17th November 2004
Blog Post for 25th September 2004
Blog Post for 11th September 2004
Blog Post for 29th August 2004
Blog Post for 25th May 2004
Blog Post for 1st May 2004
Blog Post for 4th April 2004
Blog Post for 2nd April 2004
Blog Post for 31st Mar 2004
Blog Post for 17th Mar 2004
Blog Post for 11th Feb 2004
Blog Post for 4th Feb 2004
Blog Post for 28th Jan 2004
Blog Post for 14th Jan 2004
Blog Post for 24th Dec 2003
Blog Post for 20th Dec 2003
Blog Post for 11th Dec 2003
Blog Post for 27th Nov 2003
Blog Post for 20th Nov 2003
Blog Post for 14th Nov 2003
Blog Post for 31st Oct 2003
Blog Post for 18th Oct 2003
Blog Post for 30th Sept 2003
Blog Post for 25th Sept 2003
Blog Post for 22nd Sept 2003
Blog Post for 20th Sept 2003
Blog Post for 19th Sept 2003
Blog Post for 14th Sept 2003
Blog Post for 10th September 2003
created by

Will Russell was born in 1947 in Whiston, Lancashire just outside Liverpool.
Willy Russell is one of Britain's most successful playwrights, and produced popular stage hits Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine, both of which have subsequently become successful feature films, and the hit West End musical Blood Brothers.
Amongst numerous early TV productions was Our Day Out (BBC 1979) about a Liverpool school group's ill-fated day trip to Wales. (Clearly an inspiration for the later One Summer). Russell had a varied career before becoming a successful playwright, starting out as a ladies hairdresser, and working for a time as a high school teacher.

Keith Richardson has had a lengthy career in television production, and is currently Controller of Drama for ITV Yorkshire.
He is notable for being Executive Producer of the station's primetime soap, Emmerdale. Richardson was in charge of the programme for 24 years, during which time he oversaw its transformation from a minor, daytime, rural drama into one of the UK's major soap operas. He left Emmerdale in January 2009.
He produced numerous other major series for YTV/ITV including Harry's Game (1982) and in the 90's was EP of Lynda La Plante's Trial & Retribution and Heartbeat amongst others.

Gordon Flemyng was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1934, and died in 1995.
A director of numerous film and television productions, Gordon Flemyng started his directing career on the 1957 series The Army Game and in 1962 the British feature Solo for Sparrows.
Director of two Dr Who feature films Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) and Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. (1966), he also directed for numerous popular TV series over four decades including The Avengers, The Saint, Lovejoy, Peak Practice, The Bill and Minder and the 1987 mini-series Wish Me Luck.
the reason one summer vanished
The first screening of One Summer in the UK was foreshadowed by considerable controversy.
Contemporary press reports detail how the screenwriter Willy Russell was deeply unhappy with aspects of the production and as a result his name was removed from the credits. Despite that, the series had an enormous impact on viewers.
For decades it was feared the series would never be released, with Granada Media stating that the program could not be sold or rescreened due to instructions from Willy Russell. However negotiations over 2004-2005 finally saw agreement reached to allow it to be seen again, much to the joy of fans.
Despite the extensive coverage at the time, it is still not completely clear what the exact disagreements were, though they clearly involved differences between Russell and the director Gordon Flemyng, on the casting and general style of the production. Read more below.