The Longest Night Episode Review
Brief: Just as Del and family are out buying their weekly French stick, Tom the security guard approaches them, it’s obviously due to being a prized customer. Then it all goes pear-shaped. A burglar; little Lennox, makes a daring raid on the local supermarket, what’s worse – Del sold him a duff watch down the local market…
Transmitted: 14.09.1986
Duration: 30 minutes
Viewing Figures: 16.7 million
Del, Rodney, and Albert are mistakenly apprehended as shoplifters by an overzealous security guard at the Top Buy Supermarket. And things get worse when they’re taken to the manager’s office and realise that they’ve lost their receipt for the goods.
Shortly after, Tom the security guard brings a cocky shoplifter, Lennox Gilbey, into the manager’s office, where he promptly pulls out a gun and demands money from the safe.
Unluckily for Lennox the safe is on a time-lock and due to the dodgy watch he’s wearing, he’s 15 minutes later than he planned – and the safe doesn’t open until 8am the next morning.
After being held hostage throughout the night, Del realises that he sold the dodgy watch to Lennox, and that he also knew him as a kid. By preying on his guilty conscience, Del persuades Lennox to reveal that the plan was hatched by Tom and the supermarket manager to get at the £60,000 stored in the safe.
The three accomplices beg Del not to go to the police, and instead, he arranges for Lennox to get a job as security guard at the supermarket after Tom’s retirement, and then makes sure he wins a £1,000 prize as the millionth customer in the store.
Episode Observations
- In the Longest Night, Lennox Gilby (the robber) has odd shoes on!
- In the Longest Night, how did the Trotters, Tom and the manager, and Lennox, who was he gunman, survive 14 hours without going to the toilet. Surely at the end when they all left after they found it was a set up to get some cash, they were bursting.
- In the Longest Night, Tom Clarke the Head Of Security in the supermarket is played by John Bardon better known now as Jim Branning in Eastenders.
- In the Longest Night, Vas Blackwood who plays Lennox gilby is the same man who plays Rory Breaker in lockstock and Two smoking Barrels.
- In the Longest Night, during the scene when Lennox is shoplifting, watch carefully when he opens a can of beer – inside his jacket he has the “long stick things”. The next few shots then show this item to be missing from his jacket and then we are shown him picking the item from the shelf and putting it in his jacket!
The Longest Night Script
The script will be downloadable from here
Did You Know?
The idea for the script was based on a true story about a robber who wnet into a supermarket, and pulled off a con with securitymanager and store manager.
Hi to all. Im after any signed photo of the cast, can anyone help, thanks.
Hi all
I am looking for a kenneth macdonald signed photo can anyone help contact me on 07944975072 many thanks Michael
Just spotted Vas Blackwood doing this advert for 666 bet, he’s in a few more too i believe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PBE-UFMHuY
Thanks for posting. I bet he got paid a mint for doing that.
I took a picture of that Matalan recently to offer a comparison. I don’t live that far from there, so it was a fun fact to learn! I’d put the picture on here, but I’m not sure how :(
Very good point Alex
check out the street view
http://maps.google.co.uk/
The supermarket which the episode was filmed in is now the Matalan in Leytonstone