Have You Noticed?

Have you spotted something wrong with Stella Street? Are there any little slips, continuity errors, mistakes or other fuck-ups that you can point out to your friends when you next have a Stella Street evening? This is what we’ve found so far—please send us any more.

• Stella Street is done in the same style as Alfie, with Michael Caine continually turning to the camera to talk to the audience. (See Alfie to appreciate this fully—it’s a splendid film.)
• Peter Richardson can be heard in the first series, episode 3 during the interview with Mick Jagger when he gets god. Also, he is in episode 6 on the sofa at Michael Caine’s Zulu party (or is he?). In series two, he often appears when Caine is filming “Get Chisholm”. And he also interviews Mrs Huggett on the series 1 video (thanks Mike Coyne).
• Ben Swaffer (the producer) appears at several times; once in series one in the raid on Jimmy Hill, as one of the policemen, and then on set for the filming of Al Pacino’s scene in Get Chisholm, as producer (looking at his watch!)
• Rebecca, who is in charge of scripts and things, appears on the couch in Joe Pesci’s practice in series 2 (she’s the one who says “Yes, Dr Pesci.”
• The exterior of Mick and Keith's isn't in fact on Stella Street (if it appears that it is, it's all because of the clever editing).
• That Dean is hanging around when Caine is directing Joe Pesci as the Duke of De-von-shire, and Jimmy Hill as the magnetic oil Texan.
• Hey, I suppose I'm meant to be in a fucking coma while all this is going on…
• The poster behind Jimmy hill in the episode when the police busted into his house (fuck you copper fuck you copper wank wank wank wank wank) was in Hank Zootermelk’s apartment when Michael Caine shows us round his second house (episode 2 series 2)? [thanks, Jenny Owen]
• In the scene where Dirk is in Jack’s house because he thinks Len is stalking him on the fridge you can see the shadow of a cameraman [wasn’t a reflection in the mirror? Ed.]
• Series 1 credits: The credit for camera to Spider Webb is Peter Richardson using the name he had in Bad News. See the Peter Richardson page for more on Bad News.
• One thing I have picked up is that Mrs Huggett starts to crack up after telling us how rude Michael Caine is for throwing her out of his house. Bloody funny stuff though. Cheers.

Continuity Errors

• Joe Pesci’s mama and Billy say in their letter that they will be flying into Heathrow, but later, when Joe is sitting in Michael Caine’s living room (“I bloody live here!”), he says that his mother will soon arrive from Gatwick.
• When Michael Caine goes to show Joe Pesci, his next door neighbour, the script for Bongo in the Congo, he walks past Jimmy Hill’s house. Joe Pesci in fact has two houses—see the Take a Walk page. The house next to Michael Caine’s, in show 1, series 1 “I never see the point of old people”, is not used as his house for the rest of the shows.
• In series one, episode one, there is some confusion over which season it is! This is due to the pilot, being shot in July 1997, being intercut with footage shot in the winter.
• Series 3, episode 1: take a close look at which hand Marlon holds up when he’s talking to Dustin Hoffman. It changes with the reverse.

Continuity errors are, of course, unimportant if the scripts and performances are good! I list them here purely as points of interest, rather than criticism. Hell, if you didn’t like the show, you wouldn’t be reading this, right? In fact, noticing the minutiae of the series is firm evidence of an unwavering devotion.

Did you know?

Did you know that Peter Richardson was originally to be cast to play the role of Mike Thecoolperson in the Young Ones. He didn’t because he fell out with Paul Jackson, producer of the show, and now head of Television Comedy at the BBC, who commissioned Stella Street in the first place. They didn’t get the copyright, though, so the BBC have no control over the show.