Ross Jolly

Alongside a busy theatre career as an actor and director, Ross Jolly has screen credits spanning four decades. But he is remembered for one screen role more than any other: that of likeable joker John in hit Roger Hall office comedy Gliding On. After first playing John in 1976 at Circa Theatre, Jolly did five seasons of the TV adaptation, followed in 1998 by sequel series Market Forces. His other screen roles include fantasy shows Cuckoo Land and Worzel Gummidge Down Under. He was also one of the writers behind A Lawful Excuse, an episode of pioneering 1970s drama series Winners & Losers.  

Behind the scenes panic, clothes flying in all directions. On the set supposed professional calm ... two versions so any enormous gaffe can be edited out. Another nerve-wracking 30 minutes, laughs in different places, different things going awry... Ross Jolly on making an early episode of Gliding On, The Listener, 29 August 1981