Glad To Be Sad

Glad To Be Sad was a semi-popular British children's show from the 1980's which was centered around a clown named Spud who worked as a former clown turned police officer. It ran for two seasons from 1983 to 1986 where it was cancelled due to the head of Lampton Studio: Michael Scott hating the program.

Overview
Glad To Be Sad ran on ITV from 1983 to 1986, and centered around a clown named Spud who formerly worked as a clown, but now works as a police officer. The show ran for two seasons with 20 episodes in each giving the series 40 episodes in total. Each episode is about 25 minutes in length except for the series opener as well as the series finale to each season which were all 45 minutes long. The show's main plot involved Spud wanting to become police commissioner only to be thrwated by his rival John Huckstable whose wife Mrs Huckstable whose first name is never revealed serves as the main romantic story for the series with Spud continuing to pine for her affections despite her aready being married. The show went on a hiatus in the fall of 1985, and came back in winter 1986 for six final episodes. The show was intended for a thrid season which would finally conclude the love triangle between Spud, John, and Mrs Huckstable. A full 45 minute opener was written as well as six regular 25 minute episodes which were never produced due to the program's cancellation. Head of Lampton Studios, Michael Scott was the one who pulled the plug on the program as he called it "far too violent, and adult for younger audiences." He also cancelled due to an appartant fear of clowns. Someone pranked him by dressing up as a clown, and then jumping out at him. They were soon after fired.

Controversies
In the series one opener named after the program itself aired it garned immeditate backlash due to a scene which showed Spud's brother Fud dying from excaustion due to being overworked, The scene was cut out of all re-runs of the episode, but it can still be found on the dvd box set, as well as the VHS tapes. Another controversy surronded the overall violent nature of the program due to many episodes have characters brutally beaten, and run over. Some episodes including series 2's "Driving Mrs Huckstable," was immeditately took off the air after a scene which showed an old lady getting run over by Spud's car. Other controveries about the show include it's appartant racism, and the fact that the only black character in the show has a white boss.

Reception
Glad To Be Sad had poor reception during it's life time, but has gained a cult following in recent years.