Education
Plaistow County Grammar School.
Plaistow County Grammar School.
Malcolm McFee made his first appearance on television in 1967. In 1968 he began a three-season stint in the London Weekend Television situation comedy series Please Sir! playing the part of smooth wide-boy Peter Craven. He continued the role into the 1971 feature film comedy version, also called Please Sir!.
McFee had made his film debut in the 1969 satirical anti-war musical Oh! What a Lovely War.
The Please Sir! television series spawned a comedy sequel called The Fenn Street Gang which ran from 1971 to 1973. McFee was unavailable for season one as he was appearing in the West End play “Forget-Maine-Not-Lane” and the part of Craven was played for that season by Leon Vitali.
McFee returned for seasons two and three. He appeared on television many times in the 1970s but was only rarely seen after this until 1993.
After turning to the stage McFee made a career as an actor and director, working as a theatre director in small theatres in Greater London and the provinces.
His last television role was in an episode of the long-running Thames Television police drama series The Bill in 1997. Apart from Please Sir! and The Fenn Street Gang, Malcolm McFee appeared in the following television programmes:
McFee also appeared as a guest on This is Your Life for John Alderton in 1974, and presented three episodes of British Broadcasting Corporation pre-school programme You and Maine in 1978. He was the reporter and clown in the 1980s British Broadcasting Corporation schools science programme Science Workshop.
Popular opinion says that McFee is the subject of Morrisey"s song "Little Manitoba, What Now?" from his 1988 album "Viva Hate", although previous opinions have suggested Jack Wild or Roger Tonge as the subject.
The song mentions an ATV series axed after four years, and Morrissey watching it on a Friday night (season 1 of Please Sir! was indeed broadcast on Friday nights although subsequent seasons went out on Saturday or Sunday nights), and tells of the fall of a television star of the 1960s to an unknown of the 1970s.