End-of Pier actors.

Michael Henderson, writing in yesterday's Telegraph, mentioned the TV show "Croosroads" which he called "that execrable 70's soap stuffed with end-of-pier actors".
When, years ago, I challenged my father on a criticsm he had made of the working class area he was living in, asking him why the criticism now since he had always lived in working class areas, he replied: "Well, there's working class and there's working class".
Well, I say, "there's end-of-pier actors and there's end-of-pier actors".
I know what Mr Henderson is talking about: I've had my fill of the second raters who put on second rate plays and sing popular songs with voices you would find more appropriate to town criers (if there are any now) and so on. But I recall a play I saw on the pier at Bournemouth many moons ago. The star of the show was Norman Vaughan, popular at the time on TV but not much to my liking. But the star to me was Bernard Bresslaw who came on about half way through the play and stole the show.
I was never a Bernard Bresslaw fan; in fact I don't think I ever laughed at anything he said or did in the Carry On films. But on stage he was transformed into a being so funny it was impossible not to shreak with laughter. He brought the house down, as they used to say.
That was end-of-pier acting like I had never seen before and surely won't again.