14 November - 20 December 1978
3046 - 3067
continued
On top of the office, we’re now regularly seeing the garage workshop. Again, I really didn’t think this would work as well as it is (at the moment anyway). Benny has now switched overalls (literally. While
Benny’s Theme played, Doris handed him the ones given to him by his fiancée Maureen to wear for his job interview) and is working there.
Benny’s new partner-in-crime is one of several new arrivals in this block of episodes: Joe “Mac” MacDonald. Like Benny, Vic, Doris, Shughie and Jane, Mac feels like a friendly, safe, “nice” character who gets on with pretty much everyone (thinking about it, I’m pleasantly surprised how many of these there are in
Xrds at the moment). He’s proved competent at his job, he’s polite to everyone and being a really good friend to Benny, showing him a few basics of car mechanics and offering to teach Benny to drive (an offer he may well regret).
However, it is notable that - on DVD at least - Joe is the first non-white regular character. And while it hasn’t been overtly mentioned, it was significant enough for Doris Luke to get an End Of Part One shocked face upon meeting him.
This is one of those situations that must be something of a juggling act for the writers. The character adds some welcome diversity (and long overdue, considering Birmingham’s ethnic diversity) and it has already brought some low-key conflict. While not overtly stated, it’s suggested in several comments that Mac has experienced racism and intolerance. Indeed, it’s heavily implied that the reason for a good mechanic struggling to find employment is because of racism on the part of prospective employers. At the same time, there are good reasons for not directly referencing Mac’s ethnicity. Partly, it’s because to go in all guns blazing just screams tokenism. But mainly this approach works because it’s truthful that characters - even those for whom Mac’s race appears to be a big deal - would not directly address it. Instead, we pick up on little cues, such as Doris’s initial surprise, that show us more effectively than any words the bias that Mac can experience in even the most innocuous of situations. Doris's initial concern that he would get Benny into trouble or create a bad impression on their shared landlord when he went for an interview highlighted the immediate bias that surfaced for this nice character who would never consider herself a racist (and does anyone). I suspect Doris represents a significant portion of the
Xrds audience who perhaps were less cosmopolitan and needed someone to go along with on a little journey towards acceptance.
This, for me, works far better than, say, the Williamses on
Knots Landing a decade or so later where it felt as though the writers were almost unaware of their characters’ ethnicity or afraid to mention it. With the best of intentions there was universal acceptance, which is lovely but also feels rather avoidant.
Xrds’ quiet acknowledgement of Mac being a black man feels less awkward and more progressive to me.
Another new arrival to the series is more significant in retrospect. Adam Chance has flown in.
Adam’s a character I remember well from my era of watching regularly (which would be towards the end of the original series). Back then I can’t say I saw much to him beyond the moustachioed Lothario, but already I’m finding him an enjoyable character who has brought immediate new chemistry to the series. In his initial scenes he was something of a threat to Meg, being a figure of authority who had business to take care of with her regarding his friend Hugh Mortimer.
He’s very quickly emerged as a character who is supportive towards her and David. And yes, he is a moustachioed Lothario, primarily associated with Jill who, incidentally, has just returned to the series, having left each of her children with their respective biological fathers. Between this and Diane’s child, it’s evident that the writers understand that soap toddlers can be a hindrance so I’m not unhappy about this development, though I am disappointed that Stan isn’t returning —- even though I knew he wouldn’t be.
I don’t remember Adam being this good looking, but then he’s younger here than I remember. And I’m a lot older than during my
Xrds-viewing days.
His arrival feels especially special having recently watched
Nolly, which has added more layers to the scenes between Adam and Meg.
Their first major arc has been a suspected blackmailer of Hugh’s “DD” to whom he’s been sending money. This has turned out to be another new arrival: the appropriately-named Mrs Crisp
* (maiden surname “Delaney” or something) who claims to be the mother of Hugh’s eighteen year old daughter.
This led to an unintentionally hilarious dialogue fluff from Noele Gordon when she gravely told Tish and Adam the truth about Mrs Crisp:
Meg said:
She’s the father of Hugh’s child.
The camera lingered on Meg and Nolly didn’t seem to realise what she’d just said. I’d dearly love to have seen the immediate facial reactions from Joy Andrews and Tony Adams, but it was a good many seconds before we cut to a long shot. Someone must have noticed, but the scene continued and stayed as it was. And I made my peace with it by recognising that people frequently make Freudian slips in real life and polite acquaintances rarely point this out, even if they have a little chortle about it afterwards. And I hope they did.
* Mrs Crisp has such captivatingly elegant featured (almost feline in a Rosalyn Landor kind of way). She’s extremely beautiful. Seeing the actress was named Kay Dotrice, I looked her up to confirm she was related to Michelle and Karen and indeed she’s their mother. 
