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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 102732" data-attributes="member: 23">Last night I rounded off As Time Goes By with the two-part reunion, part one of which featured the series' only cliffhanger. Not knowing the background of the reunion I am slightly intrigued by it. It doesn't appear to be a significant anniversary for the beginning of end of the show - in fact the series proper had only wrapped up three years previously, so it seems quite soon. That said, the gap here seems to have told on several of the cast who look like more than three years have passed (Alistair's completely silver shock of hair suits him). The recast Harry took a while to endear himself to me. It's very difficult not to compare this actor with the previous one (I found it impossible). I imagine the recast was necessary since he had a pretty significant role here. All things considered I'd say Harry II was perfectly serviceable. It was lovely to see Rocky, Penny, Stephen and Mrs Bale included, and final scene at A+E- while not the most memorable - brought together all the remaining main cast nicely. The only missing piece of the puzzle was Lol, but I suppose only so much can be contrived. Madge is still greatly missed too, of course, but with Joan Sims having died it's only right that the character is conspicuous by her absence. She was very much on my mind during scenes featuring Rocky, and I felt trusted as a viewer to know that the spirit of the character was being kept alive without the need to even mention her name. The outtakes were great fun. It's pleasantly surprising how iconic the episodes have started feeling to me already - for most scenes featured in the bloopers I could place the episode and remember what was going on and what the scene was about, which is very impressive with my memory. Seeing how the actors react to goofs - whether their own or their castmates - is quite telling about the atmosphere on set, and this looks like a very happy one. Moira Brooker's reflexive "Oh shit", and the resulting theatrically stunned faces of the others was highly enjoyable. Having thoroughly enjoyed Geoffrey Palmer's stuffy, irritable hangdog thing all the way through the series, it was especially pleasing to see how cheeky, quick-witted and downright impish he could be. There's a fascinating moment in the Making Of feature where the director looks thoroughly exasperated with an ad lib of his which apparently ruined a take but got a huge laugh from the audience, cast and crew (he got a ticking off for it). I suspect when you make a career of playing reserved Blimps it's hard to resist an opportunity to cut loose sometimes. Everything I saw has served to endear him to me even more, and I'm consequently looking forward to the final bonus feature - a twenty minute interview with the man himself.</blockquote>

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