Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Mel O&amp;#039;Drama" data-source="post: 147991" data-attributes="member: 23">Series Thirty is underway, with the first two episodes run in the O&#039;Drama household this evening. It&#039;s actually a little better than I expected. But I did go in with very low expectations.Russ Abbot as Hobbo - Clegg&#039;s hitherto unseen next-door neighbour - is the new addition. I was surprised to find he&#039;s an ersatz Foggy. Certainly the largest part of his character is his big talk about his previous life as a spy. It&#039;s very true that Abbot is no Brian Wilde, but he&#039;s likeable enough for Hobbo not to grate, even when throwing in some Jack Douglas in with Hobbo&#039;s twitches and jerks. All the same, it does seem wrong for Russ to take top billing from his first episode, particularly with the screen credentials of his co-stars.Speaking of billing, I wondered how they would do it with Peter Sallis and Frank Thornton&#039;s changed status. I&#039;d thought they might end up at the very end (&quot;With Frank Thornton as Truly and Peter Sallis as Clegg&quot;), but no... they&#039;re just randomly squished in the middle of the other lowly cast. It&#039;s very odd seeing them there.The new triad of Hobbo, Alvin and Entwistle is a competent one - if unexciting. I find myself imagine previous trios during their scenes. If Hobbo is the Foggy, and as we&#039;ve already established that Alvin is a Compo replacement, then Entwistle must be the new Clegg. What that makes Clegg I&#039;ve no idea. It is good to be seeing some of Clegg and Truly. I have no real issue with them being studio bound in all their scenes so far. In recent series they&#039;ve stepped back from the action and become observers of the insanity rather than in the thick of it, so it&#039;s an organic move. Actually, there&#039;s a cosiness to the two of them chatting in Clegg&#039;s living room that lends itself nicely to the proceedings.Barbara Young as Stella is the other new addition. I&#039;m glad they&#039;ve gone a different route with Nora&#039;s sister rather than making her an out-and-out battleaxe. There are shades of Ros Utterthwaite in there, I think.So the news is at least partly good. All the same, I think the remaining fifteen episodes could end up feeling like more.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mel O'Drama, post: 147991, member: 23"] Series Thirty is underway, with the first two episodes run in the O'Drama household this evening. It's actually a little better than I expected. But I did go in with [I]very[/I] low expectations. Russ Abbot as Hobbo - Clegg's hitherto unseen next-door neighbour - is the new addition. I was surprised to find he's an ersatz Foggy. Certainly the largest part of his character is his big talk about his previous life as a spy. It's very true that Abbot is no Brian Wilde, but he's likeable enough for Hobbo not to grate, even when throwing in some Jack Douglas in with Hobbo's twitches and jerks. All the same, it does seem wrong for Russ to take top billing from his first episode, particularly with the screen credentials of his co-stars. Speaking of billing, I wondered how they would do it with Peter Sallis and Frank Thornton's changed status. I'd thought they might end up at the very end ("With Frank Thornton as Truly and Peter Sallis as Clegg"), but no... they're just randomly squished in the middle of the other lowly cast. It's very odd seeing them there. The new triad of Hobbo, Alvin and Entwistle is a competent one - if unexciting. I find myself imagine previous trios during their scenes. If Hobbo is the Foggy, and as we've already established that Alvin is a Compo replacement, then Entwistle must be the new Clegg. What that makes Clegg I've no idea. It is good to be seeing some of Clegg and Truly. I have no real issue with them being studio bound in all their scenes so far. In recent series they've stepped back from the action and become observers of the insanity rather than in the thick of it, so it's an organic move. Actually, there's a cosiness to the two of them chatting in Clegg's living room that lends itself nicely to the proceedings. Barbara Young as Stella is the other new addition. I'm glad they've gone a different route with Nora's sister rather than making her an out-and-out battleaxe. There are shades of Ros Utterthwaite in there, I think. So the news is at least partly good. All the same, I think the remaining fifteen episodes could end up feeling like more. [/QUOTE]

Verification

Who played JR Ewing?