The Great British Sitcom

[Angela Chilling]

I've really enjoyed the series, and found myself feeling sorry there weren't more made.

Have you got any plans to watch the follow up series Yes Honestly which was made after Pauline Collins and John Alderton decided they no longer wanted to continue with the show?

 

[Spells & Karma]

Have you got any plans to watch the follow up series Yes Honestly which was made after Pauline Collins and John Alderton decided they no longer wanted to continue with the show?

It's definitely on my radar, Angela. I'd very much like to see it. The only problem is that it's currently out of print on DVD and so is quite expensive. If I can find myself a reasonably priced copy I'll dive in. I'm hoping Network may re-release it at some point.

 

[Angela Chilling]

It's definitely on my radar, Angela. I'd very much like to see it. The only problem is that it's currently out of print on DVD and so is quite expensive. If I can find myself a reasonably priced copy I'll dive in. I'm hoping Network may re-release it at some point.

I have a vague memory of watching No Honestly was I was young, I think it was broadcast on Sunday evenings and enjoyed it very much. When it was replaced with Yes Honestly, I thought I would never get used to what was essentially the same show with a different cast but in the end I think I preferred it to the original series.

 

[Spells & Karma]

I have a vague memory of watching No Honestly was I was young, I think it was broadcast on Sunday evenings and enjoyed it very much. When it was replaced with Yes Honestly, I thought I would never get used to what was essentially the same show with a different cast but in the end I think I preferred it to the original series.

I'm often curious about what day of the week and time these series were first broadcast in. Now you've said it, it does have a bit of a Sunday evening feel.

It's good to know that you enjoyed the follow-up series so much. At least I know it's worth seeking out at some point. I'm fairly sure I've never seen it, although the couple on the cover look quite familiar. I know Liza Goddard from other things of course. But the pairing here looks a little familiar.

 

[Angela Chilling]

I'm often curious about what day of the week and time these series were first broadcast in. Now you've said it, it does have a bit of a Sunday evening feel.

It's good to know that you enjoyed the follow-up series so much. At least I know it's worth seeking out at some point. I'm fairly sure I've never seen it, although the couple on the cover look quite familiar. I know Liza Goddard from other things of course. But the pairing here looks a little familiar.

I think it was on Sunday at around 9pm, the same time slot as many ITV shows of that era like Two's Company. I remember watching them before having to go to bed because I had school the next day which is way it stuck in my memory.

I can't remember who played opposite Lisa Goddard in Yes Honestly but I don't think I had seen in any other show before or since. I'm not sure how much I would like the show now but as a junior school boy I really liked it.

 

[Spells & Karma]

I think it was on Sunday at around 9pm, the same time slot as many ITV shows of that era like Two's Company. I remember watching them before having to go to bed because I had school the next day which is way it stuck in my memory.

That's a really nice way to round off the weekend.

I can't remember who played opposite Lisa Goddard in Yes Honestly but I don't think I had seen in any other show before or since.

Donal Donnelly, apparently. Looking at his IMDb page, the only thing in which I've seen him is The Godfather Part III. And even then I can't remember him, so I imagine it was a very small role.

I'm not sure how much I would like the show now but as a junior school boy I really liked it.

It would be interesting to see if it lives up to your memories.

When I first started watching I didn't expect to like No - Honestly anywhere near as much as I did, but I was sorry to see it end.

 

[Spells & Karma]

It seems that every post I make about Vicious is going to be more of the same. Nice premise. Endearing characters. Wonderful actors. Sub-par writing.

I've now watched through to the last-but-one episode. Or technically (since the finale is nowhere to be seen) the last-but-one-but-one. It's very easy to understand why the series ended when it did.

The reliance on the f**ks and shits is increasing. Mason and Penelope are now getting in on the swearing, which became very old very quickly. Is it meant to be edgy? Shocking? Outrageous? It's none of these, though might have been had it aired three decades earlier when alternative comedy was a thing. Even then it failed to hit the mark of being funny much of the time.

Having noticed them, I'm now hyper aware of the Americanisms that pepper the dialogue (some of which might be contemporary British, but it amounts to the same thing). Characters "get mad" and have "fights". Or they are "excited for" their dance class. The most unforgivable example came in a flashback to the couple moving into their flat (or is it apartment?). Young Stuart had offered to get Young Freddie a cuppa. A short time later, Young Freddie pointed out he was "still waiting on that tea". This is in early Sixties Britain.

Shark jumped, I'm now quite keen for the series to end and not too bothered at all that the final special is nowhere to be found.

 

[Angela Chilling]

It seems that every post I make about Vicious is going to be more of the same. Nice premise. Endearing characters. Wonderful actors. Sub-par writing.

I've now watched through to the last-but-one episode. Or technically (since the finale is nowhere to be seen) the last-but-one-but-one. It's very easy to understand why the series ended when it did.

The reliance on the f**ks and shits is increasing. Mason and Penelope are now getting in on the swearing, which became very old very quickly. Is it meant to be edgy? Shocking? Outrageous? It's none of these, though might have been had it aired three decades earlier when alternative comedy was a thing. Even then it failed to hit the mark of being funny much of the time.

Having noticed them, I'm now hyper aware of the Americanisms that pepper the dialogue (some of which might be contemporary British, but it amounts to the same thing). Characters "get mad" and have "fights". Or they are "excited for" their dance class. The most unforgivable example came in a flashback to the couple moving into their flat (or is it apartment?). Young Stuart had offered to get Young Freddie a cuppa. A short time later, Young Stuart pointed out he was "still waiting on that tea". This is in early Sixties Britain.

Shark jumped, I'm now quite keen for the series to end and not too bothered at all that the final special is nowhere to be found.

I never really noticed the Americanism in Vicious but maybe I'm become immune to it after years of watching American TV shows but the examples you gave would have annoyed me had I noticed them.

Where I felt the series failed was that there was little light and shade in the relationship between the 2 main characters. They were little more than 2 camp, acerbic gay stereotypes who were just nasty to each other and rarely showed any affection to each other so I couldn't help thinking why are they still together putting up with this? As a premise for humour, it's funny for maybe one episode but the novelty of seeing 2 giants of the British acting community behaving in this way wore off very quickly.

In some ways the show reminded me of George and Mildred because they were another couple who constantly threw insults at each other but the difference with the Ropers is that you always felt they had a underlying fondness, if not love, for each other but I never felt that with Freddie and Stuart. As I couldn't accept their relationship as being realistic I found it hard to warm to this sitcom and that's before I take into account the old fashioned staging and filming of the show and the dire scripts.

 

[Spells & Karma]

I never really noticed the Americanism in Vicious but maybe I'm become immune to it after years of watching American TV shows

I'm possibly over-sensitised to it since I rarely watch American TV these days. It was a conscious choice I made a few years ago, based on my one of my bugbears about British culture and language imitating and becoming entrenched in American at the expense of our own. It's a long story, and perhaps a completely different topic, but long story short, I've enjoyed the experiment enough for it to have become a way of life. The occasional American film is about it for me. And I still listen to a lot of American music. But I'd struggle to commit to an ongoing series.

Where I felt the series failed was that there was little light and shade in the relationship between the 2 main characters. They were little more than 2 camp, acerbic gay stereotypes who were just nasty to each other and rarely showed any affection to each other so I couldn't help thinking why are they still together putting up with this?

Yes, I agree. I have known couples - gay and heterosexual - who have very spiky and tempestuous relationships, and who seem to disagree about more than they agree. And some have been very long term indeed. Perhaps based on the premise that it's "better the devil you know than the devil you don't". But I've always assumed (perhaps incorrectly) that they're kinder to one another in private and find some way of connecting. Stuart and Freddie can be so extreme and relentless in their insults - even when nobody else is around - that it's difficult to understand why they stay.

In some ways the show reminded me of George and Mildred because they were another couple who constantly threw insults at each other but the difference with the Ropers is that you always felt they had a underlying fondness, if not love, for each other but I never felt that with Freddie and Stuart.

George and Mildred was one of my first impressions of the dynamic. I have seen some underlying fondness for one another in Freddie and Stuart's relationship, and I like those moments. I can also appreciate that Stuart finds it difficult to be demonstrative. Freddie standing up to Stuart's mother was a nice example. He spoke about Stuart in a way that he couldn't speak to him. But all the same, the extremes of nastiness they go to can leave a bitter taste.

and that's before I take into account the old fashioned staging and filming of the show and the dire scripts.

I must confess the old-fashioned staging is an appeal for me. It feels right for these actors and characters, though the series has never quite lived up to the play-like quality that the sets and actors would suggest.

I wholeheartedly agree about the scripts. Much of my disappointment with this series has come from the wasted potential given the incredible cast.

 

[Spells & Karma]

Well, I finished Vicious this evening with the final episode of Series Two.

The final episode was fine. The wedding gave a few nice moments, and I'll admit that Stuart's dead mother being propped up at his wedding, with Freddie waving her dead hand at Stuart was some nice black comedy. I also enjoyed the running gag of Penelope ending up with cake all over her face.

The episode ending was very curious. Stuart crying over the death of his mother gave both actors the chance to actually do some real acting - particularly Derek Jacobi who cried wonderfully. But it felt very out of place with the tone of the entire series. To abruptly leave the series on this note just feels wrong. It's such a downer, reinforced by the silent credits at the end.

 

[Spells & Karma]

Last night I headed to New Year's Day 1990 with the Pilot to another series...

​

My relationship with Mr Bean - or Mr. Bean as the title has it - is a little love/hate. Back when it first aired I found the gurning face, the distorted voice and the eccentrically overwrought approach to the simplest of tasks a little silly.

This first episode reminded me of all the things that turn me off the series. The face, the voice and the eccentricities are most definitely there. It's easy to see why the character appeals to children. It's quite cartoony and very much about physical comedy. And there's certainly not a lot of dialogue to absorb.

But there were also reminders of why it's worth giving a shot. I found myself laughing more than expected. There was even Richard Briers.

And while there was no sign of the hot green Mini with the black bonnet (actually several different cars), Bean could be seen driving an orange Mk II (or a Mk I mocked up to look newer, according to some sources). And the blue Reliant Regal driven by his mortal enemy is present and has already been involved in a number of bumps and topples.

There are only fourteen episodes. Each of which originally came with a sense of event since there were only between one and three new episodes per year. And perhaps that's the ideal way to watch it. Will back-to-back episodes just be too much of too much? We'll see.

 

[Barbara On A Broomstick]

Have to be honest, I liked Rowan Atkinson in NTNOCN and Blackadder but never liked Mr Bean

Once on an internal flight in China and this was the in flight entertainment, the Chinese people on board lapped it up and were rolling in the aisles with laughter- he was so big out there .

 

[Spells & Karma]

Mr. Bean is proving unexpectedly binge-worthy. Despite not being overly enthused about continuing this evening, I've managed to get reach the end of the sixth episode. And I've found myself laughing and wanting more.

It's a little like watching Pink Panther cartoons. One sketch flows into another. There's little to delineate one episode from another. The separate acts that make up each show feel interchangeable in that there's little continuity and no significant impact to the character. He just keeps on doing his Mr Bean thing.

It requires little thought to watch. But the viewer is rewarded with a great deal of creativity and even the occasional moment of comic genius.

 

[Spells & Karma]

Last night I managed to devour six whole episodes of Mr. Bean. It really does seem to get better and better as it goes along.

One favourite moment was Bean conducting the Salvation Army band. What sold it was that first moment where he moved the baton and they played a note, and we saw realisation slowly sink in that he was wielding power:

The visual gag at the end of the DIY/New Year episode was hilarious because of how carefully it was set up:

A lot of the humour comes from being observational or relatable. Like the running gag of him being stuck behind immobile older people on the stairs while trying to race down. We've all been there.

I'd forgotten that Matilda Ziegler was in several episodes. I thought she made a good straight man for him. A few other familiar faces have included Danny La Rue, Mike from The Young Ones, and Dr Legg's sister from Shine On Harvey Moon (the one who also got stage-bombed by Ruby Wax in Girls On Top).


Twelve episodes down. Just two to go. And then if I really feel the urge for more there are the films. And the animated series. And - if that's not obscure enough - a very curious-looking series called Handy Bean which is also available on Prime. But I have a feeling the last two might foul the nest somewhat.

 

[Spells & Karma]

Mr. Bean came to an end yesterday. And I've enjoyed the series far more than I could have imagined when I struggled through that first episode.

Even so, I've decided to skip Mr. Bean: The Animated Series for now. And after reading some reviews of Handy Bean, I'm probably giving that one a wide berth permanently.

But... I will come back to the feature films very soon.

 

[Spells & Karma]

Late last year, inspired by spontaneously watching The Galton And Simpson Playhouse, I began a British sitcom marathon, which has occupied the majority of my viewing schedule since then.

Five years on I've come full-circle by re-watching Playhouse. It was an enjoyable sojourn, albeit brief.

I'd forgotten much about these episodes. Like how risque some of the episodes were. Richard Briers's horny, frustrated office worker was a case in point. The episode with him drawing a curvy graph on a whiteboard. He's distracted by his buxom assistant leaning over his desk. With his back to the whiteboard, he continues drawing two joined up, u-shaped figures. The assistant sees it, takes his marker with a roll of her eyes, draws in the nipples and walks off, leaving him deflated. So he's delighted when his colleague invites him to a wife-swapping party, which naturally doesn't go to plan. Long story short, he loses his wife en route and is refused entry. While he is off looking for her, she arrives alone, learns the nature of the party and has revenge sex with every male present. Then she heads home leaving hubby still slumped outside the door, passed out with drunkenness and fatigue, and still very much frustrated.

With an anthology series like this, it's very easy to view these episodes in their potential for an ongoing series. Perhaps the three most series-worthy were the opening episode, which had Arthur Lowe as a Blimp on holiday, complaining about the foreignness; the episode set entirely in a bar; and the one with Leonard Rossiter arguing with Roy Barraclough about whether or not an extra in the episode of MacMillan & Wife they're watching is actually Burt Reynolds.

Funnier than Lowe himself in Car Along The Pass was Mona Washbourne as his timid wife. While they're stuck in a broken cable car and he rants on about how awful their holiday has been, she knits away, eyes twinkling with a knowing smile on her face. By episode's end, she's sent him back on the last cable car to retrieve the passports she claims to have left on a tree where they last set up their tent. She then leaves a message with the ticket seller to tell hubby she's found the passports on her person after all. Then she books herself into a five star hotel, alone and happy. One can easily imagine an ongoing series with these two as a kind of forerunner to One Foot In The Grave.

The episode set entirely in the bar was appropriately named Cheers and preceded the other Cheers by more than half a decade. The little rituals they had of greeting one another and fellow patrons, of sitting in the same place, of placing out their snacks in the same way was entertaining in itself, and showed the tedium one bravely tried to escape, even though it ultimately proved to be a fantasy. The premise was clever in its simplicity and could have run and run.

It struck me in I Tell You It's Burt Reynolds that the tone seemed similar to the little I've seen of The Royle Family. Set entirely in the living/dining room, with a family watching telly and eating their dinner. Leonard Rossiter is the family friend who crashes in, starts arguing over trivia that nobody else cares about, invites himself to join them for dinner and uses their phone to ring Yorkshire TV, a national newspaper and eventually Burt Reynolds himself in a bid to prove himself right, after the TV Times listing and the closing credits let him down (he even ends up arguing the toss with the unseen, unheard Reynolds as the credits roll). It's very obsessive, but also very relatable (perhaps particularly since this very site is a place where tiny details of TV shows become the subject of occasionally heated debate). I'd have enjoyed watching an entire series where a different debate takes place in the living room each week.

 

[Spells & Karma]

While looking on Prime for inspiration for my next Britcom, I stumbled upon a series I'd never heard of before. The name appealed, and I only had to see the names of the two lead actresses to know I was going to watch:

It's for the best that I had no idea the story had previously been adapted into a radio series starring Patricia Routledge and Prunella Scales. So I was able to watch the first two episodes free of bias or comparison and simply take it on face value.

The premise and the format is very enjoyable. Each "letter" is essentially a monologue from one of the actresses, frequently direct to camera. With intercuts of reactions or flashes of events they are writing about. There's no dialogue featuring more than one person. Even when they've interacted together, they've played out like silent movies, with the monologue continuing over it.

The "letters" are riddled with oneupmanship and snide acid drops wrapped in faux sincerity, which is quite entertaining. If I have one complaint it's that it's perhaps gone too far, too soon. Perhaps as things unfold, Vera seducing Irene's new boyfriend will feel balanced. But less than two episodes in it felt like too much of too much. Already there's been a two year gap in which they stopped speaking to one another.

It appears the radio series is viewed as subtler and funnier and with more likeable performances, but I suspect the TV series is telling the story in a very different way, which is fine. There's lots that can be done quite differently in a visual medium, such as having a character saying one thing in the letter which sounds grandiose, while at the same time visually showing the actual truth, which is significantly less impressive. An example of this would be Vera boasting about her son's latest sporting pursuit while she looks at a photo of him wearing a pink feather boa, or in a sailor's outfit surrounded by shirtless guys.

It's had its moments, and I'm settling into it. It's too soon to say if it will be a surefire winner, but with this cast I'm in for the ride.

 

[Barbara On A Broomstick]

I have never seen it @Mel O'Drama - but its got 2 great actresses there

I have always enjoyed watching Anne Reid and Maureen Lipman is a class act (wasted on Corrie - Come on Alan Bennett write something decent for her)

Ive not long finished Smileys People with Alec Guiness and i had forgotten that a young Maureen Lipman was in that

 

[Spells & Karma]

I have never seen it @Mel O'Drama - but its got 2 great actresses there

I have always enjoyed watching Anne Reid and Maureen Lipman is a class act

Agreed, BF. I love both actresses and their names usually mean quality, so that's what drew me in.

This series completely passed me by. I hadn't heard of it until yesterday. It originally aired 2009-10, so it's been out there for a while.

Ive not long finished Smileys People with Alec Guiness and i had forgotten that a young Maureen Lipman was in that

Another one I haven't watched. It has a really impressive array of actors.

 

[Spells & Karma]

Well, I've managed to whizz through the first series by watching the remaining eight episodes yesterday and last night. Which means I'm 50% of the way through the entire show.

I'm impressed by how attached I've become to the characters, despite the format of the series which keeps one somewhat at arm's length. As the series has gone along, voices other than the two leads have begun to be heard. The gay son and his partner. The pregnant daughter. The dishy reverend who's "a bit light on his feet" (Michael Fenton Stevens, last seen in O'Dramavision as Bean's mortal enemy from the hotel, who was sensible enough not to eat the bad oysters).

Likewise, I've become attached to the settings. I missed their homes when the characters were in prison for their various crimes (both misunderstandings, naturally. And the arc went on a little too long). And it's felt a little strange for them to be bouncing round taking care of each others' home or family. And as the first series ends, the homes are gone altogether and the two are off to explore the world in a beaten up old Transit caravanette.

For me the series has worked best when they're in their individual homes, exchanging acid letters trying to outdo and get dirt on one another. Time will tell if the new format works. Or perhaps there'll be a time jump for Series Two.