The Great British Sitcom

[Spells & Karma]

Next up... one from one of my favourite sitcom writers...

​

Bob Larbey has spoilt me. Between (re)watches of his self-penned series As Time Goes By and A Fine Romance along with those he wrote with John Esmonde such as Ever Decreasing Circles and The Good Life , I've come to expect rather a lot of a sitcom with his name attached. These series were pleasantly surprising at all times and absolute revelations at their best.

This, unfortunately, makes life more difficult for On The Up. In fact my main motivation in buying this series (even over and above the presence of National Treasure Joan Sims whom I adore) was a hunger to see more of Bob's work. It's accurate to say that I had expectations going in and, unfortunately, these haven't been met.

Perhaps - probably even - I expected too much. This is a perfectly watchable series and not without its charms, but doesn't feel as compelling as some of his other series.

Part of me wonders if it's down to casting. Joan Sims, as mentioned, is a large draw. There's also Joan's spiritual Carry On predecessor, Dora Bryan who is always fun to watch and who gets some of the series' best lines. Sam Kelly, of course, has sitcom pedigree ('Allo 'Allo being the first that comes to mind, of course) and has worked with such talents as Victoria Wood and Ronnie Barker as well as appearing in two of Joan's later Carry Ons (Dick and Behind). I can't say his name fills me with excitement, but at the same time he's perfectly fine and the familiar face is welcome.

Most of the rest of the cast feels a tad workaday so far. I don't know most of the faces from anything else, which may or may not have a bearing on how I'm viewing things (it could help or hinder. Perhaps it's a combination of both.

Dennis Waterman could be the series' wild card. He's not an actor I've ever felt drawn to watch. I only saw bits and pieces of Minder and, latterly, New Tricks and haven't been bowled over (though I do want to give Minder another go at some point since I was pretty young when I saw those bits and pieces). And I don't think I've seen anything of The Sweeney. Back in the Eighties I thought he had a Ted Shackelford clenched fist kind of thing going on, which is no bad thing, but of course this is a sitcom. Dennis is best-known to me these days as a one-joke series of sketches from Little Britain where David Walliams played Dennis as someone who always wanted to "write the theme tune; sing the theme tune" and so far it hasn't failed to raise a smile when the closing theme of On The Up comes on, sung by Dennis (as he's done in a number of other series). Five episodes in, I'm still not sure if he's working for me as a sitcom lead, but he does bring a nice earthiness to the role of Tony Carpenter (whose name, now as then, immediately makes me think of the EastEnders-character-with-the-same-name - of whom, weirdly, my primary memory is son Kelvin mocking him for buying a Morris Marina).

Mrs Wembley's "Just the one" catchphrase is memorable (indeed, one of the few things I remember from whatever I watched of this series back in the Nineties) but does feel a bit sledgehammer and clunky for Bob Larbey. It's more what I'd expect from Croft and Lloyd. Overall, though, writing is nicely nuanced and natural. There was one wonderful scene of pathos for Joan Sims when Mrs Wembley recalled Mr Wembley: the man she loved but who, as it turns out, died before they had the chance to marry. Such a broad character suddenly turning out to be someone other than who they seem was a bit of a shocker so early in the series and gives me hope that these episodes are all forming part of a bigger picture.

Whatever the case, I'm sure it won't be unenjoyable to check out the rest of the series.

 

[Spells & Karma]

On The Up is proving to be a rather binge-able series. Already I've finished Series Two and so am now more than two-thirds through the entire series.

While the second series is essentially more of the same (and since it works perfectly well, why not?), there are a couple of little tweaks or evolutions in storytelling.

The most initially jarring of these was Tony's Mum being recast from dotty Dora Bryan to Pauline Letts, who plays her with a bit more of an edge. The character has had more presence this year, having moved into the household. This actually worked in Pauline's favour since I've got to know and appreciate her different interpretation of the character. She's had quite a lot of scenes with Mrs Wembley and while it's sad to have lost the opportunity to see Joan Sims and Dora Bryan lighting up the screen together, it also struck me that the two of them together in this series might just have been a bit too much. They're both slightly broad and larger than life, and could possibly have cancelled one another out. It's possible that the characters' scenes worked so well due to Pauline's more grounded, cynical and hard-nosed version. In addition, she feels formidable enough to be a threat to Ruth as well as being more convincing as Dennis Waterman's mother.

It feels we've spent a little more time with Ruth this year since she, too, has moved back in (sometimes, at least). In Series One, she was The Outsider and essentially the series' antagonist. Having spent more time with her, she now feels a little softer and more multi-faceted.

Maggie, conversely, has emerged as a more self-centred character - not the sweet little thing she first appeared. There's something about her slightly manipulative approach that rings true about a certain "type". Her crush on Tony in Series One was something of an undercurrent. It was never really given voice and was only present in little looks and slightly awkward moments, which was quite endearing. By early in Series Two it's common knowledge among the staff and she's effectively drumming up support from everyone, using them as confidantes and being openly hostile to Ruth while not saying a word about her feelings to Tony, which is a passive-aggressive way to go about it. Her outbursts and sulks become rather wearing, reaching a grating head in the episode where she made a big show of handing in her resignation only because she wanted Tony to beg her to stay which, as Ruth predicted, he did.

To be fair, though, Tony asked her to stay only because of yet another little triangle that's developed now that Sam's crush on Maggie is emerging. Which means we're essentially seeing the same dynamic play out at the same time but in a different way. Sam has pointed out the obvious - that Maggie is half his age and has shown no signs of viewing him as anything other than a friend. This helps it feel less icky, but the bigger problem is simply that I don't see them as a couple. It's feeling a bit like a dry run for middle-years Friends where they started pairing everyone off with whoever was available because... reasons.

The writing is proving enjoyable. As hoped, there's so much more to it than the "Just the one" catchphrase (which I must admit to enjoying at this point - especially now it's being used knowingly to describe situations other than a tipple). Inarticulate Dawn complimenting Mrs Wembley by describing her meal as "unspeakable" had me chuckling.

There's also a typically classy Larbey-ism when Tony is about to start a row with Ruth in the kitchen and Ruth comments "Pas devant...", forgetting that Tony can't speak French. Only for her to quickly discover that both Maggie and Mrs Wembley(!) do understand the language enough to huff off after recognising it as an instruction not to speak "in front of the servants" (pas devant les domestiques).

 

[Spells & Karma]

On The Up quietly wrapped up last night with an ending that had enough resolution to satisfy without feeling too contrived and complete.

Manipulative Maggie was missing from most episode in the Third Series and it could be true that absence makes the heart grow fonder (even if it's just the absence of a familiarity which breeds contempt) because, by virtue of her coquettish thing with Tony, the crumbs she throws to Sam and her enmity with Ruth her absence shook up the dynamics enough to be noticeable. I did enjoy the break, though.

While not without its frustrations, I do appreciate how unapologetically selfish and flawed some of the characters are in this series. One way or another both Tony and Ruth have cheated on one another and the relationship would most certainly be pseudo-psychologically labelled "toxic" these days. Ruth's shrewishness went into overdrive as the series reached an end, the better to justify Tony's new infatuation.

There's also an example of a scenario that wouldn't be permitted post-MeToo where Ruth's shrewishness also justified Tony putting Ruth over his knee (offscreen) and giving her a smacked bottom. It was played entirely for laughs (well, it is a sitcom), with Ruth walking funny and unable to sit down without discomfort as she tries to enter her car while storming off in a huff.

Perhaps most interesting in retrospect is Tony and Sam discussing the spanking afterwards, commenting that it's not like she's a beaten wife. It was just a passing comment, but it uncannily foreshadows Dennis Waterman's own similar comments to Piers Morgan on the subject almost two decades later when discussing his marriage to Rula Lenska. Between Tony's tumultuous, fiery marriage and Mrs Wembley's disappointing tragic-comic love life and penchant for a tipple, art seems to be imitating some of more painful aspects of the actors lives at times.

Mrs Wembley did at least get a happy ending in the form of the operatic gardener with whom she could enjoy a dance and a warble and perhaps even "just the one" sherry occasionally. The fact that she announced in the final episode that she was celebrating by having "two" feels significant enough to bring the series to a close, even though more episodes were planned.

Maggie's return in the final episode saw her making a move on Sam, but it did feel rather rushed and unconvincing. At risk of overanalysing it even more than I have already, it could be viewed that she was settling for Sam because she'd lost out on Tony while she was away hoping they wouldn't manage without her.

Tony's new love interest is another interesting one, because of the underlying sense that in moving from Ruth to Jane Webster he is simply trading in one high maintenance drama queen for another. Despite their initial meet-cute as the parents of daughters in trouble at school and despite Jane charming not only Tony but his staff, one feels that Jane is hard work. It was perhaps most evident when she publicly assaulted him with a curry for a perceived slight when he took her out to dinner, but red flags have also gone up in seeing that he's done all the chasing while she holds up hoops and watches him jump through. Ruth might be a shrew, but at least Tony knows where he stands with her.

This layer could have made a potential fourth series fun to watch. I'd no doubt have enjoyed some barbed exchanges between the first Mrs Carpenter and the soon-to-be-second Mrs Carpenter. Would Maggie have resented Tony's happiness again? I suspect so. And would poor Sam make her the centre of his universe? Again, probably. There were definite possibilities and I'd no doubt have enjoyed exploring some of them. All the same, I don't overly feel I'm missing out from it ending here with the characters continuing their dysfunctional routines offscreen. Less is more, after all.

 

[Spells & Karma]

It's back in time to 1977 for a series I'm watching for the very first time...

Confession: I took the plunge with Mind Your Language mainly because I'd convinced myself that Joan Sanderson was in it. Turns out she's nowhere to be found. The school principal is played by Zara Nutley (who, ironically, I essentially described as a poor man's Joan Sanderson back on page 22 upon her arrival in Never The Twain). The only other familiar face present is Dino Shafeek, who did the musical interludes in It Ain't Half Hot, Mum.

Besides these two, all the other faces are unknown to me. Lead actor Barry Evans seems vaguely familiar but, looking at his IMDb I haven't seen him in anything. Looking at actors who played the students, almost all of them seem best-known for this very series, which is a little worrying.

On paper, the series seems an interesting one. There's the Please Sir! thing with the familiar hierarchy of the educational establishment and its various challenges. And since this is a night class with international students learning English as Foreign Language there's the added comedic potential of culture clashes.

Now, it was plain that this series was never going to be politically correct and would fall back on stereotyping of the era. But with the context of the era I was also prepared to overlook these more dated aspects (as expected, the East Asian characters say "Ah so" and transpose their "L" and "R" sounds, while German woman transposes her "V"s and "W"s). The main problem I'm having with the series is that there's little else to it. Each student is a one-dimensional caricature of their ethnic or cultural background: there's the cold, über-efficient German woman; the Japanese man with the camera round his neck; the over-sexed Italians; the Chinese woman obsessed with communism... and so on. On first glance the caricatures are so broad and the humour so dependent upon this it feels rather like a US sitcom of the era. The initial entrance of the sexy French student in particular felt like the sort of thing you'd see on the likes of Happy Days where the audience whoops simply because Henry Winkler enters a scene, despite there being nothing funny or witty about it.

I'm only three episodes in, and already the Spanish character responding to every question with "por favor", or the Japanese guy walking up the aisle and bowing before answering any question is feeling rather stale.

After the wit of Bob Larbey, Vince Powell's "clobber them round the head" approach to humour comes off wanting. Since a sitcom's primary function is to make the audience laugh, this is far more bothersome than any political incorrectness. The lack of any real "names" in the cast doesn't help since it makes the series feel a little cheap. Looking at IMDb, I don't think there's going to be much in the way of familiar actors to stimulate interest.

Giving me some hope is how much I grew to enjoy Please Sir! despite initially struggling with what seemed a homogenous crew of unfamiliar faces among the students. It's my hope that as the series settles in and I become more familiar it will become something I look forward to enjoying. After all, it ran for three series during its initial run, so it must have something going for it.

 

[Angela Chilling]

It's back in time to 1977 for a series I'm watching for the very first time...

Confession: I took the plunge with Mind Your Language mainly because I'd convinced myself that Joan Sanderson was in it. Turns out she's nowhere to be found. The school principal is played by Zara Nutley (who, ironically, I essentially described as a poor man's Joan Sanderson back on page 22 upon her arrival in Never The Twain). The only other familiar face present is Dino Shafeek, who did the musical interludes in It Ain't Half Hot, Mum.

Besides these two, all the other faces are unknown to me. Lead actor Barry Evans seems vaguely familiar but, looking at his IMDb I haven't seen him in anything. Looking at actors who played the students, almost all of them seem best-known for this very series, which is a little worrying.

On paper, the series seems an interesting one. There's the Please Sir! thing with the familiar hierarchy of the educational establishment and its various challenges. And since this is a night class with international students learning English as Foreign Language there's the added comedic potential of culture clashes.

Now, it was plain that this series was never going to be politically correct. I and fall back on stereotyping of the era. But with the context of the era I was also prepared to overlook these more dated aspects (as expected, the East Asian characters say "Ah so" and transpose their "L" and "R" sounds, while German woman transposes her "V"s and "W"s). The main problem I'm having with the series is that there's little else to it. Each student is a one-dimensional caricature of their ethnic or cultural background: there's the cold, über-efficient German woman; the Japanese man with the camera round his neck; the over-sexed Italians; the Chinese woman obsessed with communism... and so on. On first glance the caricatures are so broad and the humour so dependent upon this it feels rather like a US sitcom of the era. The initial entrance of the sexy French student in particular felt like the sort of thing you'd see on the likes of Happy Days where the audience whoops simply because Henry Winkler enters a scene, despite there being nothing funny or witty about it.

I'm only three episodes in, and already the Spanish character responding to every question with "por favor", or the Japanese guy walking up the aisle and bowing before answering any question is feeling rather stale.

After the wit of Bob Larbey, Vince Powell's "clobber them round the head" approach to humour comes off wanting. Since a sitcom's primary function is to make the audience laugh, this is far more bothersome than any political incorrectness. The lack of any real "names" in the cast doesn't help since it makes the series feel a little cheap. Looking at IMDb, I don't think there's going to be much in the way of familiar actors to stimulate interest.

Giving me some hope is how much I grew to enjoy Please Sir! despite initially struggling with what seemed a homogenous crew of unfamiliar faces among the students. It's my hope that as the series settles in and I become more familiar it will become something I look forward to enjoying. After all, it ran for three series during its initial run, so it must have something going for it.

I was a big fan of Mind You Language and Barry Evans. I was in junior school the last time I saw this series so maybe I might think differently about it now but at the time I thought it was hugely entertaining and very funny. It used to be broadcast at 7pm on Friday or 5.30pm on Saturday so it was very friendly scheduling for someone of my age at the time. I've always wanted to watch the series again but it never gets repeated, probably because of the national stereotypes of the characters featured seem very outdated, and possibly offensive for some, today.

I remember it was hugely popular back in the day and was regularly in the top 10 most watched shows each week.

It's interesting that you are not familiar with Barry Evans because he was a quite a big star in the 1970s after being one of the lead characters in the successful sitcom Doctor In The House and a number of British comedy films. He also appeared in a episode of one of my favourite series that I used to watch in the school holidays, Crown Court, and it was the only time I can remember seeing him in a non comedy role and he turned out to be a very good dramatic actor as well. He died in very suspicious circumstances and many think he was murdered. It was a sad end for a great talent.

 

[Spells & Karma]

It used to be broadcast at 7pm on Friday or 5.30pm on Saturday so it was very friendly scheduling for someone of my age at the time.

Thanks for this. I was curious to know what time it would have been shown. I'd noticed it's from LWT so guessed it would have been somewhere between Friday and Sunday evenings.

it never gets repeated, probably because of the national stereotypes of the characters featured seem very outdated, and possibly offensive for some, today.

Reading up a bit about the series it seems Michael Grade - who'd commissioned it in the first place - cancelled it because he found the racial stereotyping offensive, later saying it was "irresponsible" of them to screen it.

It's strange how some series like Love Thy Neighbour* seem to be well-remembered for outdated attitudes around race while other series with similar themes - such as this one - instead become invisible. For whatever reason I'd simply never heard of this one, and I remember it was a similar story with Mixed Blessings. Not that I found Mixed Blessings offensive. It was a nice little series overall.

Likewise, now that I've watched half a dozen episodes of MYL I can't I can't say I find it offensive given the context of the era and genre. Would it have been more palatable with less-stereotypical characters? Almost certainly. But for a Seventies sitcom with a premise of culture clashes it's fine. It's easy to look back through a 2023 prism and see that it's unhelpful in the same way that flouncing gay menswear staff or dragon wives or stuttering shopkeepers were, but that hasn't stopped me enjoying those either.



* I've never actually seen LTN. My parents wouldn't have it on in the house and I never felt I was missing out. That said, I now have it lined-up to watch at some point as I want to get as complete a picture as possible of vintage British sitcoms. Given its reputation I can't help feeling it might be an anti-climax.

I remember it was hugely popular back in the day and was regularly in the top 10 most watched shows each week.

Gosh - that makes it even more surprising I'd never come across it before. I'm possibly a couple of years too young to have watched the first couple of series, but that never stopped George & Mildred coming onto my radar.

I don't know if MYL was ever repeated after it was pulled, but if it was deemed offensive enough not to repeat it seems particularly odd that there'd be a revival series in the mid-Eighties.

It's interesting that you are not familiar with Barry Evans because he was a quite a big star in the 1970s

His face is very familiar and I feel sure I must have seen him in something even though nothing on his IMDb page rings a bell. I have watched the big screen Doctor films on which the TV series was based, so it's possible I came across his name off the back of that.

Have you ever seen the Doctor In The House TV series? I steered clear, feeling it might feel very inferior to the film series, but there's now enough distance between me and the films to view the series on its own merits.

He died in very suspicious circumstances and many think he was murdered. It was a sad end for a great talent.

Yes, I was reading about this a couple of nights ago after watching the first episodes of MYL. It's very tragic and also most mysterious that the cause of his death has apparently never been definitively discovered. I imagine it might be a very different story today, forensics being what they are.

 

[Angela Chilling]

It's strange how some series like Love Thy Neighbour* seem to be well-remembered for outdated attitudes around race while other series with similar themes - such as this one - instead become invisible. For whatever reason I'd simply never heard of this one, and I remember it was a similar story with Mixed Blessings. Not that I found Mixed Blessings offensive. It was a nice little series overall.

One of the reasons why these series are memorable to me, even though I was very young at the time, is that they were some of the few shows on TV at the time to feature black and Asian characters in prominent roles. Maybe the portrayal of the characters were racist, I don't know, but as a black child growing up in Britain it was good to see people of colour on TV, and although some of the portrayals would be considered troublesome today, on balance I think it was better that some of these shows existed in the 1970s than if they hadn't. Also, Mind Your Language was nowhere as bad as the way that "foreigners" were depicted elsewhere on TV during that period.

My memory doesn't stretch back to when Love Thy Neighbour was broadcast, I was too young to remember the early 1970s, but I've seen the feature length film and I think I would probably think about that show in the same way as I think about Mind Your Language. I probably would view It Ain't Half Hot Mum differently as they used a white actor "blacked up" to play one of the main characters but I've not seen that series either.

Have you ever seen the Doctor In The House TV series? I steered clear, feeling it might feel very inferior to the film series, but there's now enough distance between me and the films to view the series on its own merits.

Yes, I've seen Doctor In The House and some of the sequels (Doctor At Large, Doctor In Charge etc.) but probably as repeats I would have been too young to watch the some of the original broadcasts. They were repeated quite regularly at one point, I can even remember watching Doctor In The House as recently as the 2000s. I think it's a pretty good sitcom and still funny many decades after it was originally screened.

 

[Spells & Karma]

One of the reasons why these series are memorable to me, even though I was very young at the time, is that they were some of the few shows on TV at the time to feature black and Asian characters in prominent roles. Maybe the portrayal of the characters were racist, I don't know, but as a black child growing up in Britain it was good to see people of colour on TV, and although some of the portrayals would be considered troublesome today, on balance I think it was better that some of these shows existed in the 1970s than if they hadn't.

Yes, that's a great point and I remember you discussed your feelings back when I was watching Mixed Blessings. It's very true that visibility in terms of diversity can be an incredibly good thing.

As stereotypical as most of the characters were I suspect a prominent role in a successful sitcom would also have been the stuff of dreams for the actors playing them.

Yes, I've seen Doctor In The House and some of the sequels (Doctor At Large, Doctor In Charge etc.) but probably as repeats I would have been too young to watch the some of the original broadcasts. They were repeated quite regularly at one point, I can even remember watching Doctor In The House as recently as the 2000s. I think it's a pretty good sitcom and still funny many decades after it was originally screened.

That's really good to know. In that case I hope to check it out at some point. Sadly, it seems I've missed the boat with the DVD boxset which is now out of print and selling for silly money (the cheapest set on eBay is currently £150), but if it comes back into circulation I'll be visiting it in due course.

I probably would view It Ain't Half Hot Mum differently as they used a white actor "blacked up" to play one of the main characters but I've not seen that series either.

They did, but while the concept is clearly controversial and out-of-date, I'd say this is one of the less-offensive examples.

@James from London described the character better than I could:

The jewel in its crown is also the reason it's been more or less airbrushed (unfairly, in my opinon) from British sitcom history: Michael Bates' exquisitely judged, affectionate (and yes, cocoaed-up) performance as bearer Ranji Rahm.


It's a fascinating character -- on one level, he's so devoted to his British "superiors" that he's kind of in denial about being Indian himself (which, of course, Bates, the actor, wasn't), yet at the same time, he discreetly outwits the stupid white men with help from his native peers (who are played by real Indians).

As I started to watch the series, I said the following:

Affectionate is a good word, I think. It comes across that Bates is playing what he knows, drawing from his own experiences. It's homage rather than ridicule.

I imagine you probably know this already but Dino Shafeek was in IAHHM before (and during, and after) Mind Your Language, and so is a welcome familiar face for me as he would have been for viewers of the time.

 

[Spells & Karma]

It's my hope that as the series settles in and I become more familiar it will become something I look forward to enjoying.

This was most definitely the case as the first series continued and I got to know the different faces who made up the students. Just like the Fenn Street gang in Please Sir!, what had seemed at first to be a slightly uninteresting group of amateurs has proved to be a gem of an ensemble that works well and is fun to watch.

All the pieces fit, and even those I'd viewed as the weak links are proving invaluable. Possibly the best example of this is Juan, whom I cited as a least-favourite student when I first started watching. My opinion on the character hasn't changed because of a drastic improvement in the quality of performance or writing, but because it's clear that he's embracing the role and the chemistry with other players is great. Barry Evans has come close to corpsing during a few of Mr Brown's scenes with Juan, so it looks as though he finds Ricardo Montez a hoot to work with.

On this subject, there have been a couple of small moments where I couldn't tell whether Barry was ad-libbing or making what was written seem fresh and spontaneous. Either way, I'm impressed with him as an actor. He impressed me even more having watched him in a sequence where he imagined himself as Sidney the caretaker's son dressed in punk rocker style with a cockney accent. He was unrecognisable.

The "peripheral" players from beyond the classroom , such as Sid and Gladys the tea lady have become welcome fixtures. Zara Nutley as Miss Courtney remains solid and everything just works.

Even though I watched the first episode of Series Two back-to-back with the final episode of Series One, I could really feel the difference and it got across that new school year feeling well. As in the first episode of Series One, we spent the entire first episode meeting the new students who mostly turned out to be the old students who had all failed their exams (as set up at the end of Series One). I found it interesting that while the first series felt quite wintry, the second series seems to take place around summer, with everyone in short sleeves and with tans and haircuts and whatnot. Even the backdrop outside the window is now light instead of dark, which suggests long evenings. I assume this is deliberate, and it's quite a nice touch to give it a literal "new season" feel.

I realised how comfortable the series had become for me when students arriving for the new year decided to occupy different seating positions. It threw me off almost as much as it did some of the less adventurous students.

There are some new faces this time round, with Inga the Swedish au pair and Zoltan the Hungarian guy. If my eyesight isn't deceiving me, the slightly revised opening titles suggest there may be even more new faces to come. Unless there was a change of plan after they were re-done.

 

[Angela Chilling]

This was most definitely the case. As the first series continued and I got to know the different faces who made up the students. Just like the Fenn Street gang in Please Sir!, what had seemed at first to be a slightly uninteresting group of amateurs has proved to be a gem of an ensemble that works well and is fun to watch.

All the pieces fit, and even those I'd viewed as the weak links are proving invaluable. Possibly the best example of this is Juan, whom I cited as a least-favourite student when I first started watching. My opinion on the character hasn't changed because of a drastic improvement in the quality of performance or writing, but because it's clear that he's embracing the role and the chemistry with other players is great. Barry Evans has come close to corpsing during a few of Mr Brown's scenes with Juan, so it looks as though he finds Ricardo Montez a hoot to work with.

The familiarity with the characters that you mention is one of the reasons why I think this sitcom worked so well. So many of the reactions of the students are predictable and so much a part of who their characters were that want them respond as they do. It's much the same as wanting a comedian to use the catchphrase they are known for or for a singer to perform their best known hit rather than playing something new. It is their predictability of the characters that initially you might find repetitive but ultimately it becomes what makes them humorous. If Juan doesn't say "por favor" or Taro doesn't stand up and bows before speaking it just feels wrong.

On this subject, there have been a couple of small moments where I couldn't tell whether Barry was ad-libbing or making what was written seem fresh and spontaneous. Either way, I'm impressed with him as an actor. He impressed me even more having watched him in a sequence where he imagined himself as Sidney the caretaker's son dressed in punk rocker style with a cockney accent. He was unrecognisable.

I'm a bit of a fan of Barry Evans. He comes across as a really likeable person and a very good actor. It's a shame that new roles dried up for him so he had to drop out of acting to earn a living as a taxi driver.

 

[Spells & Karma]

It is their predictability of the characters that initially you might find repetitive but ultimately it becomes what makes them humorous. If Juan doesn't say "por favor" or Taro doesn't stand up and bows before speaking it just feels wrong.

Yes - that sums it up perfectly. So much of my enjoyment has come from anticipation because of knowing what each character's "thing" is. On the surface it appears almost lazy and by-numbers (and sometimes it is), but if anything it's probably more difficult to make this funny than if the characters were more nuanced, because the audience feels they know how the character needs to react.

Watching some of the "around the room" scenes where different characters in turn are asked questions about grammar or life in general is akin to feeling giggly when witnessing an conversation where someone puts their foot in it and it doesn't go down well. It seems funnier because it's so awkward, but also because you can see it coming and you know them well enough to know it's going to go down like a lead balloon.

I'm a bit of a fan of Barry Evans. He comes across as a really likeable person and a very good actor.

What's really struck me in this series is how perfect he is to ground the series. Every single character around him is larger than life, but Barry plays Mr Brown for truth and feels very much like an actor playing situations that happen to be funny rather than a comedy actor.

He does have great comedy delivery (for example those times where he starts to correct Su-Lee but ends up muddling up his "L" and "R" sounds himself and has to quickly correct himself), but it never feels like he's "doing" comedy.

Compared with everyone else he's underplaying it, and that truthful performance helps make the series funnier because it seems more believable.

As you said, he does have a very likeable quality to him and I'd happily watch more of his work should I come across it in due course.

It's a shame that new roles dried up for him so he had to drop out of acting to earn a living as a taxi driver.

Oh gosh. I imagine that would have been frustrating for him, and it's a waste that he wasn't better appreciated.

 

[Angela Chilling]

What's really struck me in this series is how perfect he is to ground the series. Every single character around him is larger than life, but Barry plays Mr Brown for truth and feels very much like an actor playing situations that happen to be funny rather than a comedy actor.

He does have great comedy delivery (for example those times where he starts to correct Su-Lee but ends up muddling up his "L" and "R" sounds himself and has to quickly correct himself), but it never feels like he's "doing" comedy.

Compared with everyone else he's underplaying it, and that truthful performance helps make the series funnier because it seems more believable.

As you said, he does have a very likeable quality to him and I'd happily watch more of his work should I come across it in due course.

He had great comic timing and gave a natural performance and you never felt like he was overplaying a line or situation for a unnecessary extra laugh. I don't know if he did any theatre work but he was great at staying in character if something slightly unexpected happened or if a joke got a bigger (or smaller) laugh than was expected.

If my eyesight isn't deceiving me, the slightly revised opening titles suggest there may be even more new faces to come. Unless there was a change of plan after they were re-done.

From what I remember of the second season I didn't take to the new characters too well. The new female character, I think she was meant to be Greek, was played by a English actress who I had seen in several other shows and was a semi-regular on The Benny Hill Show which kind of spoiled it for me because even though I imagined all the other actors could speak English quite well in real life, I liked to believe they were from the countries they were supposed to be from.

Regarding the titles, I just love the catchy theme turn and the animation that went with it.

 

[Spells & Karma]

I don't know if he did any theatre work but he was great at staying in character if something slightly unexpected happened or if a joke got a bigger (or smaller) laugh than was expected.

From what I've seen, those actors who have stage experience tend to be more technically proficient when it comes to pitching their performances and getting it right for each occasion, so I can understand why you wondered this.

The always-reliable(!) Wikipedia suggests he'd been treading the boards right before this series which could explain why he was so on the ball with his performance:

Evans also did some theatre work, but this did not prove financially worthwhile, and he spent several spells claiming benefits. He wrote to London Weekend Television, "and told them ... I was still alive". This led to what became his best-known comedy role, as Jeremy Brown in the ITV sitcom Mind Your Language...

From what I remember of the second season I didn't take to the new characters too well.

Oh, that's a shame. They've taken a few episodes to grow on me, but I think they fit in fine. They already had the "sexy, flirtatious student with a crush on the teacher" covered, so Ingrid is almost not needed, but I quite like the rivalry between her and Danielle. And now that Juan and Jamila can speak a little English, Zoltan has filled the void of the student who can't understand a word.

The new female character, I think she was meant to be Greek, was played by a English actress who I had seen in several other shows and was a semi-regular on The Benny Hill Show which kind of spoiled it for me because even though I imagined all the other actors could speak English quite well in real life, I liked to believe they were from the countries they were supposed to be from.

According to Wiki, the actress Anna Bergman who played Ingrid is actually Swedish like her character. From what I've seen many of the actors playing the students do at least have some connection to their characters' ethnic background. Jacki Harding seems to be an obvious exception (though I can't be certain she's not German the name suggests otherwise).

On the subject of the actors playing classmates, I was really impressed with the overview of Kevork Malikyan's career I read. He seems extremely accomplished in TV, film and theatre. And he's even a teacher!

Regarding the titles, I just love the catchy theme turn and the animation that went with it.

Both are great. The music is really catchy and feels instantly familiar (I don't think I'd heard it before). I associate Max Harris mostly with Round The Horne, where The Max Harris Group provided much of the music for one of the series and were regularly name-checked. Of course, he also did Porridge and Open All Hours and outside of comedy that wonderful theme for The Singing Detective.

The animation is great, and I'm really impressed they've gone to the trouble of updating it for the new students.

 

[Angela Chilling]

Oh, that's a shame. They've taken a few episodes to grow on me, but I think they fit in fine. They already had the "sexy, flirtatious student with a crush on the teacher" covered, so Ingrid is almost not needed, but I quite like the rivalry between her and Danielle. And now that Juan and Jamila can speak a little English, Zoltan has filled the void of the student who can't understand a word.

It's been a while since I've seen it (over 40 years!) so I can't remember exactly why I wasn't fond of the new cast members. It might have been because the cast was pretty big already and I felt new additions weren't necessary or maybe because I liked the set up of the show as it was and the new characters changed the balance in a way that I didn't like.

According to Wiki, the actress Anna Bergman who played Ingrid is actually Swedish like her character. From what I've seen many of the actors playing the students do at least have some connection to their characters' ethnic background. Jacki Harding seems to be an obvious exception (though I can't be certain she's not German the name suggests otherwise).

On the subject of the actors playing classmates, I was really impressed with the overview of Kevork Malikyan's career I read. He seems extremely accomplished in TV, film and theatre. And he's even a teacher!

I used Google and the actress I was thinking of was the very British Jenny Lee-Wright who played a Greek character on the show. Maybe she appears a later season that you haven't watched yet.

I had no idea that "Max" had such a successful career beyond Mind Your Language because I can't recall seeing many of the cast in other TV or film productions.

Both are great. The music is really catchy and feels instantly familiar (I don't think I'd heard it before). I associate Max Harris mostly with Round The Horne, where The Max Harris Group provided much of the music for one of the series and were regularly name-checked. Of course, he also did Porridge and Open All Hours and outside of comedy that wonderful theme for The Singing Detective.

Gosh! You have a really impressive knowledge of UK TV (and radio) comedy.

 

[Spells & Karma]

I can't remember exactly why I wasn't fond of the new cast members. It might have been because the cast was pretty big already and I felt new additions weren't necessary or maybe because I liked the set up of the show as it was and the new characters changed the balance in a way that I didn't like.

That's understandable. The cast dynamics worked fine in the first series so it's a bit like trying to reinvent the wheel or fix something that's not broken. It's true they're not absolutely necessary, but I can also see why the powers that be might feel the need to freshen it a little for the new series. I haven't found they've changed my experience or been too intrusive. They fit into the team well and as I said I think Zoltan's filled a gap since the series needs an absolute beginner. Equally, the series would have remained as enjoyable without them so they're not bringing much to the table.

I used Google and the actress I was thinking of was the very British Jenny Lee-Wright who played a Greek character on the show. Maybe she appears a later season that you haven't watched yet.

Ah - I've just looked up her name and it looks as though she appears in Series Four which was the mid-Eighties revival six years after the original run ended. If I've read correctly, that series only had a handful of the original cast so I can imagine that would be very jarring. It's not included in my set (I don't think it's even been released on any home media) so I won't be watching that one.

I had no idea that "Max" had such a successful career beyond Mind Your Language because I can't recall seeing many of the cast in other TV or film productions.

It was a really nice surprise. Very few of the cast were familiar faces to me so, like you, I don't know them from other things.

Gosh! You have a really impressive knowledge of UK TV (and radio) comedy.

Oh thank you. Round The Horne is one of the only radio series I've heard in its entirety. I have the lot on CD and it's an interesting little slice of history.

 

[Spells & Karma]

After watching the first episode of Mind Your Language, there was some hope that I might grow to enjoy the students in the same way I did those in Please Sir! In both cases, my initial impression was underwhelming and it seemed I would struggle to tell them apart, much less enjoy each one as a unique character. If anything, MYL has proved even more rewarding than Please Sir! in that regard. Each of Mr Brown's students regularly makes me laugh and I've grown very fond of them. At this point, I would miss any one of them if they weren't around.

There's also a sense of genuine friendship underneath all the gags and little battles. I never thought I'd end up saying this, but the series does feel almost progressive in that way. Despite their (in some cases) extreme cultural differences, everyone finds a way to exist somewhat harmoniously. More than this, it feels they care about one another and have each other's backs. This was very true in the episode where Anna's "weesa" was due to expire and she feared being deported. She wanted to stay, and her classmates wanted her to stay. So badly, of course, it led to hijinks with them trying to marry her off to Mr Brown. But the episode particularly reinforced the bonding that's taken place among the characters which I suspect is rooted in genuine offscreen friendships. It certainly cascades over to give this viewer a warm glow of enjoyment in each episode.

I've now finished Series Two and have even watched most of Series Three. Since I won't be watching the revival series, I have just two remaining episodes to watch, which I feel a little sad about. Series Three has gone back to the original recipe regarding the ensemble. With Ingrid and Zoltan gone, we're back to the original ten students. It's turned out to be a good move since the original formula worked so well.

While I'll miss the series, it probably is getting time for it to end. The Series Three episode Just The Job, in which Brown took a new job had very strong echoes of Series One's Come Back All Is Forgiven where Brown had been given the push. In both cases, the students decided to drive away the new teacher and, while the methods varied ever so slightly, it did have the overall feel of a reworked old script. Incidentally, Zara Nutley particularly impressed me during the scene where Miss Courtney introduced the students to their new teacher and reeled off all of their full names at a rapid fire pace without pausing for breath and all in a monotone that suggested she was bored with the whole thing. It was a delight to watch.

Series Three's Guilty Or Not Guilty was one of those slightly daft episodes best enjoyed with suspension of disbelief. Yes - it's a huge coincidence that on the very day Miss Courtney first mentions being a JP as she disappears to court, her very next case sees all ten students brought before her. Yes - it's bizarre that nobody particularly minds this conflict of interest. Yes - it's surreal that the students are brought to the stand two at a time. And yes - it's downright peculiar that Mr Brown would end up representing all of them. But, hey ho... It's a fun change. It feels a lot of money was spent on this episode with an abundance of location filming and stunts for the flashbacks of students getting into conflict at Speakers' Corner; riding elephants at the zoo and crashing motorboats on the Thames. It feels like that money was recouped by using resources of productions in nearby studios as they crash into Russell Harty's studio; interrupt Dickie Davies filming World Of Sport and presumably utilise the courtroom set from another series (I'm guessing not Crown Court since that was Granada rather than LWT). Was Ballet For Schools a real TV series, I wonder? Or was it created to give the studio crashes a bit of a climax? Whatever else it was, this episode was silly, enjoyable fun.

I'm curious to know how the series will wrap up. The end to Series Two - with the students and Mr Brown performing the series' theme tune on stage - will be hard to beat as a memorable ending.

 

[Angela Chilling]

This is such a lovely review of Mind Your Language and reminds me of so many of the reasons why I used to love the show when I was young. You are absolutely right about the likeability of the cast and the characters they created so much so that it is easy to overlook the fact that they are playing stereotypes of the nations they represent.

There's also a sense of genuine friendship underneath all the gags and little battles. I never thought I'd end up saying this, but the series does feel almost progressive in that way. Despite their (in some cases) extreme cultural differences, everyone finds a way to exist somewhat harmoniously. More than this, it feels they care about one another and have each other's backs.

I agree and this is why I've never really had an issue with the show even though some will argue that it is racist at times. The students are all very different and from totally different backgrounds but they more all united by their common bond of being from another country and their struggles to get to grips with the English language than they are by being of different nationalities. Jeremy Brown is like the glue that binds them all together. He never ridicules them, tries to embarrass them or looks down on them and generally tries to create a positive environment in his classroom even though his students don't seem to be making a great deal of progress.
I'm sure it was the warmth between all the characters that was a big part in making the series the success it was.

The end to Series Two - with the students and Mr Brown performing the series' theme tune on stage - will be hard to beat as a memorable ending.

I don't remember this (in fact I don't remember many of the details of the series) but it sounds like an absolutely brilliant idea by the writer.

 

[Spells & Karma]

This is such a lovely review of Mind Your Language and reminds me of so many of the reasons why I used to love the show when I was young.

That's great, and thank you.

You are absolutely right about the likeability of the cast and the characters they created so much so that it is easy to overlook the fact that they are playing stereotypes of the nations they represent.

Yes. There's a sense that the actors are having fun playing up aspects of their character so that it's exaggerated and larger-than-life, but it feels knowing - as though they're in on the joke - and with a sense of pride behind it that they appreciate those things that makes their cultural background special and individual. I think what the actors give really overcomes any idea of racism.

Jeremy Brown is like the glue that binds them all together. He never ridicules them, tries to embarrass them or looks down on them and generally tries to create a positive environment in his classroom even though his students don't seem to be making a great deal of progress.

This is very true. And the students really appreciate this in him, as shown in those episodes where for whatever reason he's left the school or off sick or whatever.

I'm sure it was the warmth between all the characters that was a big part in making the series the success it was.

I can't argue with that, but I'm still shocked that it was this successful series that I don't remember hearing of it while I was growing up.

I have learned that my ITV region never showed the mid-Eighties revival (Series Four), so that goes at least some way to explaining that, but looking at the series I'm really quite surprised that it was never repeated on a Saturday lunchtime or something which is where I remember other series of the ear like On The Buses being (and I dare say many of those series were probably more offensive than this one if you scratch the surface).

I don't remember this (in fact I don't remember many of the details of the series) but it sounds like an absolutely brilliant idea by the writer.

When I ran an image search for MYL, there's one picture which kept popping up showing all the students dressed in their national costumes, and that's the episode in question.

They wore them for the end-of-term talent show where they had to cobble together a performance at the last minute due to short notice and their lack of talents in the performances they'd previously planned to do.

I really liked that the end credits ran over their performances, so they were literally performing the closing theme for the series. And of course the theme is tailor-made for a group performance like this one.

 

[Angela Chilling]

I have learned that my ITV region never showed the mid-Eighties revival (Series Four), so that goes at least some way to explaining that, but looking at the series I'm really quite surprised that it was never repeated on a Saturday lunchtime or something which is where I remember other series of the ear like On The Buses being (and I dare say many of those series were probably more offensive than this one if you scratch the surface).

I've mostly lived in what was the Thames/LWT area and it wasn't screened here so I must have watched some of season 4 when I was in the Granada and Central area or maybe when I was on holiday in Jamaica. I don't remember much about it other than it wasn't as good as the previous series but it was still nice to see some of the characters again.

I don't know why Mind Your Language wasn't repeated but it might have been because it was an LWT production and back then they only had 2 and a half days in the broadcast schedule so maybe there just wasn't space for it. LWT generally didn't put repeats in peak time and Saturday daytime was always taken up with World of Sport from about 12pm to 5pm so the only time left would have been Sunday afternoon which normally was when they broadcast children's shows, old films or religious programmes.

I really liked that the end credits ran over their performances, so they were literally performing the closing theme for the series. And of course the theme is tailor-made for a group performance like this one.

This is priceless. Fantastic end to the episode.

 

[Spells & Karma]

Mind Your Language - the original 1970s run at least - drew to a close last night with a stock sitcom setup based on misunderstanding and miscommunication: Ali's wife is acting mysteriously, hanging up the phone when he enters the room, and going out late at night. Brown follows her and sees her sneaking into Ranjeet's house. She's actually planning a surprise party for Ali, but Brown gives her "the talk" about extramarital affairs and she then thinks it's Ali who is cheating. Naturally, the matter is only resolved in the last thirty seconds, at which point a massive food fight breaks out (in Ali's house, no less). Groundbreaking it's not, but it's certainly fun.

it was an LWT production and back then they only had 2 and a half days in the broadcast schedule so maybe there just wasn't space for it. LWT generally didn't put repeats in peak time and Saturday daytime was always taken up with World of Sport from about 12pm to 5pm so the only time left would have been Sunday afternoon which normally was when they broadcast children's shows, old films or religious programmes.

Oh, that's a point I hadn't considered. Of course, I know that LWT series would have been shown only on the weekend when originally screened, but it hadn't occurred to me that this restriction would still apply to repeats .