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<blockquote data-quote="Mel O&amp;#039;Drama" data-source="post: 95537" data-attributes="member: 23">Friday night saw a rare indulgence: I sat on the sofa all evening and watched all half dozen episodes from Series Two of Father, Dear Father. And the first couple of colour episodes that opened Series Three. It wasn&#039;t planned - I just started watching and didn&#039;t feel the need to stop. Best of all was that it didn&#039;t feel anything like as many as it was. To the point I was quite surprised when the Series Two disc went back to the menu at the end of the last episode after what felt like three or four. So it&#039;s safe to say this series is a devilishly easy and charming watch. There&#039;s a simplicity to it: stock sitcom situations and characters. But I suspect that simplicity is the most difficult aspect to write and make work this well. It doesn&#039;t always jump off the screen, but there&#039;s a genuine cleverness to the way the farcical miscommunications are written. This is greatly helped by a top-notch cast, almost all of whom have stage experience. Indeed, I&#039;ve found it interesting that many actors in guest roles get a credit at the end saying which play they are currently appearing in or which theatre company they are a member of. Indeed, the guests so far are a veritable who&#039;s who of British comedy: Donald Sinden in a memorable appearance as Patrick&#039;s brother (the first of several, I believe); June Whitfield; Richard O&#039;Sullivan; Beryl Cooke (Happy Ever After&#039;s Aunt Lucy); Stephen Lewis; Brian Wilde; Ballard Berkeley; Dandy Nicholls, Bella Emberg, Eric Barker and Richard Wattis. H.G. Wells has been usurped as the resident scene-stealer by Joyce Carey as Patrick&#039;s eccentric and forgetful mother. One of the most impressive aspects of the series is the title sequence. Or should I say title sequences. Like many other sitcoms, the opening of Father, Dear Father opens with a memorable, quirky set-piece involving a great deal of location work and stunts. But whereas most series would change their title sequence just once or twice during the entire run - if that - Father, Dear Father has a completely different sequence for every episode. And we&#039;re not talking falling off a deckchair here. The openings have involved motorbike sidecars, washing the Rolls Royce, even speedboat catastrophes. They had to have cost a great deal of money which is another sign of the quality here. I&#039;ve never quite forgiven Empty Nest for the backdoor pilot which ran as an episode of The Golden Girls but bore no resemblance to a GG episode. Maybe I should. Was it any good?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mel O'Drama, post: 95537, member: 23"] Friday night saw a rare indulgence: I sat on the sofa all evening and watched all half dozen episodes from Series Two of [I]Father, Dear Father[/I]. And the first couple of colour episodes that opened Series Three. It wasn't planned - I just started watching and didn't feel the need to stop. Best of all was that it didn't feel anything like as many as it was. To the point I was quite surprised when the Series Two disc went back to the menu at the end of the last episode after what felt like three or four. So it's safe to say this series is a devilishly easy and charming watch. There's a simplicity to it: stock sitcom situations and characters. But I suspect that simplicity is the most difficult aspect to write and make work this well. It doesn't always jump off the screen, but there's a genuine cleverness to the way the farcical miscommunications are written. This is greatly helped by a top-notch cast, almost all of whom have stage experience. Indeed, I've found it interesting that many actors in guest roles get a credit at the end saying which play they are currently appearing in or which theatre company they are a member of. Indeed, the guests so far are a veritable who's who of British comedy: Donald Sinden in a memorable appearance as Patrick's brother (the first of several, I believe); June Whitfield; Richard O'Sullivan; Beryl Cooke ([I]Happy Ever After's[/I] Aunt Lucy); Stephen Lewis; Brian Wilde; Ballard Berkeley; Dandy Nicholls, Bella Emberg, Eric Barker and Richard Wattis. H.G. Wells has been usurped as the resident scene-stealer by Joyce Carey as Patrick's eccentric and forgetful mother. One of the most impressive aspects of the series is the title sequence. Or should I say title sequences. Like many other sitcoms, the opening of [I]Father, Dear Father [/I]opens with a memorable, quirky set-piece involving a great deal of location work and stunts. But whereas most series would change their title sequence just once or twice during the entire run - if that - [I]Father, Dear Father[/I] has a completely different sequence for every episode. And we're not talking falling off a deckchair here. The openings have involved motorbike sidecars, washing the Rolls Royce, even speedboat catastrophes. They had to have cost a great deal of money which is another sign of the quality here. I've never quite forgiven[I] Empty Nest [/I]for the backdoor pilot which ran as an episode of[I] The Golden Girls [/I]but bore no resemblance to a [I]GG[/I] episode. Maybe I should. Was it any good? [/QUOTE]

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