266 Fawlty Towers

First  watched  : September  1976

Fawlty  Towers  came  to  BBC1  in  September  1976  after  a  successful  run  on  BBC2  the  year  before. It  is  of  course  a  TV  legend , one  of  the  greatest  sitcoms  ever  and  the  most  successful  venture  in  which  any  of  the  ex-Pythons  have  been  involved  and  I  don't  think  I've  anything  new  to  say  about  it.

I  didn't  really  get  into  it  until  the  repeats  in  1980, a  year  after  the  second  series  was  broadcast. My  particular  favourite  is  the  episode  where  they  have  to  get  a  dead  body  out  of  the  hotel  with  Basil  the  rat  a  close  second. Coincidentally  both  feature  Geoffrey  Palmer  as  the  doctor.

The  show  famously  lasted  for  only  12  episodes  and  is  often  quoted  as  the  textbook  example  of  going  out  when  you're  on  top.  It  withstands  repeated  viewing; even  when  you  can  quote  large  parts  of  the  dialogue  there's  still  something  there  that  you  haven't  quite  picked  up  on  before, so  rich  and  condensed  are  the  scripts.

265 The Two Ronnies

First  watched  : 1975

A  little  research   has  proved  I'm  a  bit  late  in  including  this  one  as  the  scene  I  remember  most  was  actually  broadcast  in  1975.  It  was  during  the  second  of  four  serial  inserts  starring  the  comic  detective  duo  Piggy  Malone  ( Ronnie  Barker  )  and  Charley  Farley  ( Ronnie  Corbett )  , Death  Can  Be  Fatal  where  Charley  is   being  smuggled  through  an  airport  in  a  large  packing  case  to  save  on  air  fare. He's  rigged  up  a  series  of  pipes  to  the  air  holes  so  that  he  can  be  given  drinks  but  got  it  wrong  so  that  the  drink  is  coming  out  of  the  side  through  another  hole. When  Piggy  is  trying  to  feed  him  some  orange  juice , it  looks  to  an  elderly  customer  who   Piggy  has  already  alarmed  that  he's  having  a  piss  on  the  concourse. I  thought  that  was  the  funniest  thing  I'd  ever  seen  on  TV  and  was  chuckling  about  it  for  hours  afterwards.

The  duo  got  their  own  show   in  1971  after  doing  time  on  The  Frost  Report    where  according  to  Corbett  they  were  drawn  together  as  grammar  school  boys  without  the  Oxbridge  education  of  their  colleagues. The  show  played  to  their  strengths  with  many  sketches  highlighting  Barker's  genius  for  clever  wordplay  and  musical  parody. There  was  also  a  healthy  dose  of  seaside  postcard  smut; even  though  much  of  it  still  went  over  my  head, the  tuts  of  mum  or  gran  gave  it  a  delicious  frisson  of  naughtiness.

Other  favourite  bits  included   the  rude  waiter  sketch  ( "You're  nuts  my  lord "), the  phantom  raspberry  blower  and  the  apparently  innocuous  song  about  a  naturalist  which  repeated  the  wrong  bits  ( "the  bum - the  bum - the  bum - the  bum - the  bumblebee  at  bay  ).  Of  the  musical  parodies   the  Adam  and  the  Ants  one  is  notable  for  how  uncannily  Barker,  as  portly  guitarist  Marco  Pirroni , resembles  Pirroni  as  he  is  today.

Like  many  people  I  regarded  Ronnie  Corbett's  solo  spot   in  the  chair   as  an  endurance  test  or  a  chance  to  go for  a  pee  but  eventually  I  made  the  connection  with  the  way  my  dad  rambled  off  the  point  when  he  had  an  audience  and  it  became  much  funnier  when  I  imagined  Corbett  was  taking  the  piss  out  of  him.

In  1980  Not  The  Nine  O  Clock  News  did  a  savage  and  unusually  long  parody   sketch   "The  Two  Ninnies"  apparently  in  response  to  a  disparaging  remark  Barker  had  made. It  implied  that  Barker  who  wrote  75  %  of  the  show  was  using  that  to  make  himself  look  good  at  Corbett's  expense  ( there  was  a  general  perception  that  they  were  unequally  talented  )  and  went  to  town   on  their  love  of  innuendo  with  an  outrageous  but  not  too  far  off  the  mark   song  parody.  Corbett  was  less  offended  than  Barker  but  shared  his  anger  that  it  had  been  broadcast  by  the  BBC.

Nevertheless  it  didn't  sink  the  show   which  carried  on  for  another  seven  years. I  remember  their  parody  of  Kid  Creole  and  the  Coconuts  based  on  There's  Something  Wrong  in  Paradise  which  must  have  been  late  1983  at  the  earliest  but  I  didn't  stay with  the  show  to  the  finish. In  the  end  it  did  seem  to  have  outstayed  its  welcome. Ronnie  Barker  announced  his  retirement  in  1987  on  Wogan  and  that  brought  the  series  to  an  end.  For  all  the  talk  of  him  being  something  of  a  passenger  Ronnie  Corbett  always  had  other  irons  in  the  fire  and  continues  working  to  this  day.

 Barker  opened  an  antiques  shop  but  admitted it  was  to  keep  himself  busy  rather  than  make  money.  After  10  years  he  made  a  limited  return  to  the  public  eye  contributing  to  a  couple  of  tribute  nights  then  taking   a  couple  of  straight  acting  roles. In  2005  he  reunited  with  Corbett  to  do  a  series  The  Two  Ronnies  Sketchbook   where  they  did  new  links  between  some  classic  sketches  but  his  health  was  deteriorating  and  the  Christmas  edition  had  to be  filmed  in  July. He  died  that  October  aged  76.

264 The Duchess of Duke Street

First  watched  :  1976

This  was  more  of  a  favourite  of  my  mum  and  sister  which  I  occasionally  caught  without  becoming  particularly  engaged  with  it.

Based  on  a  real-life  personality  The  Duchess  of  Duke  Street   was  the  creation  of  Upstairs  Downstairs  producer  John  Hawkesworth   and  covered  roughly  the  same  period  of  history  as  the  ITV  series. Gemma  Jones  played  the   titular  character  Louisa  Trotter,  a  woman  who  rose  from  being  a  humble  maid  to  the  proprietor  of  a  grand  hotel  through  being  a  mistress  first  to  Edward  Prince  of  Wales  then  a  handsome  aristocrat  played  by  Christopher  Cazenove. For  most  of  the  series  Jones  was  playing  a  character  older  than  herself  and  speaking  in  a  rough  Cockney  accent  which  I  found  quite  offputting.

Two  series  were  made  totalling  31  episodes. Although  it  was  a  career-making  role  for  the  largely  unknown  Jones  she  didn't  take  full  advantage  of  it, disappearing  from  public  life  for  a  decade  and  a  half  to  raise  her  son. When  she  returned  to  acting  in  the  mid-nineties  she  was  welcomed  back  with  open  arms  and  has  been  much  in  demand  as  a  character  address  since,  winning  a  BAFTA  for  her  role  in  the  series  Marvellous  last  year.  

263 The Bionic Woman

First  watched  :  1976

The  Bionic  Woman  was  a  successful  spin-off  from  The  Six  Million  Dollar  Man. The  character  of  Jaime  Sommers  was  first  introduced  as  the  tennis-playing  girlfriend  of  Steve  Austin  who  needs  reconstruction  after  a  parachuting  accident. She  had  the  same  abilities  as  Steve  save  for  a  bionic  ear  instead  of  a  bionic  eye. She  was  actually  killed  off  but  the  character  was  so  popular  it  was  decided  to  bring  her  back  in  her  own  series  with  the  catch  that  her  memory  was  damaged  so  she  couldn't  rekindle  the  affair  with  Steve.

Despite  this  the  pair  continued  to  work  together  and  for  a  couple  of  years  the  two  series   were   intertwined. Then  the  network  decided  to  drop  TBW and  another  one  picked  it  up  which  meant  Jaime  and  Steve  had  to  stay  apart  although  some  of  the  supporting  players  continued  to  appear  in  both  series.

Lindsay  Wagner, a  moderately  successful  film  actress  played Jaime. What  was  most  surprising  about  her  was  that , despite  being  very  pretty,  she  didn't  have  bionic  boobs  and  it  was  unusual  to  see  a  flat-chested  actress  playing  a  glamorous  role  in  the  era  of  so-called  "jiggle  TV". During  the  series  some  episodes  featured  Jaime's  modified  Alsatian  but  thankfully  plans  for  a  third  series,  The  Bionic  Dog,  fell  through.

The  series  ended  in  1978  although  three  TV  movies  kept  the  story  going  until  1994. Wagner  has  continued  to  act  mainly  on  TV  and  has  given  some  lectures  on  self-help  and  meditation. She  was  not  involved  in  the  2007  revival  which  was  halted  by  a  strike.

262 The Muppet Show

First  watched  : 1976

The  Muppet  Show  was  the  TV  phenomenon  of  the  mid-seventies. Jim  Henson's  creations  took  puppetry  light  years  beyond  Hartley  Hare  and  Lambchop  and  any  show  featuring  puppet  sidekicks  today  owes  something  to  The  Muppets. Henson's  work  first  featured  in  Sesame  Street  and  was  by  far  the  best  thing  about  the  programme  but  he  began  to  feel  stifled  by  the  format  and  wanted  to  do  something  with  broader  appeal. Two  American  networks  demurred  at  his  Muppets  pilots  but  Lew  Grade  offered  him  the  opportunity  to  make  it  in  England  and  then  syndicate  the  show  worldwide.

The  Muppet  Show  was  a  show-within-a-show  set  in  an  old  vaudeville  theatre  where  the  backstage  chatter  and  the  views  of  two  aged  critics  in  their  box  were  as  important  as  the  performance  itself . I  read  somewhere  that  The  Muppets'  greatest  appeal  was  their  incompetence. You  had  Kermit, the  host  who  was  a  bag  of  nerves, Miss  Piggy, the  unattractive  sex  symbol, Fozzy  the  unfunny  comedian  and  The  Great  Gonzo  who  had  no  talent  whatsoever . I  think  there's  something  in  that. It  was  also  a  great  family  show  that  piled  slapstick , music  and  satire  on  top  of  each  other  at  great  pace  so  it  never  got  boring.

The  show  was  an  instant  success and  went  round  the  world  winning  many  awards  and   creating  a  marketing  bonanza.  A  string  of  Muppet  films  began  in  1979 . Big  names  clamoured  to  be  the  human  guest  star  on  the  show. In  1981  Richard  Pryor  had  to  drop  out  of  his  slot  at  the  last  minute  so  scriptwriter  Chris  Langham  who  had  some  performing  experience  from  his  stint on  Not  The  Nine  O  Clock  News  had  to  fill  the  gap.  

My  favourite  Muppet  was  Kermit's  little  nephew  Robin  whose  mawkish  Halfway  Down  The  Stairs   was  a  Top  10  hit  in  June  1977  while  my  sister  liked  Rowlf, the  dog  pianist.

The  British  show  ended  in  1981  because  Henson  had  better  offers  in  the  US  and  all  future  Muppet  programmes  have  been  made  there. Henson's  untimely  death  in  1990  didn't  stop  the  juggernaut  and  a  new  series  was  launched  this  year.

261 George and Mildred

First  watched  :  6  September  1976

ITV  was  generally  an  arid  desert  as  far  as  good  sitcoms  went  - forget  the  racist  angle, Love  Thy  Neighbour  was  complete  shite  anyway - but  George  and  Mildred  was  better  than  most  including  the  one  from  which  it  was  a  spin-off.

George  and  Mildred  took  the  middle-aged  couple  the  Ropers  letting  the  flat  in  Man  About  The  House   and  replanted  them  in  a  nice  neighbourhood  ( through  the  unlikely  device  of  a  CPO  on  the  old  property )  next  door  to  the  impeccably  middle  class  Fourmiles  with  annoying  little  boy  Tristram.

Mildred  ( Yootha  Joyce  )  wants  to  move  up  in  the  world  to  compensate  for  her  sexual  frustration  with  George  ( Brian  Murphy  )   who  by  contrast  doesn't  want  to  lose  contact  with  his  old  mates  down  the  boozer. Jeffrey  Fourmile  ( the  giant  Norman  Eshley )  is  appalled  tby  having  them  as  neighbours  though  his  wife  Ann  ( Sheila  Fearn ) is  more  easy  going  and  Tristram  ( Nicholas Bond-Owen )  is  adept  at , apparently  innocently, giving  voice  to  the  sentiments  the  adults  are  trying  to  disguise.  Roy  Kinnear  as  George's  dishonest  mate  Jerry  headed  a  strong  supporting  cast.

George  and  Mildred   was  never  very  subtle  in  its  exploration  of  class  conflict  but  it  was  pretty  funny  and  very  popular .  Although  Ann  was  a  sympathetic  character  who  often   defused  situations  with  common  sense  you  never  quite  decided  who  you  wanted  to  side  with  among  the  other  three  with  their  conflicting  agendas. As  for  Tristram  it  was  a  fertile  subject  of  playground  discussion  as  to  what  grisly  fate  would  suit  him  best

 It  was  only  brought  to  an  end  by  the  unexpected  death  of  Yootha  Joyce  in  1980  from  chronic  alcoholism, unexpected  because  none  of  her  colleagues  were  aware  of  the  problem. I  suspect  I  wasn't  watching  by  then  as  I  have  no  recollection  of  seeing  Tristram  getting  older.

Apart  from  Kinnear, George  and  Mildred  was  a  high  point  for  all  the  cast. Murphy, now  in  his  eighties  , has  worked  steadily  since  including  inevitably  a  stint  in  Last  of  the  Summer  Wine . Eshley  was  an  extremely   busy  actor  in  the  seventies  usually  in  serious  roles  but  then  it  all  seemed  to  go  a  bit  quiet  for  him  in  the  eighties. In  1993  he  was   involved  in  a  serious  road  crash  sustaining  head  injuries  which  left  him  unable  to  work  in  theatre  though  he  still  pops  up  on  telly  in  small  roles. Fearn  quit  acting  after  the  childrens  sitcom  News  at  Twelve  in  1988  and  disappeared  into  private  life. And  finally  what  of  little  Tristram. Nicholas  Bond-Owen  whose  acting  was  just  about  passable   continued   in  acting  to  the  end  of  his  teens  then  worked  for  Penguin  Books  as  a  distributor. He  now  works  in  the  same  capacity  for  City  A.M.

 

260 Pipkins

First  watched  : Uncertain

Another  in  the  "only  watched  when  off  sick"  category , Pipkins  emerged  round  about  the  same  time  as  Hickory  House   in  the  same  time  slot  and  I've  always  had  difficulty  disentangling  the  two  in  my  recollection. Pipkins  had  no  connection  to  Tony  Burrows  and  Roger  Greenaway's  novelty  musical  act  of  the  same  name.

Pipkins  started  out  in  1973  as  Inigo  Pipkin  with  actor  George  Woodbridge  playing  an  elderly  puppet  maker   assisted  by  some  of  his  creations  Hartley  Hare, Topov  the  monkey  , the  imaginatively  named  Pig  and  Octavia  the  ostrich. Woodbridge  died  halfway  through  filming  the  second  series  so  the  title  had  to  be  changed  and  Jackie  Lee's  distinctive  theme  tune  dropped. In  a  first  for  children's  TV  it  was  explained  in  the  programme  itself  that  Mr Pipkins  had  died  with  assistant  Johnny  ( Ben  Laryea  )  taking  over  the  shop.

The  show  was  pretty  low  budget  with  all  the  puppets  looking  pretty  ragged. Hartley,  the  main  character  with  the  annoyingly  camp  voice  , looked  particularly  rough  and  actually  rather  scary. Perhaps  he  was  the  inspiration  for  the  rabbit  in  Donnie  Darko.

The  programme  ran  until  1981  when  ATV  had  to  restructure  itself  into  Central.