408 Something Else

First  viewed  :  15  September  1979

This  was an  influential  show  but  has  largely  been  forgotten , so  much  so  that  yours  truly  created  the  wikipedia  page  for  it   back  in  2010 ( it's  still  there  but  messed  around  a  bit ).

Something  Else  was  the  start  of  "yoof  TV". In  typically  BBC  language  it  was  an  "access  programme"  produced  by  the  Community  Programme  Unit. The  brief  was  to  have  the  programme  devised  and  presented  by  unknown  under-20s  from  around  the  country  focusing  on  issues  important  to  them,  interspersed  with  musical  performances. After  a  pilot  show  in   March  1978  went  reasonably  well  five  more  were  commissioned  for  the  autumn  of  1979 broadcast  monthly  on  a  Saturday  evening.

I  remember  glancing  at  the  first  one  of  these   from  Manchester   which  had  The  Jam  performing  what  would  become  their  breakthrough  top  10  hit  The  Eton  Rifles  and  then  drifting  away. So   first  time  around ,  I  actually  missed  the  series'  crowning  glory, the  one  thing  that  ensures it  will  never  be  completely  obscure , the  only  nationally  broadcast  TV  appearance  by  Joy  Division   performing  "She's  Lost  Control "  and  "Transmission " . The  sound  is  a  bit  tinny  as  you'd  expect  but  they're  very  tight  and  at  the  centre  of   it  you've  got  Ian  Curtis  and  his, um, unique, contribution  to  the  terpsichorean  art. There  would  actually  be  more  of  his  manic  ducking  and  weaving  had  not  the  film  editor  decided  it  was  more  interesting  to  see  a  statuesque  Bernard  Sumner  concentrating  intensely  on  his  fretwork  during  many  of  the  instrumental  passages. There's  still  enough  there  to  show  what  a  uniquely  mesmerising  performer  he  was  and  of  course  it's  desperately  sad  to  watch  in  retrospect.

After  a   further  one  off  show  from  Skelmersdale  in  May  1980   heralding  another  monthly  season   which  never  materialised, the  series  returned  as  a  weekly  programme  on  Mondays  in  the  autumn  of  1980.

A  third  season  began  in  September  1981  but  it  had  switched  to  Fridays. There  was  a  gradual shift  towards  more  issue-based  programmes  rather  than  basing  the  show  in  a  particular locality. At  the  end  of  that  season  there  was  a  highlights  programme  featuring  just  the musical  performances.  In  the  fifth  and  final  season, in  the  autumn  of  1982  these  were  mostly dropped  as  Riverside, The  Tube  and  Oxford  Road  Show   ( all  shows  which  owed  a  debt  to  Something  Else  in  their  format  and  presentation ) were  adequately  catering  for  the  live  music  audience. There   was  a  fair  amount  of  music  though  on  the  show  broadcast  on  1st  October  which  was  given  over  to  a  bunch  of  Brighton  arts  students  led  by  semi-famous  performance  artist  Ian  Smith   who  made  sure  their  queasy  art  rock  as  Birds  With  Ears  got   a  generous  slice  of  the  programme. Unless  I'm  mistaken,  Smith  is  the  only  person  who  was  able  to  use  the  series  as  a  launching  pad   to  greater  things  although  Boy  George  and  Martin  Degville  featured  in  an  earnest  discussion  about  style  wars  early  in  the  first  season.

That  final  season  concluded  with  four , more  formal  debates  over  a  week  in  October  1982  on  family, equality, politics  and  war  then  a  highlights  programme  covering  the  four  years  of  the series. Then  it  was  over  and  started  slipping  away  into  the  mist.  
  

407 Quatermass

First  viewed  :  31  October  1979

This   four-part  sci-fi   drama  wasn't  universally  loved  but  I  really  enjoyed  it.  Of  course  I  was  too  young  to  remember  the  original  Quatermass  serials  in  the  fifties  which  certainly  were  well-regarded  so  I  wasn't  burdened  with  making  comparisons. Those  were  made  by  the  BBC  and  writer  Nigel  Kneale  wrote  this  one  for  the  Beeb  too. Shooting  started  in  1972  then  was  abandoned  due  to  the  costs  but  the  BBC  held  on  to  the  rights  until  1975. Kneale  was  mainly  working  for  ITV  by  then  and  eventually  persuaded  Euston  Films  to  pick  it  up. This  troubled  genesis  is  important  as  the  deranged  youth  cult  at  the  centre  of  the  story  is  based  on  hippies  rather  than  punks. This  is  a  vision  of  the  future  with  a  chunk  of  the  present  missing.

The  exact  year  of  the  setting  is  imprecise  but  it's  the  near-future  and  society  has  broken down. The  cities  are  virtually  no-go  areas  with  muggers  and  armed  gangs  attacking  anyone who  ventures  there , with  an  unsavoury  privatised  police  force  barely  keeping  them  in  check. he  youth  have  joined  either  a  violent  gang  or  the  Planet  People, a  wandering  bunch  of hippies  who  believe  they  will  be  transported  to  somewhere  better.  The  old  are later discovered to  be  cowering  in  a  huge  scrapyard  and  scavenging  by  night

Into  the  midst  of  this  dystopia  stumbles  the  aging  Quaatermass  ( John  Mills )  who  has  been living  as a  recluse  in the  wilds  of  Scotland  but  is  now  searching  for his  grand-daughter  who may  have joined  the  Planet  People. Invited  to  take  part  in  a  TV  programme  to  discuss  a pointless  US-Soviet  space  exchange,  he  condemns  it  venomously  just  before  an  unknown disaster  breaks  up  the  ships. Rescued  by  fellow  guest  Joe  Kapp  ( Simon  McCorkindale )  a young  Jew  trying to  keep  the  flame  of  scientific  research  alive,  he  is  taken  to  Joe's  rural   retreat  where  his  friends  and  young  family  man  a  couple  of  radio  telescopes.  Shortly afterwards,  they  witness the  destruction  of  a  gathering  of  Planet  People  at  the  fictitious  stone circle  of  Ringstone Round  and  Quatermass  realises  that  there  is  an  extra-terrestrial  threat  once again.

The  sci-fi   aspect  though  is   just  window-dressing.  The  story  is  really  about  inter-generational conflict and  Kneale  was  attacked  for  having  such  a  jaundiced  view  of  youth  culture  with Quatermass's  bumbling  but  still  resourceful old  man  having  to  save  the  youth  from  itself.  It also  presents  a  viscerally  bleak  view  of  the  way  society  was  heading  in  the  seventies  which many  found  too  hard  to  watch  particularly  after  Kapp's  lovely  family  and  friends  are  all wiped  out  at  the  end  of   the  second  episode.

Kneale  himself  didn't  like  the  end  product,  particularly  the  casting  and  criticised  both  Mills and  McCorkindale  as  wrong  for  their  parts. I  can't  see  a  problem  with  either  of  them especially  not  Mills  and  the  high  production  values,  apart  from  the  space  scenes  which  are Blake's  Seven - creaky,  are  also  a  big  plus  with  the  action  scenes  well-realised. I  bought Kneale's  novelisation  that  Christmas  which  is  even   more  bleak  and  cynical  than  what  was   on  screen.

The  series  is  also  quite  prescient. The  confrontation  between  the  Planet  People  and  the  cops at  Ringstone  Round  is  eerily  predictive  of  the  Batttle  of  the  Beanfield  a  few  years  later  and in  the  ironically  violent  leader  of  the  PPs,  Kickalong  ( Ralph  Arliss ),   you  can  see  a  model for  David  Koresh  and  his  ilk . We  haven't  really  had  youth  vs  age   conflict  spilling  over  into public  disorder  yet  but  maybe  that's  still  to  come.

The  series  was  repeated  on  ITV3  a few  years  back  and  still  stood  up  well.



      

406 Minder

First  viewed  : 29  October  1979

Wow, the  iconic  series  are  coming  thick  and  fast  now.  Minder  was  conceived  by  Euston Films  as  a  new  vehicle  for  Dennis  Waterman  after  the  success  of  The  Sweeney . George
Carter  had  always  enjoyed  a  good  ruck  so  Waterman's  new  guise  was  Terry  McCann,  an  ex-boxer  just  out  of  prison  who  did  "minding"  jobs  put  his  way  by  shady  petty  criminal  Arthur Daley  (  George  Cole  )  who  invariably  didn't  tell  him  the  full  story  especially  where  the  fee  was  involved. Terry  usually  had  to  fight  his  way  out  of  trouble  but  he  got  a  fair  amount  of  bedroom  action  along  the  way. For  all  the  fighting  and  shagging,  Terry  was  a  rough  diamond  who  went  out  of  his  way  to  help  others  often  at  a  cost  to  himself.

I  still  recall  the  first  episode  clearly  because it  was  so  untypical, Terry  trapped  as a  hostage with  some  nervy  gunmen  after  a  hold-up  in  a  launderette  goes  wrong, It  was  very  tense  with precious  few  laughs  until  Terry's  good  sense  saved  the  day. Although  series  creator  Leon Griffiths  had  no  involvement  in  The  Sweeney  it  was  recognisably  set  in  the  same  world. However  the  first  season  had  episodes  which  were  lighter  in  tone  and  the   series  would  gradually  shift  in  that  direction  as  it  became  more  popular.

It   was  soon  apparent  that  George  Cole's  Arthur  Daley  was  a  strong  character  in  his  own right. His  shiftiness  and  cowardice  was  the  perfect  foil  for  Terry's  courage  and  integrity  and the  two  actors  had  great  onscreen  chemistry. What's  more, Arthur's  entrepreneurial  spirit, social pretensions  and  pursuit  of  the  fast  buck  made  him  one  of  the  most  politically  pertinent characters  on  TV. He  quickly  came  to  share  top  billing  with  Terry.

The  first  season  did  not  draw  big  ratings  and  there  was  some  doubt  the  series  would  continue  but  after  it  was  repeated  as  a  trailer  for  a  second  season   it  became  a  huge  hit. Waterman  had  recorded  the  theme  tune  with  Gerard  Kenny  and  this  reached  number  three  in  the  charts  in  the  autumn  of  1980  ( something  that  would  come  back  to  haunt  him ).

Early  on  at  least  Minder  was  pretty  un-pc. Arthur  refers  to  the  gunmen  in  the  first  episode   as  "three  dopey  spades "  and  in  episode  5  Terry  comes  out  with  a  completely  gratuitous impersonation  of  a  Sikh  employee. It  has  to  be  said  though  that  some  of  the  most  politically incorrect  stories  are  among  the  funniest  such  as  "Whose  Wife  Is  It  Anyway ? "  where  Terry has  to  mind  "an  iron " and  "The  Bengal  Tiger "  where  Terry  stands  up  for  an  Asian  girl's right  to  be  with  Mike  Grady  rather  than  the  ugly  buggers  her  father  and  his  rivals  have  got lined  up  for  her.  That  episode's  also  notable  for  the  still-unusual  sight  of  an  Asian  actress  ( Shireen  Anwar  ) apparently  nude  ( though  you  don't  see  more  than  her  shoulders )  in  bed with a  white  guy.    

From  the  second  series  onwards  there  was  a  third  regular  member  of  the  cast,  Glyn  Edwards ( otherwise  best  remembered  as  one  of  the  villains  despatched  by  Michael  Caine  in  Get Carter )  as   Dave  the  barman  at  the  Winchester  Club  though  he  often  only  appeared  in  a  couple  of  scenes. There  were  other  semi-regulars, perhaps  most  notably  Patrick  Malahide  as  the  uptight  sarcastic  Sgt  Chisholm who  was  completely  obsessed  with  feeling  Arthur's  collar   although  sometimes  Arthur's  adversary  was  the  glory-hunting  Sgt  Rycott  ( Peter  Childs  )  instead. George  Layton  and  then  a  squeaky  young  Ray  Winstone  played  mechanics, Arthur's  chief  source  of  income  being  the  dodgy  motor  trade. Terry  had  two  reasonably  regular  squeezes  , an  air  stewardess  called  Penny  ( Gennie  Nevinson ) and  most  memorably  a  stripper  called  Debbie  ( Diana  Malin )  who  didn't  mind  flashing  the  flesh  . In  the  Season  3  episode  "Looking  for  Mickey"  you  got  to  see  her  routine  and  although  she  was  modestly  endowed  for  a  stripper  she  was  still  a  gorgeous  girl.

As  the  series  got  more  popular  the  comedy  element  was  ratcheted  up  and  the  violence  and  bed-hopping  ( sorry  Dennis  )  were  toned  down.  There  were  more  hit  records ,  The  Firm's  "Arthur  Daley  ( E's  Alright )" in  1982   which  was  completely  independent  of  the  show   and  a  year  later  Cole  and  Waterman's  best-forgotten "What  Are  We  Going  To  Get  For  Her  Indoors ". There  were  more  prestigious  guest  stars  including  Mrs  Waterman  at  the  time  ( Rula  Lenska ) on  a  couple  of  occasions.

There  was  a  problem  though  with  switching  the  focus  to  comedy. Most  sitcoms  are  only  half  an  hour  long; Minder  asked  you  for  twice  that  commitment  and  didn't  always  repay  it . I  remember  a  guy  at  my  hall  of  residence  saying  "I  haven't  got  the  energy  for  Minder  tonight  and  I  knew  what  he  meant.  Some of  the  stories  were  quite  laboured  and  flat.

The  high  water  mark  of  the  series  was   probably  Minder  on  the  Orient  Express , a  feature  length  episode  broadcast  over  Christmas  1985 . It  was  a  caper  set  on  the  famous  train  and  featured  Ralph  Bates  as an  excitable  French  policeman  and  Adam  Faith  as  a  charming  heavy .  My  favourite  scene  was  the  one  where  Chisholm  realised  he  hadn't  been  given  enough  money  and  had  to  go  to  Arthur  for  a  loan.

That  did  appear  to  be  it  at  the  time  and  no  new  episodes  were  made  for  four  years   although  it  remained  popular  through  frequent  repeats. Then  a  seventh  season  started  at  the beginning  of  1979 . It  was  trailed  with  another  feature  length  episode  which  was  also  used  as a  send-off  for  Chisholm , now  working  as  a  security  consultant. That  for  me  was  the  jump the shark  moment . Chisholm  wasn't  ever-present  but  he  was  one  of  the  series'  strongest characters and  losing  him  seemed  a  major  blow. By  the  end  of  that  season  ( which  only  lasted  six episodes )  Dennis  Waterman  had  reached  the  same  conclusion  and  announced  he  too  was quitting  the  show.

There  was  a  further  two  and  a  half  year  hiatus  before  the  show  returned  with  Arthur's  young  nephew  Ray  ( Gary  Webster  ) replacing  Terry  who  had  apparently  emigrated  to  Australia. Dave  was  still  in  it  but  otherwise  it  relied  on  a  new  cast.  I  was  on  holiday  in  Keswick  at the  time  of  the  first  episode  and  without  much  to  do  in  the  evenings  I  gave  it  a  chance  but had  started  to  doze  off  by  the  time  it  was half  way  through. I  switched  it  off  and  that  was  it for  me  until  2003  when  I  got  Freeview  and  started  watching  the  edited  repeats  on  ITV  4.

To  give  Webster  his  due,  the  series  lasted  for  another  three  seasons  (36  episodes )  until  the  plug  was  pulled  in  1994.  That  wasn't  the  end  of  the  story  though. In  2008  Channel  5  decided  to  have  a  crack  at  reviving  it  with  Shane  Richie  playing  a  different  nephew  of  Arthur's  now  in  charge  of  the  business. None  of  the  original  cast  were  involved  and  Ritchie  was  forced  to  deny  that  he'd  vetoed  Waterman's  involvement. He  was  better  off  out  of  it  anyway  , the  six-part  series  pleased  neither  critics  nor  audiences  and  it  was  promptly  binned.

  

405 It'll Be Alright On The Night

First  viewed :  Uncertain

I'm  not  sure  when  I  first  caught  an  episode  of  this occasional  but   perennial   series  which  has  been  running  since  1977.

The  format  is  extremely  simple ,  just  a  set  of  bloopers  and  TV  disasters  sourced  from   around  the  world  with  supposedly  humorous  links  from  a  studio  host. The  latter  factor  made it  challenging  for  me  to  watch  as  the  host  for  its  first  thirty  years  was  the  intensely   irritating  old  fart  Dennis  Norden,  with  his  stupid  clipboard,  who  was  as  funny  as  toothache.
Of  course  some  of  the  clips  were  hilarious  - seeing  Richard  Whiteley  with  the  ferret  hanging off  his  finger  raises  a  laugh  every  time   - but  many , consisting  of  some  unknown  US   regional  TV  host  corpsing  at  nothing  in  particular,  were  repetitive  and  dull.  This  was  not   ITV  at  its  best  and  could  be  said  to  encourage  short  attention-span  viewing.

The  shows  were  repeated  a  lot  so  unless  you  were  following  the  numbering  intently  - difficult  for  an  occasional  show  - you  often  ended  up  just  watching  the  same  set  of  clips again.

Norden  finally  packed  up  his  clipboard  in  2006  at  the  age  of  84 ( he's  still  alive  at  the  time  of  writing )  and  two  years  later  the  show  resumed  with  Griff  Rhys-Jones  in  his  place. Apparently  there's  another  one  due  this  Saturday.    
  

404 Not The Nine O Clock News

First  viewed : 16  October  1979

Now  we  come  to  my  favourite  comedy  show  of  all  time ; I  can't  recall  any  other  show giving  rise  to  so  much  playground   discussion  although  it  started  off  fairly  quietly.

There  was  a  pilot  show  made  for  broadcast  in  April  1979  but  it  only  featured  Rowan Atkinson  and  Chris  Langham  alongside  more  seasoned  performers  headed  by  Scaffold's  John Gorman. Despite  being  flat  broke  at  the  time,  Mel  Smith  pulled  out  because  he  thought  the script  was  appalling  and  it's  generally  agreed  that  if  it  hadn't  been  pulled  off  the  air  because the  general  election  campaign  had  started , the  subsequent  series  would  never  have  been commissioned.

As  it  was  producer  John  Lloyd  had  the  breathing  space  to  jettison  the  old  hands, bring  Mel back  on  board  and  add  Antipodean  actress  Pamela  Stephenson  ( who'd  recently  been  in Target and  The  Professionals )  to  the  team  after  meeting  her  at  a  party.  Chris  had  the  most substantial  TV  c.v.  having  appeared   on  Spike  Milligan's  Q  series  and  written  for  The Muppet Show; Mel  had  hardly  done  any  TV  at  all.

I  changed  channels  for  the  first  episode   and  instantly  loved  it  from  the  Watership  Down     joke  - "You've  read  the  book, seen  the  film....now  try  the  pie"  - onwards .With  its  colourful language, bad  taste  jokes and  even-handed  political  swipes - the  unions  getting  as  much  stick as  the  Tories -  it  seemed  like  the  most  daring, exciting  thing  on  TV  and  it  probably  was.

I  found  some  friends  who  were  watching  it  but  not  that  many  and  the  first  series did  have its  problems. The  producers  were  over-conscious  of  the  fact  that  they  were  making  the  first satirical  sketch  show  since  Monty  Python's  Flying  Circus   and  the  plentiful  references  back  to Python,  however  justified  by  the  then-raging  controversy  over  Life  of  Brian  didn't  help  its cause.  Repeats  of  the  show  have  always  been  compilations  to  take  out  the  too  obviously dated  political  stuff   but  they've  also  made  little  use  of  content  from  the  first  series. Some more  material  has  recently  emerged  on  You  Tube  and  it  does  justify  that  editorial  decision  to some  extent  with  many  of  the  sketches  going  on  for  far  too  long. Still  there  was  plenty  to  savour  in  the  union  negotiation  sketch, the  punk  song  "Gob  On  You"  ( the  school  punk  band  The  Stiffs  quickly  put  it  in  their  repertoire ), Pamela's  over-sexed  beauty  contestant   and  Rowan's  first  "nutter  in  the  audience"  rant  about  Nationwide.  I   remember  rushing  home  from  a  dress  rehearsal  for  the  school  play  to  see  the  last  episode   and  watching  the  ballad  lamenting  the  recent  sacking  of  ITV's  Reginald  Bosanquet  , beautifully  delivered  by  Pamela-as-Anna  Ford, with  the  smell  of  witch  hazel  still  in  my  nostrils.

A  second  season  was  commissioned  despite  low  viewing  figures  but  there  was  a  casualty  in the  form  of  Chris  who  found  out  he  wasn't  going  to  be  in  it  from   overhearing  a conversation  between  two  make-up ladies. The  story  behind  his  sacking  remains  murky. It  was nothing  to  do  with  his  co-stars  who  appreciated  his  greater  experience. He  admits  he  was over-doing   the   booze  and  drugs  at  the  time   and  does  look  a  bit  wild-eyed  in  some  of  the sketches. He  also  got  into  an  argument  with  the  producers  about  the  Life  of  Brian  sketch because  he  was  actually  in  the  film  and  that  appears  to  have  convinced  the  bosses  they  were better  off  without  him.  He  was  replaced  by  Griff  Rhys-Jones , brother  of  Lloyd's  current  squeeze , who'd  been  one  of  the  minor  players  in  the  first  series. I  never  had  anything  against  Griff   who  played  his  part  in  some  classic  sketches  but  I  always  felt  it  would  have  been  better  if  they'd  kept  Chris.

Still  it  can't  be  denied  that  the  second  series , broadcast  in  the  spring  of  1980   was  when  the show  took  off  like  a  bomb.  The  political  stuff  was  not  quite  as  prominent  and  all  round  the writing  was  sharper  and  snappier .One  particular  episode  grabbed  the  attention,  first  with  the classic  Gerald  the  gorilla  sketch  and  then  the  most  talked-about  sketch  of  all, the  American Express   skit  when  Pamela's  air  hostess  opened  her  blouse  and  said  "And  would  you  like  to rub  my  tits  too ?"  the  tag  line  being  "Stick  your  head  in  between  them  and go  blubble blubble  blubble with  American  Express !" One  over-excited  lad  claimed  she  hadn't  been wearing  a  bra  which  suggests  a  visit  to  the  optician  may  have  been  in  order. She  was actually  topless  in  a  bath  tub  sketch  some  time  later - oh  the  joys  of  the  Pause  button !

Oh  yes  Pamela, what  a  goddess  she  was !  She  may  have  been  an  inch  or  two  short  of  the ideal  but  boy  did  she  make  up  for  it  in  other  ways. And  then  you  had  the  "England  My Leotard"  sketch, one  of  the  two  most  desirable  women  of  the  time  with  a  well-crafted impersonation  of   the  other  one .

Another  eight  part  season  followed  at  the  tail  end  of  the  year  and  brought  us  further delights including  Constable  Savage  ( Griff's  finest  moment ) "I  Like  Trucking"  and  a  coruscating attack  on  That's  Life . The  series  was  now  incredibly  popular  and  an  album  release  featuring material  from  the  first  two  series  nearly  made  the  top  of  the  charts. I  remember  our  Sixth Form  Review   that  year   featured  good  egg  John  Weetman  doing  a  Rowan-style rant  amidst the  audience  which  as  you'd  expect  was  much  funnier  than  a  Cannon  and  Ball  routine  earlier in  the  show.    

Despite  Pamela's  mammoth  sex  appeal  and  Mel's  skills  as  an  actor  - he  was  often  the straight man  in  the  sketches  and  brilliant  at  it -  there  was  no  doubting  who  the  star  of  the  series was. Rowan  Atkinson , a  quiet  guy  who  liked  to  tinker  with  machinery  off  stage, just  had  that something  extra  which  you  could  probably  call  genius. As  he  did  a  solo  comedy  tour  with material  co-written  with  Richard  Curtis,  there  was  speculation  about  whether  there  would actually  be  another  series  and  1981  came  and  went  without  one.

A  fourth  season  did  materialise  at  the  beginning  of  1982  but  it  was  an  open  secret  that  it   was  going  to  be  the  last  one.  Even  at  its  peak,  the  material  was  always  a   bit  variable  - with well  over  100  credited  writers  across  the  four  series   that  was  inevitable - but  the  gaps between  the   good  stuff   were  a  bit  wider  in  this  finale. God  knows  who  thought  Roland  Davies  ( a  strike  breaking  train  driver  just  in  case  you'd  forgotten )  was  worth  a  commemorative  song  ( in  an  episode  which  inexplicably  featured  child  actor  John  Alford ). They  also  came  a  bit  unstuck  when  satirising   the   pop  scene ; the  sketch  about  Marc  Almond  was  well  wide  of  the  mark  despite  Pamela's  turn  as  Annie  Nightingale   and  the  much-trailed  "Nice  Video  Shame  About  The  Song"  had  nothing  to  say in  the  end.  There  was  some  good  stuff, a  nice  spoof  of  Game  For  A  Laugh  and  the  infamous  evisceration  of  The  Two  Ronnies  but  Rowan's  instincts  telling  him  to  move  on  were  probably  correct.

Apart  from  poor  Mel  and  Chris  whose  unsavoury  indiscretion  ( I  don't  think  it  was  any  worse  than  that  )  has  cost  him  dear , they're  all   still  going  strong , testament  to  the  once  in  a  lifetime  power  of  the  series.            

 

403 Last of the Summer Wine

First  viewed : 25  September  1979

This  is  another  one  where  Genome  has  corrected  my  memory  banks. I'd  have  put it  down  as  early  1981  when  I  first  caught  this  but  no  it  was  eighteen  months  earlier.

Last  of  the  Summer  Wine  had  already  been  running  for  six  years  and  ironically, given  the reputation  it  latterly  enjoyed,  it  had  quite  a  cult  cachet  at  school  in  the  late  seventies. I  think this  was  because  it  was  always  on  quite  late , after  the  9pm   watershed , so  lads  were  misled into  thinking  there  was  something  edgy  about  it. In  truth  of  course , for  all  of  Compo's  sexual assaults  on  Nora  Batty  ( as  they  would  now  be  viewed ) , Last  of  the  Summer  Wine  was actually  as  family-friendly  as  TV   comedy  got,  a  gentle  look  at  the  adventures  of  three bachelors  trying  to  fill  their  post-retirement  lives  purposefully  in  a  Pennine  village  not  a  million  miles  away  from  where  we  lived.

I  recall  some  of  my  school  mates  talking  about  it  , in  what  I  now  realise  must  have  been  the  summer  of  1979  when  it  followed  The  Nine  O  Clock  News , for   one  particular  reason.
They  were  all  agreed  ( repeatedly  so )  that  the  character  of  Foggy  was  a  dead  ringer  for  me.
Foggy  ( played  by  Brian  Wilde  from   Porridge  )  had  joined  the  cast  after  the  sudden  death of  Michael  Bates  in  1976. He  was  a   tall,  pompous,  self-regarding,  ex-Army  control  freak  , continually  frustrated  at  his  friends'  lack  of  interest  in  his  grandiose  projects  which  were usually  attempts  to  pass  self-promotion  off   as  doing  something  for  the  community   .

Because  of  this, when,  in  September  1979,   it  was  switched  to  8.30 pm ,  I  had  to  have  a gander.  As  you  would  expect  I  didn't  quite  see  the  resemblance  at  the  time   though  I   concede  now   that  they  may  have  had  a  point. Nevertheless  I  was  quite  taken  with  the  series particularly  given  its  proximity  to  home  and  the  fact  that  I  was  knocking  about  in  a  trio  at the  time.

I  watched  the  series  fairly  regularly  until  Wilde  left  in  1985. I  didn't  like  his  replacement Seymour  ( Michael  Aldridge )   at  all  and  checked  out  soon  after  his  appearance. However   all the  people  I  walked  with  in  the  Littleborough  Civic  Trust  Footpaths  Group  , most  of  whom were  much  older  than  me , were  huge  fans  of  the  series   and  their  chatter  sort  of  kept  me  in touch  with  what  was  happening. In  the  summer  of  1982  I  led  a   Sunday  walk  for  them   from  neighbouring  Marsden   and  found  that   an  episode   was  actually  being  filmed  there   ( the  usual  location  Holmfirth  was  becoming  over-run  with  tourists, making  shooting  there difficult ). It  was  actually  quite  difficult  to  get  the  group  moving  as  they  wanted  to  spectate. I did  get  a  couple  of  shots  of  Bill  Owen  although  it  was  notable  that  he  had  a  stand-in  for   all  the  set-up  work.

By  that  time,  Foggy  had  rejoined  the  cast  and  I  did  start  seeing  some  episodes  after  I  got married  in  1997  although  Wilde  left  the  cast  for  good  shortly  afterwards.  By  that  time  the show  was  firmly  ensconced   in  its  Sunday  teatime  slot  and , I  felt,   becoming  too  much  like  a retirement   home  for   veteran  comic  actors. Wilde  and  Owen  were  reasonably  familiar  faces before  joining  the  series  but  when  Captain Peacock ,  Blakey , Ken  Smith  and  most  of  all Hilda  Ogden  arrived   and  the  cast  expanded , I felt  their  previous  associations  overpowered  the storylines  and  robbed  the  series  of  its  charm.

The  death  of  Owen  in  1999  and  his  replacement  by  his  real-life son  Tom   made  me  switch off  for  good  ( although  Owen  Junior  was  relegated  to  a  minor  character  after  one  series  as part  of  the  trio ) . By  that  time  there  was  something   of  a  movement  against  the  show continuing, much  as  there  had  been  against  Terry  and  June  a  decade  or  so  earlier.  In  2001 the  Queen  told  Thora  Hird  that  it  was  her  favourite  TV  show  ( and  why  wouldn't  it  be  ? ) which  probably  extended  its  lifetime  by  some  years. Two  years  later ,  an  incredibly  mean-spirited  poll  conducted  by  Radio  Times  asked  readers  to  nominate  which  show  they  would most  like  to  see  cancelled  and  Last  of  the  Summer  Wine   won. Although  the  4,000  votes  it got  were  paltry  compared  to  the  millions  still  watching,  the  result  incensed  series  writer  Roy Clarke  and  you  suspect  the  poll  was  deliberately  commissioned  to  bolster  the  case  against   the  series.

Eventually  it  was  the  insurance  companies  that  brought  the  curtain  down  as  they  refused  to sanction  the  most  elderly  cast  members,  Peter  Sallis  and  Frank  Thornton,  doing  any  outdoor scenes  in  2008  . This  necessitated  the  formation  of  a  new core  trio  headed  by  Russ  Abbott which  failed  to  command  the  same  affection.  The  final  episode  ( not  written  as such  )  was broadcast  in  August  2010  and  by  chance  I  caught  a  small  part  of  it. I  felt  some  sadness  that something  which  stretched  back  to  my  school  days  had  come  to  an  end  but  what  was  on screen  that  day  evoked  nothing  at  all  and  there  was  little  argument  that  the  show  had  finally run  its  course.                    


    
 

402 Ripping Yarns

First  viewed : Uncertain

I'm  not  sure  when  I  first  caught  this. I  remember  my  friends  talking  about  it, specifically  the story  Tomkinson's  Schooldays  which  I  gathered  had  been  a  little  rude  in  May  1978   which was  already  a  repeat  of  the  first  series. I'm  not  sure  whether  I  saw  the  first  broadcast  of  the second  season  ( all  three  episodes  of  it )  on  BBC 2  in  October  1979  or  a  repeat  of  the   whole  set  of  stories  on  BBC1 in  1980.

Ripping  Yarns  was  the  brainchild   of  Pythons  Michael  Palin  and  Terry  Jones  and  the  self-contained  stories  in  the  series  were  affectionate  parodies   of  pre-war  boys  literature. Jones  was too   busy   directing   The  Life  of  Brian   to  appear  beyond  the  pilot  episode  so  Palin  was  left to  carry  all  the  subsequent  stories  on  his  own.

If  you  know  the  series  and  are  familiar  with  my  other  blogs  you  won't  have  too  much difficulty  in  identifying  my  favourite  episode , the  glorious  Golden  Gordon. Exaggerated  as  it is,  nothing  else  has  come  close  to  capturing  the  masochistic  joy  of  supporting  a  generally unsuccessful  football  club. We've all  come  home  wanting  to  smash  the  house  up  like  Gordon after  a  trouncing  and  yearned  for  a  return  to  some  golden  age  receding  ever  further  into  the past. For  Dale  fans  the  equivalent  to  Barnstoneworth's   legendary  Davitt  was  Reg  Jenkins, star of  the  69-70  promotion  side  and  only  in  the  last  few  years  have  we  started  putting  him  to rest.

Gordon  has  cast  such  a  long  shadow  that  my  memory  of  the  other  stories  is  a  bit  sketchy and  I'm  not  even  sure  that  I've  seen  them  all. The  downfall  of  the  series  was  its  high production  costs, the  Beeb  deciding  after  three  episodes  of  the  second  season  that  they  could not  afford  to  finance  any  more.