TV Freak Scott Goodings is crazy about TV. Scott's first TV memory is an
episode of "Matlock Police" called "A Piece Of Cake". His first experience of
the medium in colour was seeing a Hector The Cat road safety commercial through
the window of the CBA bank in Cheltenham in 1975. Catch his regular reviews at
Quickflix
.
Vale Ronnie Barker
It's Friday night in the late 70s and on the commercial stations there are
Australian based versions of everything from "Doctor At Large", "Father Dear
Father" (featuring Sigrid Thornton) and "Love Thy Neighbour".
Australia is an Anglophile's paradise - we have all the good things about
British television, minus the industrial chaos that was ripping the Mother
Country apart.
Over on the ABC, it's "The Two Ronnies" followed by "Pot Black".
If you think the ABC relies on "The Bill" and BBC costume dramas now, you
should have been watching TV back then.
In memory of Ronnie Barker, let's reflect on some old school Cool Britannia
classics.
- Scott
The Two Ronnies
Check out The
Best of the Two Ronnies (2002)
While the uni-educated crowd from "That Was The Week That Was" and "The Frost
Report" morphed into "Monty Python's Flying Circus" and "The Goodies", the two
working class boys became "The Two Ronnies". Ronnies Barker and Corbett sang,
performed sketches, read topical 'news' reports, and, yes, Ronnie Barker did
cut a fine figure in drag (even though he reportedly didn't like frocking up
all that much). At its height it had a reported one third of the UK's
population tuning in Saturday nights. Here, "The Two Ronnies" was a Friday
night mainstay on the ABC throughout the 70s and 80s, although running it
back-to-back with Corbett's celebrity golf show, with its plethora of tartan
and checked slacks, was perhaps pushing it a tad.
Porridge
Check out the episode "A Night In" on
Porridge-Series 1 (1974)
With the judge's words 'you will go to prison for five years' still ringing in
our ears, and the best opening credits montage of slamming doors since "Get
Smart", so begins "Porridge". Norman Stanley Fletcher (Ronnie Barker) is back
in Slade prison, this time for car theft, determined this will be his last
visit. He's out to keep his head down and avoid 'top dog' Harry Grout and the
screws - the sympathetic Mr. Barrowclough and the suspicious disciplinarian
Scot Mr. Mackay. A great introductory episode, "A Night In", establishes one of
TV comedy's best double acts. Fletch has a new cellmate - the naive scared
Brummie, Leonard Arthur Godber (Richard Beckinsale, father of Kate), who Fletch
takes under his wing. Also look out for David Jason, Barker's soon to be
sidekick in "Open All Hours", as Alzheimer sufferer Blanco.
Going Straight
Check out the episode "Going Off The Rails" on
Going Straight (1978)
This spin-off from "Porridge" sees Norman Stanley Fletcher (Ronnie Barker)
released from Slade prison at age forty-five, aiming for a life on the straight
and narrow. Things aren't made easy on his release when on the train home he
bumps into an old crim friend, as well as 'screw' nemesis Mr. Mackay. Arriving
home, Fletch discovers his wife Isobel has run off with Reg Jessop, a factory
owner who makes cardboard boxes. The plotline developed in precursor
"Porridge", that saw his old cellmate Godber (Richard Beckinsale) falling for
Fletch's daughter Ingrid, is tied up in "Going Straight's" final wedding
episode, "Going Off The Rails" - sadly Beckinsale's final TV role before his
tragic death in 1979.
Open All Hours
Check out the episode "The Man From Down Under" on
Open All Hours-Series 3 (1973)
Like the character of Fletch in "Porridge", the northern English shopkeeper
Albert Arkwright in "Open All Hours" had also been created as part of Ronnie
Barker's early 70s series of one-off plays for television, "Seven Of One". In
between bullying his stuttering errand boy nephew, tight-fisted Arkwright
(Ronnie Barker) seeks more from Nurse Gladys than a drive in her Morris Minor.
David Jason co-stars as nephew Granville in his finest work either side of
"Count Duckula" and "Only Fools And Horses". In his quest to woo Gladys,
Arkwright faces a rival just back from Australia in the episode "The Man From
Down Under".
Dave Allen
Check out Dave Allen (1993)
If stand up comedy is the new rock and roll, Dave Allen was perhaps TV comedy's
Keith Richards - Dave even toured with "The Beatles" in 1961. Perched on his
bar stool, smoking a cigarette and swigging on a glass of whisky, scratching
his head and tugging on his earlobe, Allen worked his way through monologues on
life, death, drinking, religion and the English. The Irishman with the missing
index finger, immaculately dressed in those three piece suits, was another
1970s ABC Friday night fixture. 'Goodnight, good luck, and may your God go with
you'.
Tony Hancock
Check out the episode "The Blood Donor" on
The Very Best Of Hancock (1961)
Tony Hancock was the UK's first sitcom star. He made a hugely successful
transition from radio to TV, re-recording scripts and refining old wireless
characters, this time for the visual medium, and establishing a tradition
continued by recent British comedies like "The League Of Gentlemen", "Dead
Ringers" and "Little Britain". By the time of the series "Hancock", he'd
jettisoned old sidekick Sid James, but kept writers Galton and Simpson (who'd
go on to create "Steptoe And Son"). "The Blood Donor" is perhaps their finest
moment. East Cheam's most famous resident goes all civic minded and decides to
give blood - it's just the amount they want, a pint that he finds alarming.
Look out for Patrick Cargill ("Father Dear Father") as the doctor, June "Gran
Monsoon" Whitford ("Absolutely Fabulous") as the nurse, and Captain Peacock
from "Are You Being Served?" (Frank Thornton) as another donor.
Sid James
Check out the episode "If The Dog Collar Fits - Wear It" on
Bless This House-Series 1: Part 2 (1971)
This generation gap family sitcom was a vehicle for "Carry On" star Sid James,
but he played the put upon Dad struggling with loud rock and roll and the
permissive society a whole lot better than Bill Cosby ever did - and he still
had the filthiest cackle in TV and film. Sid's artistic son Mike, with his 'dig
it' and 'I'm gonna split this scene' banter, was played by Robin Stewart who
later moved to Australia and ended up in "Sons And Daughters". Gorgeous Sally
Geeson, who played Sid's daughter Sally, is now a teacher. I wonder if she
shows the kids Sid's old work in "Carry On Up The Khyber" during media studies
classes? In the episode "If The Dog Collar Fits - Wear It", the constant
howling of Sally's new canine chum, Fred, ruins Sid's Sunday morning sleep in.
Dick Emery
Check out The Best
Of Dick Emery (2005)
It may have been the same jokes, the same lines and catchphrases, but the
characters of Dick Emery were 70s classics. Sunday nights on Channel Seven
became a guessing game involving which of Emery's creations would appear in the
opening street interview sketch: the toothy vicar, man-hungry Mandy, Lampwick
the World War One veteran, or my favourite - Gaylord ('Dad - I've done it
again, haven't I') the dim-witted denim clad bovver boy and his father. "Oooh,
you are awful - but I like you'.
On The Buses
Check out the episode "Going Steady" on
On the Buses-Best of Series 3 and 4-Volume 3 (1970)
All aboard for Cemetery Gates! Luxton and District driver Stan Butler usually
gets his bus out of time, much to the chagrin of Inspector Cyril Blake.
Following the British kitchen sink cinema of the 60s came this semi-detached,
two-up two-down, bread and dripping, poppy-seed hair tonic sitcom.
Mother-in-law jokes from Stan's brother-in-law Arthur flow thick and fast (when
Arthur isn't avoiding wife Olive's amorous advances). But I could never see
what the female clippies saw in Stan's sidekick, toothy conductor Jack - maybe
it's because he's a Londoner. Stan falls in love with Blakey's niece, Sally, in
the episode "Going Steady". Watch out for the photo of her Mum that Sally shows
Stan (it's Blakey done up in drag, complete with one of those moustaches).
Basil Brush
Check out the episode "The Date" on
Basil Brush-Unleashed (2004)
Okay okay, this is the new millennium sitcom version, without the guiding hand
of Basil's brilliant late mentor Ivan Owen, but everything we always loved
about the wise-cracking fox is still here - the smoking jacket, the cravat, the
music hall style punning in that Terry Thomas upper-class twit voice. Dear late
Ivan loved his friend Basil so much he was never photographed with him in case
it somehow ruined the magic of the character. In "The Date", a food critic's
Aunt falls for Basil as he accompanies his friend Stephen on a double date,
causing as much trouble now as he did for Mr. Rodney, Mr. Derek and Mr. Howard
in the 60s and 70s.