Im rewatching this brilliant comedy series on BritBox. A TV repairman accidentally finds a time portal which transports him into WW2 London where he begins an affair with a barmaid. Juggling his present day life with his newfound double life in the past provides plenty of comic situations. His printer friend supplies him with paperwork and alibis as he negotiates life in two eras. Nicholas Lyndhurst is excellent as Gary Sparrow the accidental time traveller, and Christopher Ettridge is hilarious as the gormless policeman. The series suffered from two major cast changes in Season 4 as both female leads were replaced, it still works well but not quite as good because Gary’s present day wife becomes the more physically attractive of the two women, reversing the trend of the first three seasons. Gary starts his wartime life as a songwriter, using later famous songs and passing them off to be his own, before coming involved in the wartime effort. Along the way he meets several historical figures including Churchill, Atlee, Noel Coward and George Formby.
One of the best sitcoms ever made.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
As I write, I am watching something on Sky Arts called The Art of the Album Cover. It's rubbish. I am an hour in and we are already into the 1980s.What happened to the fifties, sixties, seventies - the interviews are so random, the artists equally so, hardly a decent cover featured, often the art directors are talking about videos and posters. One of those Sky docs that frankly tells you something and nothing. Mostly nothing.
Yet another Great Expectations adaptation aired on the BBC tonight. However - this one is brilliant. I understand it's by the Peaky Blinder guy so it's a bit more hard-hitting and violent, it grabs you from the beginning - mind you, so did the David Lean one back in its day - yet more unexpected is the terrific cinematography where - being set at Christmas in its opening episode - much of it is startlingly like a old-school Christmas card, it is really quite eerie and affecting.
The Who's Roger Daltrey has been itching to do a bio of Keith Moon - the actor who plays young Pip might be in with a shout if he's still up for it.
UK viewers might wish to be aware that the excellent 50s comedy School For Scoundrels is on BBC4 around 9pm Thursday (20th April) night. They usually serve up a newly minted print.
Some of the one-upmanship techniques were surely employed by Fraulein Maria in The Sound of Music, if you read my review on another thread.
I also recommend Simon Schama's History of Britain episode 'The Two Winstons' which compares the careers of Eric Blair aka writer George Orwell and Winston Churchill in parallel and in relation to the rise of Hitler, shown last night and probably on iPlayer.
"This is where we leave you Mr Bond."
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Sir MilesThe Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 26,573Chief of Staff
I am catching re-runs of Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads on channel 65 - it seems BBC4 only served up two episodes albeit in hi-def. These comedies are written by Ian Le Frenais and Dick Clement who also penned the classic sitcom Porridge, and also Auf Wiedersehn Pet in the next decade. Bond fans know they script doctored Connery's Never Say Never Again but here's the problem - they tend to do comedy for life's losers and underdogs - Terry Collier and Fletch. It may explain why Connery seems so put upon in that film, they're not used to writing for life's winners. They also did movies that were a bit whimsical, like Water - you get the sense they're not meant to be two hours long, or rather they're not used to writing that kind of length.
An excellent series about the western legend Billy The Kid. It’s been renewed for a second season and season one traces the story of the Kid from a young age up to the beginning of the Lincoln County Wars. A lot of care has been taken to make the series look authentic and the shootouts are particularly well done. English actor Tom Blyth plays Billy and Australian actor Daniel Webber plays his friend Jesse Evans and English actor Alex Roe plays Pat Garrett who would become a major part in Billy’s short life. A lot of non-American actors are in American productions nowadays, I wonder why that is?
Well worth watching if you can find it on a channel near you. It’s on Epix in the USA and on Paramount+ elsewhere, apparently.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
The origin of Batman’s butler Alfred Pennyworth continues into a third season. Alfred’s security firm is going strong and has links with the PM and MI5. There are multi-layers of plots but it’s all handled very well and well acted. The action comes thick and fast and the leading characters keep you interested in their fates. Special mention to Ryan Fletcher as Daveboy and Jack Bannon as Alfred. The more I see of Bannon and the more I think he would be a good James Bond. He has charisma and handles the action and romantic scenes with aplomb. Unfortunately the series has been cancelled but it does leave him open to be 007…but it seems no one has noticed him…more’s the pity.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
I’ve added this to my viewing list, so at 110 episodes at about 2 episodes a week I should finish it in a year 😁
I remember the series from my childhood but not with much recollection, so am looking forward to this. Whatever critics say about producer Irwin Allen at least he had the energy to get things done and put onscreen some spectacular sets and imaginative scenarios.
The first episode is very good, concerning a potential catastrophic polar earthquake and some of the sets are reminiscent to DN. Episode 2 has a Blofeld like megalomaniac set on world domination, it even has a scene where he discusses the latest plan in a TB like set - all a year ahead of that actual movie.
Bond alumni David Hedison pairs with Richard Basehart as the leads. It’s good stuff, so far.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
Another one added to my weekly viewing list and this one will take over 4 years to complete at my regular 2 episodes per week schedule. I have little recollection of this series when I used to watch a few episodes in the 60’s. Ben Cartwright (Lorne Greene) runs the huge Ponderosa ranch with his three sons, each born by a different wife. Each son has a different characteristic; serious, affable, impetuous. The brothers fight a lot between themselves but are ultimately loyal to each other. The first episode concerns the hanging of a man who is latterly judged to be innocent. The series tends to lean towards social issues rather than the usual shoot up adventures of the western series of the time. The mood is serious, interspersed with comedic scenes of the family arguing with each other. Whether I last the whole run remains to be seen.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
There are 3 seasons so far with more to come. This series is in the same vein as the two CREEPSHOW movies from the 80’s. Two stories lifted from a comicbook called Creepshow are told in each episode beginning with pictures of the comic and morphing into real-life action. Most of the stories are excellent and the production is high quality.
Superb entertainment.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
I watched the US version of Ghosts on BBC1 tonight. I never got one with the original homegrown one - give me 70s comedy Rentaghost any day - but this one worked for me, even if moving it to America makes the Beetlejuice theme more obvious. Not quite sure how an American haunted house totally works, they don't go back that far do they, I mean how come a Viking warrior is there? How would he get to visit a mansion - he would have preceded it, obviously. All the same, I liked it.
"This is where we leave you Mr Bond."
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Silhouette ManThe last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,690MI6 Agent
That's a good point. I think the Americans fall back on the house having been built on a Native American burial ground, for one example. I know that was one of the explanations for the paranormal happenings in the house in the rather haphazard film The Amityville Horror (1979).
"The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
Continuing my look back at vintage TV series I’m watching this excellent film noir-ish series starring Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and Roger Smith working as private eyes from offices on the famous Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. In the programme the offices are located next door to the real life Dino’s Lodge, a real lounge bar owned by Dean Martin. Edward Byrnes stars as Kookie who begins as a car valet with private eye aspirations. He was the breakout character of the series with his penchant for endlessly combing his hair and “hip” language. They take on cases of missing persons and insurance fraud and the like. It’s all done stylishly and the stories are good.
It went on for 6 seasons and if it continues the way it’s going then I will see it through.
I’ve accidental added this picture below and can’t remove it so don’t take any notice of it…
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
Silhouette ManThe last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,690MI6 Agent
I think Kingsley Amis mentions that show in passing in an early chapter of The James Bond Dossier (1965) but sadly I've never seen any of it.
"The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
On Saturday's Talking pictures will be reshowing FIREBALL XL5, which for those of a certain age will bring back misty-eyed memories of Steve Zodiac and Dr Venus and puppets on strings.
Just bumping this review. I’ve now finished the 3 seasons and I really cannot recommend this series high enough. It is simply stunning. Those who have smart tv’s or an Amazon Firestick can download the SHUDDER app and get a 7 day free trial so you can binge-watch the series free of charge. One episode morphs present day actors into the classic horror movie Horror Express and they interact with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing and other cast members - it’s so well done it has to be seen to be believed. Recommended to all portmanteau horror fans and Stephen King fans (who has an input in some segments) and fans of EC horror comics.
The fourth season debuts later this year - I cannot wait!
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
The classic 70s sitcom It Aint Half Hot Mum is showing late evenings on That's TV aka channel 65. This is a hot potato as it's said to be one of those hit comedies that is very unPC or even racist so it can't be shown on the BBC, unlike others by the same writers, such as the omniscient Dad's Army, also Hi-di-Hi and so on.
The thing is, two episodes in and It Aint Half Hot Mum is brilliant. I can't see how it is racist so far. I mean, you have some guy black up as a native but it doesn't seem racist to me because a) It's convincing b) The actor came from the area in question so has the accent down pat and c) It's comedy genius. I enjoy the hierarchy between the characters, the way some get bullied only to turn their fire on others they can bully in turn. However, the mainstay is Windsor Davies as the company sergeant who takes a dim view of the entertainment troupe is he meant to oversee. Again, it's his bullying conduct that I find hilarious. He was written as a cockney and you could imagine Warren Mitchell doing a version of Alf Garnett in the role - in fact some expressions of barely contained outrage by Davies do put me in mind of Garnett trying to hold himself back from attacking his prospective left-wing son in law while in an argument. But Davies is Welsh and does it brilliantly.
That's TV tend to show these things nightly until they run out of gas so it will be on again tonight at about 9.30pm.
well I saw something good on telly over the weekend:
Joni Mitchell being awarded the Gershwin prize and for the event an all star lineup of musicians performing her songs, including Annie Lenox Cyndi Lauper, Diana Krall, James Taylor, Graham Nash, Herbie Hancock and many others. Mitchell is 79 and survived a brain aneurism, and required two caregivers to escort her onstage where she performed an epic rendition of Summertime, outsinging several of the younger singers who'd tried to perform her toons. a fine tribute to a lifes work now honored at the highest levels of official culture, and a good ninety minutes of entertainment
I gotta say Neil Young was conspicuous in his absence, they were friends since the early days and he's still active. maybe he's too much of an anarchist for such an event?
A miracle is happing! I'm watching a great TV program in the summer. It's the first episode of "Michael Palin into Iraq" and it is what it says on the tin. Palin is extraordinary as always. I feel like I did back in the 80' when "North & south" was shown one year in the middle of the summer. I seriously thought "the TV channel must've made a mistake - they never show anything exciting in the summer!"
Business negotiator Idris Elba has to use all his skills in negotiating a hijack situation on a flight from Dubai to London, Heathrow. This 7-episode mini-series is tense and exciting with good support from Neil Maskell as the terrorist in charge and Max Beesley as a detective on the ground. Plot intricacies are woven in with good effect and it is nothing less than excellent entertainment. There are a lot of well known faces that crop up as guest stars in other series that most will know facially but not by name.
We watched this over three evenings which is unusual because we would normally watch one episode per night, which shows how good it is.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
Comments
GOODNIGHT SWEETHEART (1993-1999) 6 Seasons
Im rewatching this brilliant comedy series on BritBox. A TV repairman accidentally finds a time portal which transports him into WW2 London where he begins an affair with a barmaid. Juggling his present day life with his newfound double life in the past provides plenty of comic situations. His printer friend supplies him with paperwork and alibis as he negotiates life in two eras. Nicholas Lyndhurst is excellent as Gary Sparrow the accidental time traveller, and Christopher Ettridge is hilarious as the gormless policeman. The series suffered from two major cast changes in Season 4 as both female leads were replaced, it still works well but not quite as good because Gary’s present day wife becomes the more physically attractive of the two women, reversing the trend of the first three seasons. Gary starts his wartime life as a songwriter, using later famous songs and passing them off to be his own, before coming involved in the wartime effort. Along the way he meets several historical figures including Churchill, Atlee, Noel Coward and George Formby.
One of the best sitcoms ever made.
As I write, I am watching something on Sky Arts called The Art of the Album Cover. It's rubbish. I am an hour in and we are already into the 1980s.What happened to the fifties, sixties, seventies - the interviews are so random, the artists equally so, hardly a decent cover featured, often the art directors are talking about videos and posters. One of those Sky docs that frankly tells you something and nothing. Mostly nothing.
Yet another Great Expectations adaptation aired on the BBC tonight. However - this one is brilliant. I understand it's by the Peaky Blinder guy so it's a bit more hard-hitting and violent, it grabs you from the beginning - mind you, so did the David Lean one back in its day - yet more unexpected is the terrific cinematography where - being set at Christmas in its opening episode - much of it is startlingly like a old-school Christmas card, it is really quite eerie and affecting.
The Who's Roger Daltrey has been itching to do a bio of Keith Moon - the actor who plays young Pip might be in with a shout if he's still up for it.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
UK viewers might wish to be aware that the excellent 50s comedy School For Scoundrels is on BBC4 around 9pm Thursday (20th April) night. They usually serve up a newly minted print.
Some of the one-upmanship techniques were surely employed by Fraulein Maria in The Sound of Music, if you read my review on another thread.
I also recommend Simon Schama's History of Britain episode 'The Two Winstons' which compares the careers of Eric Blair aka writer George Orwell and Winston Churchill in parallel and in relation to the rise of Hitler, shown last night and probably on iPlayer.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
School for Scoundrels is fabulous…a good, strong cast lead by the great Alastair Sim - who is always highly watchable 👏🏻
I am catching re-runs of Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads on channel 65 - it seems BBC4 only served up two episodes albeit in hi-def. These comedies are written by Ian Le Frenais and Dick Clement who also penned the classic sitcom Porridge, and also Auf Wiedersehn Pet in the next decade. Bond fans know they script doctored Connery's Never Say Never Again but here's the problem - they tend to do comedy for life's losers and underdogs - Terry Collier and Fletch. It may explain why Connery seems so put upon in that film, they're not used to writing for life's winners. They also did movies that were a bit whimsical, like Water - you get the sense they're not meant to be two hours long, or rather they're not used to writing that kind of length.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
BILLY THE KID (2022)
An excellent series about the western legend Billy The Kid. It’s been renewed for a second season and season one traces the story of the Kid from a young age up to the beginning of the Lincoln County Wars. A lot of care has been taken to make the series look authentic and the shootouts are particularly well done. English actor Tom Blyth plays Billy and Australian actor Daniel Webber plays his friend Jesse Evans and English actor Alex Roe plays Pat Garrett who would become a major part in Billy’s short life. A lot of non-American actors are in American productions nowadays, I wonder why that is?
Well worth watching if you can find it on a channel near you. It’s on Epix in the USA and on Paramount+ elsewhere, apparently.
PENNYWORTH Season 3 (2022)
The origin of Batman’s butler Alfred Pennyworth continues into a third season. Alfred’s security firm is going strong and has links with the PM and MI5. There are multi-layers of plots but it’s all handled very well and well acted. The action comes thick and fast and the leading characters keep you interested in their fates. Special mention to Ryan Fletcher as Daveboy and Jack Bannon as Alfred. The more I see of Bannon and the more I think he would be a good James Bond. He has charisma and handles the action and romantic scenes with aplomb. Unfortunately the series has been cancelled but it does leave him open to be 007…but it seems no one has noticed him…more’s the pity.
VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA (1964-1968)
I’ve added this to my viewing list, so at 110 episodes at about 2 episodes a week I should finish it in a year 😁
I remember the series from my childhood but not with much recollection, so am looking forward to this. Whatever critics say about producer Irwin Allen at least he had the energy to get things done and put onscreen some spectacular sets and imaginative scenarios.
The first episode is very good, concerning a potential catastrophic polar earthquake and some of the sets are reminiscent to DN. Episode 2 has a Blofeld like megalomaniac set on world domination, it even has a scene where he discusses the latest plan in a TB like set - all a year ahead of that actual movie.
Bond alumni David Hedison pairs with Richard Basehart as the leads. It’s good stuff, so far.
BONANZA (1959-1973) 14 Seasons
Another one added to my weekly viewing list and this one will take over 4 years to complete at my regular 2 episodes per week schedule. I have little recollection of this series when I used to watch a few episodes in the 60’s. Ben Cartwright (Lorne Greene) runs the huge Ponderosa ranch with his three sons, each born by a different wife. Each son has a different characteristic; serious, affable, impetuous. The brothers fight a lot between themselves but are ultimately loyal to each other. The first episode concerns the hanging of a man who is latterly judged to be innocent. The series tends to lean towards social issues rather than the usual shoot up adventures of the western series of the time. The mood is serious, interspersed with comedic scenes of the family arguing with each other. Whether I last the whole run remains to be seen.
CREEPSHOW (2019 - )
There are 3 seasons so far with more to come. This series is in the same vein as the two CREEPSHOW movies from the 80’s. Two stories lifted from a comicbook called Creepshow are told in each episode beginning with pictures of the comic and morphing into real-life action. Most of the stories are excellent and the production is high quality.
Superb entertainment.
I watched the US version of Ghosts on BBC1 tonight. I never got one with the original homegrown one - give me 70s comedy Rentaghost any day - but this one worked for me, even if moving it to America makes the Beetlejuice theme more obvious. Not quite sure how an American haunted house totally works, they don't go back that far do they, I mean how come a Viking warrior is there? How would he get to visit a mansion - he would have preceded it, obviously. All the same, I liked it.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
That's a good point. I think the Americans fall back on the house having been built on a Native American burial ground, for one example. I know that was one of the explanations for the paranormal happenings in the house in the rather haphazard film The Amityville Horror (1979).
77 SUNSET STRIP (1958) Season 1
Continuing my look back at vintage TV series I’m watching this excellent film noir-ish series starring Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and Roger Smith working as private eyes from offices on the famous Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. In the programme the offices are located next door to the real life Dino’s Lodge, a real lounge bar owned by Dean Martin. Edward Byrnes stars as Kookie who begins as a car valet with private eye aspirations. He was the breakout character of the series with his penchant for endlessly combing his hair and “hip” language. They take on cases of missing persons and insurance fraud and the like. It’s all done stylishly and the stories are good.
It went on for 6 seasons and if it continues the way it’s going then I will see it through.
I’ve accidental added this picture below and can’t remove it so don’t take any notice of it…
I think Kingsley Amis mentions that show in passing in an early chapter of The James Bond Dossier (1965) but sadly I've never seen any of it.
On Saturday's Talking pictures will be reshowing FIREBALL XL5, which for those of a certain age will bring back misty-eyed memories of Steve Zodiac and Dr Venus and puppets on strings.
Just bumping this review. I’ve now finished the 3 seasons and I really cannot recommend this series high enough. It is simply stunning. Those who have smart tv’s or an Amazon Firestick can download the SHUDDER app and get a 7 day free trial so you can binge-watch the series free of charge. One episode morphs present day actors into the classic horror movie Horror Express and they interact with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing and other cast members - it’s so well done it has to be seen to be believed. Recommended to all portmanteau horror fans and Stephen King fans (who has an input in some segments) and fans of EC horror comics.
The fourth season debuts later this year - I cannot wait!
In the UK version it's the grounds they roam about on, not just the house, so the Viking would have been there before the house.
Van Der Valk is back on ITV1 tonight 😃😃😃 don't worry @Number24 I won't be reviewing all series of VDW - yet....
It takes time. I understand ....
Ah, okay.
The classic 70s sitcom It Aint Half Hot Mum is showing late evenings on That's TV aka channel 65. This is a hot potato as it's said to be one of those hit comedies that is very unPC or even racist so it can't be shown on the BBC, unlike others by the same writers, such as the omniscient Dad's Army, also Hi-di-Hi and so on.
The thing is, two episodes in and It Aint Half Hot Mum is brilliant. I can't see how it is racist so far. I mean, you have some guy black up as a native but it doesn't seem racist to me because a) It's convincing b) The actor came from the area in question so has the accent down pat and c) It's comedy genius. I enjoy the hierarchy between the characters, the way some get bullied only to turn their fire on others they can bully in turn. However, the mainstay is Windsor Davies as the company sergeant who takes a dim view of the entertainment troupe is he meant to oversee. Again, it's his bullying conduct that I find hilarious. He was written as a cockney and you could imagine Warren Mitchell doing a version of Alf Garnett in the role - in fact some expressions of barely contained outrage by Davies do put me in mind of Garnett trying to hold himself back from attacking his prospective left-wing son in law while in an argument. But Davies is Welsh and does it brilliantly.
That's TV tend to show these things nightly until they run out of gas so it will be on again tonight at about 9.30pm.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Of course there isn't anything good on TV - it's summer! Silly question ..... 🥱
If you don't like sport you're screwed. It seems to be on every channel at the minute.
I don't like sports at all ....
No, nor do I.
ITV are showing their online hit A SPY AMONG FRIENDS. It's rather good in a Le Carre 'let's sit down and talk the arse of everyone' way.
well I saw something good on telly over the weekend:
Joni Mitchell being awarded the Gershwin prize and for the event an all star lineup of musicians performing her songs, including Annie Lenox Cyndi Lauper, Diana Krall, James Taylor, Graham Nash, Herbie Hancock and many others. Mitchell is 79 and survived a brain aneurism, and required two caregivers to escort her onstage where she performed an epic rendition of Summertime, outsinging several of the younger singers who'd tried to perform her toons. a fine tribute to a lifes work now honored at the highest levels of official culture, and a good ninety minutes of entertainment
I gotta say Neil Young was conspicuous in his absence, they were friends since the early days and he's still active. maybe he's too much of an anarchist for such an event?
A miracle is happing! I'm watching a great TV program in the summer. It's the first episode of "Michael Palin into Iraq" and it is what it says on the tin. Palin is extraordinary as always. I feel like I did back in the 80' when "North & south" was shown one year in the middle of the summer. I seriously thought "the TV channel must've made a mistake - they never show anything exciting in the summer!"
We got it last year
HIJACK (2023)
Business negotiator Idris Elba has to use all his skills in negotiating a hijack situation on a flight from Dubai to London, Heathrow. This 7-episode mini-series is tense and exciting with good support from Neil Maskell as the terrorist in charge and Max Beesley as a detective on the ground. Plot intricacies are woven in with good effect and it is nothing less than excellent entertainment. There are a lot of well known faces that crop up as guest stars in other series that most will know facially but not by name.
We watched this over three evenings which is unusual because we would normally watch one episode per night, which shows how good it is.