Chance in a Million (1984)

Sorry, back to the sitcoms, and this is one that you might remember. Actually the name might not ring a bell, but half way through this review you'll probably go 'hang on! I remember watching that!'

It's one of those shows that was well loved when it was broadcast, had great audience figures but disappeared without trace far too quickly. No idea why it's not seen the light of day in a new era, perhaps made by the wrong studio originally, or the rights are owned by a crappy distribution agency. For whatever reason, this is a forgotten gem that needs to be brought back into the limelight.

So what do we have. Tom Chance is an average, middle class guy, lives alone in a decent house, but is single and looking for a partner. He finds a soul mate in a 'timid' librarian and together they form an unlikely bond. Of course there has to be more....in this case Mr Chance is plagued by coincidence. Whatever he does, whatever he says, however he acts, it will all end up in a frightful mess because of unlucky coincidence.

..and it does, and it's funny and it works SO well. The more I think of it, the more I think of 'One Foot in the Grave' about 5 years later. Think about how Vixtor Meldrew just couldn't get anything right? No matter what he did it all went pear shaped, or he'd make catastrophic errors of judgement? Tom Chance is like that, although he's not retired and he already knows he's bound to fail because of his lack of luck.

Who do we have starring in this forgotten sit-com then? Well Tom Chance is played by non other than Simon Callow (you know the fat gay that dies in Four Weddings and a Funderal). His librarian love interest is portrayed by Brenda Blethyn (The quiet one in Little Voice and Secrets and Lies) It ran for three series, and each episode gets more and more bizarre, but at the same time, because we are used to his problem of being plagued by chance, they become more and more acceptable.

There are some lovely running gags, such as the fact Tom downs a pint of lager in every episode, and the so called timid librarian constantly ends up in her underwear trying to throw herself at Tom. It is SO well written and crafted, it doesn't matter that you know where each episode is heading, it's a joy to watch the disaster unfold.

Of course this is a thumbs up, I love it and wish it was getting more air time. Why do we get 'My Family' ad nauseam, but classics like this go unrepeated?

The mind boggles

p.s. Offline for three weeks, now but a couple of Ronnie Barker reviews to follow when I get back.