The River (1988)

What is it with me and sit-coms? I promise more dramas soon, but for now, another BBC comedy from the late 80's.

'The River' defines the phrase 'gentle comedy'. It could also take the tag line 'rom-com' in it's stride too without missing a beat. It only ran for one series of 6 episodes, and was a vehicle for 70's heart-throb David Essex to try his hand at acting...

...OK, he'd already made a few films back in the 70's, but this was his first foray into television.

David played an Essex boy who has moved to a quiet countryside village to work as a lock-keeper. He spends his days bird-watching, bug hunting fishing etc and lying in the long grass contemplating life, the universe and everything. He lives with his fierce auntie who is a card carrying Socialist and works alongside a typical country bumpkin (who ends up in the canal in EVERY episode). To break up the tranquil setting, along comes a fiesty scottish woman on a narrowboat who ends up stranded when her propeller gets fouled by a rope. She stays at the cottage and ends up falling for Mr Essex's charms.

So lets break it down and see if it's any good. David can't really act, although just by playing himself he pulls off the lock-keeper character very well. All he has to do is act dreamy, talk softly and twinkle his eyes at all the right moments. Katy Murphy as Sarah, the love interest is fine, but the script just requires her to fight back everytime someone speaks to her, speak all her dialogue in a raised tone and assume everyone is out to get her.

The country bumpkin, Tom is played by Shaun Scott. One of those faces where you spend half the day trying to remember where you've seen him before (I'll put you out of your misery, it was The Bill). Again, he's a great actor, but all he has to do is act stupid, put his foot in it at least once an episode and fall (or get pushed) into the canal as often as possible.

You might be spotting a trend. There is nothing wrong with the actors, nothing wrong with the concept of the beautiful setting, not even anything wrong with plot...but the script is dreadful. So full of cliches and corn. Does that mean I hate it? No.

It gets a thumbs up, as it has stood the test of time, and it the perfect Sunday evening telly for the whole family. I think it works better watching an episode a week, rather than back to back, just so you don't notice the repeated 'jokes' as much. It could never be viewed as a classic, far from it, but does it have to be?

Do Not Adjust Your Set (1967)

Another TV comedy from before my time, but one that has a great influence on my favourite comedy shows, without me even knowing.

Any lover of TV comedy has probably heard of 'Do Not Adjust Your Set' simply because it brought together two thirds of the Monty Python team. The other two (John Cleese and Graham Chapman were working together on 'At Last the 1948 Show') DNAYS was written by Terry Jones, Eric Idle and Michael Palin and as well as these three comedic geniuses, it also introduced us to a young David Jason.

So what was the format? Technically made as a children's comedy sketch show (although many parents used to rush home early from work to watch it) it was a collection of very short skits and sketches with single punchline jokes. Running through the show were musical interludes by the delightfully bizarre Bonzo Dog Doh-Dah Band, the brain child of Neil Innes (who stayed with the Python team as their musical creator, including the later movies).

The sketches were really varied, both in subject matter and laughter value. Some were REAL misses when it came to being funny, whilst others were laugh out loud hilarious. You can see the germ of Python breeding throughout - the anarchic nature of some of the humour. Terry Gilliam joined them from the second series, providing additional material and his now famous animations too, which completes it as the 'Junior Python'. Not a bad title really, as it was a) aimed at children and b) the earlier version of the classic show.

Now the next thing I say is going to surprise you....

DNAYS gets my thumbs down. No, I'm not joking, it does. I say that based on the show itself, not on what it eventually gave us. I am not decrying the fact without DNAYS we wouldn't have the dead parrot sketch or Life of Brian, but that's not what this blog is about. DNAYS is far too dated and far too hit and miss when it comes to laughter. I'm sure if I was aged 9 in 1967 I'd think it was the greatest thing since the invention of Dib Dab sherbet, but only because there was nothing to compare it with. Judging it in 2011 as a 37 year old, it just doesn't cut the mustard. There are a few sketches that are so cringe-worthy you almost need to look away, and one or two of the Bonzo songs are not even funny on a surreal level.

I am a massive fan of Python, and a big fan of everything David Jason has done both comic and straight acting) and there is no reason for anyone involved in DNAYS not to be proud of what they did, but more than 40 years on, it is best left in the archives, rather than being introduced to a new audience.

Whodunnit Part 2

It's been a while, but I'm finally back online. Thought I'd kick-off this second wave of reviews with a flashback to my first one - the 70's panel game 'Whodunnit'.

I mentioned in my earlier review that later series were hosted by Jon Pertwee, and recently I've had the chance to watch the complete second series, so it seems appropriate to offer a follow-up review, comparing it to the first. Does it keep improving? Or perhaps it reached a plateau and went on a steady downhill decline...

Good news is it gets no worse, and improves on some of the basic errors of the first series. Jon Pertwee is a slick presenter, follows his auto-cue well and keeps the program flowing. When the murderer is revealed they also now have a flashback to how the crime actually happened which was a major fault with the first series. No longer do you sit there scratching your head wondering how it all transpired - now you can actually see the crime unfold. There still seems to be a million loopholes in every plot, but hey, it's only TV.

A strange point crops up in series 2. Two of the episodes have the TV studio dressed up to match the murder scene. I thought it was a really nice touch (one set in a WWII bunker for instance, with the celebrity guests acting like a military tribunal), but for some strange reason they revert back to a plain white set for the end of the series.

They still have audience participation, but thankfully that has been trimmed right back, and we don't get subjected to as many dodgy fashion victims as Mr Woodward had to endure. Series two also has a wonderful collection of celebrity panelists - Harry H. Corbett, Rodney Bewes, Henry Cooper amongst many others. A real 'who's who' of 70's culture.

Of course this gets a thumbs up. The first series did, and this is a marked improvement. The murders range in difficulty from one that is far too obscure to one that is so obvious you assume you can't be right (but you are) but I guess that is another positive appeal to the show - it caters for all abilities.