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401,124 | 7,743,887 | 563,075 | 9 | Bloody Loftus ! | Following a party at Loftus ' house , Duncan wakes up in the spare room , naked except for woollen gloves and wellington boots . What has happened here ? As it turns out , those arch-jokers Dick and Paul have struck again . The Chairman of the Board tells Loftus that he is being considered for a knighthood . To boost h... |
401,476 | 7,743,887 | 563,086 | 9 | Upton In Living Colour ! | London Television wants to come to St . Swithins to record an item for a current affairs programme about the state of the N . H . S . Loftus asks Dick and Mike to appear with him . Both are naturally thrilled . But the other students are unhappy about being left out and try to disrupt the proceedings , firstly by paint... |
401,170 | 7,743,887 | 563,085 | 9 | Upton In Love | Mike Upton asks the attractive Valerie out on a date . They go to a park . Escorting her home , he is invited in for tea . But he has a shock in store - she is Professor Loftus ' daughter . Mrs . Loftus is polite to Upton , while her husband treats him disdainfully . Suddenly , talk of marriage is in the air , and the ... |
401,562 | 7,743,887 | 75,592 | 9 | The idea for this story . . . | At a lavish showbiz party in the late ' 70's , Roald Dahl approached film producer and television executive Sir John Woolf and made him an offer he could not refuse : " How would you like to make a series out of all my stories ? " . Sir John jumped at the chance . As well as a bestselling writer of children's books , D... |
401,504 | 7,743,887 | 563,125 | 9 | I always wanted to do that ! | Duncan is shocked to find himself overdrawn at the bank . The culprit - one Dick Stuart-Clark , stole Duncan's credit cards while he was drunk . Dick is being threatened by a bookie to whom he owes money . Andy is not exactly solvent either . Acting on a tip off from Gascoigne , the trio volunteer to be guinea pigs at ... |
401,425 | 7,743,887 | 563,120 | 9 | A Present For Loftus | While researching in the St . Swithins library , Duncan and Dick read in ' Who's Who ' that Loftus has been Professor of Surgery for nearly twenty years . Duncan decides to commemorate the occasion by giving him a special gift . He and Dick pay Lady Loftus a visit . Spotting them leaving his house , he asks his wife wh... |
400,774 | 7,743,887 | 563,121 | 9 | Is he the peeping tom ? | Their adventures at sea over , Duncan and Dick return to St . Swithins . They are late for the interview as they came across a road accident . Duncan wanted to help , but Dick drove on . Loftus commends Stuart-Clark for doing so . The Board Of Governors does not remember them . Senile Mr . Reeves ( Harold Bennett ) thi... |
401,075 | 7,743,887 | 563,122 | 9 | Tony Hates Virgins ! | Duncan needs to pass a vital exam , which means he has to put in a lot of studying . But Stuart-Clark and MacKenzie lead such active social lives it becomes impossible for Duncan to work . Finding him on the London Underground , Kate takes pity and offers him a room at her flat . He accepts . Her boyfriend Barry shows ... |
400,776 | 7,743,887 | 563,132 | 9 | Skate and I are going kating ! | Duncan is suffering from depression and does not know why , so he goes to see psychiatrist Professor Browning , who advises him to change his lifestyle , to become more ' with it ' . He does so , and his friends are amazed at the change . MacKenzie and Stuart-Clark are so impressed they go to see the Professor themselv... |
401,638 | 7,743,887 | 563,129 | 9 | On the one hand . . . | For the first time in his life , Duncan Waring is in love and seriously contemplating marriage . But then he and Gascoigne argue over a patient's diagnosis in front of students . Embarrassed , Duncan snaps and calls Kate a ' stupid cow ' . She storms off . So that appears to be that . Depressed , Duncan finds he cannot... |
400,616 | 7,743,887 | 563,131 | 9 | The Tables Are Turned ! | Duncan is in charge of a group of young male students , and plays the clown at every opportunity . He turns the operating theatre into a music hall with a constant barrage of jokes . But the smile vanishes from his face when he finds a gall bladder left over from what was supposed to be a tonsil operation . A terrified... |
401,142 | 7,743,887 | 675,769 | 9 | Hair Raising ! | Mr . Hedges is out with Penny when he notices they are being followed by a strange character in a trench-coat and fedora , and sporting a most unconvincing moustache . It is Frankie , living out his fantasy of being the new Bogart . Abbott begins stalking Potter , and draws swastikas on his greenhouse tomatoes . The ca... |
401,516 | 7,743,887 | 675,775 | 9 | Frankie Says . . . | At long last , Duffy asks Sharon to go on a date . They go to a posh restaurant where they bump into - surprise , surprise - Mr . Hedges , Mr . Hodges and the rest of the Fenn Street School staff . Meanwhile , Maureen has taken pity on Frankie and agreed to a date . It is a disaster . Frankie is more interested in a pi... |
400,874 | 7,743,887 | 563,104 | 9 | Casino Capers ! | Dave turns the students ' flat into a casino , and puts out leaflets advertising it as such . During a game of cards , Duncan is so hard up he gambles medical books instead of money . The leaflets attract the attention of local gangsters Malcolm ( Bernard Bresslaw ) and The Boss ( John Barcroft ) , and they warn the bo... |
401,603 | 7,743,887 | 675,763 | 9 | An Outbreak Of Dix ! | Fenn Street School's new P . E . teacher is Mr . Gregory Dix , who rules his class with a rod of bamboo . He enforces discipline to such an extent that even the teachers are terrified of him . Vain , arrogant , rude ( he openly sneers at Potter's war record ) , Dix canes anyone who dares disagree with him . Then he pic... |
401,067 | 7,743,887 | 563,117 | 9 | Wedding Bells For Duncan & Kate ? | Duncan stuns his friends ( as well as Gascoigne ) by announcing his engagement to Kate . Dick sees a golden opportunity to clear his slate at the hospital bar by arranging a wedding reception . Andy does not understand why Duncan should want to get married , seeing how his own marriage has been a disaster . Gascoigne s... |
401,591 | 7,743,887 | 563,116 | 9 | Like Father , Like Son ! | Gascoigne's fabulously wealthy - not to mention insufferably rude and pompous - father is at St . Swithins , being treated for a head injury . He manages to make everyone around him miserable , including Loftus , with whom his wife had once had an affair . He refers to James somewhat disparagingly as ' Florence ' . Stu... |
401,243 | 7,743,887 | 675,762 | 9 | Art For Art's Sake | Hedges tries to interest 5C in art , and asks each pupil to produce a picture . Most are awful , particularly Duffy's ( of traffic lights ) , Abbott's ( a man hanging from gallows ) , and Dennis's ( of his Auntie Flo - it bears a startling resemblance to the children's T . V . character ' Tivvy ' ) . Mr . Dowling , the... |
401,140 | 7,743,887 | 675,767 | 9 | You've got a potato in your shoe ! | Hedges tries to interest 5C in politics by staging a mock debate in class , but Maureen is totally disinterested . Disillusioned with life , she has taken to dressing like an American hippie , and disrupts class by go-go dancing . She has fallen under the spell of a strange individual called ' Dorian ' , who urges her ... |
401,560 | 7,743,887 | 675,765 | 9 | Dennis Does A Steptoe ! | Its the start of a new school term . Due to a monumental cock-up on Potter's part , none of the classrooms has desks or chairs . Hedges has an even bigger problem - apart from Maureen , 5C has failed to turn up for lessons . He finds most of them in a café , while Sharon is sunbathing on a boating lake . Being so close... |
400,788 | 7,743,887 | 563,035 | 9 | There's a banana sticking out of your pocket ! | The Purser finds a pair of trousers on deck . Inside is written the name ' Manuel Sanchez ' . Checking the passenger list , he finds no-one of that name is officially aboard , hence the M . S . Begonia has acquired a stowaway . As a hunt gets underway , Dick goes back to his cabin . Manuel is hiding in the wardrobe . T... |
401,331 | 7,743,887 | 563,033 | 9 | There is no such thing as a strike at sea ! | Concerned at the number of chitties ( medical certificates ) being issued to the ship's crew , Captain Loftus orders that the practice must cease . Dick persuades Duncan that the chitties have been issued for legitimate reasons , namely that the crew really are ill . An angry Duncan protests against Loftus ' decision b... |
400,785 | 7,743,887 | 563,036 | 9 | Stranded ! | Captain Loftus summons Duncan to his cabin . He is fed up at both him and Stuart-Clark forever being late to return to the ship whenever it docks at some sun-kissed port . Dick uses the same excuse every time : " I was at my grandmother's funeral ! " . Actually , the doctors are always drunk and enjoying the company of... |
400,907 | 7,743,887 | 563,031 | 9 | I want to see the Major ! | Upton and Paul join Dr . Maxwell's practice , located in a shabby part of London . The retired army major has a beautiful daughter ( Zsuzonga , whom everyone calls Sue ) to whom Mike is instantly attracted . But Maxwell's patients , including a small boy , think that because Upton is young he isn't sufficiently qualifi... |
401,506 | 7,743,887 | 563,029 | 9 | This isn't medicine ! | Upton goes after a job at Dr . Whiteland's Harley Street practice . He turns up for the interview in casual clothes . Dick , who works there already , gives Upton his suit and tells him what to say . Dr . Whiteland turns out to be a snobbish elderly woman whose patients are mainly rich hypochondriacs . He gets the job ... |
400,902 | 7,743,887 | 563,009 | 9 | Night Of The Croaking Terror ! | Paul brings a sack of toads to Dr . Maxwell's surgery , intending to use them in pregnancy tests . But these all prove wildly inaccurate , mainly due to his ' toads ' being frogs , and male ones at that ! Soon the creatures are hopping all over the place , turning up in the bath , and laying frog spawn in saucepans and... |
401,593 | 7,743,887 | 563,013 | 9 | The wart ! Its coming back ! | Upton and Paul notice that their surgeries are getting decidedly smaller . They have a rival - Audrey Watt - a local widow who claims to be a white witch , and is curing people with ancient remedies . Even Dr . Griffin is receiving treatment from her for his wart . Paul is horrified to discover that by creeping around ... |
401,486 | 7,743,887 | 70,868 | 9 | From The Crypt To The Vault | Five men enter an elevator in a London building . Instead of taking them to the ground floor , it whisks them to a basement , where they become hopelessly trapped . While they wait to be rescued , they pass the time by telling each other their most recent ( and strange ) dreams . Rogers ( Daniel Massey ) tracks down hi... |
400,620 | 7,743,887 | 63,936 | 9 | Oh Arthur , Can I Take My Nightie Off ? . " Zzzzzzzzzzzzz " . | British working class sitcoms were in vogue in the late ' 60's and early ' 70's , such as ' Steptoe & Son ' , ' Till Death Us Do Part ' , and , of course , this . Incredibly , the B . B . C . turned ' On The Buses ' down even though the writers had devised the highly popular ' The Rag Trade ' . London Weekend Televisio... |
401,074 | 7,743,887 | 563,069 | 9 | The Patter Of Tiny ( Badger's ) Feet ! | Bingham wants to start a family , and asks Duncan to be godfather , but there's a catch - he hasn't actually told his wife . He pleads with Duncan to ask on his behalf . Reluctantly , Duncan agrees . Mary is horrified - she had banked on having a career . Duncan is caught in the crossfire as the Binghams argue in their... |
401,604 | 7,743,887 | 563,068 | 9 | A Fete Worse Than Death ! | Loftus asks Duncan , Paul , Dick and Bingham to come up with ideas for the 1973 St . Swithins Annual Garden Fete . Duncan wants a beauty contest , Paul wishes to do conjuring tricks ( as ' The Great Collieto ' ) , Dick ( rather bizarrely ) suggests a puppet show , and Bingham's big idea is . . . donkey rides . Duncan i... |
401,330 | 7,743,887 | 635,124 | 10 | Logan Runs Out Of Time | Logan , Jessica and Rem witness the arrival of a strange machine amidst some old ruins . Inside is a box containing a rabbit . The machine vanishes - taking Logan's gun with it - reappearing in the headquarters of ' The Sanctuary Project ' - a time travel experiment some 200 years in the past . Its creator , David Eaki... |
400,623 | 7,743,887 | 367,305 | 10 | Has Anyone Seen Kelly ? | I read recently on a ' lost shows ' website how many complete editions of Granada's T . V . ' s ' Clapperboard ' currently survive . The depressing answer was this - very few . It was a long-running children's programme about cinema . Screened on Monday afternoons , it began as an earnest look at film genres ( westerns... |
401,453 | 7,743,887 | 204,773 | 10 | Hullo ! Siadwel here ! | ' A Kick Up The Eighties ' and ' Laugh ? I Nearly Paid My Licence Fee ! ' laid the groundwork for this classic sketch show which , despite spawning two spin-offs - ' Rab C . Nesbitt ' and ' The Baldy Man ' - strangely seems to have fallen off the radar . The early editions opened with Andy Gray and Helen Lederer readin... |
401,328 | 7,743,887 | 182,580 | 10 | Ray and Alan's Funhouse | Its rare for writers ' names to be incorporated into the titles of their shows - even Johnny Speight never managed it - but by 1977 , Ray Galton and Alan Simpson had engendered enough respect and affection from within the industry and general public for it to occur . Their faces were to be seen in the opening titles , ... |
401,201 | 7,743,887 | 61,247 | 10 | ' Monty Python ' Junior | If it were possible to go through the whole of ' Monty Python ' and take out the adult material , what you'd be left with is ' Do Not Adjust Your Set ' . This delightfully anarchic show was loved by British children in the late ' 60's ( I was one ) and gave Michael Palin , Terry Jones and Eric Idle useful television ex... |
400,669 | 7,743,887 | 54,518 | 10 | Mrs . Peel , We're Needed ! | ' The Avengers ' is one of the most successful television shows ever made in Britain , and stands up extremely well forty years later . It starred Ian Hendry originally as ' Dr . David Keel ' , a medic turned investigator after his fiancée is killed by the underworld . His partner ' John Steed ' was played by Patrick M... |
401,444 | 7,743,887 | 72,577 | 10 | Robert , will you let in some fresh air ? . " No , Madam ! " . | Seeing as how no-one from the U . K . has commented on this wonderful show , I thought I'd be the first . ' Two's Company ' was a kind of British ' Odd Couple ' ; it starred Elaine Stritch as bestselling American writer ' Dorothy McNab ' , with Donald Sinden as her snooty , sarcastic English butler ' Robert ' . There w... |
401,255 | 7,743,887 | 530,742 | 10 | Majestic Mayhem ! | Eric Chappell said that he gave up writing sitcoms when the men in suits at I . T . V . began asking whenever he submitted new ideas for shows ' how is this relevant to the modern world ? ' rather than ' is it funny ? ' . This second episode of ' The Bounder ' is very funny indeed . It is Trevor and Mary's 15th wedding... |
401,673 | 7,743,887 | 80,339 | 10 | Do you watch movies about gladiators ? | ' Airplane ! ' was released in Britain in the summer of 1980 to zero publicity . The poster I saw did not even make clear it was a comedy . I bought a ticket expecting a rip-off of the ' Airport ' disaster movies , and was astounded to find an uproarious spoof , the best film Mel Brooks never made . Loosely based on Ar... |
400,728 | 7,743,887 | 244,927 | 10 | Hullo and welcome to Dirty Dick's | I have a vague memory of watching a very funny show on New Year's Eve sometime in the early Eighties , starring the late , great Rikki Fulton . As I was in the grip of alcohol at the time , its title did not register in my memory , but I knew it to be good . Ever since then I've wanted to know , and see more about this... |
400,690 | 7,743,887 | 407,366 | 10 | We Let People Into Our Secrets ! | Those who praise modern comedies as ' dark ' and ' original ' tend to be shamefully ignorant of past achievements in the field . The 1973 B . B . C . series ' Black & Blue ' was an anthology of plays intended to showcase offbeat humour . The first of these was ' Secrets ' written by Michael Palin and Terry Jones , who ... |
400,838 | 7,743,887 | 59,390 | 10 | A Spy Called B . O . | ' The Liquidator ' was based on the first published novel by John Gardner , who'd later continue the literary James Bond saga . Its a lot more fun than his 007 books ( which to be honest are mediocre ) , and in 1965 was brought to the big screen starring Rod Taylor as ' Boysie ' Oakes . Its a splendid film which deserv... |
401,199 | 7,743,887 | 61,287 | 10 | We Want Information , Information , Information ! | I did not see ' The Prisoner ' on its original broadcast , but discovered it through one of the many repeats it enjoyed ( usually in late-night slots on I . T . V . ) in the early ' 70's . I had no real idea what it was about and did not care . I could see it was something special . Once all the fuss had died down from... |
401,456 | 7,743,887 | 59,387 | 10 | One Of The Best Spy Spoofs Of The ' 60's | Made on a budget which wouldn't have paid for one of 007's Vodka Martinis , this little-known British film is surprisingly good . Tom Adams , as agent Charles Vine , could have made a fine Bond ( one wonders if Vine effectively ruled him out as a candidate for the role ) as he projects more than the required level of m... |
400,936 | 7,743,887 | 65,105 | 10 | Alf Garnett - This Is Your Life ! | No sooner had the television version of Johnny Speight's controversial B . B . C . sitcom ended - temporarily , as it turned out - than the cast reunited for this feature film spin-off . Interestingly , it sets itself up as a prequel , initially featuring Alf and Else in London's East End during the Forties . We see Al... |
401,488 | 7,743,887 | 80,306 | 10 | Humphrey , are you trying to wish me a Merry Christmas ! | JIM HACKER : Bernard , Sir Humphrey is not God ! BERNARD WOOLLEY : Will you tell him or shall I ? When I first saw ' Yes Minister ' many moons ago , my initial reaction was : " This will never catch on . It is too good . " . Making fun of politicians on television was not new then , of course - ' T . W . 3 ' ( which An... |
401,529 | 7,743,887 | 839,117 | 10 | You've Forgotten Your Balls , Sir ! | Whenever ' Last Of The Summer Wine ' comes on television now , I cannot change channels fast enough ( If I see Howard and Marina riding about on bikes yet again , I will chuck a chair at the screen ) . It was very different back in 1976 , though . The show had been running for three seasons , successfully replacing Mic... |
400,885 | 7,743,887 | 59,362 | 10 | Skirt is meat ! | As the ' 60's progressed , a sea change took place in British film comedy . Norman Wisdom and St . Trinians were suddenly out-of-date ( though they kept on going for a few more years ) , and a new wave of Britcoms appeared , among them ' The Knack ' . Richard Lester had just made ' A Hard Days ' Night ' and brought the... |
400,852 | 7,743,887 | 640,780 | 10 | The Many Faces Of Richard Lynch | Jeremy Mason , master of disguise , escapes from the maximum security prison in which he was incarcerated in for three months . KARTEL hires him to impersonate a U . S . general in order to steal a top secret laser satellite system known as ' Seeker ' . The one lead to Mason's whereabouts is his ex-girlfriend , a night... |
401,481 | 7,743,887 | 52,520 | 10 | The Zone Where Awfully Weird Things Happen ! | I am too young to have seen ' Twilight Zone ' on its original transmission . I came to it in 1983 when , to tie-in with the movie's release , the B . B . C . ran repeats of the first series . I watched not really knowing what to expect . It turned out to be a stylish science fiction anthology series , mostly written by... |
400,897 | 7,743,887 | 585,687 | 10 | We'll meet again ! , " Not at these prices , you won't ! " | The first episode of ' The Galton & Simpson Playhouse ' , an anthology of six one-off comedy plays made by Yorkshire Television in 1977 . ' Car Along The Pass ' got the series off to a cracking start . Arthur Lowe is ' Henry Duckworth ' , a pompous British tourist on a camping holiday in Switzerland with his wife , Eth... |
401,316 | 7,743,887 | 585,686 | 10 | A Fool And His Money | Albert Cakebread ( Warren Mitchell ) , who describes himself as being in the ' eels ' business , loves a flutter on the horses . Following a successful day at York races , he buys drinks for strangers and boards a train . Three smartly dressed men ( Gerald Flood , Robert Dorning and Alistair Williamson ) watch him stup... |
400,951 | 7,743,887 | 61,265 | 10 | David Vincent Has Seen Them ! | Quite simply , this is the best show of its kind . Created by Larry Cohen ( maverick film maker responsible for ' Its Alive ! ' and ' Q - The Winged Serpent ' ) and produced by Quinn Martin , it features the most popular story in the whole of science fiction - the Earth under attack . Roy Thinnes plays architect ' Davi... |
401,613 | 7,743,887 | 640,784 | 10 | He went thataway ! | Sloane and Torque are at a power station in Germany , investigating a tip-off about a possible sabotage attempt . All appears normal , until an engineer acts strangely after hearing a sequence of musical notes on his computer pen . He pushes the controls well beyond the ' safety ' level , and explosions start to go off... |
401,247 | 7,743,887 | 585,689 | 10 | It is ! It is ! I tell you ! | You know how it is when someone gets an idea , and - no matter how daft it may be - refuses to let it go ? ( I used to know an old man named Bert , who kept insisting Clint Eastwood was Stan Laurel's illegitimate son . " So that's why ' Dirty Harry ' is always scratching his head and crying ! " , I once told him ) . Th... |
401,280 | 7,743,887 | 54,417 | 10 | Sellers Behind Bars ! | Peter Sellers in the innocent days before Hollywood got hold of him . ' Two Way Stretch ' is a bright and breezy British comedy typical of the period . He plays ' Dodger Lane ' , a Cockney crook imprisoned at H . M . P . Huntleigh , along with safe cracker ' Jelly ' Knight ( David Lodge ) and pickpocket ' Lennie The Di... |
401,207 | 7,743,887 | 108,891 | 10 | Come Along , Miriam ! Chop ! Chop ! | I've never been fond of cricket , so I was tempted to give ' Outside Edge ' a miss . I only watched because of the presence of Timothy Spaull ( of ' Auf Pet ' fame ) and the scrumptious Josie Lawrence . I'm glad I tuned in because if I hadn't I'd have missed I . T . V . ' s last truly great sitcom , a delightful show c... |
400,820 | 7,743,887 | 80,253 | 10 | ' The Memory Kinda Lingers ' | Ten years after ' Monty Python ' , another sketch show revolutionised British comedy . ' Not The Nine O'Clock News ' was ' T . W . 3 ' with a harder edge . It didn't merely offend , but horrified . What became known later on as ' alternative comedy ' started here . Public figures such as Reagan , Thatcher and The Queen... |
401,027 | 7,743,887 | 101,168 | 10 | Would You Buy Tobacco From This Man ? | Along with ' Whose Line ' co-star Josie Lawrence , Paul Merton landed his own show on Channel 4 in the early ' 90's . It was a deliberate throwback to the madcap sketch shows of the ' 60's , such as ' At Last The 1948 Show ' and ' Marty ' . Merton would take a situation , such as a father telling his daughter she's ado... |
401,575 | 7,743,887 | 75,860 | 10 | We Are Not Alone ! | Along with ' Star Wars ' , ' Close Encounters Of The Third Kind ' broke with the tradition of ' 70's science fiction movies . ' Soylent Green ' , ' No Blade Of Grass ' , ' A Clockwork Orange ' , ' Zardoz ' , ' Rollerball ' , ' The Final Programme ' - good though they were - were bleak and depressing in that they predic... |
401,379 | 7,743,887 | 68,148 | 10 | Kids Today Like To Have Their Own Way | Memories of this charming show were rekindled recently when I bought a video tape from a charity shop . Only five episodes were on it , but they were enough to make me realise that the overpraised ' The Simpsons ' was not the first series about an animated dysfunctional family . What I found refreshing is that the show... |
401,626 | 7,743,887 | 72,500 | 10 | Papers Arrived Yet , Fawlty ? | I missed the first three ' Fawlty Towers ' episodes on its original run ( I was hooked on the I . T . V . series ' Beryl's Lot ' ) so my first encounter with Basil was the fourth episode ' The Hotel Inspectors ' . Even now I can feel the pain in my side from laughing too hard . I spent the next few days telling everyon... |
400,862 | 7,743,887 | 788,730 | 10 | The Unlikely Lads | When I wrote my I . M . D . B . review ' A Forgotten Comedy Masterpiece ' two years ago , ' The Other One ' was just that - a sitcom no-one remembered or liked , not even it seems by one of its stars . Richard Briers ' unhappy memories may be attributable to the critical mauling it endured , rather than the show itself... |
401,620 | 7,743,887 | 72,504 | 10 | There's Only One Way To Get Out And That's To . . . | John Esmonde and Bob Larbey's ' Get Some In ' was one of several military-themed sitcoms inspired by the success of ' Dad's Army ' . The main difference being that while the latter was about old men training for combat , the former concerned young men ( teddy boy Jakey , vicar's son Lilley , academic Ken , and Scot Lec... |
400,913 | 7,743,887 | 72,484 | 10 | Could you live in a world without machines ? | 1975 was a vintage year for British sci-fi television drama ; I . T . V . had ( and squandered ) the first season of Gerry Anderson's ' Space : 1999 ' , while over on the B . B . C . Tom Baker was well into his first season as ' Dr . Who ' , Terry Nation gave us ' Survivors ' , and then there was ' The Changes ' . Base... |
400,651 | 7,743,887 | 66,302 | 10 | Presient Political Satire | I saw this on late-night television in the ' 70's , and as well as making me laugh out loud it also made me think . You cannot say that about modern British comedies . Rimmer is an enigma , not evil , just amoral . He could be George Spiggot from ' Bedazzled ' , making good on his threat to ruin the world . Cook might ... |
400,647 | 7,743,887 | 83,505 | 10 | Dear Mister Echo . . . | ' The Young Ones ' polarised audiences when it first appeared in 1982 , if you were over thirty you regarded it , as Malcolm Allison did , ' utter rubbish ' , but if you were under thirty you loved it ! I have to admit I was not an immediate fan , but took to it after several viewings . ' The Young Ones ' was all about... |
401,362 | 7,743,887 | 120,348 | 10 | Coogan's Latin Lothario | Back in the ' 70's , the B . B . C . used to screen music shows on Saturday nights based around popular singers such as Cilla Black , Lulu and Shirley Bassey . With their garish , tacky sets , outrageously attired dancers , unctuous guest-stars , cheesy songs , and unfunny links , they were absolute hell to sit through... |
401,554 | 7,743,887 | 63,049 | 10 | The money's in , we're made of tin , we're here to give you more ! | There are two ways to regard ' Head ' . Either it is a dazzling , mind-blowing collage of music , old film clips , psychedelia and T . V . sitcom-style comedy , or a plot less , pretentious , rambling mess . The truth probably lies somewhere in between . It is also one of the best movies of all time . ' The Monkees ' -... |
400,676 | 7,743,887 | 65,279 | 10 | You've Stood For It Again , Budge . | When ' Budgie ' was repeated by Channel 4 in the mid-80's , a disgruntled viewer complained : " Blimey ! They've copied ' Minder ! " . He was wrong , of course . ' Minder ' debuted on I . T . V . in 1979 , a good seven years after ' Budgie ' ended . But it was easy to see why he made the mistake , as the two shows are ... |
401,138 | 7,743,887 | 61,391 | 10 | Julie Andrews ! | Stanley Moon , a short ( in more ways than one ) order cook in a London Wimpy bar , is suicidally depressed because he is infatuated with flighty waitress Margaret Spencer , and lacks the courage to ask her out . Then a mysterious stranger by the name of George Spiggot enters his life . Spiggot is The Devil , and in re... |
401,367 | 7,743,887 | 54,279 | 10 | Quintessentially English ! | Stephen Potter's witty books were unfilmable as they stood , so top marks to Hal E . Chester and Patricia Moyes for coming up with a workable script . ' School ' centres on one Henry Palfrey , one of life's failures , who enrols at The School Of Lifemanship in Yeovil to learn how to become a success . The scene where h... |
400,748 | 7,743,887 | 72,564 | 10 | Scientifically Impossible - But Who Cares ? | In their book ' Fantastic Television ' , Gary Gerani and Paul H . Schulman took ' Space : 1999 ' to task for its apparent contempt for the laws of physics , and made the somewhat extraordinary claim that ' these days audiences are used to heavy dollops of science with their science fiction ' . Really ? Well , I do not ... |
400,724 | 7,743,887 | 72,572 | 10 | Please . . . don't let me be the only one ! | A Chinese scientist accidentally smashes a flask . Some time later , he collapses at an airport and dies . Within hours , the terrible plague he has inadvertently unleashed spreads across the world . Millions die . Only a handful survive - and they band together in an attempt to rebuild civilization . . . So began Terr... |
401,112 | 7,743,887 | 61,405 | 10 | May God Forgive You , Because I Certainly Won't ! | Funny how some old movies , dismissed as rubbish at the time of their release , can become important years later . ' Billion Dollar Brain , based on the novel by Len Deighton , was the third and last film in the ' Harry Palmer ' series , and once more starred Michael Caine as the intrepid Cockney spy . At the start of ... |
401,341 | 7,743,887 | 83,466 | 10 | In Colour ! | Two years after ' Airplane ! ' took off , Jim Abrahams , Jerry and David Zucker cast one of its stars - Leslie Nielsen - in this hilarious television series , a glorious take-off of old U . S . detective shows such as ' Dragnet ' . Nielsen played Frank Drebin , America's answer to ' Inspector Clouseau ' . It had the sa... |
401,277 | 7,743,887 | 72,551 | 10 | Nothing's Going To Change The Way I Feel About You ! | You couldn't turn on a television in the ' 70's without seeing John Alderton . He was everywhere ; ' Please Sir ! ' , ' The Fenn Street Gang ' , ' Upstairs , Downstairs ' , ' My Wife Next Door ' , ' Wodehouse Playhouse ' , ' Thomas & Sarah ' and , of course this , in which he co-starred with wife Pauline Collins . They... |
400,930 | 7,743,887 | 83,457 | 10 | Wildly Funny | A middle-aged couple visit a posh restaurant . A sign reads : All Patrons Must Be Dressed For Dinner . A toffee-nosed waiter approaches , looks them up and down , before clicking his fingers . A tailor rushes over , takes the couple's measurements and leaves . " Your clothes will be ready next Tuesday . " , he tells th... |
401,148 | 7,743,887 | 72,558 | 10 | Are you a friendly carrot ? | The first series of ' Rutland Weekend Television ' inherited the time-slot ( Monday , B . B . C . - 2 , 9 P . M . ) of the brilliant fifth season of ' The Goodies ' , and was just as funny in its own way . ' Monty Python ' had ended the year before , and its members were keen to try out different comedy styles . John C... |
401,322 | 7,743,887 | 118,661 | 10 | How Now Brown Cow ! | The 1990's saw a vogue for making motion pictures based on vintage television shows , ' such as ' The Fugitive ' , ' Mission : Impossible ' , ' Sergeant Bilko ' , ' Lost In Space ' , ' The Beverly Hillbillies ' and ' The Saint ' . Most ( though not all ) were not terribly good , for the simple reason that their makers ... |
401,615 | 7,743,887 | 108,740 | 10 | Why Didn't Jeremy Paxman Sue ? | Watching I . T . N . nowadays one can't help but be reminded of ' The Day Today ' . Smug , patronising presenters , gaudy sets , cheesy links , gimmicky presentation , an unmistakable political bias , all were hilariously parodied by Armando Ianucci and Chris Morris over a decade ago . Morris himself is superb as the a... |
400,649 | 7,743,887 | 60,980 | 10 | First And Best Of The ' Matt Helm ' Movies | This was the last ' Matt Helm ' I saw ( the first being ' Murderers ' Row ) and I was surprised at how different it was compared to the others . Though a comedy , occasionally it gets rough . Take the hotel room scene where Matt is questioning Gail . Frustrated by her refusal to give a straight answer , he rips off her... |
400,950 | 7,743,887 | 1,231,157 | 10 | Mind my leg ! | Six months after the pilot episode for ' A Sharp Intake Of Breath ' was broadcast on I . T . V . on / 77 ( as part of ' The Sound Of Laughter ' anthology ) , a full series appeared , with David Jason once more playing ' Peter Barnes ' , middle-aged , happily married , a good man in an insane world . Replacing Patricia ... |
400,953 | 7,743,887 | 704,554 | 10 | Frank & Betty's Second Honeymoon | A well-remembered episode of the first season of ' Some Mothers Do Ave Em ' . Frank and Betty are on their second honeymoon ( what must have the first have been like ? ) . After narrowly catching the train , Frank takes his poor spouse to a drab looking guest house , run by Mr . Bedford ( Neil McCarthy ) who seems abou... |
400,821 | 7,743,887 | 65,296 | 10 | The Men Who Put Cricklewood On The Map ! | The Beatles broke up in 1970 , but another Fab Four were waiting in the wings to take their place - Tim Brooke-Taylor , Graeme Garden , Bill Oddie , and director Jim Franklin . They created some of the funniest and most memorable television comedy of the ' 70's . It was not their first series for the B . B . C . ' Broa... |
401,293 | 7,743,887 | 63,374 | 10 | You have to make gravy . It doesn't just come ! | I saw this many years after the television series and , initially , I didn't care for it . Then , as my memory of the series receded with the passage of time , I watched again , and found it absolutely hilarious . Based on the stage play by Neil Simon , it has not been ' opened out ' much for the big screen , and that'... |
400,747 | 7,743,887 | 101,054 | 10 | Excellent ! | I've never understood the school of thought which says all prime time comedy is ' bland ' whilst anything post-watershed is ' dark ' and ' original ' . ' The Brittas Empire ' was enjoyed by a family audience , yet also managed to be ' dark ' ; people got shot , electrocuted , decapitated etc . Chris Barrie played ' Gor... |
401,693 | 7,743,887 | 98,850 | 10 | My name is Ben Elton . Goodnight ! | When Anne Robinson made that now infamous ' Room 101 ' appearance , she lambasted Ben Elton for ' selling out ' - becoming part of the showbiz establishment he had spent much of his career railing against in shows such as ' Filthy , Rich & Catflap ' - the Forsyths , the Tarbucks , the O'Connors etc . A clip from The Ro... |
401,525 | 7,743,887 | 665,475 | 10 | Kippers , Cocoa & Your Mother's Bloomers ! | Stan is unhappy when he learns he has a new conductor . He brightens up when he finds out it is none other than Iris ( Gwendolyn Watts ) from Basildon , a girl who , according to Jack , has worn out more drivers than the five o'clock rush hour ! Iris is not terribly good at the job - she puts make-up on when she is mea... |
401,021 | 7,743,887 | 101,049 | 10 | Two Men And An Ampersand | Amidst the ' alternative ' comedy chaos of the ' 80's , ' A Bit Of Fry & Laurie ' arrived almost unnoticed . Unlike ' The Young Ones ' , it had no ambitions to ' tear up the rule book book of comedy ' , but simply to present funny , surreal sketches . ' Not Only But Also ' was undoubtedly an influence ; highlights incl... |
401,369 | 7,743,887 | 70,195 | 10 | Has The Swine Finished ? | Frankie Howerd was enjoying a career renaissance in the early ' 70's , thanks to ' Up Pompeii ! ' , going on to star in three feature length spin-offs , the last of which was ' Up The Front ! ' in 1973 . Also that year he starred in this curio , a delightfully old fashioned comedy thriller in the mold of ' The Cat And ... |
401,497 | 7,743,887 | 60,955 | 10 | Another key unturned | Welcome to the most chilling science fiction movie you will ever see . ' Seconds ' is based on a quite plausible premise , that somewhere out there is an underground organisation known as ' The Company ' , which specialises in giving people new identities , fresh starts in life . Arthur Hamilton , a middle-aged busines... |
401,498 | 7,743,887 | 505,193 | 10 | Step Back In Time , Adam | Only Adam Adamant knows the whereabouts of an African leader named Hinkaya , currently somewhere in the U . K . A gang of assassins are on his trail . Adam is knocked out - and awakens in a 1902 hospital . He is confused - were his exploits in 1966 all a dream ? He meets up with Louise , his lady love , and starts to d... |
401,296 | 7,743,887 | 65,329 | 10 | One Of The Greatest U . S . Sitcoms Of All Time ! | I saw ' The Odd Couple ' television series before the movie . I took to it straight away . Tony Randall played ' Felix Unger ' a man so fussy about his personal habits ( he insists on washing playing cards before they're used in poker ) that one day his wife decides she can take no more , and throws him out . So he mov... |
400,670 | 7,743,887 | 98,817 | 10 | Now I Don't Believe You Wanted To Do That ! | It seems like only yesterday that Harry Enfield was the brightest comedy star on British television . His appearances on ' Saturday Live ' ( as ' Stavros ' and ' Loadsamoney ' ) and ' Filthy , Rich & Catflap ' , as well as the brilliant ' Norbert Smith - A Life ? ' seemed to confirm him as the natural successor to the ... |
401,619 | 7,743,887 | 73,990 | 10 | Are We Going To See The Hippopotamus On Sunday ? . | Not many British sitcoms have been inspired by novels . In 1976 , David Nobbs adapted ' The Death Of Reginald Perrin ' for the B . B . C . . He had Ronnie Barker in mind for the title role , but ultimately ( and rightly so in my opinion ) it went to Leonard Rossiter . ' Perrin ' is a serial not a series . The premise i... |
400,909 | 7,743,887 | 968,883 | 10 | Dick Turns Surgeon ! | Loftus invites Dick to a game of poker . Ignoring the advice of Nurse Wynton , Dick goes along . After being stung by insults from Duncan concerning his medical prowess , he decides to prove he is good at something , and cleans Loftus out . Duncan uses his day off to visit sunny Medeiros , where he is reunited with his... |
401,262 | 7,743,887 | 1,243,684 | 10 | Henry Meets His Match | By this point in the series , complaints about the sexist content had reached such a level that the B . B . C . felt it had to take action . The show was pulled from its 8 P . M . Thursday evening slot , and moved to 9 . 25 on Monday nights , just after the news . Replacing it on Thursdays was a new quiz show hosted by... |
400,898 | 7,743,887 | 544,156 | 10 | The Colditz Code | The 1970's were the hey-day of British wartime drama serials . ' Manhunt ' , ' Pathfinders ' , ' Secret Army ' , ' Enemy At The Door ' , ' Danger U . X . B . ' and , of course , ' Colditz ' kept viewers enthralled with well-crafted tales , some based on actual events . Major Pat Reid's ' The Colditz Story ' had already... |
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