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400,619 | 7,743,887 | 74,003 | 10 | A Forgotten Classic | Possibly because it was the subject of a hate campaign in the ' 80's by the ' alternative comedy ' brigade , ' Terry & June ' is the better remembered of Terry Scott and June Whitfield's sitcoms . Yet ' Happy Ever After ' , which preceded it , was vastly superior , thanks to Eric Merriman and John Chapman's scripts . T... |
401,646 | 7,743,887 | 118,273 | 10 | Jaw-Droppingly Funny | Any show which brasses off the editor of ' The News Of The World ' is OK by me . The furore that surrounded the notorious ' paedophilia ' special has ensured that ' Brass Eye ' will not easily be forgotten . What was amusing was the way Rebekah Wade missed the point ; it was not ' sending up ' paedophilia ' , you can't... |
400,963 | 7,743,887 | 74,019 | 10 | Crying Out For A D . V . D . Release | Its hard to remember a time when David Jason was not a major television star , but that time was the early-to-mid ' 70's . Having notched up supporting roles in ' Hark At Barker ' , the ' Doctor ' series , and ' Porridge ' , many reckoned he was a star waiting to happen . All he needed was the right vehicle . ' The Top... |
400,677 | 7,743,887 | 398,440 | 10 | When Phil Was Cool | I had the privilege of seeing Phil Cool at the Swansea Grand Theatre in 1988 . He was hysterically funny , like a human ' Spitting Image ' puppet . Over the course of ninety minutes he took off Larry Hagman , Mick Jagger , Neil Kinnock , Richard Burton , John Hurt , Terry Wogan , The Pope , William Shatner , Ronald Rea... |
400,894 | 7,743,887 | 544,160 | 10 | Simple , obvious psychosis . | Their escape attempts having failed , the Colditz P . O . W . ' s plan to dig a tunnel , but Wing Commander George Marsh ( Michael Bryant ) has another idea - repatriation . If he can convince the Germans he has become schizophrenic , he will be sent home . Luckily , Marsh used to work in a mental hospital and knows ex... |
401,135 | 7,743,887 | 74,031 | 10 | Unfairly Maligned - Even By One Of Its Stars | It saddened me to hear Patrick Macnee in a recent television interview dismissing ' The New Avengers ' as ' awful ' . I hate to disagree with the great man , but I thought it a cracking show , and a worthy successor to the original . Five years after ' The Avengers ' ended , Macnee was reunited with Linda Thorson for a... |
400,983 | 7,743,887 | 502,942 | 10 | I want you to bump me off ! | Mild-mannered Arthur Harriman is happily married to the lovely Kitty . Every Friday he brings her a bunch of chrysanthemums . But she gets bored of his dog-like devotion and , after a a blazing row , walks out on him . Depressed beyond measure , Arthur tries to kill himself - but realises he has no stomach for the task... |
401,281 | 7,743,887 | 502,939 | 10 | ! | The second episode of ' Six Dates With Barker ' whisks us back to 1899 A . D . A madman in top hat and cloak is terrorizing law-abiding citizens , beginning with The Prime Minister no less , of the foggy , gas-lit streets of London . No it is not Jack The Ripper ( he's presumably on holiday ) but none other than ( gasp... |
401,155 | 7,743,887 | 258,381 | 10 | The worst is yet to come ! | One of the most overused insults on internet film forums must be ' it was so bad it should have been on ' M . S . T . 3 . K . ' . I have always found that to be lazy criticism , rather like comparing something to the work of Edward D . Wood Junior , or branding a film a ' train wreck ' . Not only that , but it is inacc... |
401,219 | 7,743,887 | 56,777 | 10 | We are controlling transmission ! | ' The Outer Limits ' is often mentioned in the same breath as ' The Twilight Zone ' as one of the peaks of ' 60's television science fiction , and with good reason . The shows have a good deal in common , both are anthologies based partly on published fiction and original works . Both were made in glorious monochrome ,... |
400,694 | 7,743,887 | 70,328 | 10 | When Bond Became Saintly ! | In the early ' 70's , it looked as though the Bond movie franchise was doomed . Connery had quit for good following ' Diamonds Are Forever ' , and the hunt was on for a new leading man . On top of that , the series was widely perceived to be outdated . Clint Eastwood's ' Dirty Harry ' had arrived . Bond had to move wit... |
401,422 | 7,743,887 | 56,749 | 10 | Dad , I've got it wrong again ! | I once accompanied my late uncle on a Saturday afternoon shopping trip . As we strolled around the centre , we spotted a smartly dressed man carrying a handbag ( they were briefly fashionable in the early ' 70's . In the ' To Alf A Grandson ' episode of ' Till Death Us Do Part ' , Mike ( Tony Booth ) is seen with one )... |
401,205 | 7,743,887 | 56,751 | 10 | Mum , Can I Have A Dalek For Christmas ? | ' Dr . Who ' was the first television programme I got hooked on . It was 1968 , when Patrick Troughton was the incumbent . The story , a repeat of ' Evil Of The Daleks ' , was the most incredible thing I'd ever seen . Wild horses couldn't have dragged me away from the set at the same time the following week . Dalekmani... |
401,019 | 7,743,887 | 103,376 | 10 | An Everyday Story Of Two Men And A Frying Pan | It seemed strange that , after the witty satirical farce ' The New Statesman ' , Rik Mayall should choose to return to the ultra-crude , knockabout comedy of ' The Young Ones ' . He and Adrian Edmondson starred as ' Richie Richard ' and ' Eddie Hitler ' , two natural-born losers who when not railing against the world a... |
400,972 | 7,743,887 | 398,559 | 10 | I think we'd best leave this one open , John ! | Reviewing archive television programmes , it is hard to avoid using the phrase " this could not possibly be made now " . ' Second Verdict ' , shown on B . B . C . - 1 in the summer of 1976 ( phew ! what a scorcher that was ! ) is a fine example of a programme that ' could not possibly be made now ' . Though screened in... |
401,245 | 7,743,887 | 640,658 | 10 | You dirty old man ! You prodded my bosom ! | The first episode of the classic I . T . V . sitcom ' Man About The House ' . Chrissy and Jo are a pair of attractive young working class women living a bed-sit in Myddleton Terrace , London . Their third flatmate , Eleanor , recently left to get married ( and have a baby ! ) , which means there is now a vacancy for he... |
400,880 | 7,743,887 | 72,289 | 10 | Wilder & Newhart - What A Great Team ! | Sometime in the early ' 80's , an industrial dispute resulted in the last-minute cancellation of my favourite show ' Minder ' . In its place I . T . V . screened a U . S . T . V . movie I had not seen before : ' Thursday's Game ' . I watched mainly because it starred Gene Wilder and the equally wonderful Bob Newhart ( ... |
401,524 | 7,743,887 | 665,467 | 10 | Birth Of A Comedy Classic | The B . B . C . ' s ' Dad's Army ' recently celebrated its fortieth anniversary . On February 28th 2009 , it will be the turn of I . T . V . ' s ' On The Buses ' . I sincerely doubt whether we will see any tribute shows of the ' Jonathan Ross Salutes Dad's Army ' variety ( some may think that a good thing ) , partly be... |
400,746 | 7,743,887 | 178,126 | 10 | Criminally Underrated Show | Whilst Britain was mesmerised by ' The Fast Show ' , a vastly superior sketch show appeared on B . B . C . - 2 . ' Big Train ' was in the ' Monty Python ' mold , featuring sketches that started out as one thing before turning into something else , such as ' Alfred Hitchcock's ' The Working Class ' ' , a ' Saint ' style... |
401,283 | 7,743,887 | 1,200,510 | 10 | There are no curtains ! | Granada's ' The Army Game ' was the first British sitcom with a militaristic theme , and ran from 1957-61 . Surprisingly , it would be fourteen years before I . T . V . attempted another . By then , the B . B . C . ' s ' Dad's Army ' was firmly established as one of the most popular shows on television , but you did no... |
400,784 | 7,743,887 | 162,123 | 10 | Writers with luggage locker keys do it ! | If ever there was a success story for the ' 70's , it surely was the career of actor John Alderton . After quitting the role of teacher Bernard Hedges in ' Please Sir ! ' in 1971 ( though he popped up in three early episodes of the spin-off ' The Fenn Street Gang ' ) , he went on to appear in a string of hit shows , in... |
401,625 | 7,743,887 | 78,670 | 10 | The Original ' One Foot In The Grave ' | In his excellent book on ' Dad's Army ' , Graham McCann wondered why the B . B . C . had never repeated Roy Clarke's sitcom ' Potter ' , which originally starred Arthur Lowe . I have often wondered the same thing . We've all met a Redvers Potter ; you'll find one in any pub , sitting alone , drinking whisky , nose buri... |
400,652 | 7,743,887 | 74,343 | 10 | Cock Robin Strikes Again ! | Having been both window cleaner and pop performer , accident-prone Timothy Lea ( Robin Askwith ) embarks on another of his brother-in-law Sid Noggett's ( Tony Booth ) daft , money-making schemes , this time buying Dumphrey's run-down driving school , which they rename ' Noglea ' . Unfortunately , they have a rival next... |
401,416 | 7,743,887 | 78,690 | 10 | The Private Eye Who Became A Private Ear | ' Shoestring ' is , in my view , the finest detective series the B . B . C . has ever made . The same production team were responsible for the later ( and vastly inferior ) ' Bergerac ' , but it had something the Jersey-based show lacked - Trevor Eve . In his pyjama jacket , Beatles-styled mop ( Eve had once played Pau... |
401,197 | 7,743,887 | 78,688 | 10 | Love On The Dole - With a Phd | University graduate James Shelley is an unemployment statistic in Thatcher's Britain . With a difference . He doesn't work because he doesn't want to . With girlfriend Fran , he lives in Mrs . Hawkins ' boarding house in Pangloss Road . When not laying about in bed all day he is to be found either in the pub or else en... |
401,491 | 7,743,887 | 85,094 | 10 | Tempting , isn't it ? | 1984 was a sad year for anyone who loved old school British comedy - Tommy Cooper died in April , Eric Morecambe followed him a month later , and as if that were not heartbreaking enough , in October Leonard Rossiter passed on . With the alternative comedy revolution gathering momentum , it looked as though the old gua... |
400,705 | 7,743,887 | 58,846 | 10 | The Original International Man Of Mystery | For forty years , cult T . V . fans have been asking the question : " Who was Number Six ? " , referring , of course , to Patrick McGoohan's fantasy masterpiece ' The Prisoner ' . But in an earlier series , he played a character who was equally mysterious and enigmatic . The show was ' Danger Man ' and the character wa... |
400,863 | 7,743,887 | 260,644 | 10 | My Daily Date With Marian | For those of us at home during the ' 70's for whatever reason ( illness , school holidays , power cuts etc . ) , ' Pebble Mill At One ' was essential viewing . Transmitted at one o'clock each weekday , it was a magazine show live from the foyer of the B . B . C . studios at Pebble Mill in Birmingham , and comprised cel... |
400,786 | 7,743,887 | 56,868 | 10 | Look's what crawled out of the cheese ! | Billy Fisher , a bone idle young clerk at Shadrach & Duxbury's Funeral Emporium in the provincial Northern town of Stradhoughton , escapes from his humdrum life by retreating into a fantasy world of his own making , which he calls Ambrosia . Every person in Ambrosia looks like him . He has plenty of reasons for wanting... |
401,489 | 7,743,887 | 793,395 | 10 | We'll bring you something nice back ! | Alf comes home from a hard day's work , expecting a hot dinner on the table . But he has a shock in store - there is nothing . Not so much as a sandwich . Else has decided to follow the miners by going on a three day week , meaning her husband gets no food . Alf cannot believe it . He tries to explain that the three da... |
401,029 | 7,743,887 | 516,890 | 10 | Has Steed gone mad ? | Steed prepares to leave for a well-deserved holiday . As he opens his front door , a man hits him in the face . We then see Steed doing the same thing all over again . Tara arrives and asks whether he enjoyed the holiday . Something is wrong . An examination of his car reveals it was recently in Europe , and he finds a... |
401,420 | 7,743,887 | 267,207 | 10 | Dear B . B . C . . . | Often the simplest ideas for programmes are best , and ' Points Of View ' typifies this . Beginning in 1961 , it basically consisted of a ten minute show in which viewers ' letters were read out by actors ( such as Alec Bregonzi , Cass Allen , and Michael Maclaine ) , interspersed with witty comments from a presenter .... |
401,054 | 7,743,887 | 57,076 | 10 | One Of The All-Time Bond Greats | Nowadays whenever a Bond film is trotted out on British television , the viewers ' usual response is ' oh god , not him again ! ' . It was very different in 1976 , the year ' From Russia With Love ' got its I . T . V . premiere . ' Dr . No ' debuted the year before to an audience of nearly twenty million . ' Bond ' on ... |
400,681 | 7,743,887 | 516,898 | 10 | Curiouser and curiouser . . . | One of ' The Avengers ' most endearing qualities was being able to take a cliché and turn it on its head . This episode opens with Earle ( Anthony Bate ) and Gardiner ( Kenneth Cope ) , ostensibly New Scotland Yard detectives , searching for clues at the scene of a murder , a chalk outline of the victim on the floor . ... |
400,680 | 7,743,887 | 516,923 | 10 | Where Is Everybody ? | Jimmy Merlin ( Peter Barkworth ) is a master spy with no loyalty to either side - he simply works for whosoever pays best . When he breaks into a top secret research establishment and steals a quantity of sleep gas capsules , Steed and Tara lay in wait for him in a toy shop . Merlin uses one of the capsules to knock hi... |
401,024 | 7,743,887 | 65,709 | 10 | Think Marty ! | The mid-to-late ' 60's saw a sea change in British film comedy , as it moved away from family entertainment and became more risqué . Television provided inspiration , with many films being either based on or inspired by popular shows . ' Every Home Should Have One ' grew out of the B . B . C . series ' Marty ' , and al... |
400,759 | 7,743,887 | 287,858 | 10 | Law And Disorder | Not to be confused with Granada's 2002 series ' The Jury ' , this interesting drama series centred on the rape trial of a retarded man - Donald Fleming . The first twelve episodes focused on the everyday lives of the jurors , people drawn from all walks of life ( two were having a steamy affair - construction firm site... |
400,688 | 7,743,887 | 516,930 | 10 | Beware WormDoom Ltd ! | Its time to speak up for one of the most underrated series in British television history - the final season of ' The Avengers ' , which featured the lovely Linda Thorson as ' Tara King ' . Chroniclers of the show's history favour Diana Rigg's stint as ' Mrs . Emma Peel ' over all others ( though recently revisionism ha... |
401,351 | 7,743,887 | 64,757 | 10 | May all your allergies be swiftly cured ! | ' On Her Majesty's Secret Service ' was a welcome change of pace for Bond following the gadget-laden ' You Only Live Twice ' . Most of the Bond knock-offs ( Matt Helm , Flint , U . N . C . L . E . ) had packed up and gone , leaving 007 as the sole survivor of the ' 60's spy boom . First-time director Peter Hunt had the... |
401,297 | 7,743,887 | 62,574 | 10 | Creepy Fun From Hammer | Not to be confused with the B . B . C . ' s ' Out Of The Unknown ' , this was Hammer's first - and best - attempt at a television anthology series . The eerie title sequence featured a silhouette creeping into a deserted fairground late at night , which suddenly lit up , an effect as startling as it was memorable . The... |
401,640 | 7,743,887 | 167,701 | 10 | Not All Remakes Are Lousy | In the autumn of 1991 , B . B . C-2 enjoyed surprising success with repeats of Gerry Anderson's ' Thunderbirds ' . They followed this up with ' Stingray ' and ' The Man From U . N . C . L . E . ' , as well as several shows from the I . T . C . stable , including ' U . F . O . ' , ' The Champions ' and ' Randall & Hopki... |
401,208 | 7,743,887 | 62,583 | 10 | You crazy idiots . . . the name's McGill ! | When Patrick McGoohan abruptly left ' Danger Man ' in 1966 , the entire production team split in half - David Tomblin , George Markstein , and Don Chaffey followed him to Portmeirion to create the bizarre cult classic ' The Prisoner ' , while Sidney Cole , Barry Delmaine and John Glen set up a new show . Originally tit... |
401,368 | 7,743,887 | 56,960 | 10 | This Never Happened To James Bond ! | Charlie Drake's previous films - ' Petticoat Pirates ' ( 1960 ) and ' Sands Of The Desert ' ( 1961 ) failed to set the world on fire , but with ' The Cracksman ' he came up with a little beauty . He plays master locksmith Ernest Wright , who becomes the unwitting dupe in a series of robberies . As you'd expect from a C... |
400,685 | 7,743,887 | 50,985 | 10 | Sellers Behind A Projector ! | Some films can be summed up in a single word . The one that best describes this is ' delightful ' . There I've said it . Anything else is superfluous . Written by William Rose ( author of ' Genevieve ' and ' The Ladykillers ' amongst other classics ) and directed by Basil Dearden , it begins with a young couple - the S... |
401,609 | 7,743,887 | 98,781 | 10 | I'm Not Here ! | Channel 4's ' Drop The Dead Donkey ' was a classic sitcom set in an office that managed to be funny without any assistance whatever from Ricky Gervais . It centred around the day-to-day goings on at ' GlobeLink ' , a television news station owned by the mysterious Sir Roysten Merchent . Staff fears that the news will b... |
401,136 | 7,743,887 | 62,551 | 10 | One Of The Best I . T . C . Shows | Monty Berman and Dennis Spooner followed up ' The Baron ' with this , a fantasy series about three superhuman spies which preempted ' The Six Million Dollar Man ' . It was a favourite of mine when I was a youngster , and I enjoy watching it still . Stuart Damon and William Gaunt had an unmistakable on-screen chemistry ... |
401,397 | 7,743,887 | 62,552 | 10 | You Stupid Boy ! | I won't bother describing ' Dad's Army ' in detail as its been covered extensively elsewhere . Quite simply , its one of the best comedy series ever made . Arthur Lowe and John Le Mesurier headed a stellar cast of comedy actors which included Clive Dunn , James Beck , Ian Lavender , John Laurie ( my favourite ) , Arnol... |
401,102 | 7,743,887 | 552,332 | 10 | Ye're not going to get my gold ! | Alone one evening in his undertaker's parlour , Frazer gleefully counts his magnificent collection of gold sovereigns . Their existence is a secret to everyone in the world but himself . An unexpected visitor - Dr . McCeavedy - upsets the box , scattering the coins all over the floor . Frazer's secret is out . Suddenly... |
400,824 | 7,743,887 | 247,855 | 10 | Dear Michael . . . | Before the V . C . R . revolution of the late ' 70's , if you wished to see a particular moment from your favourite B . B . C . programme again you did one of two things : a ) waited for a repeat or b ) wrote to Michael Aspel . ' Ask Aspel ' was a children's programme in which viewers could watch specially requested cl... |
401,129 | 7,743,887 | 69,656 | 10 | Will The Real Whodunnit Please Stand Up ? | ' Callan ' star Edward Woodward was the original presenter of this light-hearted panel game for Thames Television . However , Jon Pertwee inherited it following his retirement from ' Dr . Who ' in 1974 ( " Welcome to Whodunnit ! " , he said , in the first show he did , " Or if you like ' Dr . Whodunnit ' ! " ) , and it... |
401,348 | 7,743,887 | 76,752 | 10 | A British spy in love with a Russian ? Detente indeed ! ! | Welcome to the most successful film on release in Britain in 1977 . Over in the U . S . A . , ' Star Wars ' was breaking box-office records , but would not be seen here until the end of the year . The new Bond therefore had the summer blockbuster field all to its itself . Following the disappointing ' The Man With The ... |
401,042 | 7,743,887 | 76,759 | 10 | A Long , Long Wait For A Movie Far , Far Away | This is not a review of the first ( and best ) ' Star Wars ' movie . I take it , fellow I . M . D . B . users , that you are already familiar with the plot , characters and production history , and how its success changed the face of cinema overnight . So rather than rehash all the known facts , I want instead to recou... |
401,493 | 7,743,887 | 62,861 | 10 | Deep , deep down ! | On its release , Mario Bava's ' Danger : Diabolik ' was likened by critics to the ' Batman ' television series , and branded as ' campy ' . In reality , though , the two have little in common , other than both being based on comic-strips and sharing a penchant for exuberant outrageousness . ' Diabolik ' is the brillian... |
401,365 | 7,743,887 | 69,634 | 10 | The Ultimate Loser | Some claim ' Some Mothers Do Ave Em ' makes fun of a retarded man . It doesn't . Frank is the world's biggest loser ; not very bright , habitually clumsy , unable to communicate with people and keep down a steady job . But he isn't retarded . The one good thing about his life is that he is married to the lovely , loyal... |
401,469 | 7,743,887 | 659,318 | 10 | A Game Of Cold War Cards | Russian scientist Professor Vasil is snatched from under the noses of the K . G . B . by Steed , Gambit , and Purdey ( with assistance from Department operative Roland ) . The agent in charge of the operation - Ivan Perov ( Peter Jeffrey ) - is so worried at the loss of face that he commits suicide . Or appears to . In... |
401,636 | 7,743,887 | 827,573 | 10 | There Goes The Bride ! | With ' The Christmas Invasion ' in 2005 , ' Dr . Who ' effectively displaced ' Only Fools & Horses ' as the ' must-see ' B . B . C . Christmas Day programme . The king is dead , long live the king . With Billie Piper gone , ' The Runaway Bride ' needed to be good - fortunately , it was . Very good indeed . Beginning wi... |
400,781 | 7,743,887 | 60,461 | 10 | Not One For The Feminists | Film buffs tend to turn up their noses at the mention of the name Michael Winner , but the fact is he made some pretty decent films back in the ' 60's ( ' The Cool Mikado ' excepted ! ) , of which ' The System ' was one . Shot in glorious black and white , it is set in a small British seaside resort , where a gang of y... |
400,974 | 7,743,887 | 659,327 | 10 | The Final Round | When I saw a repeat of ' The Avengers ' episode ' The Cybernauts ' late one Friday night in 1969 , I assumed automatically that the writer - Philip Levene - had ripped off Dr . Who's arch-enemy ' The Cybermen ' . I found out later on that the Cybernauts had come first . What are Cybernauts ? Robot men , silver in colou... |
401,475 | 7,743,887 | 659,325 | 10 | Monkey Business ! | Though ' The Avengers ' ended in 1969 , repeats kept on coming on I . T . V . ( in my part of the world at least ) until 1972 . Some lucky regions got them as late as 1975 , mostly of the colour Rigg and Thorson episodes , good news for anyone who had recently upgraded their television sets . In 1976 , ' The New Avenge... |
400,835 | 7,743,887 | 85,279 | 10 | Jolly Good Show , Old Bean ! | ' Bullshot ' is Britain's answer to those wild , wacky spoofs such as ' Airplane ! ' and ' Blazing Saddles ' . An affectionate parody of Sapper's famous sleuth , it improves with each viewing . Hugh ' Bullshot ' Crummond is the dashing hero , yet he's a bigger fascist than his Teutonic arch-enemy , Von Bruno . Witness ... |
401,232 | 7,743,887 | 192,897 | 10 | Onto last week's competition . . . | You will notice that I did not title this review ' And why not ? ' . And why not , I hear you ask ? Well , because it is a quote attributed to Barry Norman by the ex-comedian turned political commentator Rory Bremner , never at any time uttered ( well , maybe once or twice ) by the real Bazza . Funny why he should use ... |
400,991 | 7,743,887 | 78,346 | 10 | The Man With The Krypton Factor ! | No sooner had the world recovered from ' Star Wars ' mania in 1977 than ' Superman ' mania was upon us . But whereas George Lucas ' homage to ' Flash Gordon ' came out of nowhere to become the top-grossing film of all time ( until E . T . came along ) , with The Man Of Steel the publicity bandwagon started rolling a lo... |
401,086 | 7,743,887 | 1,061,123 | 10 | Thirteen Million People Liked It , So Stop Moaning ! | Another Christmas Day , another Christmas Day ' Dr . Who ' . This one was different in that it had the Kylie factor . To be honest , I'm not the world's biggest fan of ' La La La ' Minogue . I suppose it stems back to ' Neighbours ' , a show to which I have a long-term aversion . I can't get squeaky clean ' Charlene ' ... |
400,684 | 7,743,887 | 516,855 | 10 | Who ( Or What ) Is R . E . M . A . K . ? | Linda Thorson hardly features in this episode . ' Tara ' goes off on holiday early on , and does not reappear until the end , when the mission is over . In her place we get the lovely Jennifer Croxton ( later to co-star with future ' Avengers ' babe Joanna Lumley in the sitcom ' Its Awfully Bad For Your Eyes Darling ' ... |
401,265 | 7,743,887 | 516,859 | 10 | Send In The Clowns ! | A fabulous episode from the pen of Dennis Spooner , creator of ' The Champions ' and ' Randall & Hopkirk ( Deceased ) ' . Company directors are being ruthlessly eliminated by a pair of clowns , ' Merry Maxie Martin ' ( Jimmy Jewel ) and ' Jennings ' ( Julian Chagrin ) . Each time they murder someone they exit the scene... |
401,632 | 7,743,887 | 934,694 | 10 | Long Overdue Reappraisal Of A Much Maligned Comic Legend | The name Benny Hill has for too long been a byword for the so-called ' old school of British comedy ' . the very thing alternative comedy set out to ( and did ) destroy . About the only time we see his work now is in tacky retro programmes of the ' 100 Most Embarrassing Things About The ' 70's ' variety . A clip of Ben... |
401,580 | 7,743,887 | 516,840 | 10 | Never say die ! | London is in the grip of a thick fog . Delegates arrive to attend the World Disarmanent Conference . Steed is there to greet them . One gets lost , and is murdered by a mysterious figure in a cloak and top hat . Steed and Tara trace a clue to the ' Gaslight Ghoul Club ' , a secret society dedicated to unearthing the my... |
401,195 | 7,743,887 | 810,721 | 10 | A Long Overdue Salute To The Comedy Greats | When I was young , two of my favourite programmes were ' Mad Movies ' hosted by Bob Monkhouse , and ' The Golden Silents ' with Michael Bentine , which instilled in me a lifelong love of the classic silent comedians such as Chaplin , Laurel & Hardy , Keaton , and Lloyd . I got that same wonderful feeling again watching... |
400,858 | 7,743,887 | 516,841 | 10 | ' Steed is shot full of holes . . . Emma sees stars ! ' | Cosgrove , an amateur astronomer , is observing the planet Venus . His glass of beer suddenly bubbles for no apparent reason . A strange whirring sound , a flash of light , and he is stone cold dead , his hair bleached pure white . Obviously a case for John Steed and Mrs . Emma Peel . As other astronomers - all members... |
401,286 | 7,743,887 | 1,164,707 | 10 | Surviving " Survivors " | After enduring the latest episode of B . B . C . - 1's ' Survivors ' , I watched this excellent half-hour documentary about the original show . More drama was to be found in the clips here than has so far been evident in Adrian Hodges ' hodge-podge . The opening episode - ' The Fourth Horseman ' - is an object exercise... |
400,644 | 7,743,887 | 68,065 | 10 | Exit Upton , Re-Enter Waring | With Barry Evans out of the ' Doctor ' series , it hit crisis point . So popular was he that to have recast the role of ' Upton ' would have been a mistake . Humphrey Barclay chose instead to bring back the cheeky ' Duncan Waring ' - not seen since ' In The House ' - played by the late , much-missed Robin Nedwell . His... |
400,970 | 7,743,887 | 60,566 | 10 | The Jokers Are Wild ! | I love ' Swinging London ' movies ( real ones that is , not spoofs such as ' Austin Powers ' ) and ' The Jokers ' is a good example . It was directed by the much-maligned Michael Winner during what might be termed his ' golden age ' , the era of ' The System ' , ' You Must Be Joking ! ' , ' Hannibal Brooks ' , and ' I'... |
400,711 | 7,743,887 | 756,974 | 10 | Beauty Queen Shocks Council ! | Naive , small-time thief Lennie Godber spends his first night in H . M . Slade Prison , in the company of Norman Stanley Fletcher . He is naturally nervous , but Fletcher gets him through it by telling him to pretend that he is having a ' quiet night in ' . As the doors are locked and the lights dim , the two men swap ... |
400,625 | 7,743,887 | 140,733 | 10 | And The Verdict Is . . . | Daytime television in the U . K . didn't used to be about make over shows , ' Loose Women ' , and confrontational programmes of the ' Jeremy Kyle ' variety . Back in the ' 70's , we had ' Crown Court ' , a series of intelligently written courtroom dramas , starring the cream of Britain's acting talent . The secret of t... |
400,716 | 7,743,887 | 794,895 | 10 | The Reluctant Romeo | Terry's sister Audrey is dating a hairdresser named Mario , to whom her brother takes an instant dislike . Keen to break up the relationship before it has a chance to turn serious , Terry tells Bob to ask Audrey on a date , while he takes Mario off to the pub and gets him legless . Bob , who has always regarded Audrey ... |
401,480 | 7,743,887 | 60,592 | 10 | Spy Games In Rio ! | ' Kiss The Girls & Make Them Die ' ( to give it its American title ) was one of a number of films in the ' 60's designed to cash in on the success of James Bond . It was made by Dino De Laurentiis , a man who , like Irwin Allen , has attracted more than his fair share of derision over the years , despite having produce... |
400,599 | 7,743,887 | 944,389 | 10 | You do not get crocodiles in the ocean ! | The sitcom for which the late Terry Scott is best remembered is , of course , ' Terry & June ' , in which he co-starred with June Whitfield . However , from 1962-68 , he was partnered with the wonderful Hugh Lloyd in the David Croft-produced ' Hugh & I ' . As was the case with ' Hancock's Half-Hour ' , Scott and Lloyd ... |
400,764 | 7,743,887 | 159,868 | 10 | You Great Buttock ! | My late grandfather was a bin man for forty years and he thought ' The Dustbinmen ' a great show , in fact he could put names to all the characters . Jack Rosenthal's scripts are wonderfully surreal , packed with terrific one-liners and its reasonably fair to say that the humour was on a different level to most I . T .... |
400,990 | 7,743,887 | 57,241 | 10 | Delightful British Comedy In The Ealing Mold | Mrs . Cragg ( Peggy Mount ) is a charlady in the employ of the successful property development firm Ryder Enterprises . One day she finds a barely-smoked cigar in her employer's waste-paper basket , and , wrapping it in a piece of paper , gives it to her other employer , Colonel Whitforth ( the splendid Robert Morley )... |
401,020 | 7,743,887 | 52,911 | 10 | One Of The Greatest British Films Ever ! | Its no secret that the Boulting Brothers were no lovers of trade unions , and this is reflected in their film ' I'm All Right Jack ' which portrays union men as either lazy or stupid . Often overlooked is the fact that its also extremely critical of capitalists too . When Ian Carmichael's wonderfully naive ' Stanley Wi... |
401,320 | 7,743,887 | 65,009 | 10 | Bulldog's Babes | Three years after ' Deadlier Than The Male ' , Richard Johnson was back as Hugh ' Bulldog ' Drummond , this time investigating mysterious sabotage incidents involving the S . S . T . - 1 , Britain's newest supersonic airliner . The ' Matt Helm ' and ' Derek Flint ' sequels disappointed , but nobody who enjoyed ' Deadli... |
401,292 | 7,743,887 | 297,508 | 10 | Bob's Full Comedy House | After quitting Central's ' Family Fortunes ' , Bob Monkhouse crossed channels to present this , a celebration of the art of comedy . Over three seasons he introduced some of the best comedians in the world ; the first show featured an 80-year old Bob Hope . He handed over a pound note . " That's for those jokes you wro... |
400,779 | 7,743,887 | 552,302 | 10 | Don't Panic - It's The Last Episode ! | Having notched up 80 episodes , a radio series , stage show and a film , ' Dad's Army ' had indeed come a long way since its humble beginnings in 1968 ( five years longer than the real war , as wags never tire of telling us ) . In 1977 , Jimmy Perry and David Croft decided by mutual consent to bring it to a close . Not... |
400,959 | 7,743,887 | 62,153 | 10 | I knew it ! I'm not paranoid ! They're all spies ! | Along with Stanley Donen's ' Bedazzled ' , Theodore J . Flicker's ' The President's Analyst ' is my favourite motion picture of the ' 60's . It is so insane as to defy description . James Coburn had just made two movies in which he starred as super-agent ' Derek Flint ' , and he saw this as a chance to combine the glos... |
401,047 | 7,743,887 | 688,546 | 10 | Spike's Last Stand | As the twentieth century drew to a close , a number of programmes pontificated on its achievements . Not among them was ' Room 101 ' , which offered celebrities the chance to sound off about their favourite pet hates . The early editions were the best , as they featured the likes of Peter Cook and Bob Monkhouse , but b... |
401,087 | 7,743,887 | 1,155,051 | 10 | You See , I . T . V . ? It Can Be Done ! | One of the most disturbing sights in British television in recent years has been the disappearance of comedy from the I . T . V . schedules ( discounting unintentionally funny fare such as ' Footballers ' Wives ) . The network that once gave us ' Rising Damp ' , ' Man About The House ' , ' Nearest & Dearest ' , ' On Th... |
400,804 | 7,743,887 | 346,707 | 10 | Go on , ' ave a bit of fun ! | With the ' Carry On ' movies proving popular both on television and in the cinema , Thames decided in 1969 to make a special for I . T . V . This uproarious parody of Dickens ' ' A Christmas Carol ' was the first of four Yuletide romps , and easily the best . Sid James starred as ' Ebenezer Scrooge ' , not merely mean ... |
400,834 | 7,743,887 | 76,990 | 10 | Families At War | 1978's ' Born & Bred ' was made by Thames and was a sparkling comedy drama about two warring London families , the Tonsleys ( working class and proud of it ) , headed by the grumpy Tommy ( Max Wall ) , and the middle-class Benges , led by the ultra-snobbish Frank ( James Grout ) . The starting point was a two-part epis... |
401,522 | 7,743,887 | 74,835 | 10 | Leonard Rossiter's Forgotten Gem | Shot on film , ' Machinegunner ' was an eighty-minute play made by H . T . V . West and broadcast ( only once that I know of ) late one Saturday night in the summer of 1976 , following a screening of the first Bond film ' Dr . No ' . As ' The T . V . Times ' enthusiastically put it : ' Tough Trigger Action Explodes In ... |
401,295 | 7,743,887 | 96,546 | 10 | Oh dear ! I shouldn't have said that - not today ! | A decade after Reggie Perrin , David Nobbs was suddenly back on form with this sparkling series . It revolves around two families , the Rodenhursts , who're rich , and the Simcocks , who aren't . They keep meeting up at various social gatherings - a wedding , a dentists ' dinner dance , a beauty contest etc . - and eac... |
401,130 | 7,743,887 | 53,494 | 10 | Stan & Hilda - A Tribute | My rating is for the sterling work that Jean Alexander and Bernard Youens put into ' Coronation Street ' . For two decades , they played to perfection the warring Ogdens . So good were they in these roles that many became convinced they really existed . When Stan got into debt , for example , offers of financial help f... |
400,802 | 7,743,887 | 509,919 | 10 | He pays his taxes ! | Archie is thrilled when he receives expensive gifts from an old army buddy called Eddie Frazier , now a successful car salesman . He is even more delighted when Eddie announces his intention to pay him a visit . Mike does not want to meet Eddie as he regards millionaires with deep suspicion . But Archie insists that he... |
401,056 | 7,743,887 | 166,396 | 10 | Lucky sods ! | Good British film comedies are rare these days , but every now and then someone manages to come up with a cracker . Ten years ago , ' Waking Ned ' , written and directed by Kirk Jones , was just such a movie . Set in the town of Tullymore ( population : 52 ) on the coast of Ireland , it concerns two old friends , Jacki... |
401,241 | 7,743,887 | 77,031 | 10 | Where's Me Shirt ? | ' The Incredible Hulk ' television series was the inspiration for a long-running joke in the U . K . It went as follows : " why does the Hulk always sound so angry ? You would too if your body grew to three times its normal size and yet your trousers stayed the same . " . Everyone from Ken Dodd to Eddie Large used it i... |
401,366 | 7,743,887 | 58,248 | 10 | Blackly Comic | Based on ' Don Among The Dead Men ' by C . E . Vulliamy , this little-seen British film stars Leo McKern as Professor Bowles-Ottery , a misanthrope who dreams of becoming a ' benevolent ' dictator . During a live television interview , he rants : " We must eliminate the mad , sterilise the incompetent . We must clean u... |
401,511 | 7,743,887 | 131,163 | 10 | There's this Irishman . . . | 1971 was a vintage year for B . B . C . comedy all right , what with ' The Two Ronnies ' getting underway , and Dave Allen beginning his marvellous , long-running series . ' Large ' combined sketches with monologues , the latter delivered by the man himself , smartly dressed , seated in a chair , cigarette in one hand ... |
401,642 | 7,743,887 | 436,992 | 10 | Do You Wanna Come With Me ? ! | 2005 will go down in ' Dr . Who ' history as its most incredible year . Everything seemed to click ; a first-rate new Doctor and companion , big audiences ( 10 million for the first episode and Christmas special ) , major awards , critical acclaim and those idiots who spent years giggling at the Daleks ' seeming inabil... |
400,715 | 7,743,887 | 86,807 | 10 | Hold a chicken in the air . . . | When , many moons ago , I first heard of ' Spitting Image ' , I thought it would be at best a one-season wonder . The novelty of having puppets doing satire would in my view wear off quickly , leaving the show nowhere to go . As we now know , ' Image ' ran for over a decade . It was originally produced by John Lloyd , ... |
400,793 | 7,743,887 | 699,359 | 10 | Apes , Pyjamas & Dr . Wellbeloved | Shelley is working on an ad campaign for striped pyjamas when a crisis interrupts his train of thought . A fellow lodger , Miss Landis , is so lonely and depressed in the big city she takes an overdose of sleeping pills . While Fran keeps watch on the girl , Shelley takes charge of the situation , calling for am ambula... |
400,787 | 7,743,887 | 408,377 | 10 | As Indestructible As Ever ! | ' Dr . Who ' was not the only classic children's British sci-fi show to be revived in 2005 . Beating it to the airwaves by a few weeks was an all-new animated version of Gerry Anderson's 1967 hit ' Captain Scarlet & The Mysterons ' . Though ' Scarlet ' rivalled ' Who ' in terms of quality , it met with a different fate... |
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