Cartman
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Post by Cartman on May 16, 2018 12:33:00 GMT
On The Buses was basic, but on reflection, it did have a genuine working class feel to it and a bloke I used to know who did work on the buses at Bury between the early 60s and late 70s said that it wasnt a million miles away from what the job was like at that time! so, go on, we will upgrade it!!
On the topic of Benny Hill, you are right, Arthur, about his early career, I remember him having a couple of (very funny) bit parts in both Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines and The Italian Job, both from the 60s. If he cad continued in this vein I feel he could have had a more varied and less typecast career. I felt that Thames/ITV had decided to pull the plug on his shows a year or two before he was axed as his style of comedy was becoming increasingly old hat by the 80s and by about 81/2 ish it was bordering on soft porn. From then on, the smut content became considerably toned down and, as a result, the ratings dropped, which Thames then used as justification for ditching him, which they couldn't have done when it was still top rated. Closure by stealth applied to TV!
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Post by Arthur Pringle on May 16, 2018 14:25:30 GMT
I think if Benny Hill had been American he would've been one of their top stars like Bob Hope. In this country we tend to celebrate talent when it's too late, people either have to be dead or very old. It also irritates me when comedians are 'reappraised' by those who once called them old fashioned, this happened with Bob Monkhouse in his last years. I'd compare it with punk bands who dismissed those who came before as 'dinosaurs', but now that these punks are in their 50s & 60s they've become the dinosaurs & you'll hear them say things like 'I actually liked Abba' or 'Keith Emerson was a nice bloke'.
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Post by Cartman on May 16, 2018 14:37:49 GMT
Glen Matlock, of the Pistols, was a closet Abba fan! although, I'm afraid I could never stand Bob Monkhouse
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Post by D.C. Burtonshaw on May 16, 2018 18:16:49 GMT
What do people think though of actors who did sitcoms on both sides? One example was Leonard Rossiter who was always good in most things and more to him than just Rigsby in Rising Damp. As well as that series he did The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin on BBC1 which I enjoyed when it was repeated in its entirety to a new audience in 1991. I think the supporting cast was good in that too with the characters own catchphrases. ("Great" "Super" - " I didn't get where I am today by............ "Bit of a cock up on the ........... front" and "I'm a .......... person"). A slightly different character to Rigsby as a family man and disillusioned businessman who kept trying to be self destructive but still kept coming out on top!
He also did Trippers Day another ITV sitcom, when he was a supermarket manager, which I did watch at the time. Was OK, but didn't seem quite as good as Rising Damp somehow. Some might remember the role was taken over by Bruce Forsythe as the new manager with a new title "Slingers Day", after Leonards untimely death.
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Post by Arthur Pringle on May 16, 2018 18:40:52 GMT
I read that Bruce Forsyth was a big fan of Leonard Rossiter, I remember both Tripper's & Slinger's Day, I watched the first ep of Slinger's Day on youtube some years ago & it was pretty poor. Rossiter did another sitcom called 'The Losers' playing a wrestling promoter, Network released it a few years ago, I've seen a few episodes, not bad but no Rising Damp.
Another ITV show that's not been mentioned is 'End Of Part One' made by LWT in 79/80. I saw it some years ago & was surprised how good it was. It was shown in a late afternoon slot & apparently didn't find much of an audienc
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Cartman
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Post by Cartman on May 16, 2018 19:06:47 GMT
I don’t remember End of Part one, but I do recollect Trippers/Slingers Day, both of which were crap, the Bruce Forsyth one particularly so. As far as I know it was Leonard Rossiters last programme, some of his earlier stuff like Rising Damp and Reggie Perrin had been brilliant
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Post by Kenny Dalglish 1979 on Jun 8, 2018 12:12:11 GMT
Probably the best ITV sitcom of the 1970s was Rising Damp. Leonard Rossiter was a hoot and he had a good support cast. But I'll take my hat off to the BBC as they produced many classic shows in that decade - Monty Python (which began in '69), Fawlty Towers, The Good Life, Open All Hours, Not The Nine O'Clock News, etc.
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Post by Arthur Pringle on Jun 8, 2018 19:52:31 GMT
I've been enjoying early evening repeats of Are You Being Served? on Drama, not Dad's Army standard but it has such a warmth to it that makes it a pleasure to watch, a breath of fresh air in this harsh & cynical age we live in. I think that's another distinction between BBC & ITV, the BBC shows are generally warmer & less abrasive, particularly with Perry & Croft's sitcoms, the characters really have a soul to them that other sitcoms lack. La Frenais & Clement's shows have a similar quality, you actually like & warm to the characters, I don't think this is true of most sitcoms.
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Post by Gene Hunt on Jun 8, 2018 20:04:22 GMT
I agree with this Arthur. I rewatched the most of AYBS a year or so back and it was better than people give it credit for. Some wonderful lines delivered perfectly by a collective cast that the likes of which we'll probably not see again.
Gene.
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Post by D.C. Burtonshaw on Dec 12, 2019 20:43:13 GMT
After going through a Marathon of the first two "Doctors" (Doctor in the House) sitcoms - I have to agree that they probably were the best as it sounds like the spin offs which featured a few of the cast of "House" won't be as good and seemed to be a cash in. They're also notable for appearances of many other stars at the time, e.g Bernard Bresslaw as a gambling club bouncer, David Jason as an elderly Yugoslavian hospital patient (like a prototype "Blanco" in Porridge - except he doesn't speak English), James Beck (Walker in Dad's Army) as a "frustrated ladies man" and throughout the first series, Martin Shaw was in the regular cast as a zany crazy, Welsh student.
I've yet to see the immediate follow up series Doctor at Large, which also featured Richard O'Sullivan but at least that series still starred Barry Evans character Michael Upton in it - who initially was the main character the viewers identify with in "House". Wouldn't seem the same without him.
Digressing for a little while; Barry Evans appears to have been a promising actor starring in "Here we go round the Mulberry Bush" (1968) as a frustrated teenager trying to sow his wild oates (thought Evans was 25 when making it).
He went on to the Doctor's series as said above, but making the series deprived him of other work he felt, so he left after "At Large", but later regretted not continuing the part in the later sequels. He was said to have enjoyed working with his fellow actors, George Layton, Robin Nedwell, Richard O'Sullivan and Geoffrey Davies, describing the time as the best years of his life.
He did some film work too in the 60's and 70's.
The only other well known sitcom he got a lead role in was of course "Mind Your Language" which I remember watching but of course would not be shown, but remarkably was popular in the countries where it's many characters in the classroom were supposed to be from!
I also remember him in what appears to be his final TV part, the 1982 comedy drama as Dick Emery's private eye character's sidekick but that's 80's so I'll stop there.
Evans never seemed to age which may have cost him more mature roles.
He sadly died February 1997, only age 53 in tragic and unexplained circumstances, found by police who were calling at his house to say they'd found his car which he'd earlier reported stolen. It looked like he'd died of a blow to the back of the head, and also looked like someone tried to fake his suicide, but nobody was ever charged with his death. He also appears to have died alone and working as a minicab driver after roles dried up. Very sad.
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