I may be in the minority here, but one of my most favorite British situation comedies of all-time is Open All Hours. Written by Roy Clarke (Last of the Summer Wine, Keeping Up Appearances) and starring comedy legends Ronnie Barker and David Jason, Open All Hours ‘premiered’ in 1973 as a last-minute addition to Barker’s comedy anthology series, Seven […]
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For numerous reasons, I’m quite ready to let go of 2016, no questions asked. 2017 has started off brilliantly, however, with the news that Chichester’s own Patricia Routledge would be among the Queen’s New Year Honors being awarded DBE for her services to theatre and charity. A long-time passionate supporter of the arts who has enjoyed a lengthy relationship […]
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Young Hyacinth premiered last week as part of the BBC’s Landmark Sitcom Season along with other ‘tip-of-the-hat’ specials including Goodnight Sweetheart, Porridge and Are You Being Served?. Having now had the opportunity to be able to screen all of them, I thought the Keeping Up Appearances prequel starring Kerry Howard worked exceptionally well. Even though the one-off was brilliantly written by […]
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After hearing about the plans for the forthcoming ‘BBC Sitcom Season’ for what seems like an eternity, we now finally get to see some video for not only the remakes of what set in motion what has become a 60-year history of comedy on the Beeb but some of the channel’s new offerings as well. […]
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In today’s overloaded commercial environment, no one gives it a second thought when they encounter celebrity spokespeople appearing in adverts for their favorite whatever. What doesn’t immediately come to mind are commercials that feature the character that an actor portrays. The only recent example that seems to follow this concept features the perfect pitchman, Modern Family‘s Phil Dunphy, […]
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There has been quite a bit of chatter the last several weeks about the one-off reboots of Are You Being Served, Keeping Up Appearances, Porridge and Goodnight Sweetheart as part of the forthcoming Landmark Sitcom Season on the BBC. While both the AYBS one-off, which takes the staff of Grace Brothers Department Store and places them in the late 80s, […]
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While it’s been more than three decades since we last were able to walk into the retail ladies’ and gentlemen’s clothing department of London’s Grace Brothers department store, the doors appear ready to re-open in the not-too-distant future. The classic BBC comedy series, which ran from 1971 to 1985, is set for a re-boot as part […]
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If nothing else, Young Hyacinth, the forthcoming BBC prequel to the classic Roy Clarke series, Keeping Up Appearances, will give audiences a bit of insight as to how a 19-year-old Hyacinth from humble beginnings turned into an over-bearing, social-climbing snob with a penchant for slimline telephones with automatic redial, Royal Doulton china with hand-painted periwinkles, candlelight suppers. In […]
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Gareth Gwenlan, a name you may not be familiar with but whose work you have seen and enjoyed for decades on countless British situation comedies, has died at age 79. Gwenlan, who joined the BBC Comedy department in 1967 as a producer, helped create some of the world’s most beloved British sitcoms, notably The Fall And Rise […]
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There are certain things over the years that will forever defy explanation when one tries to grasp their immense popularity. In America, we have Barney the Dinosaur (which no one can explain to this day) while the UK has Mr. Blobby. Mr Blobby was the brainchild of writer Charlie Adams who passed away in 2013. He first […]
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