The Great British Sitcom

[Mel O'Drama]

the scene I was waiting for was literally only a minute at the end of the episode and only the final few seconds were recognisable at being Horsenden Hill. When you get to it on your watch, it's the one that ends with a shot of Hattie walking on the hill and her coat has handprints on the back indicating that she was in an embrace with a man while while she was there.

I watched this episode tonight and thought of you, @Angela Chilling

As soon as Eric and Hattie began speaking about going to "Shepherd's Hill" at the start of the episode I had a feeling this was the one and so followed it closely, just in case. It looks like a great deal of the episode was on location but most of it took place at night so, as you said, it would have been unrecognisable until the final couple of minutes set the next morning.

If you're interested, it was Series Six, Episode Six: End Of The World.

 

[Angela Channing]

I watched this episode tonight and thought of you, @Angela Chilling

As soon as Eric and Hattie began speaking about going to "Shepherd's Hill" at the start of the episode I had a feeling this was the one and so followed it closely, just in case. It looks like a great deal of the episode was on location but most of it took place at night so, as you said, it would have been unrecognisable until the final couple of minutes set the next morning.

If you're interested, it was Series Six, Episode Six: End Of The World.

Thanks, if it ever appears in one of the freeview channels I'll look out for it.

Shepherd's Hill is like a cross between Shepherd's Bush, which is about 5 miles away, and Horsenden Hill where it was actually filmed.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Last night I finally wrapped up Sykes. Even though the series wasn't planned to end at this point, it's apropos that the series should close with something of a retrospective.

The BBC Honours Sykes is an anniversary episode, commemorating twenty years of Sykes/Hattie programming, going back to the earlier Sykes And A... (the scripts of which were recycled wholesale by this later series). As a result it was interesting to see clips of a couple of scenes from Sykes And A... and immediately recognise the corresponding Sykes episode: one where Eric got his toe stuck in the bath tap, and another staying in the cabin by the river where the old tramp was refusing to leave. Nice to see Ronnie Barker playing the tramp in the original version. There were also clips from earlier episode of Sykes, and it was lovely to see Richard Wattis again, too.

Although it featured a number of clips towards the end, it didn't feel like a lazy clip show since it had a lot of new accompanying scene featuring Hat and Eric going to the office of the Director General of the BBC to be thanked for their service to the company. This is one of those elements where lines get blurred and slightly irritate the logical side of my brain: it appears that Sid and Hat are actors in a TV series written by Eric, so they're effectively the real Eric Sykes and Hattie Jacques. But then Eric introduces Hattie as his sister, so we're to believe they're Eric and Hattie Sykes, siblings who live at Sebastopol Terrace. Certainly not one to over-think as it just leads to question after confusing question and no real answers. Still, it had some nice touches, including "Special Guest Celebrity" Les Dawson playing himself (though Sykes refers to him as "Des Lawson"), having just had his series cancelled in favour of another position. The end credits play out to Les vacuuming the DG's office with much flair.

The final series of Sykes was mostly fine, as this series goes. Some daft scenarios (the last "regular" episode was a riff on The Six Million Dollar Man, complete with Eric being rebuilt and leaping onto buses with cranking sound effects (I think it was a dream but I'd mostly tuned out by that point). There was no sign of the off-camera tensions between Eric and Hattie. In fact, in her first scene of the series Hattie got perhaps the biggest laugh from me when Eric surprised her and she removed her thumb from the top of a champagne bottle, spraying it all over him. Corny and cliched, yes, but it was very well done.

Following series' end, I've gone back to the first series to watch some of the bonus material. So far I've watched out-takes from four episodes, which mostly consists of bloopers and goofs. It's great fun to see this aspect of the series. Richard Wattis seems to have a quip for every occasion when he forgets his line (which seems quite frequent). And Hat's beaming smile on one of the few examples of her goofing was just a joy to behold. Better yet, because all this appears on the first series, even this supplemental material is wonderfully restored and looks pristine (sadly, only Series One was remastered to this degree. The rest of the series is noticeably poorer quality).

Shepherd's Hill is like a cross between Shepherd's Bush, which is about 5 miles away, and Horsenden Hill where it was actually filmed

Thanks for confirming. I'd thought it was a made-up name, but couldn't be certain.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

I've watched out-takes from four episodes, which mostly consists of bloopers and goofs.

Over a few nights I've now watched the outtakes from the whole first series. It's a fascinating treat to see bloopers, unused takes, technical runs and that involve not only the Sykes team but also guests such as Joan Sims, Peter Sellers and Frank Thornton (with Joan Hickson in the background). Joan Sims, of course, was a riot - collapsing into tears of hysterical laughter whenever a line had been misspoken.

In the Sykes interviews featured elsewhere on the discs, Eric said that this was the only television Peter Sellers ever did, which is quite an accolade. He apparently agreed due to their friendship. He speaks very highly of Hattie, which is something.

Eric also mentioned that the warm-up man he selected was Felix Bowness, and there are clips and outtakes where Felix can be heard chattering to the audience between takes or during setup. One lengthy outtake has the camera holding on Peter the cuckoo clock as he is prepared by two props men, while both Felix and Eric can be heard telling a joke. Felix, of course, is best known to me as Fred the riding instructor from Hi-de-Hi!, so it's interesting to realise there's this side to his career that I don't remember being aware of. It seems he was also warm-up man for series such as The Two Ronnies and Morecambe & Wise, Wogan, Noel's House Party and even This Is Your Life. This would explain why Felix was Sykes's most oft-used recurring actor, playing numerous different roles throughout the series.

With this, and a short featurette on Series One's restoration, I can finally say I've watched the whole of the DVD set.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Next up is an injection of Eighties alternative wackiness....

Whoops Apocalypse is completely new to me. The blurb and DVD cover made it clear that it was going to be somewhat "out there", and it certainly is. It's rather Pythonesque, and could also be viewed as a live-action Spitting Image. Political satire doesn't always date well, but with the cyclical nature of these things it happens that a number of its elements feel as topical as ever.

Truthfully, even when purchasing this I did somewhat doubt that it would be my "thing". But I invested mainly for the numerous well-known faces, many of whom I wouldn't expect to see in the same series: on the "familiar from cosy sitcom" end of the spectrum there are Geoffrey Palmer, Bruce Montague (yes, both of Ria Parkinson's men), Peter Jones, Richard Davies and John "I didn't get where I am today..." Barron. At the other end are alternative comedians such as Rik Mayall and Alexei Sayle. Then there's the likes of John Cleese and Richard Griffiths. Strange bedfellows indeed.

What's great is that there are no sacred cows. The old pros are getting a lot of the sublimely ridiculous stuff.

A favourite ongoing plot of mine is Peter Jones's character (the British Prime Minister) being convinced he is actually Superman. His scenes have included removing his glasses to prove his secret identity; looking through the ceiling with his x-ray vision to anticipate danger (when challenged that he'd have known about this danger from the memo in his In tray, he rebutted that he was actually reading the memo in that very In tray through the ceiling); demonstrating his heat vision by setting fire to a waste paper bin (into which a lit cigarette just happened to have been thrown); and I really got the character when he lobbed a (very real) cape-wearing whippet from the window of Number 10 as he sent it on a mission. The poor dog hasn't been seen since.

Then there's poor Bruce Montague whose character - the Shah of Iran - has spent most of the series on the floor of the bogs of a cross-channel ferry, being badly attended to by David Kelly's Abdab who keeps a blindfold on so he's not dazzled by the Shah's brilliance.

Racial stereotypes abound, but it all feels equal opportunity, with the head of each country as incompetent as the next.

There's also randomness such as the fast-talking US newscaster who sounds like David "Kid" Jensen and looks like Maggie Forbes's boss from The Gentle Touch (until I looked this up, I was convinced it genuinely was William Marlowe); or John Cleese driving round a bomb which happens to look like a huge cock; and let's not forget the topless woman reading the News At Ten.

Already I'm two-thirds of the way through the series and I have no real idea of what's going on. Hit and miss it may be, but the hits haven't failed to make me grin.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

And in the blink of an eye, Whoops Apocalypse has happened. That is, I've completed the series but I still have the film version to watch.

The ending was surprisingly downbeat (downbeat, at least, for this series) with the reveal that the President's wife is the woman we see in the opening titles, sadly selling mushrooms to commemorate the post-nuclear situation. And it closed with the mellow version of the theme.

All in all, I think six episodes is enough, and I'm very curious to see how the film version compares. The tone of the final episode of the series can be summed up by drawing attention to Geoffrey Palmer playing very much against type in his final scene. What a sport (scene begins at 9:20, and GP appears at the ten minute mark in a rather eye-popping ensemble):

 

[Daniel Avery]

Looks like someone left Lionel's custard tart out in the sun too long.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Well, I rounded Whoops Apocalypse off with the later film version which was a bit more polished but not necessarily better. I preferred the series, my partner the film. Each was a unique story with a mostly different cast, so there's room for both. Frankly, I can't see myself watching either again now I've ticked that box.

Richard Davies links the Whoops series with my next sitcom, which is brand new to me...

Oh No It's Selwyn Froggitt also features Bill Dean among the many familiar character actors. Since I'm currently watching Bill in his best-known role as super-grouch Harry Cross in Brookside, it's enjoyable to see him playing a more breezy character here (not that Harry isn't amusing. Over in Brookie he's currently playing George Roper: fussy landlord to his three young tenants - made up of two women and a man - while bantering with his wife). Impressively, Bill has also written the series' theme song and performs it (presumably along with other cast members) with two sets of new lyrics for each episode: the opening lyrics serve to update us on recent goings on, or Selwyn's current ambition, while the end lyrics are a comical précis of the story we've just watched.

Title character Selwyn is played by Bill Maynard... one of those faces who seemed to be everywhere when I was young (in particular I remember staying up late to watch The Gaffer -probably on a Tuesday - was something of a regular treat, even though I now remember almost nothing about it other than the theme song, the Rover P6 and a drab office set).

He's playing against his usual loveable rogue type here, with Selwyn being a lumbering hulk with a naively childlike, overly-optimistic, can-do attitude. And this reminds me of another character from my Brookie rewatch: Alan Partridge. Here as there, the character can be annoying as hell. And in both cases it helps they everyone else find them annoying (hence the title).

Roy Clarke wrote the Pilot, and the Yorkshire scenery and many aspects - the almost mournful brass in the theme, the West Yorkshire scenery, the men doing their own thing, coming up with zany schemes while escaping the clutches of domineering or demanding women - will feel familiar to those who've seen Clarke's other series such as Last Of The Summer Wine or Open All Hours

It isn't laugh out loud funny, but the writing is nicely observed with enough identification to draw in the viewer and create a cosy (if predictable) world.

I've just wrapped up Series One and know there's a significant recast for Series Two. I love Lynda Baron in anything so I don't see that being a problem.

There may be trouble when I get to Series Four, since I've read about the retooling that took place and I don't like the sound of it. But hey-ho... I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Oh No It's Selwyn Froggitt is proving a very digestible series. Already I'm over the halfway line, having finished Series Two last night.

As expected, Lynda Baron has been a very watchable part of the second series. What I wasn't expecting was for Vera to have become a more integrated part of the series. Before, she'd drop in once every few episodes and look askance at Selwyn. Not only has Series Two seen Vera become a series regular, she's now also become a barmaid at the working men's club, meaning she's now present in Selwyn's home and social life. What's more, the home scenes have seen her and Maurice planning their wedding, with the final episode of Series Two featuring the happy day.

As is often the case with such recasts, I'm curious about the background. Welcome as Lynda Baron is, I thought Rosemary Martin's Vera was great as well and wonder why she didn't return: was she unavailable? Or perhaps it's Lynda who'd been unavailable for the first series. Did the powers that be want more of a "name"? Was the role beefed up because of the recast? Or vice versa? I'll probably never know.

The series does feel it's improved with Series Two. Not necessarily because of the recast (and certainly not solely for this reason), but it feels more polished and confident. And rather more purposeful.

 

[LMLDallas78]

Oh No It's Selwyn Froggitt is proving a very digestible series. Already I'm over the halfway line, having finished Series Two last night.

As expected, Lynda Baron has been a very watchable part of the second series. What I wasn't expecting was for Vera to have become a more integrated part of the series. Before, she'd drop in once every few episodes and look askance at Selwyn. Not only has Series Two seen Vera become a series regular, she's now also become a barmaid at the working men's club, meaning she's now present in Selwyn's home and social life. What's more, the home scenes have seen her and Maurice planning their wedding, with the final episode of Series Two featuring the happy day.

As is often the case with such recasts, I'm curious about the background. Welcome as Lynda Baron is, I thought Rosemary Martin's Vera was great as well and wonder why she didn't return: was she unavailable? Or perhaps it's Lynda who'd been unavailable for the first series. Did the powers that be want more of a "name"? Was the role beefed up because of the recast? Or vice versa? I'll probably never know.

The series does feel it's improved with Series Two. Not necessarily because of the recast (and certainly not solely for this reason), but it feels more polished and confident. And rather more purposeful.

Very distant memories of that show. My older brother used to love it.

I do remember the theme tune......I'm singing it now, "Selwyn froggitt was his name, never mind no never mind" (I think that's how it went or I've just made that up and will feel ridiculous if it's wrong)

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Very distant memories of that show. My older brother used to love it.

Like so many of these ITV sitcoms I'm discovering for the first time I have no memory of this. I don't think I was even aware of it.

It boggles my mind for a popular series that ran four years that it can avoid my radar completely. I'd have been a bit young to watch it first time round, but you'd think I'd have stumbled upon a repeat or heard someone talk about it.

I do remember the theme tune......I'm singing it now, "Selwyn froggitt was his name, never mind no never mind" (I think that's how it went or I've just made that up and will feel ridiculous if it's wrong)

Spot on... That's the one:

 

[LMLDallas78]

Like so many of these ITV sitcoms I'm discovering for the first time I have no memory of this.

Seems to be one of those that's easy to forget, not sure why but some just are. Probably those that aren't repeated and then re repeated for some reason or another. If I've mentioned it outside the family I get very blank looks until I sing that theme tune.

It ran for four years? That's certainly hard to believe.

I remember my brother found it hilarious which I was too young to appreciate. The only comedy he got me interested in was Laurel and Hardy, but that's another story!

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Probably those that aren't repeated and then re repeated for some reason or another.

With some sitcoms of the era I can understand they didn't date well with racial stereotyping and suchlike, but this series is inoffensive and is good clean fun. It's a puzzle why this didn't get repeated if it was popular. But I've said this about so many of these now-forgotten old sitcoms.

I'm just glad Network released so many of these hidden gems before it went to the great distributing house in the sky.

. If I've mentioned it outside the family I get very blank looks until I sing that theme tune.

It's funny, but I could swear it's familiar to me. But this could also be because it's such an earworm and I've heard it a lot in the last few days.

It ran for four years? That's certainly hard to believe.

Yes indeed. Four series running from the beginning of '76 to the end of '78 (there were two series in '77). But the pilot was back in late '74.

I'm nearing the end of the third series, and I've read that there's a huge change for the final one. The name was changed to just Selwyn, with the character transplanted to a holiday camp or something. I've grown to adore the ensemble and the gorgeous Yorkshire locations, so I'm not looking forward to the retooling at all.

 

[AndyB2008]

Selwyn Froggitt did get repeated in the dying days of the Forces TV channel, when that moved from a military themed channel to airing classic US and UK shows.

In fact the last programme to air on Forces TV before the plug was pulled was the 1977 Christmas special of Selwyn Froggitt.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Selwyn Froggitt did get repeated in the dying days of the Forces TV channel, when that moved from a military themed channel to airing classic US and UK shows.

Looking at the timeline of that channel, that's very recently indeed. It only closed down last year.

In fact the last programme to air on Forces TV before the plug was pulled was the 1977 Christmas special of Selwyn Froggitt.

Oh wow. I'll try and retain that as you never know when this kind of trivia may come in useful.

Funnily enough, I watched that very episode last night. It was a decent end to the original recipe series. Then, of course, I had to look it up to get some context. It seems it aired on Tuesday 27th December 1977, sandwiched between Crossroads and Max's Holiday Hour (with Mr Bygraves). Halcyon days.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Following On The Feast Of Selwyn, I began the sequel series:

Very early on in viewing Oh No It's Selwyn Froggitt, I found the character of Selwyn just too much. His over-enthusiastic rantings paired with his over-optimism made him grate a little. As the series found its feet I grew to really like the character, not least because of the dynamics of the ensemble.

My one complaint about Selwyn's "friends" was that they were written to be cruel towards him at times. Practical joke after practical joke and endless leg-pulling and gags at his expense. It worked in the series' favour, though, because it made the character of Selwyn more sympathetic and in turn more likeable. And, because the group was played by a team of good character actors, they too remained likeable. It all worked, and any tweaks made generally improved the series.

With the first episode of Selwyn, it's back to square one in all the wrong ways. The character is zany, over the top and completely out there without the all-important grounding that came from his family, friends and familiar environs. As a one-off, transplanting Selwyn to a holiday camp is a novelty (Sykes did the same thing fairly recently in this very thread), but I have to question how on earth permanently dumping the entire cast apart from one character got beyond the germ of an idea from a writer or producer.

Adding insult to injury, the sequel series even attempts to replicate a key dynamic from the earlier series by having immediate enmity between Selwyn and the Welsh colleague who has no patience for his Selwynisms. Except this time round, the character isn't played by a Welsh actor. I did think for a time it was actually Scottish actor Fulton Mackay, but it's actually English actor Bernard Gallagher, probably best known to me as Ewart Plimmer in Casualty.

We're only just finding our bearings with the new series since much of the first episode was about Selwyn's coach journey to reach the dilapidated camp (evidently part of an old RAF base or something, since the "road" where Selwyn was very clearly part of an airfield). As such, I'm not giving up on it completely. I knew this reboot was coming and it's certainly no worse than anticipated. But I will say that the familiar faces and places from the original Selwyn series are much-missed.

 

[LMLDallas78]

Following On The Feast Of Selwyn,

Was Bill Maynard most famous for his role in Heartbeat as the loveable unlucky rogue Greengrass? I remember being aware that Selwyn Froggit was in it!

What else has he done, do you know?

 

[Angela Channing]

Like so many of these ITV sitcoms I'm discovering for the first time I have no memory of this. I don't think I was even aware of it.

I can't remember actually watching this show as I would have been very young at the time but I remember it originally went out at 8pm on Monday, opposite Panorama on BBC1, which was preferable and kind of illustrates how highly it was regarded in our household. I do recall seeing clips of it that ITV would trail to promote the show and thinking how annoying Selwyn was and thinking that the humour that was the premise of the show would wear very thin very quickly.

It's a shame because the actress who played his mother (or was she just a mother figure) I had seen in several other things and always thought she was really good and very likeable.

What else has he done, do you know?

I remember he stood for Parliament once but I don't remember which party he represented.

He had a son who performed in a band. The son was named after Bill but Equity rules meant that 2 artists couldn't have the same name so professionally he was known as Maynard Williams which I thought was kind of cute.

That about exhausts everything I know about Bill Maynard.

 

[LMLDallas78]

I remember he stood for Parliament once

Oh yes I vaguely remember that. I was just starting to show an interest in politics. I'm sure it was for Labour and he went up against Tony Benn?

He had a son who performed in a band.

I have no recollection of that, I agree about the name being kind if cute.

I also remember my parents talking of him and Terry Scott, how they worked together at Butlins (Skegness I think) as so many entertainers did back then before they broke onto TV.

 

[Angela Channing]

I also remember my parents talking of him and Terry Scott, how they worked together at Butlins (Skegness I think) as so many entertainers did back then before they broke onto TV.

I had no idea that Terry Scott (and Bill Maynard for that matter) had a career in entertainment before he appeared on TV and films. I can't imagine Terry Scott doing stand up or something that would have required him to think on his feet but maybe I'm doing him a disservice.