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<blockquote data-quote="Mel O&amp;#039;Drama" data-source="post: 387345" data-attributes="member: 23">After being quite blown away by the opening episodes, the last two-thirds of the first In Sickness... series felt as though they settled down into something a little more ordinary. It was still watchable and enjoyable, but I&#039;d say my expectations had been raised by the first two... perhaps unrealistically so.Wow. I&#039;d forgotten just how &#039;out there&#039; Winston was. He is presented as stereotypical on a number of levels, but this seems as much a statement on the character&#039;s unapologetic, confrontational nature as it does his race or sexuality. There&#039;s a sense that he plays up to certain stereotypes so that others - and Alf in particular - can&#039;t do anything but acknowledge him as both a gay man and a black man. During his second appearance in particular, his part in the series suddenly clicked with me. Firstly, he&#039;s very much filling the gap vacated by Mike: the progressive left wing character who threatens Alf&#039;s right wing sensibilities simply by being under his very roof on a daily basis. However there was also a moment where Alf was ranting at Winston and Winston in return was facing him head on, widening his eyes sarcastically before leaning in and attempting to kiss Alf that made me realise Winston is also filling the &quot;Rita&quot; role: the one who teasingly indulges Alf while colluding with Else against him. There was an irony to this particular moment because it was the only Series One episode to feature Rita, and so Una Stubbs was present and laughing during the mock kiss. This created a sense of the torch being passed. Arthur English has now made a couple of appearances playing Arthur, who is this series&#039; version of Bert. He and Warren Mitchell play well off one another, as Arthur enables Alf with his equally preposterous theories (such as the one about mince and beef burgers creating &quot;poofters&quot; because female hormones are pumped into the ear of bulls to make them bigger for the meat market, with the head then ground down to make mince). And this philosophy is what diminished Alf in the jet-propelled wheelchair in Episode Six. In this case it was very clearly a stunt double taking Warren&#039;s place, and this took away the reality of the situation and showed this for just a standard Big Stunt Moment which could have appeared in any old BBC sitcom of the era, from &#039;Allo &#039;Allo to Only Fools And Horses. </blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mel O'Drama, post: 387345, member: 23"] After being quite blown away by the opening episodes, the last two-thirds of the first [I]In Sickness..[/I]. series felt as though they settled down into something a little more ordinary. It was still watchable and enjoyable, but I'd say my expectations had been raised by the first two... perhaps unrealistically so. Wow. I'd forgotten just how 'out there' Winston was. He is presented as stereotypical on a number of levels, but this seems as much a statement on the character's unapologetic, confrontational nature as it does his race or sexuality. There's a sense that he plays up to certain stereotypes so that others - and Alf in particular - can't do anything but acknowledge him as both a gay man and a black man. During his second appearance in particular, his part in the series suddenly clicked with me. Firstly, he's very much filling the gap vacated by Mike: the progressive left wing character who threatens Alf's right wing sensibilities simply by being under his very roof on a daily basis. However there was also a moment where Alf was ranting at Winston and Winston in return was facing him head on, widening his eyes sarcastically before leaning in and attempting to kiss Alf that made me realise Winston is also filling the "Rita" role: the one who teasingly indulges Alf while colluding with Else against him. There was an irony to this particular moment because it was the only Series One episode to feature Rita, and so Una Stubbs was present and laughing during the mock kiss. This created a sense of the torch being passed. Arthur English has now made a couple of appearances playing Arthur, who is this series' version of Bert. He and Warren Mitchell play well off one another, as Arthur enables Alf with his equally preposterous theories (such as the one about mince and beef burgers creating "poofters" because female hormones are pumped into the ear of bulls to make them bigger for the meat market, with the head then ground down to make mince). And this philosophy is what diminished Alf in the jet-propelled wheelchair in Episode Six. In this case it was very clearly a stunt double taking Warren's place, and this took away the reality of the situation and showed this for just a standard Big Stunt Moment which could have appeared in any old BBC sitcom of the era, from [I]'Allo 'Allo [/I]to[I] Only Fools And Horses. [/I] [/QUOTE]

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Who played JR Ewing?