The Night Mail

[J. S. Bach]

The only UK tv program (series?) that I have seen was "The Crown"; I thoroughly enjoyed it. The actor doing Churchill got it extremely right!

[ian@stenochs]

35 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

"Porridge" now seems an overidealised representation of life behind bars...

 

 

It was/is a light comedy not a documentary!

[polybear]

1 hour ago, Hroth said:

"Porridge" now seems an overidealised representation of life behind bars...

 

 

One of the best comedies ever in this Bear's book.  Pure genius.

[rockershovel]

Dads Army  is COMPLETELY about English petty snobbery and social standing. 

 

Look at the relationship between the very middle class Mr Mainwaring and his supposed subordinate, the louche and at times dreamy but very much socially superior Wilson (whose knack of handling the platoon is ultimately revealed to be due to his WW1 combat experience)

 

Jones is a complex character. There is his barbed tradesman/bank manager relationship with Mainwaring, along with his unthinking respect for Mainwaring's "commission" (which he shows at times, he is well aware isn't a true commission at all). It's also implied that Jones and probably Godfrey and Fraser know that Wilson holds a commission, and should properly be in command.

 

Nobody wants to be on the wrong side of Jones, because he controls the meat ration. 

 

There's the neat bait-and-switch regarding Godfrey's WW1 experience. 

 

Everyone (with the possible exception of Godfrey, and certainly Pike himself) knows perfectly well that Wilson is probably Pike's father. 

 

Mainwaring looks down on Joe the spiv, but still wants to do business with him...

 

There is Jones' late marriage to Mrs Fox (was she the same actress who came on at the end in the Morecambe and Wise Show ?)

 

The pompous, bullying Verger and ARP Warden, and the unctuous, ineffectual Vicar are straight out of the pages of Dickens, and more recent radio comedy of the 1950s and 1960s. 

 

I don't suppose it does travel well. 

Edited May 3 by rockershovel

[rockershovel]

 

39 minutes ago, ian@stenochs said:

 

 

It was/is a light comedy not a documentary!

 

Pure genius. Some of the best character comedy around. 

 

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

The  episode  of the Oz cartoon show Bluey, called "Dad Baby" where Dad Heeler pretends to give birth as part of a game with his kids  was today finally made available to US audiences via the official Bluey youtube channel, after 4 years of Disney + refusing to show it.

 

Theories why it was "banned" by Disney range from the fact that it depicts childbirth, albeit in a novelty manner including a midwife who is the bloke from next door who just wants to go and watch the cricket.  Other more loopy theories involve the ridiculous idea that because the Dad is pretending to give birth it is grooming children into accepting trans stuff. Or something.

 

Allowing for my patriotic bias, Bluey is by far the best show that's been on the  telly for yonks.   Close second would be Mr Inbetween, then Deadloch - an Australian take on the endless billions of English and Scandinavian police dramas. Though being Australian  there is a willy in the first 5 minutes - something that  Father Brown never had to deal with.

My younger granddaughter adores 'Bluey', and  is in North Wales today for the Bluey stage show.

 

I've not seen 'Mr Inbetween' apart from a few clips on Youtube, and having seeing those, it is a series I'd like to watch.

 

I have seen 'Deadloch' and thoroughly enjoyed it, appreciating it was an enormous p*ss take on all the Northern hemisphere police dramas.

 

On the US TV scene I enjoyed  both 'Person of Interest' and 'Justified'.

[jjb1970]

Ronnie Barker was one of the great comedy actors, he was great. I loved 'Open All Hours', I'm old enough to remember stores like Arkwright's as I was growing up in Carlisle, small shops ran by old men in brown coats which were open early to late and which seemed to sell everything.

[rockershovel]

4 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

As bad as presenting The Taming of the Shrew with an all female cast, as was done not so long ago to great acclaim by the “luvvy” fraternity. I once sat through (to say ‘watched’ would be suggesting I may have enjoyed it) a performance of Twelfth Night set for some reason in Edwardian times and costumes, the low spot of which was when Malvolio appeared for the ‘cross garters’ scene in typically Edwardian costume but with crossed bl00dy garters on his trousers! I burst out laughing and although many others in the audience followed my lead I also got filthy looks from quite a few.

 

Dave 

I saw a version of this in which Malvolio appeared in plus-fours with vividly patterned yellow golf socks, matching tie and two-tone shoes. It worked very well, being conspicuous, out of character and rather absurd - but you COULD see a younger, more handsome man cutting a dash in a similar outfit. 

Edited May 3 by rockershovel

[rockershovel]

Keeping Up Appearances could charitably be described as "clichéd and under-written" but Hyacinth "Bouquet" Bucket is a gem, my late ma could be just like that....

[rockershovel]

Dad's Army also has that important ingredient often omitted, pathos. 

 

The episode concerning Wilsons appointment to his own branch is pure drama, you KNOW it won't end well. 

 

The sustained running gag about the unseen Mrs Mainwaring is essentially at Mainwaring's expense, as is the episode in which he pursues a potentially career-ending flirtation in the tea-shop 

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

I've not seen 'Mr Inbetween' apart from a few clips on Youtube, and having seeing those, it is a series I'd like to watch.

 

 

An awesome show. Heres a scene that includes notorious arachnaphobe  @polybear ,  assuming  @polybear runs  a strip club in Kings Cross in Sydney.

 

(The bald bloke is Mr Inbetween,  a hitman employed by @polybear, if @polybear ran a strip club...etc etc..)

 

 

 

Edited May 3 by monkeysarefun

[Willie Whizz]

The gentle comedy of Dad’s Army benefits from our hindsight of course. Those men were never called upon, but would indeed have been the ‘first line of defence’ had there been an invasion; and for a parallel look at Germany in 1945. Their equivalent, the Volksturm, included a lot of WWI veterans too, and killed a lot of Allied soldiers and helped delay their advance even though poorly equipped and of … shall we say … variable morale and motivation. 
 

And Captain Mainwaring, although mostly a buffoon, is shown in a handful of episodes as not lacking in personal courage when he thinks the chips are down. 
 

Fortunately we never had to find out how they would have performed, but sometimes people will do remarkable things in direct defence of their homes. One of the writers had served in the Home Guard as a young man - effectively the “real” Private Pike - and he knew of what he wrote. 

[jamie92208]

4 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

The  episode  of the Oz cartoon show Bluey, called "Dad Baby" where Dad Heeler pretends to give birth as part of a game with his kids  was today finally made available to US audiences via the official Bluey youtube channel, after 4 years of Disney + refusing to show it.

 

Theories why it was "banned" by Disney range from the fact that it depicts childbirth, albeit in a novelty manner including a midwife who is the bloke from next door who just wants to go and watch the cricket.  Other more loopy theories involve the ridiculous idea that because the Dad is pretending to give birth it is grooming children into accepting trans stuff. Or something.

 

Allowing for my patriotic bias, Bluey is by far the best  Australian show that's been on the  telly for yonks.   Close second would be Mr Inbetween, then Deadloch - an Australian take on the endless billions of English and Scandinavian police dramas. Though being Australian  there is a willy in the first 5 minutes - something that  Father Brown never had to deal with.

My granddaughter was 5 on Wednesday, or was it 15. She got a lot of Bluey themed presents and loves the show, I have watched many hours of it with her. 

 

Jamie

[Oldddudders]

6 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

The global merchant fleet today would stop overnight without Asian seafarers. It's a cliche but not that far off the mark that Indian officers with Filipino and Indonesian ratings keep the fleet moving.

Not to mention their total monopoly of the hospitality staff on cruise ships, at least the Olsen ones we patronise. Generally smiley, desperate to please. And you learn that the attractive young woman brining your Cava has a child hardly out of nappies at home in the Philippines, being looked after by granny. Off round the UK next week, calling at Belfast, Stornoway and Lerwick. 

[Darlington_Shed]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I enjoyed  both 'Person of Interest' and 'Justified'

 

You are a hippo of impeccable taste and discernment 👍

[Dave Hunt]

I think that Keeping up Appearances is being shown on Drama at present. It has often puzzled me as to why someone as talented as Michael Crawford, who could sing, dance and act with the best of them, allowed himself to be part of something as dire as Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, which must be in line for the award of the worst sitcom (allegedly) ever produced. Facile, ridiculous and quite unfunny would be reasonable descriptors I think. 

 

Dave

 

 

Edited May 3 by Dave Hunt

[Dave Hunt]

38 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

Not to mention their total monopoly of the hospitality staff on cruise ships, at least the Olsen ones we patronise. Generally smiley, desperate to please. And you learn that the attractive young woman brining your Cava has a child hardly out of nappies at home in the Philippines, being looked after by granny. Off round the UK next week, calling at Belfast, Stornoway and Lerwick. 

 

Saga cruise ships are similarly virtually 100% Philippino in the hospitality department. Our cabin stewardess looked to be in her early 30s and had two children at home being looked after by her mother. Her contract was for 8 months with no days off then 4 months at home and apparently she and her colleagues were relatively well looked after, including help for their families if in trouble. She said that she was lucky to work for Saga as the jobs were much valued.

 

Dave

[Rugd1022]

9 hours ago, Willie Whizz said:

Back in the 60s and 70s it was often the case that it wasn’t just “the best actor for the job”, but that X was “the only actor for [that sort of] job”. 
 

You want an oily-looking, smarmy-sounding gent of vaguely Levantine appearance?  You need Steve Plytas!  You want an Eastern European, rather sinister looking, Putin before Putin type?  You want Vladek Sheybal!  A cynical, coldly calculating Nazi? Anton Diffring is your man!

 

A look at the cast lists of many of the series dramas of the day will see these guys appearing time after time. 

 

 

 

Vladek Sheybal was cast as a doctor in 'UFO', slightly against type but still with that sinister vibe he so often gave on screen.

 

See also :

 

George Murcell, often cast as a Russian, Eastern European or occasionally South American in numerous ITC series and the odd film...

 

 

Roger Delgado, the go to actor for a middle eastern sheik and fabulous as the original Master in Dr.Who...

 

 

Derek Newark, a regular ITC supporting actor when a bit of good old fashioned British thuggery was needed...

 

 

 

Oh, and talk of Peter Salis in 'Last Of The Summer Wine' reminded me that he played a sinister villain in an episode of 'The Persuaders' before landing the part of Clegg!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rockershovel]

6 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Saga cruise ships are similarly virtually 100% Philippino in the hospitality department. Our cabin stewardess looked to be in her early 30s and had two children at home being looked after by her mother. Her contract was for 8 months with no days off then 4 months at home and apparently she and her colleagues were relatively well looked after, including help for their families if in trouble. She said that she was lucky to work for Saga as the jobs were much valued.

 

Dave

The Phillipines actually have State funded training courses for deck crew, hospitality and catering staff. 

 

I've had plenty of experience of bo'suns, deck foremen and the like and they know their business. 

 

[rockershovel]

11 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Saga cruise ships are similarly virtually 100% Philippino in the hospitality department. Our cabin stewardess looked to be in her early 30s and had two children at home being looked after by her mother. Her contract was for 8 months with no days off then 4 months at home and apparently she and her colleagues were relatively well looked after, including help for their families if in trouble. She said that she was lucky to work for Saga as the jobs were much valued.

 

Dave

I've done rotations of 90 days on, 30 off - sometimes known as a "Yankee" because its mostly an American thing. Sometimes it's 10 weeks on, 3 off or 11 on, 3 off but it's much the same. Most recently in Sakhalin. 

 

Australian and NZ personnel in ME commonly work 6 months straight through. 

 

This used to be quite common fir merchant seamen. Captain Ericson from The Cruel Sea is described as being away from home for several months at a time in the 1930s. 

[rockershovel]

2 hours ago, Willie Whizz said:

The gentle comedy of Dad’s Army benefits from our hindsight of course. Those men were never called upon, but would indeed have been the ‘first line of defence’ had there been an invasion; and for a parallel look at Germany in 1945. Their equivalent, the Volksturm, included a lot of WWI veterans too, and killed a lot of Allied soldiers and helped delay their advance even though poorly equipped and of … shall we say … variable morale and motivation. 
 

And Captain Mainwaring, although mostly a buffoon, is shown in a handful of episodes as not lacking in personal courage when he thinks the chips are down. 
 

Fortunately we never had to find out how they would have performed, but sometimes people will do remarkable things in direct defence of their homes. One of the writers had served in the Home Guard as a young man - effectively the “real” Private Pike - and he knew of what he wrote. 

- Godfrey is shown to have a MM awarded for his work as a stretcher-bearer in WW1

- Wilson was a Captain in the artillery(?) in WW1

- Fraser and one of the others go out to lay obstacles in the path of a tank - a suicidal errand. There is no tank, but they don't know that.

- Jones is mostly depicted as an addled veteran of wars long since forgotten even then, but his chest full of medals is quite impressive 

 

A couple of my great-uncles were in the Home Guard. Don't forget that conscription age was 35 or so; these were mostly combat veterans in their forties and fifties in 1940

 

[Dave Hunt]

14 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

The Phillipines actually have State funded training courses for deck crew, hospitality and catering staff. 

 

Sorry, I should have said hospitality and catering staff. The only senior officer on the ship we were on seemed to be the Chief Engineer who, appropriately enough, was Scots. 

 

Dave

[Hroth]

3 hours ago, Willie Whizz said:

The gentle comedy of Dad’s Army benefits from our hindsight of course. Those men were never called upon, but would indeed have been the ‘first line of defence’ had there been an invasion; and for a parallel look at Germany in 1945. Their equivalent, the Volksturm, included a lot of WWI veterans too, and killed a lot of Allied soldiers and helped delay their advance even though poorly equipped and of … shall we say … variable morale and motivation. 
 

And Captain Mainwaring, although mostly a buffoon, is shown in a handful of episodes as not lacking in personal courage when he thinks the chips are down. 
 

Fortunately we never had to find out how they would have performed, but sometimes people will do remarkable things in direct defence of their homes. One of the writers had served in the Home Guard as a young man - effectively the “real” Private Pike - and he knew of what he wrote. 

 

Some Home Guard were trained as "stay behind" resistance if the Germans had landed and rolled over their unfortunate colleagues. A suicide mission, if captured they would have been shot out of hand.

 

[polybear]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

I think that Keeping up Appearances is being shown on Drama at present.

 

That's one programme I just could not stand - because of that sn0tty woman.  I recall some guy who collected Autographs (he had hundreds - if not thousands) and she was the only person who would repeatedly refuse every time.

 

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

It has often puzzled me as to why someone as talented as Michael Crawford, who could sing, dance and act with the best of them, allowed himself to be part of something as dire as Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, which must be in line for the award of the worst sitcom (allegedly) ever produced. Facile, ridiculous and quite unfunny would be reasonable descriptors I think. 

 

Dave

 

But wasn't that the programme that set him on the road to stardom?

[Dave Hunt]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

It has often puzzled me as to why someone as talented as Michael Crawford, who could sing, dance and act with the best of them, allowed himself to be part of something as dire as Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, which must be in line for the award of the worst sitcom (allegedly) ever produced. Facile, ridiculous and quite unfunny would be reasonable descriptors I think. 

 

12 minutes ago, polybear said:

But wasn't that the programme that set him on the road to stardom?

 

I don't think so. He was one of the leads in Hello Dolly in 1969 but Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em didn't start until 1973.

 

Dave