There Goes the Groom

P

PKDurham

Active Member
This has always been one of my least favourite episodes, partly because it's a retread of the far superior 'Uncle of the Bride', but also because of the quality of the acting. Or should I say, lack of quality.

I know it was a hastily written script after Brian Wilde dropped out, but surely that can't excuse the appalling acting on display...the bridegroom, the postmistress, the postmistress' neighbour. All are (in my opinion) terrible performances. Even some of the regulars aren't on the best of form (others may disagree but I think even the ever reliable Peter Sallis overacts horribly in the end scene of taking the phone call from foggy)

Watching it again on Gold yesterday just reinforced my view that this really is in my bottom 5 episodes. Anyone agree? Or do you think I'm totally wrong? Love to hear others opinions
 
I think the problem is we had some really good specials earlier in the series with the exception of Dream Acres, and I think anything that came later could not compare to the earlier ones
 
Alan Bell denies that it was written late, but I agree that it has all the indications of something being hastily rewritten at the last second when they realized Brian Wilde was not going to appear in it. I don't know that we can blame the actors as a result, especially as the series that followed was filmed before that from what I can tell and the performances are fine there.
 
Definitely an improvement on Extra Extra the year before!

I have no issue with this special - it's a good introduction to Truly - though the double for Foggy was a strange way to go.

By now the series had become less believable, and the acting was usually wooden or childish - I have to say.

There Goes the Groom is very similar to Uncle of the Bride, yet I do think There Goes the Groom has many good points.

Doesn't this one have the bride preparing for her wedding, and we can hear her thoughts? I like that, very dramatic. Getting Sam Home featured people's thoughts too.
 
I think the trouble was we had been spoilt in the 80s with the classic's Uncle of the Bride CRUM'S, What's Santa Bought for Nora then, that any future special's would have to have been extra special.
 
Another potential factor is the fact Roy Clarke was in essence writing 30 minute episodes for the main series , the specials are longer ,in terms of air time, and to write them takes greater inventiveness if the episodes are to be of the high quality that the main series episodes exude .
 
The good feature length specials such as Getting Sam Home and Uncle of the Bride were made in isolation - there was no new series that particular year, so perhaps there was more time to produce a masterpiece.

Even specials like Crums and What's Santa Brought for Nora Then? were made when a series consisted of only about six episodes.

I think eventually making a series with ten or so episodes compromised everything, probably because more cast members were needed, ideas were being re-used, and some people were on auto-pilot.
 
I quite liked it, it's a lot better than Dream Aches and Extra Extra but the post ladies neighbour was a bit "Odd" but she did reminded me of my favourite Auntie Dot.
 
wstol said:
Definitely an improvement on Extra Extra the year before!

I have no issue with this special - it's a good introduction to Truly - though the double for Foggy was a strange way to go.

By now the series had become less believable, and the acting was usually wooden or childish - I have to say.

There Goes the Groom is very similar to Uncle of the Bride, yet I do think There Goes the Groom has many good points.

Doesn't this one have the bride preparing for her wedding, and we can hear her thoughts? I like that, very dramatic. Getting Sam Home featured people's thoughts too.
Click to expand...
I have always thought that Brian Wilde must have waited until the last minute to tell them that he wouldn't be available and caused them to be unable to get the usual double so they had to draft someone on the staff who was tall and gangly. And as another note, PBS (US) NEVER runs the specials so here in the US the cast changes are always a surprise.
 
Adanor said:
I have always thought that Brian Wilde must have waited until the last minute to tell them that he wouldn't be available and caused them to be unable to get the usual double so they had to draft someone on the staff who was tall and gangly. And as another note, PBS (US) NEVER runs the specials so here in the US the cast changes are always a surprise.
Click to expand...

It was sudden, but not Brian Wilde's fault. He had come down with shingles and his doctor had told him that there was no way to know whether it would be a mild case or an immobilizing one, so he dropped out as a precaution against having to drop out at an even more inconvenient juncture.
 
I agree. Understandably shingles can buffalo anyone and cannot be predicable. Brian Wilde took the only sure course of action.
 
I tend to agree that there were some superb earlier specials and thus they did not always sparkle in quite the same way later on.

Best ones were for me

Getting Sam Home
Crums
Loxley Lozenge
A present for Norah
All mod conned
A Dewhirst up a fir tree
Whoops
Barry's Christ,as - no actual on screen title
Welcome to Earth
Last Post and Pigeon
 
Marianna said:
It was sudden, but not Brian Wilde's fault. He had come down with shingles and his doctor had told him that there was no way to know whether it would be a mild case or an immobilizing one, so he dropped out as a precaution against having to drop out at an even more inconvenient juncture.
Click to expand...

That caused him to miss the start of the series filming, but There Goes the Groom was filmed last. By then, according to even Alan Bell, Wilde was healthy enough to appear. Bells account is that he effectively fired Wilde before that. Another account is that Wilde intended to appear in the special and come back the next series but there was some sort of scheduling conflict with the special. Either way, to me the special comes across as a last minute change of plans.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top