David Piper
Dedicated Member
Can anyone here confirm as to whether Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In ever aired in the UK? Compo's quoting of the famous Arte Johnson catch phrase was a pleasant surprise.
Series Three (1976) Episode Reviews
- Thread starter David Piper
- Start date
RickAns
Dedicated Member
Found this from wiki:
And this album from the U.K.
International and U.S. re-broadcasts
The first four seasons were broadcast on BBC2 from January 1969 to November 1971.[29] Some episodes from seasons 1, 2 and 3 were retransmitted during late 1983 and early 1984. Early broadcasts had to be shown with a black border, as technology was not available to render the 525-line NTSC video recording as a full-screen 625-line PAL picture. This issue was fixed for later broadcasts.
And this album from the U.K.
Rowan & Martin - Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (UK 1968) - Amazon.com Music
Rowan & Martin - Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (UK 1968) - Amazon.com Music
www.amazon.com
Roger
Dedicated Member
He is also mentioned in Flower Power Cut. "Doesn't he know how big your Eric is in bone-crushing circles?"
theatrically_inclined
Dedicated Member
I think that is a different Eric, the one we see at Gordon's wedding does not look like the "bone crushing" type! I suspect that might have been meant to be a reference to "Big Malcolm" (ex-wrestler Paul Luty).
The name "Eric" crops up several more times as a relative of Compo, but their defining characteristics mean they can't all be the same person!
- Eric: “had skin like a lily ... died young”
- Eric: who is said to be “tall and strong”
codfanglers
Dedicated Member
And I have mentioned a few times, we simply have to remember what when written and directed, Clarke and Co. just didn't realize these shows would be dissected nearly 50 years later! It is a fun discussion though.
Roger
Dedicated Member
Clegg was talking about the dangers of being "a witness against a Simmonite" when he mentioned Eric so he may not have been the same Eric but definitely a Simmonite.
I think Eric was probably a common name used by Roy Clarke, Foggy 'bought' his Christmas Trees off a Big Eric in A Dewhurst Up a Fir Tree
And I think Barry had an Uncle Eric, probably Who's that Bloke with Nora Barry Then?
imitation700mb
Dedicated Member
Wasn't it also Eric that was "thrown" under a bus for offering the conductress a pound?
Roger
Dedicated Member
That was Ernie Bignall.
David Piper
Dedicated Member
(S03 E07) Isometrics and After
Original Airdate: December 8, 1976
Foggy starts a fitness regimen for the trio.
"I do enjoy hearing people discuss politics; it makes you realize there are things more boring than growing old.”
~Norman Clegg
Over the opening credits is a beautiful view of the rolling countryside.
Compo has a religious debate with Foggy like the kind he would have had with Cyril Blamire. In fact, this episode features lots of Blamire-era material and at times feels like either a nostalgic return to that already-distant-feeling time of Summer Wine.
Foggy to Compo: “Don’t you believe in any power greater than the chairman of your local National Assistance Board?”
"The National Assistance Board was established by the National Assistance Act 1948 and abolished by the Ministry of Social Security Act 1966. It was preceded by the Unemployment Assistance Board and succeeded by the Supplementary Benefit Commission.
“The National Assistance Act 1946 required local authorities, under the control of the board, to provide residential accommodation for older and disabled people ‘in need of care and attention which is not otherwise available to them’. They were also able to register and inspect homes run by charitable (non-profit) and private (for profit) organizations and to contribute to independent organisations providing ‘recreation or meals for old people’ or themselves provide these, or day centres, clubs etc.” [Wikipedia]
Compo’s infamous matchbox makes its first appearance. He shows its contents to Miss Moody, Foggy, Clegg, and Nora Batty, who all react with varying degrees of revulsion and disgust.
This marks the final appearance of librarian Mr. Wainwright (Blake Butler) and his assistant, Miss Moody (Kate Brown). Wainwright throws the trio out of the library one last time. Miss Moody is clearly more literate than her boss, as she quotes The Wasteland (1922) by the poet T.S. Eliot (1888-1965). Wainwright not only doesn’t know The Wasteland, he doesn’t even know who T.S. Eliot was!
"American-English poet, playwright, literary critic, and editor, a leader of the Modernist movement in poetry in such works as The Waste Land (1922) and Four Quartets (1943). Eliot exercised a strong influence on Anglo-American culture from the 1920s until late in the century. His experiments in diction, style, and versification revitalized English poetry, and in a series of critical essays he shattered old orthodoxies and erected new ones. The publication of Four Quartets led to his recognition as the greatest living English poet and man of letters, and in 1948 he was awarded both the Order of Merit and the Nobel Prize for Literature.” [Britannica]
These days, Eliot is probably best known for his connection to the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats (1981), which is based on Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (1939).
There’s a scene shot from quite a distance of the trio walking through town while conversing about exercise and death. Off to the far right corner of the frame is a building emitting a wide plume of smoke. Clegg has a couple of good lines: "We’re gonna die in about a hundred years. Is it really worth bothering to get fit?” and “You need a book to teach yourself how to die? Now there’s a novel thing!” Clegg is still philosophical, but no longer the adventurous risk-taker he was in Series One and Two.
Speaking of blight, the cafe looks even grubbier than usual and the lighting of the place adds considerably to the depressing atmosphere.
Nora Batty is working at the cafe, and even if she hadn’t been wearing hair curlers, our Mrs. Batty still looks quite out of place working for Sid and Ivy. Maybe Nora’s just cleaning up and doesn’t interact with the paying customers.
Ivy goes on yet another man-hating rant and Sid is not inclined to stand up to her and is instead happy to crack wise with the trio. If Sid has his way, he would make the trio a quartet.
Sid brings out a box of “Doggy Scoff.” Hopefully Sid and Ivy are just using a dog food box to hold napkins or towels…
The sequence in which the trio runs up the hill is impressive. None of my family of that age ever ran with the speed at which Compo does here.
It looks as though the heatwave of previous Series Three episodes has given way to overcast and chilly weather.
The isometrics set piece, in which the trio yank the top from the reading room table, is an appropriate send off for the library set.
The trio riding on horseback is a cozy finish to the episode, with another long shot of the trio sauntering away from the camera. Their lack of control over the horses is relaxing and neither tense nor packed with slapstick…it’s just Foggy gently telling Clegg and Compo that the horses always know where home is as the trio make their way through a Cricket match in progress.
A laid-back end to Series Three. Isometrics and After has a modicum of plot and for the most feels like a Series One episode with the return of the reading room and the last hurrah of Mr. Wainwright. The episode qualifies as wistful nostalgia. One half expects Cyril Blamire to make an appearance to complete the tribute. It’s a classic ending to an episode that seemed to cover the ideas presented during the Blamire Era. It may have been Roy Clarke making use of some leftover ideas in his considerable bag of tricks.
My Rating: 8/10
Original Airdate: December 8, 1976
Foggy starts a fitness regimen for the trio.
"I do enjoy hearing people discuss politics; it makes you realize there are things more boring than growing old.”
~Norman Clegg
Over the opening credits is a beautiful view of the rolling countryside.
Compo has a religious debate with Foggy like the kind he would have had with Cyril Blamire. In fact, this episode features lots of Blamire-era material and at times feels like either a nostalgic return to that already-distant-feeling time of Summer Wine.
Foggy to Compo: “Don’t you believe in any power greater than the chairman of your local National Assistance Board?”
"The National Assistance Board was established by the National Assistance Act 1948 and abolished by the Ministry of Social Security Act 1966. It was preceded by the Unemployment Assistance Board and succeeded by the Supplementary Benefit Commission.
“The National Assistance Act 1946 required local authorities, under the control of the board, to provide residential accommodation for older and disabled people ‘in need of care and attention which is not otherwise available to them’. They were also able to register and inspect homes run by charitable (non-profit) and private (for profit) organizations and to contribute to independent organisations providing ‘recreation or meals for old people’ or themselves provide these, or day centres, clubs etc.” [Wikipedia]
Compo’s infamous matchbox makes its first appearance. He shows its contents to Miss Moody, Foggy, Clegg, and Nora Batty, who all react with varying degrees of revulsion and disgust.
This marks the final appearance of librarian Mr. Wainwright (Blake Butler) and his assistant, Miss Moody (Kate Brown). Wainwright throws the trio out of the library one last time. Miss Moody is clearly more literate than her boss, as she quotes The Wasteland (1922) by the poet T.S. Eliot (1888-1965). Wainwright not only doesn’t know The Wasteland, he doesn’t even know who T.S. Eliot was!
"American-English poet, playwright, literary critic, and editor, a leader of the Modernist movement in poetry in such works as The Waste Land (1922) and Four Quartets (1943). Eliot exercised a strong influence on Anglo-American culture from the 1920s until late in the century. His experiments in diction, style, and versification revitalized English poetry, and in a series of critical essays he shattered old orthodoxies and erected new ones. The publication of Four Quartets led to his recognition as the greatest living English poet and man of letters, and in 1948 he was awarded both the Order of Merit and the Nobel Prize for Literature.” [Britannica]
These days, Eliot is probably best known for his connection to the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats (1981), which is based on Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (1939).
There’s a scene shot from quite a distance of the trio walking through town while conversing about exercise and death. Off to the far right corner of the frame is a building emitting a wide plume of smoke. Clegg has a couple of good lines: "We’re gonna die in about a hundred years. Is it really worth bothering to get fit?” and “You need a book to teach yourself how to die? Now there’s a novel thing!” Clegg is still philosophical, but no longer the adventurous risk-taker he was in Series One and Two.
Speaking of blight, the cafe looks even grubbier than usual and the lighting of the place adds considerably to the depressing atmosphere.
Nora Batty is working at the cafe, and even if she hadn’t been wearing hair curlers, our Mrs. Batty still looks quite out of place working for Sid and Ivy. Maybe Nora’s just cleaning up and doesn’t interact with the paying customers.
Ivy goes on yet another man-hating rant and Sid is not inclined to stand up to her and is instead happy to crack wise with the trio. If Sid has his way, he would make the trio a quartet.
Sid brings out a box of “Doggy Scoff.” Hopefully Sid and Ivy are just using a dog food box to hold napkins or towels…
The sequence in which the trio runs up the hill is impressive. None of my family of that age ever ran with the speed at which Compo does here.
It looks as though the heatwave of previous Series Three episodes has given way to overcast and chilly weather.
The isometrics set piece, in which the trio yank the top from the reading room table, is an appropriate send off for the library set.
The trio riding on horseback is a cozy finish to the episode, with another long shot of the trio sauntering away from the camera. Their lack of control over the horses is relaxing and neither tense nor packed with slapstick…it’s just Foggy gently telling Clegg and Compo that the horses always know where home is as the trio make their way through a Cricket match in progress.
A laid-back end to Series Three. Isometrics and After has a modicum of plot and for the most feels like a Series One episode with the return of the reading room and the last hurrah of Mr. Wainwright. The episode qualifies as wistful nostalgia. One half expects Cyril Blamire to make an appearance to complete the tribute. It’s a classic ending to an episode that seemed to cover the ideas presented during the Blamire Era. It may have been Roy Clarke making use of some leftover ideas in his considerable bag of tricks.
My Rating: 8/10
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David Piper
Dedicated Member
Poll added. Which is your favorite Series Three episode?
My top three episodes of Series Three: ("Gold", "Silver", "Bronze"):
Gold: The Man From Oswestry
Silver: The Great Boarding-House Bathroom Caper
Bronze: Going to Gordon's Wedding
My top three episodes of Series Three: ("Gold", "Silver", "Bronze"):
Gold: The Man From Oswestry
Silver: The Great Boarding-House Bathroom Caper
Bronze: Going to Gordon's Wedding
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Re Isometrics and Library: I think this is the last time we see the library for a very long, possibly until the 1990s.
The library does pay a big part of the very last few series of LOTSW (mainly thanks to Miss Davenport), so I think that's fitting.
Don't forget the show was going to be called The Library Mob.
I think we assume going to the library was more of Blamire thing.
I believe it's this episode where Foggy is talking about "t' gees gees" - which I would say was more of a Blamire phrase than a Foggy phrase. I think this episode again would have been written with Blamire in mind.
The library does pay a big part of the very last few series of LOTSW (mainly thanks to Miss Davenport), so I think that's fitting.
Don't forget the show was going to be called The Library Mob.
I think we assume going to the library was more of Blamire thing.
I believe it's this episode where Foggy is talking about "t' gees gees" - which I would say was more of a Blamire phrase than a Foggy phrase. I think this episode again would have been written with Blamire in mind.
imitation700mb
Dedicated Member
Most of series 3 was written for Blamire, except Michael Bates had to pull out at the last minute, so there wasn't much time to alter the script to accommodate Foggy. He really made his mark in series 4
It makes me wonder whether one of the episodes from Series Four would have been written for Series Three.
No doubt Series Three was always going to be seven episodes, yet obviously, The Man from Oswestry would have been written from scratch at the last minute.
So the question is, which episode from Series Four may have been written in mind to be made as part of Series Three? Ferret Come Home seems a possibility, only because it's the first one from Series Four.
Or may it have been Who Made a Bit of a Splash in Wales, Then?, bearing in mind Blamire had a Girlfriend in Oswestry?? Two holidays in Series Three? Perhaps not.
EDIT INTENDED FOR MY EARLIER POST: I meant Gee Gees, not Gees Gees.
No doubt Series Three was always going to be seven episodes, yet obviously, The Man from Oswestry would have been written from scratch at the last minute.
So the question is, which episode from Series Four may have been written in mind to be made as part of Series Three? Ferret Come Home seems a possibility, only because it's the first one from Series Four.
Or may it have been Who Made a Bit of a Splash in Wales, Then?, bearing in mind Blamire had a Girlfriend in Oswestry?? Two holidays in Series Three? Perhaps not.
EDIT INTENDED FOR MY EARLIER POST: I meant Gee Gees, not Gees Gees.
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imitation700mb
Dedicated Member
My guess would be Isometrics, as it has a scene in the library, synonymous with the Blamire episodes.
No - you misunderstand - I mean which episode from Series FOUR may have been planned to be part of Series THREE.
(Because they had to write a new episode for the start of Series Three to explain the absence of Blamire.)
codfanglers
Dedicated Member
I just had to vote for Bathroom Caper, but season 3 is just so stacked with outstanding episodes.
imitation700mb
Dedicated Member
Ah, I'm with you now. An episode from series four that could have been part of series three if Blamire hadn't left when he did and caused the need to write a new episode for Foggy's introduction. Apologies there.
I would say Flower Power as Clegg took charge of the activities in that episode just as he might have done in the Blamire episodes. It seems playing music to flowers is the sort of childish thing Blamire would eventually be persuaded to do.
They're all good episodes in Series Three aren't they?
Don't think we said enough about The Kink in Foggy's Niblick - that is such a feel-good episode, what with the sunshine and Sid getting the afternoon off.