Every* British TV Sitcom: Trivia Question1

I actually like Take a Letter Mr Jones. I also like John Inman's other sitcom Odd Man Out.

Curry and Chips was a disaster - I'm amazed Eric Sykes and Spike Milligan went along with it - though it was written by their friend Johnny Speight.
I can only imagine Speight wasn't under any control at the time, as I can't understand how this slipped past the ITV bosses.

Bottle Boys should have much better, with a prolific writer and Robin Askwith - but they seemed to deliberately make it so awful.

A similar sort of programme around the same time was Up the Elephant and Round the Castle. Again, it had the potential to be good - but they just let it be so bad without trying to make it half decent.
It's sequel, Home James, was twenty times better.
 
wstol said:
I actually like Take a Letter Mr Jones. I also like John Inman's other sitcom Odd Man Out.

Curry and Chips was a disaster - I'm amazed Eric Sykes and Spike Milligan went along with it - though it was written by their friend Johnny Speight.
I can only imagine Speight wasn't under any control at the time, as I can't understand how this slipped past the ITV bosses.

Bottle Boys should have much better, with a prolific writer and Robin Askwith - but they seemed to deliberately make it so awful.

A similar sort of programme around the same time was Up the Elephant and Round the Castle. Again, it had the potential to be good - but they just let it be so bad without trying to make it half decent.
It's sequel, Home James, was twenty times better.
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Thanks wstol...
Yes, Curry and Chips was written by Johnny Speight, but I have always assumed that Spike had a bit of influence in the writing. I'm will be trying to differentiate between controversies that were contemporary with the show, and those that have occurred since due to later changes in tolerance, etc. This was definitely (one of a few) that was controversial at the time.

Not seen Bottle Boys yet, but coincidentally Asquith was in an "Inside No 9" recently.

If "Up the Elephant and Round the Castle" was so bad, how did it last 3 series, 23 episodes?!

These questions, and more, will - hopefully - be answered, at some point!
 
Up the Elephant and Round the Castle wasn't terrible IMO, I thought Jim Davidson was great a the cheeky cockney characters he played. Clearly he's fallen out of favour today but I used to love his stuff. Thought he was brilliant in Jims Big Break
 
theatrically_inclined said:
Thanks wstol...
Yes, Curry and Chips was written by Johnny Speight, but I have always assumed that Spike had a bit of influence in the writing. I'm will be trying to differentiate between controversies that were contemporary with the show, and those that have occurred since due to later changes in tolerance, etc. This was definitely (one of a few) that was controversial at the time.

Not seen Bottle Boys yet, but coincidentally Asquith was in an "Inside No 9" recently.

If "Up the Elephant and Round the Castle" was so bad, how did it last 3 series, 23 episodes?!

These questions, and more, will - hopefully - be answered, at some point!
Click to expand...
Jim Davidson was massive at the time, and was under contract at Thames, and so it was important to use him.
The audience ratings for Up the Elephant were extremely high, people watched it avidly.

But that didn't stop it being an extremely cheap looking, poorly written, almost childish sitcom.

It was a very much a case of despite it being a bit rubbish, it was STILL entertaining enough for people to watch and still have a laugh.
 
Some good sitcoms that ran for too long also became stinkers too. One that springs to mind is Are You Being Served, that ran well beyond it's best. For example I recall one later episode where Mrs Slocombe was romantically besotted with Mr Humphreys, it was never mentioned before or after that episode and didn't make any sense at all.
 
ferret said:
Just to go off on a tangent. I always loved the line in Porridge when they asked if Dylan the hippy was named after Bob. The reply was no , the rabbit in the Magic Roundabout :)
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Well if you look at a picture of him that would have been my first guess to but then again I'm a total Magic Roundabout fan. We've had many cats over the years named after characters, Florence, Brian, Zebadee, Dillon and a rabbit called Eric because Eric Thompson narrated it.
 
ferret said:
I always loved the line in Porridge when they asked if Dylan the hippy was named after Bob. The reply was no , the rabbit in the Magic Roundabout
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Lots of great lines like that in Porridge for example Fletcher about to get a knew cell mate and protests that he doesn't want famous poisoner Reeves who was nicknamed Arsenic on account of him always sitting on razor blades , Godber says " Really" with Fletch responding you aren't narf gullible Godber.
 
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