PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

I Only Arsked 1958

I Only Arsked 1958 Screenplay by Sid Colin and Jack Davies, directed by Montgomery Tully. A Hammer-Granada production that was based on the TV series The Army Game.

Bernard Bresslaw, Michael Medwin, Alfie Bass, David Lodge, Norman Rossington and Charles Hawtrey are useless army soldiers who are sent to the Middle East to help a King and his oil fields. They get stuck in the middle of coup but bumble their way to a happy ending.

It's a pretty simple and familiar tale with a few jokes, mostly of the physical sort. I liked it well enough but couldn't give it more than a 5 on the IMDb. You can see a copy on YouTube, see link above.

Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em Series 1

Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em Series 1 Created and written by Raymond Allen, directed by Michael Mills. The first series aired in February and March 1973. There were two more series after that.

Michael Crawford and Michele Dotrice are a married couple called Frank and Betty. Betty works, Frank can't hold a job. He can't hold much of anything in his hands either. He's a catastrophic force that damages nearly everything he comes in contact with. At his best Frank manages to destroy a multi million dollar computer, at home it's the appliances, furniture, walls, doors, windows that suffer. On their second honeymoon Frank smashes up the furniture and creates a hole in the floor of the hotel. It's havoc everywhere he goes. For the sake of the nation he should be kept in and away from everything and everyone. Frank isn't just clumsy and accident prone. He's somehow mentally challenged, he misinterprets just about everything anyone tells him.

It was a fairly popular show and the havoc is kind of fun but the episodes are the same as each other and the joke wears thin after a series of only 7 episodes. I bought the set and I'm not sure I'll bother with the other 2 series. I'll wait a bit at any rate.

The Curse Series 2

The Curse Series 2 All 6 episodes first aired April 27 2023.

After the big gold robbery last series some of the gang escaped and some didn't. Albert and Natasha have taken charge of the gold and bought themselves a hotel in Spain.

Natasha is ready to invest more money in the local economy. She's not one to stay in the shadows. Albert remains the weakest link and Natasha is too sure she's the clever one. She won't like it when Albert gets cheated out of a lot of the gold by Pablo Escobar.

Mick and Joey are in prison. Phil breaks Mick out of jail and they surprise Albert and Natasha. Ron shows up looking for his 20% and shortly after that Clive breaks out of jail and heads to Spain. He's wants his gold and he's ready to kill anyone in his way.

Saunders, the cop, stirs things up. The local police are crooked and the mayor isn't any better. With barely a brain between them things don't go so well for the gang. There's a trail of bodies leading to the teaser for a third series at the end of the 6th episode.

It was mostly pretty entertaining. I enjoyed the trouble the writers heaped on the gang. Hopefully, there will be another series. I'd watch it.

Frankie Boyle's Farewell to the Monarchy 2023

Frankie Boyle's Farewell to the Monarchy 2023

Frankie talks about Britain's monarchy over the years. Some interesting stuff in there.

Friday Night Movies 941

Slaughterhouse Rules 2018 Screenplay by Henry Fitzherbert and Crispian Mills, directed by Crispian Mills. First production from Stolen Picture, a company formed by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.

Simon Pegg is is Mr Houseman, a teacher at a fancy upscale private school. Michael Sheen is the greedy head of school. He's made a deal with frackers to drill for oil shale out in the woods. He bans the students from the woods.

Finn Cole plays a Northern working class student called Donald. His mother signs him up for the school without his knowing about it. Donald's not happy going there, it's a stereotypical English boarding school with secrets, class and bullying.

A giant sinkhole opens in the woods. The fracking also releases methane gas. It makes a nice green flame when lit. It turns out there's something down there and it's come up for a look. Most of the students are lucky, they've gone home for the weekend. Poor Donald has to stay and be bullied by his house Prefect.

I enjoyed the heck out of it. I enjoyed the in-jokes referring to other famous school films. There's plenty of comedy and some gory bits. It gets a 5.3 on the IMDb, I gave it a 6 because it's better than a 5. I bought the DVD from Hamilton Books sight unseen, glad I did, I'd watch it again sometime.

Polterheist 2018 Written by David Gilbank, Gemma Head and Paul Renhard, directed by David Gilbank.

Boxy and Tariq are a couple of lowlifes that work for Frank. They collect money from the gang's drug dealers, money Frank has been stealing. Frank's boss Uday wants that money, he's going to kill Boxy and Tariq if they don't show up with the cash in four days. The problem is Boxy just killed Frank, he was holding Frank's head underwater to make him spill where the money is and things got out of hand.

The pair get the idea to kidnap a medium who can supposedly talk to the dead. She can find out from Frank where the money is. Frank takes over the woman's body and leads the pair on a chase for the cash. It doesn't go so well for Boxy and Tariq but the medium gets away with a nice payout.

It's violent and humorous. I thought it was better than the 4.2 it gets on the IMDb. That's been screwed with by the voters, 16% voted it a 10 and 18% voted it a 1. There's complaints in the comments about the reviews. I'd watch it again.

Spider's Web 1982

Spider's Web 1982 Based on the play of the same name by Agatha Christie, direction by Basil Coleman.

Penelope Keith is Clarissa Hailsham-Brown, her husband is just a few hours away from bringing home an important political guest when she finds a dead body in the drawing room. She connives a plan to deal with the police involving her other house guests involving a game of bridge. The police arrive and more back story is revealed.

A rather jovial BBC production with little alteration of the original play, according to the Wikipedia. No screenwriter is credited. I found it enjoyable. You can see it on YouTube.

Getting On Series 2 - 3

Getting On Series 2 - 3 Created and written by Jo Brand, Vicki Pepperdine and Joanna Scanlan, directed by Peter Capaldi (Series 2) and Susan Tully (Series 3).

I had kind of buried the box set in a stack and finally got around to finishing it off. All the action takes place in a geriatric wing of a hospital. Jo plays a nurse who's come back to nursing, in real life Jo had been a psychiatric nurse before she became a comic and actor. She finds the NHS has changed from her days, it's as difficult as her home life. Joanna plays is a ward sister and Jo's supervisor, she has a nightmare of a life and brings all her problems to work. Vicki plays the Care of the Elderly Consultant, she has no people skills and is usually wrapped up in her own projects. Not a person you's want to work for in anyway. The poor patients!

There's plenty of social commentary, pain, anger and jokes. In the third series the ward moves to the new wing and they bring all their problems along with them. I was quite happy to watch them but I am a big Jo Brand fan.

The Upchat Line Series 1

The Upchat Line Series 1 Written by Keith Waterhouse and directed by Robert Reed. Music by Mike Batt. Seven episodes aired September 26 to November 7 1977.

John Alderton plays Mike Upchat, a homeless man who spends each episode chatting up lovely young women. His address is locker 685 in a train station. He tells outrageous lies to impress the ladies, when he's caught, he just laughs it off or tells some more lies. He's rather successful but once he's pulled he runs away.

Mike's always got a scheme going, he knows lots of people and get favors all the time. He's rather charming but the show is rather sexist. The 70s were different than now. Despite that, it's pretty funny for the most part.

I watched it because I like John quite a bit. Some might remember him as Friend in the movie Zardoz. He was in several hit shows, including Upstairs, Downstairs, My Wife Next Door and Wodehouse Playhouse.

There's a DVD set that included the sequel series The Upchat Connection that aired in 1978. I found a copy of the first episode of the sequel on Daily Motion but it doesn't have John Alderton, Mike's moved on and another bloke has won the name and locker in a raffle. I did not find it as entertaining and wouldn't bother with the rest of the series. You can buy both series on DVD from Network.

24 Hours To Go Broke Series 1

24 Hours To Go Broke Series 1 Five part travel show with comedians and celebrities on a spending spree in a country. It aired May and June 2014.

The first episode has David Baddiel and Richard Herring in Armenia.

The second episode has David Haye and Seann Walsh in Ireland.

The third episode has Greg Rutherford and Josh Widdicombe in Germany.

The fourth episode has Rachel Riley and Joe Wilkinson in Greece.

The fifth episode has Susan Calman and Phil Tufnell in Iceland.

They all have some fun and interact with plenty of people. There's plenty of drinking and eating and tomfoolery.

The Canterville Ghost 1997

The Canterville Ghost 1997 Story by Oscar Wilde, screenplay by Olivia Hetreed, directed by Crispin Reece.

A British TV adaptation of the Oscar Wilde story. An American family moves into a big manor house and has to contend with the ghost. I've seen several adaptations of the story. This isn't going to be a favorite adaptation to me. It's a bit annoying. I was most interested in seeing Rik Mayall, he's got a smallish part as a reverend who comes to preform an exorcism. He doesn't stand a chance against Ian Richardson's ghost. You can watch a poor copy on YouTube. Better though you watch the more entertaining 1944 version with Charles Laughton. The 1996 version with Neve Campbell and Patrick Stewart is slightly less entertaining than the 1944 version but still fun.