PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Whites 2010

I picked up a copy of Whites because I'm such an Alan Davies fan. He plays Roland White, he's the executive chef at a fancy country hotel. He's a chef that's coasting, he more wrapped up in himself than the restaurant. Matt King and Oliver Lansley wrote the show and David Kerr directed. King based the show on his time in the restaurant biz and Roland on several chefs he'd worked for.

Joining Alan in the kitchen are Darren Boyd, Katherine Parkinson, Stephen Wright, Isy Suttie and Maggie Steed. I'd just seen Darren in Dirk Gently last week and I don't remember ever seeing him before. In reality, I had seen him in a couple of other shows but just forgot him. Actors don't always stand out and there are so many to remember them all all the time. Luckily I have the internet with mucho info handy when I need it. Katherine people might know from Doc Martin or The IT Crowd. Isy was on Man Down and she's also a comedian, I see her on various panel shows. Maggie I've seen on Midsomer Murders in 3 different roles over 13 years and remembered her from them, it's the same with her shot on New Tricks. I didn't remember that she was in a couple episodes of The Young Ones so I'll have that to keep an eye out for when they come around again.

Alan's great as Roland White, he really brings that character's prickishness to life. Roland's self absorbed and really can't be bothered about the food. He's also totally willing to take advantage of his staff, especially Darren, Roland's sous-chef. At one point he makes Darren pretend to have Parkinson's so they can fool the health inspector. They're trying for some sympathy so the health inspector won't close the place for some violations. It works but at a cost.

I think if the scripts weren't so good the show would be harder to watch. Roland is a dick but he does pay for his crimes, he blows his big TV appearance because he acts like a petty twat. It's also why he has no Michelin stars. I wouldn't give him any stars for the meals that they put on plates there. Not my nosh by any stretch of the imagination.

I was glad to have seen them and I would watch them again. It's too bad they pulled the plug after those 6 episodes. Those episodes cost £3 million or $4.8 million and the BBC decided that was too much, especially in light of cuts to the BBC comedy department.

Cuckoo Series 1

I'm such a Greg Davies fan that I picked up the first three series of Cuckoo. A DVD set from the UK arrived the other day and I watched the first series today. It aired on BBC Three in 2012, Robin French and Kieron Quirke created the series and wrote the episodes, Ben Taylor is the director.

Greg Davies is Ken, he's married to Lorna, played by Helen Baxendale, they live in a house with their two grown children, Rachel and Dylan. Rachel returns from her gap year trip with her new husband Cuckoo, played by Adam Samberg. Cuckoo is a free spirited American who's been travelling around for 12 years. Ken's not happy with his daughter marrying Cuckoo but Lorna is a bit out of touch with reality, she's happy her daughter is happy and she thinks Cuckoo's fine. 

Cuckoo moving in disturbs Ken's life and I'm sure that a lot of parents could relate. It sure would bug me, Cuckoo moving into my house, he's a real pain in the ass. At one point Ken finds Cuckoo meditating on the wooden kitchen work island. It's made worse by Cuckoo being naked, ass and bollocks resting on the wooden work surface. One episode Ken and Cuckoo got along but that was because Ken accidentally took some MDMA and loved everyone.

Over the course of the season Ken comes to enjoy how happy his daughter is and while still not liking Cuckoo much, he decides at one point not to ship Cuckoo to Thailand in a shipping container. That was really Ken's friend Steve's idea, he's mad at Cuckoo for breaking up his marriage, sometimes Cuckoo's a dick.

Once again, I'm glad to see these people on TV and not in my home. It took about an episode to get used to the situation, I was blinded by my dislike of Cuckoo at first, then I was laughing out loud quite often. I'm looking forward to more of the show. I need to get series 4 and 5 ordered soon. Usually takes a couple of weeks to cross the pond.

Dirk Gently 2010

Dirk Gently is the 2010 TV adaptation of the Douglas Adams novel. Howard Overman is the creator of the BBC series. Howard wrote the pilot and the first episode, Matt Jones wrote the 2nd episode and Jamie Matheison wrote the 3rd episode. Damon Thomas directed the pilot and Tom Shankland directed the three episodes. Then there were no more.

Stephen Mangan plays Dirk Gently, Darren Boyd plays Richard MacDuff, Helen Baxendale plays Susan Harrison, Lisa Jackson plays Janice Pearce and Jason Watkins plays Detective Inspector Gilks.

I found Dirk incredibly annoying though I do enjoy Stephen playing him. He might get some case solved but he should get a beating once in a while. I never read the books so I don't know how awful Dirk was in them. The episodes are still pretty good but I could see why it didn't prove to be popular enough to continue. The more recent BBC America adaptation with Elijah Wood made it to a second season but no more. They're on YouTube so I'll try to take a look at them sometime. I had bought the DVD of the Stephen Mangan version and while I enjoyed the shows I did still consider Dirk totally deserving some slaps. I might get around to watching them again someday. Who knows.

Frankie Howerd - The Lost Television Plots

Here's a DVD full of programs with Frankie Howerd in them. I'm such a fan, I've been slowly picking up what DVDs I can get from the UK. This was the latest arrival. It's a 2 disc set of random programs.

Up The Convicts Made in Australia in 1976, Frankie as a prisoner in a penal colony in New South Wales. It only ran 4 episodes. Not as entertaining as some of his other shows.

The Gong Show In December 1985 Frankie made a pilot for The Gong Show. He's assisted by Caroline Munroe. It was entertaining at times, same as the original.

The Frankie Howerd Show - Pilot and Episode 1 Made in Canada, Frankie is in Toronto living in a rooming house. Nowhere near as good as Up Pompeii.

There are also some interviews with Frankie as he appears on Ryan's Roost, The Mike Douglas Show and The Merv Griffin Show.

Entertaining for me but still more a curiosity than I'd like, others might not get many laughs at all.

The Bleak Old Shop Of Stuff 2011

The Bleak Old Shop Of Stuff is a BBC production. It's a Charles Dickens parody that ran on the BBC, there was an hour long Christmas Special in December 2011 and three episodes in late February and early March of 2012. It's written by Mark Evans and directed by Ben Gosling Fuller. Mark is a writer and actor, he wrote for That Mitchell And Webb Sound, and did both on That Mitchell And Webb Look. Ben directed many interesting programs like Ideal, Bad Education, A Bucket o' French And Saunders, Smack The Pony and many more.

In the hour long Christmas Special Robert Webb and Katherine Parkinson have a little shop that is doing well. The evil Stephen Fry takes Robert's business due to a debt Robert's grandfather owed him. Robert and Katherine wind up in The Skint, a debtor's prison, with their two kids. There they meet David Mitchell and eventually escape The Skint. The family gets some help from Johnny Vegas, Celia Imrie and Richard Johnson.

The three 30 minute long episodes have a new villain and a single story line. Tim McInnerny plays the villain and he's really good at playing that smarmy bastard type. He goes into business with Robert and things go well for a while. Robert's living the high life when a series of horrible events take it all away from him. The family is divided and struggles to get back together. Other cast members include Kevin Eldon, Blake Harrison, Mark Evans and Adrian Edmondson.

I enjoyed the lot and was glad to have ordered the DVD. I got some laughs and will watch it again.

The TV show is the successor to BBC Radio 4's Bleak Expectations. Mark Evans is the writer of the show and it ran for 5 series between 2007 and 2012. There are CD's of them but they are pricey. I downloaded the whole 30 episodes from here. Richard Johnson plays an older man who recounts his adventures as a youth. Tom Allen plays Richard as a young man. Anthony Head is the most evil man in the world, he has two goals, conquer the world and fuck Richard over. The only others in the cast that I knew were David Mitchell, James Bachman, Jane Asher, Geoffrey Whitehead, Mark Evans and Celia Imrie. I haven't listened to them yet.

 

The Amorous Prawn 1962

A nice little comedy is The Amorous Prawn, a 1962 British film from Covent Garden Films, it's part of The British Film series from Network. Anthony Kimmins directed the movie and it would be his last. He adapted his own play and co-wrote the screenplay with Nicholas Phipps. He previously wrote and directed some films for George Formby and The Captain's Paradise with Alec Guinness.

The US title was The Playgirl And The War Minister. Isn't that an awful title? I get that the Prawn title might be confusing but that US title doesn't seem like it would attract seat fillers. The Wikipedia says the US title was trying to tie the movie to the Profumo Affair. Ministers, of any kind, shouldn't be banging those young girls. It just leads to trouble, they aren't smart enough to keep their shenanigans secret.

There's a great cast, I knew several of them: Ian Carmichael, Joan Greenwood, Cecil Parker, Dennis Price, Liz Frazer and Michael Ripper. The story is pretty simple, the wife of a retiring General wants a house they just can't quite afford, they need £700 plus some moving expenses. Before the General hangs up his hat he has a mission that will take him out of the country for a couple of months. In order to make some money the wife enlists the staff of the house to turn the Military mansion into a fishing lodge for a couple of rich Americans. Things would go smoothly but it's a comedy and all sorts of trouble pops up. It's why those poor ladies are in their underwear. Eventually it all works out pretty well. It's no gut buster but I enjoyed the goings on and I'm glad to have picked it up.

Man Down Series 3

Series 3 of Man Down was even more crazy and funny than Series 1 & 2. That's saying something because those previous episodes were fuckin' hilarious. Greg Davies plays Dan, Roisin Conaty plays Jo and Mike Wozniak plays Brian. They're all at various levels of dysfunction and life is always dealing them major body blows. Stephanie Cole and Gwyneth Powell plays Greg's mother and aunt. Both are bonkers and pains in Greg's side. Guests this season include Tony Robinson, Isy Suttie, Ed Gamble, Reginald D Hunter, Steven Berkoff and Mark Hamill.

Greg Davies is the series creator and he co-writes each episode with some other writers. Greg is 6 foot 8 inches, kind of fat, and totally committed to making me laugh. He does a marvelous job with all the anger, joy, confusion and fear in Dan's life. His scripts are a nice combination of darkly subtle and wildly physical. Normally Dan seems to attract violence to his face, especially his nose, but series 3 puts a major pain in Dan's knee and kicks his face in as well. Dan often ends the episode in bandages. I watched a crappy copy of Series 3 on YouTube and was happy to see them. Wish they'd pop them out on DVD someday. I'm hoping that season 4 will turn up on YouTube. I'm betting I'll be laughing and who doesn't like that.

Alan Carr - Yap, Yap, Yap! 2015

Yap, Yap, Yap! is Alan Carr's 2015 comedy tour. I got the DVD today and had a look after lunch. There's almost 90 minutes of material with Alan going on about Jack the Ripper Tours, finding love, shopping, his teeth and other stuff. I enjoyed this show as much as the others.

Alan Carr's Celebrity Ding Dong Series 1 & 2

Alan Carr's Celebrity Ding Dong is a 2008 British TV game show with Alan as the host. Series 1 has a group of 5 Celebrities versus a group of 5 Civilians. The questions are meant to show the divide between the two groups. There's a nice prize for the winning group. There's non-stop banter from Alan and that's usually fun. The show moves briskly for a game show. Series 2 changed the types of groups that were pitted against each other. Apparently there were complains from the Civilians so they changed the format to all Celebrities. The type of groups competing are EastEnders vs Coronation Street or Strictly Come Dancing vs I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here, or boy bands vs girl bands. It's silly and noisy, with Alan occasionally doing a bit of sketch. There's a DVD, how I learned about the show, that pulls some of the best game show bits out of the 1st Series and cuts them into a long sketch where Alan goes to interview Liz Hurley. He always says at the start of the show that's where the Civilians name came from, Liz called them that. Alan plays Liz, who never appears on the show. I found the lot on YouTube and have been watching them the last couple of days. It's never going to be my favorite game show but it's pretty silly and I'd watch them again.

Man Down Series 2

Rik Mayall died before they filmed the second series of Man Down. The first series ended in November 2013, there was a Christmas Special in 2013 and another in 22014. They dedicated the Christmas show to Rik Mayall and Bob Davies. Bob was Greg Davies father, he died about the same time. Greg says in the Behind The Scenes featurette that he thinks that Rik would have like the madness of the second series.

The second series is madder than the first series and it's even funnier. I already like Greg Davies and Roisin Conaty from seeing them on the panel shows and their stand up. Neither are great actors but they are perfect for their roles here. Rik was playing Greg's dad, his adversarial role has been filled by Stephanie Cole, playing his sister. She's playing a similar character to the one she played on Doc Martin, a gruff and practical farmer lady, but she's much more over the top in Man Down. She winds up moving into Greg's mum's house, Greg lives in the attached flat, and she makes his life a living hell. One I can enjoy, let me tell you.

That's Mike Wozniak, Roisin Conaty and Greg Davies, they're playing pals who have known each other since school. They're still pals since hardly anyone else would be their friends. Their characters are going to a wedding on The Heath. Roisin is the one getting married. They're lost in the woods where there's supposed to be a strange beast that leaves near human size piles of shit.

I'm sure I laughed even more at this series than the first. I'd be looking forward to the 3rd and 4th series but so far no DVDs of of either series. Those series aired in 2016 and 2017 and still no word if there will been another series. I sure would watch it. I know I'll be enjoying these two series again sometime.