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Beach Hut

Brighton Bhuna Boy
Jul 5, 2003
71,992
Living In a Box
Oh I still find Fawlty Towers absolutely hilarious. Totally irreverent of course, and it couldn't be made today with that content, but it doesn't stop it from being funny in my book.

Which leads me to wonder if some sort of spin off series could be made today. Off the top of my head, perhaps with Basil and Sybil in a retirement home? Andrew Sachs is still around of course, so he could reprise his role as Manuel. Maybe Connie Booth could co-write, and appear in it too. Obviously the humour would need to be far more politically correct.

No, on second thoughts it would never work. Best to carry on laughing at the old episodes, and let sleeping dogs lay.

Sadly Prunella Scales is going through early stages of Alzheimer's disease and struggled to get through the recent houseboat series on C4 with her husband Timothy West.
 




Blackadder

Brighton Bhuna Boy
Jul 6, 2003
16,078
Haywards Heath
BTW if you missed it, they are repeating the drama "We're Doomed. The Dads Army Story" tonight. Worth a watch.

BBC2 10:20.
 


Seagull58

In the Algarve
Jan 31, 2012
7,380
Vilamoura, Portugal
I understand where you are coming from but I am actually looking forward to this film.

I still like FT and OFAH,

I liked Monty Python's "Meaning of Life" when it first came out. Thought it was crap when I watched it again recently. Life of Brian is still a classic.

Meaning of Life is, and always has been, crap. Life of Brian is comic genius from start to finish.
 


Beach Hut

Brighton Bhuna Boy
Jul 5, 2003
71,992
Living In a Box
BTW if you missed it, they are repeating the drama "We're Doomed. The Dads Army Story" tonight. Worth a watch.

BBC2 10:20.

That was quite brilliant and Sessions as Arthur Lowe was excellent casting.
 


wellquickwoody

Many More Voting Years
NSC Patron
Aug 10, 2007
13,624
Melbourne
Loving all kinds of people saying things akin to 'it was funny but it isn't now'.

Think about it for a moment, 'it' hasn't changed, 'it' is exactly what it was all those years ago. What has changed is you, or life or your position in life, or even more likely is that you have been changed by society, and its acceptance of different morals. All of which is normal, until you retrospectively apply those changes to the past, cos you cannot change the past.

Oh, by the way, Love thy Neighbour is still funny, as is Alf Garnett (if you understand it), Reggie Perrin, On the Buses, The Rag Trade etc etc, but only if you appreciate the context.

Merry Xmas everyone :thumbsup:
 




Blackadder

Brighton Bhuna Boy
Jul 6, 2003
16,078
Haywards Heath
That was quite brilliant and Sessions as Arthur Lowe was excellent casting.

Agreed. Mind you, I would have thought that Shane Ritchie would have been better suited to Walker than Hodges.
 


Cowfold Seagull

Fan of the 17 bus
Apr 22, 2009
21,672
Cowfold
Sadly Prunella Scales is going through early stages of Alzheimer's disease and struggled to get through the recent houseboat series on C4 with her husband Timothy West.

Yes I did see that actually. Very sad, still a fine looking woman, even though she is well into her eighties now. How much the altzheimers affects her acting abilities, I've no idea.
 


Beach Hut

Brighton Bhuna Boy
Jul 5, 2003
71,992
Living In a Box
Yes I did see that actually. Very sad, still a fine looking woman, even though she is well into her eighties now. How much the altzheimers affects her acting abilities, I've no idea.

She has really had to give up acting as learning the lines has proved impossible
 




vegster

Sanity Clause
May 5, 2008
27,908
That was quite brilliant and Sessions as Arthur Lowe was excellent casting.
Arthur Lowe was a world class pisshead but great actor. Sessions was almost unrecognisable as Sessions and really became Arthur Lowe... Great acting.
 


Eeyore

Colonel Hee-Haw of Queen's Park
NSC Patron
Apr 5, 2014
23,685
I disagree that reviving old comedy is always a bad thing. Not if you keep an open mind. I'm very much looking forward to Dad's Army. The casting is good.

Fawlty Towers was class. The only reason I'm bored of it is because I've seen it so much. Naturally, in its original form, it is a bit dated.
 


Discodoktor

Active member
Apr 28, 2011
793
Guildford
Fawlty Towers is class and understandably considered by many to be the best sit com ever made. Like others have said watch it to many times and you are going to enjoy it less.

Britain is top of comedy imho.
Black adder
Fools and horses
Office
Spaced
Monty Python
Peep show
It crowd
Todays the day
Comic strip
Hancock
Steptoe and son
Carry on

There is soo much good stuff. Mrs Brown Boys isn't one of them!
 




Cowfold Seagull

Fan of the 17 bus
Apr 22, 2009
21,672
Cowfold
Fawlty Towers is class and understandably considered by many to be the best sit com ever made. Like others have said watch it to many times and you are going to enjoy it less.

Britain is top of comedy imho.
Black adder
Fools and horses
Office
Spaced
Monty Python
Peep show
It crowd
Todays the day
Comic strip
Hancock
Steptoe and son
Carry on

There is soo much good stuff. Mrs Brown Boys isn't one of them!

Well tecnically of course, Mrs.Brown's Boys isn't British, it's a series made in the Rebublic of Ireland.

I remember watching an episode of Who Do You Think You Are?, which focused on Brendan O'Carroll. O'Carroll came across as a staunch Republican and very anti Bririash in his views.

Your right, Mr.s Brown's Boys is a long way from being a truly great sitcom.
 


Beach Hut

Brighton Bhuna Boy
Jul 5, 2003
71,992
Living In a Box
Fawlty Towers is class and understandably considered by many to be the best sit com ever made. Like others have said watch it to many times and you are going to enjoy it less.

Britain is top of comedy imho.
Black adder
Fools and horses
Office
Spaced
Monty Python
Peep show
It crowd
Todays the day
Comic strip
Hancock
Steptoe and son
Carry on

There is soo much good stuff. Mrs Brown Boys isn't one of them!

Having watched the Xmas special from god knows when the other night I would add to that impressive list The Likely Lads - still very funny and disappointed Dads Army not on that list
 






Cowfold Seagull

Fan of the 17 bus
Apr 22, 2009
21,672
Cowfold
Having watched the Xmas special from god knows when the other night I would add to that impressive list The Likely Lads - still very funny and disappointed Dads Army not on that list

Me too, in fact Dad's Army is probabaly at the very top of my all time greatest list. As you say The Likely Lads was a fine sitcom, and seemingly much forgotten by many. (We all know what a fine actor James Bolam is, but whatever happened to Rodney Bewes)?

I'll forgive the poster their omissions though, as there were so many excellent sitcoms to choose from, the 1960's. 70's, and 80's really was a golden age.
 


Beach Hut

Brighton Bhuna Boy
Jul 5, 2003
71,992
Living In a Box
Me too, in fact Dad's Army is probabaly at the very top of my all time greatest list. As you say The Likely Lads was a fine sitcom, and seemingly much forgotten by many. (We all know what a fine actor James Bolam is, but whatever happened to Rodney Bewes)?

I'll forgive the poster their omissions though, as there were so many excellent sitcoms to choose from, the 1960's. 70's, and 80's really was a golden age.

Not sure about Rodney Bewes but I sold him a train ticket at Brighton station many years ago when he was in a show at the Theatre Royale
 


vegster

Sanity Clause
May 5, 2008
27,908
Well tecnically of course, Mrs.Brown's Boys isn't British, it's a series made in the Rebublic of Ireland.

I remember watching an episode of Who Do You Think You Are?, which focused on Brendan O'Carroll. O'Carroll came across as a staunch Republican and very anti Bririash in his views.

Your right, Mr.s Brown's Boys is a long way from being a truly great sitcom.
I'm sure Mr O'Carroll doesn't mind crisp English folding though. Hard cash will always reduce his hatred.
 


Cowfold Seagull

Fan of the 17 bus
Apr 22, 2009
21,672
Cowfold
Not sure about Rodney Bewes but I sold him a train ticket at Brighton station many years ago when he was in a show at the Theatre Royale

He seems to have dropped off the face of the planet. The only other thing I can remember him doing, however briefly, was being Basil Brush's right hand man, prior to Mr.Derek, (Derek Fowlds of Yes Minister and Heartbeat fame).
 




Beach Hut

Brighton Bhuna Boy
Jul 5, 2003
71,992
Living In a Box
He seems to have dropped off the face of the planet. The only other thing I can remember him doing, however briefly, was being Basil Brush's right hand man, prior to Mr.Derek, (Derek Fowlds of Yes Minister and Heartbeat fame).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_Bewes

If wikipedia is correct it went quite badly to the point where the DVDs were never initially released as he had a major fallout with James Bolam, things may have improved as the Likely Lads is now available on DVD
 


Cowfold Seagull

Fan of the 17 bus
Apr 22, 2009
21,672
Cowfold
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_Bewes

If wikipedia is correct it went quite badly to the point where the DVDs were never initially released as he had a major fallout with James Bolam, things may have improved as the Likely Lads is now available on DVD

Very sad if true. Although legend has it that James Bolam, (like many successful actors, Arthur Lowe being a prime example), was very difficult to work with . . .

Come to think of it, I do remember seeing Rodney Bewes, in a play at the Theatre Royal in Windsor, many many years ago. He wasn't even playing the lead role.
 


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