UKTV Florida

Monday, October 14, 2013

Hancock Down Under

In March 1968, Tony Hancock, having pretty much burned all his British bridges, went to Australia to produce a 13-episode TV series. Three episodes were filmed and Hancock killed himself 24 June 1968 at the age of 44. The three episodes remained in the can and I don't know if they were ever aired. Since the show was sort of a serial they could seemlessly combine the three episodes into one, which they did, and call it Hancock Down Under. I've added it to Disk 3 of Hancock's Half Hour.

Down To Earth

This Down To Earth was a 2000-2005 drama-comedy (more drama than comedy) about a couple from the London area relocating their family to a Devon farm and giving that life a try. Starring Pauline Quirke and Warren Clarke as the couple for the first 16 episodes when Clarke's character dies as the result of a car crash and the family can't cope without him and must return back to their former urban lives. Clarke's cousin takes over the farm with his children and their step-mother but they also have to abandon farm by the end of the 4th series (episode 30). Meanwhile, in the 4th series, locals Ricky Tomlinson and Denise Welch are introduced as characters and by the 5th series they take over the farm. The 5th, and final, series is missing. Maybe some day it'll turn up, perhaps it won't.
Down To Earth

Having It Off + Starting Out

A couple of rare sitcoms from around the turn of the century.

Having It Off took place in a hair salon and starred Frances Barber, Antony Cotton, William Ash, among others.
Having It Off

Starting Out starred Siobhan Hayes (who everyone remembers as Abi on My Family) and Ricci Harnett who appears to be more of a film actor these days and may be best remembered as Marlon in Roger Roger.
Starting Out

Nice Work + Tears Before Bedtime

2 drama mini-series from the past.

Nice Work starring Warren Clarke (he's been at it for 50 years - too many major credits to list) and Haydn Gwynne (Drop The Dead Donkey, Peak Practice).
"Dr Robyn Penrose is a lecturer in English at Rummidge University. Vic Wilcox is the Managing Director of Pringle's, an engineering firm in Rummidge. They meet when Robyn is told by her Head of Department to "shadow" Vic as part of Industry Year. They are initially hostile to each other but gradually come to understand each other's point of view."
Nice Work

Tears Before Bedtime starring Samantha Bond (Downton Abbey, Distant Shores, Outnumbered), Peter Howitt (Bread, Coasting, How We Used To Live), Adrian Rawlins (Soldier Soldier, She's Out, Mayday, Prisoner's Wives and all the Harry Potter films), Lesley Manville (Mayday, The Cazalets, Cranford, Holding On, Ain't Misbehavin', Goggle Eyes, Soldier Soldier), Jessica Hynes when she was still Jessica Stevenson (Asylum, Spaced, Bob and Rose, According To Bex, The Royle Family, Twenty Twelve, Up The Women) and a bunch of other people.
"Not to be confused with the British sitcom of the same name, the dramatic BBC1 miniseries Tears Before Bedtime focused on three married couples, each with the standard skeletons in the closet and special set of neuroses. The lives of the six protagonists were thrown into a tizzy when they decided to hire three nannies to look after their children."
Tears Before Bedtime

Backs To The Land

Land Girls was a popular drama series a few years ago. Taking the same theme but with a lighter look was the late 70's comedy Backs To The Land.
Backs to the Land

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Keep It In The Family update

All 5 series of this popular early 1980's sitcom are now digitally sourced and have nice crisp, sharp video.

Keep It In The Family

Foreign Bodies update

Foreign Bodies is a late 1980's BBC Irish comedy that ran for three series. I had some of it, lost it all, recovered some but not all - anyway, it's all there now, the complete 18 episodes.
Foreign Bodies

All About Me

All About Me is a family sitcom starring Jasper Carrott who is married to Meera Syal in the first series and then Nina Wadia in the rest and together they have a bunch of kids. In the early episodes the oldest kid is played by Ryan Cartwright who went on to the popular comedy Hardware and shortly after that left for Hollywood where he has been a regular in shows like Bones and Mad Men. Prior to All About Me he was in The Grimley's. In the last series Richard Lumsden and Amanda Root play their neighbors.
All About Me

High Stakes

High Stakes is a comedy about a bank starring Richard Wilson (A Sharp Intake of Breath, Only When I Laugh, High and Dry, Tutti Frutti, Hot Metal, Selling Hitler, Under the Hammer, Duck Patrol, Born and Bred, Merlin, One Foot in the Grave) and Jack Shepherd (Wycliffe, The Jury, All About George).
High Stakes

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Under The Dome - Season 1

Under The Dome

Friday, October 11, 2013

A Gentlemen's Club + Hells Bells

Two rare sitcoms from the late 1980's.

A Gentlemen's Club, written by Richard Gordon who wrote the original books that all the "Doctor" films and then TV shows were based on (Doctor in the House, Doctor at Large, Doctor in Charge, Doctor at Sea, Doctor on the Go, Doctor at the Top), and starring William Gaunt (Sgt Cork, The Champions, No Place Like Home, Next Of Kin), Richard Vernon (Duchess of Duke Street, The Sandbaggers, Nanny, L For Lester, Paradise Postponed, Class Act) with other familiar faces.
A Gentlemen's Club

Hells Bells is the fourth TV show (with All Gas & Gaiters, Oh Brother, Oh Father) with Derek Nimmo as some sort of clergyman. With Susan Jameson (Take Three Girls, Upchat Connection, To Serve Them All My Days, When The Boat Comes In, All In Good Faith, New Tricks), Phyllida Law (Kingdom, Stig Of The Dump, Chelworth, Thompson), Milton Johns (Happy Families, Butterflies, Tucker's Luck, A Horseman Riding By, South Riding). Written by Jan Butlin (Life Begins at Forty and Third Time Lucky (both also featuring Nimmo), No Strings, That Beryl Martson).
Hells Bells

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Big Bad World + Chickens + Pat and Cabbage

Some new British comedy, and a fairly solid disk at that. Nothing outstanding, but by today's standard all 3 certainly hold their own.

Big Bad World starring Blake Harrison (The Inbetweeners, The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Maragaret, Way To Go) with David Fynn (Pete vs. Life), Rebecca Humphries, Seann Walsh, Scarlett Alice Johnson (EastEnders, Pramface, Beaver Falls) and minor roles going to veterans Caroline Quentin (nope - not going to list all her major credits), James Fleet (Vicar of Dibley, Brotherly Love, Spark) and Julia Deakin (Oh Doctor Beeching, Side By Side, So Haunt Me, Spaced).

Big Bad World

Chickens first appeared as a Channel 4 pilot a couple years ago. The pilot and episode 2 are the same thing but with some different actors. Starring Simon Bird (The Inbetweeners, Friday Night Dinner), Joe Thomas (The Inbetweeners, Fresh Meat) and Jonny Sweet with Vicki Pepperdine (Getting On, Up The Women) and Emma Fryer (PhoneShop, Home Time, Ideal). Barry Humphries appears in a couple of the episodes. This is sort like watching Peep Show if it took place 100 years ago. Joanna Scanlan, Olivia Hallinan and Felicty Montagu were all in the pilot episode - so despite having the same script as episode 2 it's worth watching both.

Chickens

Pat & Cabbage starring Barbara Flynn (nope - not going to list all her major credits) and Cherie Lunghi (most recently in Starlings, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, The Brief) with Peter Davison (nope - not going to list all his major credits), Rosie Cavaliero (she's built up a heck of a list of credits too), Marcus Garvey (Broadchurch), Diane Morgan (Mount Pleasant).

Pat and Cabbage