TV Times Thursday: Guest Editor John Le Mesurier

It’s time for this week’s “TV Times Thursday” where I take an article or something of interest from a past issue of the TV Times (TV listings of ITV programming) and post it here to share with you. I thought this was rather fun. It is from 28-12-68. It is a weekly piece in TV Times called “It Makes Me Laugh” where they bring in weekly guest cartoon editors. This week’s editor was none other than John Le Mesurier. At this point his ATV series George and the Dragon ended in October but another series started earlier that year in July on the BBC for him called Dad's Army.

If there is an article you remember and want to see from the TV Times, drop us a line at feedback@fromthearchive.co.uk or leave a comment below.

Nigel Kneale: Always Against the Crowd

The following article was written at the time I wrote Classic Nigel Kneale: Beasts - During Barty's Party in December of 2011. I often write additional articles at the time I view a program that somehow tie into that program I am watching. Whether it is a DVD extra, soundtrack or even a whole other program these articles are kept back get published when I do not have time to write a new article or if I want to take a week off. Enjoy!

In 1975, Nigel Kneale wrote a script for the ATV series Against the Crowd. The series’ premise was about society’s outsiders. Produced by Nicholas Palmer, this episode serves as an unofficial pilot to the ATV series Beasts. Kneale enjoyed the process of writing the episode and working for ATV. His relationship was again souring between the BBC and himself and he enjoyed working with Nicholas Palmer.

Murrain TX: 27/07/75

Murrain simply means a plague and that is exactly how the episode starts out.  Vet Alan Crich comes out to a rural village to look in on Farmer Beeley’s pigs. The pigs are dying and the water that is up the hill which comes from the spring has dried up. Crich doesn’t know why. Beeley and his farm hands know. They believe that an old woman who lives up the road from Beeley, Mrs. Clemson is a witch and they hate her. They believe that she is killing off the pigs through witchcraft, messing with the water supply and also making people sick.

Beeley has organized the village to retaliate to the perceived witchcraft. She is old and not very mobile anymore so the village refuses to allow her to buy any food from the local store which is literally across the street from her. They also believed her cat was spying on them, so they killed it. What Beeley wants Crich to do is to go inside her house and purify her house. Of course, Crich is absolutely not going to do it. Even when forced and threatened to do so, he refuses. Instead, Crich goes to Mrs. Clemson on his own to meet her just by himself because he knows that they are starving her out and wants to help.

Meeting Mrs. Clemson, he realizes that she is an old woman who can do very little about the situation she is in. She even has money to buy food but they refuse. Crich decides to take matters into his own hands. In his mind, she is no witch, just someone who needs his help. Crich, taking Mrs. Clemson’s money, goes to the local store to buy food for her and tells the owner Mrs. Leach that he is buying the food for himself. Once Beeley and his men meet up with Crich in the store, the truth comes out that he is buying to food for Mrs. Clemson. Mrs. Leach screams and is horrified that she has touched money that came from a witch. She is scared because her son is very sick and she thinks this is because of Mrs. Clemson.

Crich comes back the next day with groceries for Mrs. Clemson who is very appreciative for the groceries. It is there that Crich realizes that Mrs. Clemson is a little crazy. Saddened by a little girl who she used to think of as her daughter but eventually was told could never see her again. As Crich leaves the house, Beeley and his men are back. They forcefully take Crich into the store to show him what happened to Mrs. Leach. She is now sick and her hands, which she used to touch the money, are extremely swollen. Beeley is very angry and they have decided to go to Mrs. Clemson and kill her. Crich runs up to the house first to warn her and as the gang come up to confront her, she comes out of her door, says a spell and Beeley drops dead right in his tracks.

Murrain is highly enjoyable and quite atmospheric. On the surface, the setting looks like something that could be seen on something like All Creatures Great & Small. Small village, country side and hard working villagers. The accents for some of the people from the village was sometimes difficult for me to follow. The entire production was shot on video, the same as Beasts. Generally, I prefer film for the exterior scenes but this works very well for this story. It gave a great sense to a small village feel. British television has always been great at capturing this side of British life and whenever I see it, I absolutely love it. One things I noticed about this story too is that the scope of the episode isn’t grand. It is confined to just a few locations and a few characters. It literally is the village against Mrs. Clemson.

I think the one thing that really stands out for me is the character Beeley. Beeley is played by Bernard Lee. If you are a fan of the James Bond film franchise, I absolutely do not need to tell you who he is but I will anyway. He was the original M character. He was in the film series from Dr. No through Moonraker. It’s funny, these people are actors. The reason Lee would be in the Bond franchise is because he is an excellent actor. Yet, I am still surprised to see him in this role as he is not in a sophisticated position high up in her majesty’s government but he is a narrow-minded farmer in this. For some reason that is odd for me to accept because I am surprised to see him in television. It’s weird that I even think this way because he is an actor, his job is to act and to act in as many different things as possible. He is tremendous in this. I think it’s probably because this is the first thing I have ever seen him in outside playing the role of M but he is really good in it.  David Simeon plays Crich. I recognized Simeon from playing the role of Alistair Ferguson in the Doctor Who story, The Dæmons. He is also very good in this episode playing rational character vs the irrational superstitious Beeley.

In the DVD viewing notes for Beasts which this episode is an extra on the DVD set, Andy Murray says the outcome of the episode is ambiguous whether or not Mrs. Clemson is actually a witch or not and that Kneale left it up to the audience to decide for themselves. Thinking about it, I guess that makes sense. I actually assumed she was a witch but the way it is laid out, maybe not. The only thing we see Mrs. Clemson do that could be considered witch like is her saying some kind of spell before Beeley falls down dead. It could very much be power of suggestion and when Beeley heard the “spell”, it may have been too much for him and he had a heart attack. In regards to the sick kid and his mom, it could be the effect of the murrain. The kid was probably hanging around where the pigs were ill and ended up getting the sickness. Mrs. Leach had been attending to the kid and it is possible she got sick too. Or it could be that Mrs. Clemson was a witch. Have you ever seen this episode? Do you have any thoughts?

I think we are lucky with Against the Crowd. This ATV series was around for one series in 1975. It appears that two out of seven episodes are missing. Luckily Murrain is not one of them. I don’t mean that in the sense that any of the other episodes are worth being missing, it is more down to the fact that this episode is a nice forerunner to Beasts. It is interesting to note that as I said above that all episodes of Beasts were shot on video and that is how they all exist, one of the episodes of Against the Crowd exists as a 16mm colour film print taken from a 2” master tape. I would assume basically a colour telerecording.  It’s shocking that material was still being wiped as late as 1975! As of writing this article, Murrain is the only episode of Against the Crowd that is available on DVD and I do not have any other episodes of this series in my own collection. That being said, I would love to see the 16mm film recording with the 2” videotape source. If you ever seen The Best of Benny Hill film from 1974, it will probably look a little like that.
Of course, no article would be complete unless I included a shot of the VT Clock since it is available:

Next time: For some reason we celebrate Christmas in August with an episode from the Ghost Stories for Christmas Collection: The Treasure of Abbot Thomas.

Have a great week!

Do you have feedback, article requests or want to talk about a program but do not want to leave a public comment? Feel free to drop me an e-mail at FTA13867@gmail.com

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Till Death..... Well at least it felt like it

I guess you can call me a liar. Last week I mentioned that I was going to run one of my banked articles that I wrote in 2011. This was going to be Against the Crowd: Murrain. What happens is that even though I may not write about the stuff I watch, it doesn’t mean I am not still keeping a schedule of programs that I randomly pick and then actually watch them. Programs that I watch but not had written about for the blog lately includes The Hound of the Baskervilles and 2 episodes of the ATV series The End of Part One. I figured I would not worry about writing until early May until I watched the final episode of series 2 of Sherlock. That was until I watched the first two episodes of Till Death…..

What is Till Death… ? It is the 1981 follow up series to Till Death Us Do Part. Of course, Till Death Us Do Part was the ground breaking series started in 1966 about a bigot that no one really paid any attention to, Alf Garnett. Till Death Us Do Part was a series that showed how generations living in one house could grow apart and be so different. On one side is Alf Garnett who has strong views on everything from people who have different colour of skin than him to the Monarchy. On the other side of the spectrum was Alf’s daughter Rita and her husband Mike basically living off Alf but were the mouthpiece of the younger generation. In the middle was Alf’s wife Else who would dip onto either side of the argument depending on what suited her. Till Death Us Do Part lasted for seven series and ended in 1975. Although I didn’t write about it at the time, the final two episodes were among some of the stuff I watched last May. Back in June of 2010, I wrote an article about some of the early episodes of the series. When I got around to watching the last episodes, the series ran out of steam, the focus was no longer on the Garnett’s and by that time Else was gone. She had moved to Australia to take care of her sister. In fact, the final moment of the last episode had Else sending a telegram on Alf’s birthday to inform him that she wanted a divorce! With that, one of the greatest comedy series came to an end. Five years later, series creator Johnny Speight had other plans.

I don’t know if the BBC were no longer interested or if Speight wanted to move it from the BBC, Till Death Us Do Part becomes resurrected in 1981 as Till Death…. and big changes were ahead for Alf Garnett. Thinking about it, they could have called it Till Death Us Do Part1980, other series were doing it at the time!  But, and not for the first time, certain aspects of the Garnett’s life would be “forgotten”. First of all, the series takes place after Alf retires. Alf and Else move out to Eastbourne. No mention is made about Else’s move back from Australia or their non-divorce. Maybe because it’s not important to the overall story line and I can appreciate that. Though, maybe Else knows that as much as it sucks, she would be better off with Alf. One thing that is different now is that their neighbor Min is with them. Min makes an appearance very early on in Till Death Us Do Part and has been on and off with the series for years. She is a big part of the final years of the series and in many ways becomes the female lead of the series. Min is played very well by Patricia Hayes. I really enjoy her work and if you get a chance, check her out in Hancock’s Half Hour where she plays Tony Hancock’s housekeeper, Mrs. Cravatte. What? You don’t own the boxset for Hancock’s Half Hour? You need to order it right now! You will not be disappointed! Min moved down to Eastbourne with Alf and Else and they all share a house together. The question is, is this new series any good?

Sharing With Min 17/05/81

Have you ever watched Last of the Summer Wine? It is the longest comedy series of all time and lasted for 3 million years. Anyway, it is about 3 old people who don’t have anything going on with their lives and simply roam from one place to another. Usually its different parts of the town, comment on stuff and generally get in people’s way. The first episode of Till Death…. is exactly like this. The episode starts with Alf, Else and Min wandering on a pier in Eastbourne while Alf goes on endlessly about all sorts of topics. From there they go onto a game arcade then finally to the Queen’s hotel. The whole time Alf is complaining and pontificating on all manner of topics. The difference between this episode and an episode of Last of the Summer Wine is that the latter actually has a plot. I don’t know where the plot was on this episode. For an opening episode to re-introduce these characters, it was horrible. I lost interest and couldn’t wait for the episode to be over.

A real annoying thing about this series is that there is no laugh track to the episodes of any kind. Till Death Us Do Part always had a laugh track. The laugh track was helpful because it helped us (the audience) to understand when we needed to laugh at some of the outrageous and stupid things Alf had to say. It helped me laugh at Alf Garnett regardless how bigoted he was. In Till Death…. , no laugh track almost nullified that it was a comedy. The stuff Alf was saying was not funny. He makes a mention how he thought more atomic bombs should have been dropped on the Japanese (he didn’t say Japanese either). That’s not funny and with no laugh track or someone to oppose him on his silly views, it actually becomes more disturbing. In Till Death Us Do Part, Alf sparred with Rita’s husband Mike. Mike didn’t always make sense but he was the opposite side to what Alf believed in. To make Alf funny, we needed someone like Mike to put Alf in his place. In this episode of Till Death…. , Alf had no one like that. We end up with Alf going off on a tirade and very few people would disagree or tell him to shut up! It made the whole outing unpleasant. Also, the way the episode was shot (all on location) made the comedy very forced. If you have ever seen the film to Are You Being Served?, there are a lot of shots in the beginning at Grace Brothers as the department prepares for their trip to Spain. There are a lot of shots of comedy happening and then we cut to a strange reaction shot from Mrs. Slocombe or someone who would give a real odd expression. The comedy would sometimes fall a little flat. There was a lot of that type of thing in Till Death…. It didn’t heighten the comedy, just made it unfunny.

Punks 24/05/81

The second episode of Till Death…. is definitely better. For one thing, most of it takes place at the Garnett’s flat which is shot in the studio and it actually has a plot! Like I mentioned, the first episode has Alf, Else, and Min just meandering around different locations with very little going on. In this episode there is some structure.

It starts with Min and Else trying to do a Snow White puzzle and Alf complaining that there is no sugar in his tea and generally acting like a baby. After talking about money and how Thatcher is running the country, Min goes out and brings in the mail. The letter that arrived is for Alf and Else but Min opens it up. The letter is from Rita and she says that she will be coming down to Eastbourne with her son Mike at the weekend. Min mentions that Rita is coming to see “us”. Alf stops, and looks at her. He is confused. How is Rita coming to see “us”? Rita is coming to see Alf and Else. Min responds, “That’s right, they are coming to see us.” It’s kind of cute. At the point Alf goes out of his way to explain why Alf and Else is not “us” including Min but it is “us” only referring to Alf and Else. This is fine but it gets out of hand. The one thing I have always found annoying about Alf is how often Warren Mitchell really goes over the top with some of his performances. Now, I understand the character of Alf Garnett and I know that he has an explosive, hair triggered temper. Yet when Mitchell ad-libs in this role, it gets to be too much for me. This is one of those cases. He gets loud and abusive to the point, at least to me, it is no longer funny. This scene really exemplifies why there was a need for studio laughter. There is no energy but loudness. It really is bullying Min especially as she is this cute little old lady in glasses with her big eyes. It seems almost cruel.

The good news is, as always, for every action Alf does of being a bully, bad things tend to happen to him. At the beginning of the episode, Alf, Else and Min were talking about how there have been some beatings and rapes in the area. Alf was pretty tough thinking that no one needs to worry about such things. Later, after he is done yelling at every one, Alf goes for a walk. A group of kids come up to him to try and help him across the street and Alf freaks. He starts pleading for his life then on his knees he offers them money in a form of writing them a check. The kids are freaked out by him and run off. Alf even gets the police involved. Alf probably didn’t know what to think because they were a little punk. He wouldn’t know anyone like that.

Mike is Alf’s grandson who is 15 and punk. You may remember the Till Death Us Do Part episode from 1972 titled To Garnett A Grandson. It was the first episode of series 4. In that episode Alf’s grandson Mike was born. The episode I am writing about now is from 1981. Mike should be 9. He is 15 and very punk. All he does is listen to music on his head set. He really doesn’t talk with anyone. Of course, this drives Alf crazy. Mike’s hair is dyed red, white, and blue which also makes Alf crazy. Anyway, while eating dinner, the Vicar shows up. With Alf’s back to the dining room door leading to the entry way, Min brings the vicar in. Unbeknownst to Alf, the vicar is standing behind him. Knowing it was the Vicar at the door and thought he was told to push off so Alf goes into a tirade about the Vicar until he turns around to see the Vicar had been there all along and heard every word he said. The Vicar stopped by because he wanted to set the record straight about the boys who “attacked him”. The boys were just out doing a good deed as part of a church choir program, yet when they tried to help Alf across the street, he freaked! The Vicar then goes on to say to everyone else in the room how Alf tried to buy the boys off with writing them a check for money rather than hurting him.

With Alf looking like an idiot, Rita and Else go out for a walk. Mike stays in and Alf goes to take a nap. While Alf takes a nap, Mike takes some make-up and writes all over Alf’s face and bald head including on his forehead, “I Love Johnny Rotten”! When everyone gets back together again, they see what Mike did to his Granddad but before they can tell Alf, he decides he wants to walk Rita and Mike back to the train station. On the walk back everyone sees how funny Alf looks. Finally, Alf runs into the Vicar again where he apologizes and takes off his hat in respect. The Vicar sees the “I Love Johnny Rotten” written on him and exclaims, “So you have been converted!”

If you ever have a chance, please take a look at the article I wrote for some of the early episodes of Till Death Us Do Part here. In it I try to explain why those 1960s episodes of the series were so ground breaking. To me, the message we get in Till Death…. is muted. Where Till Death Us Do Part is about a generation gap and how the differences between those generations are defined, Till Death… is much more a sitcom about old people who retired. By this stage, it has become nothing more than Alf lecturing on about everything. Don’t get me wrong, I know he was always like that but not quite as much. Nobody seems to like Alf anymore. In the 1960s, he was tolerated and he was a hard worker. Now, Else not only seems to not like him but would prefer it something happened to him. There is something a little unpleasant about this series. It is nice to see Una Stubbs reprise her role as Rita. I have always enjoyed her in this series.  Speight has moved with the times though. Mary Whitehouse had been mentioned quite often in the original series but only gets one mention in the first episode. The new target from Speight in this series is Margaret Thatcher. Even ideas from Till Death Us Do Part get regurgitated into this series. In Alf’s Broken Leg from Till Death Us Do Part, Alf gets his face painted by kids while he is a sleep in his wheel chair. Strangely the theme music changes between Sharing with Min and Punks. The music from episode two onwards is in the same vein as the theme from Till Death Us Do Part, just not as good.

There is only one series ever made of Till Death…. I think the lack of audience laughter of any kind robbed this series of much needed energy.  In 1985 the Garnett’s would return again in the BBC series In Sickness and in Health. I have yet to see it despite the entire series being available on DVD. Clearly it had a more successful formula than Till Death….. as it last for 6 series. Almost as long as the original series plus if I am not mistaken, In Sickness and In Health implies it takes place after Till Death Us Do Part and makes no mention of any of the events in Till Death….just like it never happened. Perhaps it can be looked like as what happened with Mama’s Family. Just stay with me on this one for a second. Mama’s Family was based off the skit of The Family on the Carol Burnett Show. Mama’s Family, which is a traditional sitcom, started on NBC in 1983. Most people remember the characters from the skits or Mama’s Family but does anyone remember the teleplay Eunice that aired on CBS in 1982. In fact, it was more of a dramatic play than a comedy which ended with the funeral of Mama. No one remembers that and it is not part of canon which is what appeared to be the same fate for Till Death….

I watched these episodes from the original off air recordings done at the time of broadcast. You can imagine they are not immaculate but it gives a nice insight into what these series looked like. Sometimes I can be a quality snob but not for this. It does have ad caps in place. If it is something I have never seen before and I really want to see it, I will take it any way I can get it. I was reading on the Wikipedia entry for this series that Network had been looking into releasing this on DVD. Who knows when that was written. Of course if it is released, it would be great as this series, even with its faults should be seen. The greater crime of course is that still very few episodes of Till Death Us Do Part have been released especially from the informative black and white years. I was banging on about it in 2010 when I wrote that original article and I am banging on about it in 2012. I guess like Alf Garnett, some things never change.

Next week: As I mentioned before, I reserve all my viewing in May to revolve around episodes that end a series or a season. Next week I look at the ultra-cool Sherlock and take a look at the conclusion to series two, The Reichenbach Fall.

Have a great week!

Do you have feedback, article requests or want to talk about a program but do not want to leave a public comment? Feel free to drop me an e-mail at FTA13867@gmail.com

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Classic Nigel Kneale: Beasts - During Barty's Party

I have written before about how I have thought some of Nigel Kneale’s work is sometimes hit or miss. I think I was badly burned when I last watched Beasts and I looked at the episode Buddyboy. There were so many components to that story that were so polar opposite of each other, it was really difficult for me to enjoy it or understand how it should fit together. I thought it was such a stretch. That was last year and now I am back to take a look at the Beasts episode, During Barty’s Party. This was such an enjoyable viewing experience for me. There is so much to like about this episode and to me, classic Nigel Kneale. I will explain exactly what I mean by that statement later in this article.

During Barty’s Party TX: 23/10/76

On Wikipedia the description for this episode in their Beasts episode guide is simply, “a middle-class couple's life becomes overturned by rats.” Although technically it’s true you could also say the description for the 1939 MGM classic, The Wizard of Oz is about a girl who gets hit in the head and has a strange dream. My point is this:  just like The Wizard of Oz, During Barty’s Party is something really special.

The episode starts out on a shot of a yellow car with its door open. Then the screaming begins. So much so that it wakes up Angie Truscott from a mid-afternoon nap or was she dreaming about screaming? There is something wrong with her. Angie is extremely nervous. Something has happened to her in the past though we never know what it is. She doesn’t like to be alone and it appears her condition is getting worse. Her husband Roger comes home for the day from work. They are both middle-aged and live in a nice suburban house. Almost immediately when he gets home, Angie alerts him to the fact that they have a rat. A rat is chipping away underneath the floor boards.

It is clear that Roger has needed to be patient for a while with whatever was happening to Angie. It is not that Angie is annoying or unreasonable; I think it is more to do with Roger being such an overly-rational person that he just does not have the patience for that type of illness because he doesn’t understand it. Angie tells him about her day and how she did go out for a while. She also tells him about her nap she took and woke up to hearing screaming.

Roger is not spooked about rats the way that Angie is and handles it like a “man”. He’s going to show the rat who is the boss in the house! The episode takes an interesting turn when Roger gets a phone call from Peter Newell. Peter is a business associate with Roger. Angie can hear the phone call when Peter tells Roger about reports of a large pack of rats in Angie and Roger’s area. Apparently they are roaming around and people are being told to stay out of the rat’s way.  Freaked out, Angie puts on the radio and a popular show is on called Barty’s Party. It becomes clear that there is more than one rat under the floor, in fact a few of them. Even Roger is starting to get a little freaked.

I think what is interesting about this episode is that the roles become reversed between Angie and Roger. In the beginning Roger is the one speaking common sense about the situation. He knows that rats are not going to roam on open roads in public and whatever is happening to the Truscott’s is Angie’s imagination. Clearly it is just a small rat problem, right?  As the episode progresses, the Truscott’s hear more reports on Barty’s Party about other people who have seen these rats and all of the sightings have been right by where the Truscott’s live. Although Angie is terrified of basically everything through the episode, it is her that starts to realize what is happening. She believes these rats are super intelligent rats. Angie demonstrates it by making noises on one part of the floor where the rats follow the sound to that area and begin gnawing away but then she makes noises on another area and you can hear them run over to where she is making noise and they start on that area. It is clear that these rats are not content to do anything but get to them. The more Angie pieces the evidence together, the more Roger loses it. The moment, for me, where Roger has become as frightened as Angie is when Angie calls into Barty’s Party. She gives them her name and they put her on the air with Barty. At first he doesn’t believe her but as she tells him what is going on, her terrified voice is enough to get Barty to believe her. As he asks her for her address on the air to get police over to them to help, the phone service goes out. The rats chewed through the phone wires! Angie and Roger are horrified but luckily Barty says on the air that even though she is cut off they will get police to figure out where she is because they have her name and can find her: Angie Prescott. Her name is actually Truscott. Barty got it wrong and they will never find them.

Throughout the episode, the sounds of rats get increasingly louder and suddenly I realized that the sound of the rats is over powering. Just as Angie and Roger are about to try and escape, their neighbors the Gibson’s come home. We never see them; this all happens from outside of the Truscott house. As Angie and Roger speak with them from their window, they have a moment of happiness thinking that everything was alright. Perhaps their imagination is getting the better of them plus the sounds of the rats are gone.  Suddenly, we hear the sounds of rats attacking the Gibson family. All of them and killing them all. Ultimately, Angie and Roger hear the rats come back and finally we hear the rats attacking the Truscotts.

Beasts is an interesting premise for a TV series but was one that Kneale was always fascinated with exploring. In the DVD notes for this series Andy Murray says this premise is “civilized man in conflict with the primal, animal side of existence”. This works extremely well in During Party’s Party. I think why it works so well is that it is a very straight forward story. It is exactly what the Wikipedia entry I listed above says except how the story is executed is what makes this piece very noteworthy.

I also said this is classic Nigel Kneale. I don’t mean that in terms of necessarily a specific style. This whole episode succeeds based on the two actors we see on screen, Elizabeth Sellars and Anthony Bate, making everything believable. The whole episode is about a massive rat infestation yet we do not see one rat on screen. The whole thing is done based great sound effects and the acting of the two characters. To me, I think this is very similar to what Kneale had to write in the very early days of television. I even note it in my article for episodes Five and Six of Quatermass II. It was a live production and the stuff that would be visually difficult to do in a live low budget setting was done off screen and it was up to the actors to convey the threat on screen. Here we have the very same situation. Things we see off screen are the deaths of the Gibson family. It is horrible but we never see it. We only see the Truscott’s reaction to this. The closest thing we see to a rat is the scene where they are chopping their way through the back door. It almost looks like teeth chomping through but it isn’t; it adds to the frenzy the episode reached. I think the creepiest visual for me is the car at the beginning of the episode. We only see it in the first shot yet Angie looks out the window and talks about it a few times. She mentions how it hadn’t moved the entire day and now it is night. While looking out the window she mentions the moonlight shining off it and she still see the car door just hanging open.  Maybe it is creepy for me because I knew those screams were not something Angie dreamed about at the beginning of the episode. Plus there is something creepy about something that looks normal but you know it isn’t.

This is the second time I had seen this episode and I really enjoyed it more the second time through. The first time I had no idea what the episode was about and wasn’t sure if I was going to see one of those episodes where maybe the husband or the wife was going to go mad and murder the other spouse. I had no idea it would be about rats. Although it takes it’s time to build itself up, the episode moves really quickly. I thought I was only about five minutes into it but when I looked at the clock, twenty-five minute had passed. As I mentioned above, although Angie is terrified of so much throughout the episode she is the one who pulls her and Roger together to actually try and escape from the house. When the problem seemed to be just one rat in the house, Roger was very much in control and was losing patience with his wife for overreacting. Once he realized that Angie was right about the rats, he crumbles into hysteria. Angie tries to get them to leave but he is too frightened to even move. The last shot of the episode the empty room with only the sounds of the rats and the Truscotts screaming in the background.

If you are good at recognizing voice (or good at reading closing credits) you will notice that the voice of Peter Newell is John Rhys Davies. Of course, Davies has gone on to have a tremendous film career being in some of the Indiana Jones films, the James Bond film The Living Daylights and the TV series Sliders plus so much more. The episodes on the DVD set must be presented in production order although I do not see it listed as such anywhere. For years I thought During Barty’s Party was the last episode of the series but according to other sources such as the Kaleidoscope ITV Drama Guide, it is listed as the first episode. Those transmission dates are from the HTV West Region broadcasts but I think it was similar in most areas. It’s too bad because I think this would be an amazing way to end to a great series. Then again, it is also a chilling and strong start to a new series too. I guess it works either way.

Of course I have a strange fascination with production slates. As I have said before, Network DVD always did it the best when they used to include the slates before each episode on their DVDs. Sadly it’s a feature they no longer do. That said, for those who care, here is the slate:

Next week: As I move into the Christmas season, I devote all of the programs I watch during December to Christmas themed episodes. I really do not collect American television but I am a big fan of animation. I will look at episodes of Family Guy next week. In particular I will write about A Very Special Family Guy Freakin’ Christmas but also go on a rant about their strategy of releasing DVDs.

Beasts - Buddyboy!

There is a belief held by some fans that all of Nigel Kneale’s works are great. I am about to dispel this notion. My evidence? A little episode of Beasts called Buddyboy! By this time, Nigel Kneale had a long and successful association with television. Obviously I need to mention the Quatermass serials but there was so much more that he had done by this stage. By the 1970’s, Kneale’s relationship with the BBC had soured quite a bit. One of the losses from this relationship was the fourth Quatermass serial but Kneale was looking at other outlets to continue bringing his type of stories to viewers.

In 1975, ATV asked Nigel Kneale to write for their serial Against the Crowd. What he came up with was the play Murrain. The program was very much in the typical style of Kneale’s work where it is left up to the viewer to interpret for themselves what they think is really going on. Nigel Kneale worked with Producer Nick Palmer on this and Kneale was very happy with the results. So much so, talks almost started immediately with ATV to collaborate on more drama. This eventually evolved into the Beasts. As Andy Murray wrote in his viewing notes of the DVD release of Beast, the series would revolve around the theme of “civilized man in conflict with the primal, animal side of existence”. Each of the six episodes would be done in a completely different style and would deal with paranormal activity or some other phenomenon.

Buddyboy TX: 26/10/76

The episode I randomly chose was Buddyboy. The episode plays out as if someone reached into a bag and pulled out random ideas and locations then tried to craft a story out of it:

(reaching into a bag) Hmmmm…. Let’s see, we are going to write a story based around, a theatre that shows porn, some of the theatre staff wants to get into the business of shooting porn movies. Porn Barron wants to expand business and looks to buy bigger place to turn into theatre. Decides to buy old, run down dolphinarium. Oh, wait, it’s haunted. Haunted by the ghost of a dolphin named Buddyboy.

That’s it. I have to give Kneale full credit for taking the most abstract plot elements and try to string them together and create a story. I am not sure what happened with the story and to be honest, after a while I didn’t really care. The story is about Dave, who owns a theatre that shows porn movies, wants to expand his business and has a possible location to look at for expansion. He meets with the current owner Hubbard. Hubbard owned the place which was a dolphinarium. There was an extremely smart yet difficult dolphin called Buddyboy. Buddyboy died mysteriously. Although Hubbard insists of no wrong doing, he is haunted by the clicks and whistle of a dolphin. Hubbard is played by Wolfe Morris. He is quite convincing as a man who is tortured. He looks like he will explode at any moment. He shakes and sweats; his eyes are bulged out and blood shot. I felt myself in pain every time he was on screen!

While Dave is looking at the property, he finds that a young woman named Lucy is squatting in the dolphinarium. Lucy actually was someone who worked with Buddyboy. There is something not quite right about Lucy. She is mystified by Buddyboy, almost worships him and she misses him. Clearly something weird is going on as Hubbard immediately hates the sight of Lucy and the feeling is reciprocated. There is a backstory we never really get about those two. But then, suddenly, we hear the sound of a dolphin whistling and clicking. Very scary……

Eventually, because Hubbard wants to unload the property so badly Dave lowballs him on the price. Not only does Dave get the dolphinarium, he also somehow gets Hubbard’s apartment. Now this is probably explained in the episode but I may have lost interest by this point. I am not sure why Dave also gets the apartment but maybe he is just holding onto it until after Hubbard returns from his trip? As the episode plays out, Dave and Lucy get a lot closer. It certainly has nothing to do with love but more a relationship sprung out of convenience. As they stand in what used to be Hubbard’s bedroom (as they were able to keep all the furniture), they decide to make love which leads to one of the most bizarre sequences of television I have ever seen.

Dave rips off her shirt and brings her to bed. We cut to a close up shot of Dave’s face mimicking the act of having sex but has the most cheesy-pleasured looking smile on his face. Then, we have a close up of Lucy. Her face is very unhappy, almost unsettling. While she is lying there, the shot is overlaid with her back in the dolphinarium. She’s standing in different areas of the set, looking around. We hear the unmistakable sound of Buddyboy. Suddenly, she gets totally into it with Dave and passion ensues. After they are done, she goes to use the bathroom and starts running water to take a bath. The whole time Dave is going on and on about how he wants to expand the business and actually get her into the business in some seedy way. After she doesn’t answer him, Dave goes into the bathroom to check out what’s going on. He opens the door. I swear we were going to see Buddyboy in the bathtub looking back at Dave and that Lucy was Buddyboy the whole time! I had hoped for a big payoff to the last 45 minutes of dullness I had just endured. I wanted Buddyboy to not only be in that bath tub but pissed off. I wanted him to jump out of that tub and beat the shit out of Dave. Give me something interesting! Instead, it was just Lucy and she had drowned in the bath tub.

I have a very strange relationship with the series Beasts. I don’t think it is quite the masterpiece that some think it is but it is by no means bad television. The episode During Barty’s Party is exceptional. Kneale exhibits the same type of writing which made me such a fan of his. A lot of During Barty’s Party is explained to us from actions happening off screen and from the description the visuals are left up to us. It’s very similar to what I said in my article for Quatermass II, especially episodes Five & Six. Unfortunately for Buddyboy, I really have no idea what happened and the episode had no impact on me.

Hubbard said he never harmed Buddyboy, yet Buddyboy fell ill and eventually died. Part of the story is that Buddyboy was an arrogant dolphin and seemed to not like Hubbard. That being said, what happened to Buddyboy and was Hubbard directly involved? Was it the captivity which eventually leads to Buddyboy dying? I also didn’t like how some things were just shoe horned into the script almost for shock value. Early on in the episode, back at the night club/theatre, Dave’s associate Jimmy brings in an Usherette who he thinks would be great if they could start making movies with her. To prove his point, he has the Usherette take of her top and his topless as the camera just sits on that shot. I am not a prude. This just doesn’t feel right and it derails the story a little bit. Is this meant to show how different this world of night clubs is to our “normal” lifestyle? If so, they didn’t do a very good job with it. I know. PRUDE!

I watched this from the Network release of the entire series Beasts. It’s a two disc set and it is presently very nicely. Some of the stuff Network puts out isn’t always the best in terms of encoding but I think Beasts looks fine. Some of the masters tapes may not be in the best shape either and as something like Beasts is not exactly a big seller, I hardly would expect Network to commission any restoration. Though, Network has come through many times in the past for other releases such as Public Eye.

One of my silly fascinations is with Broadcast countdown clocks/slates. A slate is often a countdown clock which networks use as a way to cue the program they are about to air. It is an identifier of the series and the episode which will follow. I love them, think they are neat and have no idea how to explain any of this. I just like them. For a while, whatever they released, Network would leave the countdown clock on the episode on the DVD. It wouldn’t be presented as part of the episode when you would start an episode from the menu but you would know it was there because your DVD counter would not be at zero when the episode started. It would be maybe fifteen to thirty seconds in and all you would need to do is rewind the picture on the DVD and you can see the countdown clock. Here is a picture of it!

All of you who enjoyed Buddyboy, go on, right a comment below and let me know why it is good. What did I miss?

Next Week: I take a look at a series I really enjoy but hardly ever watch. In fact, there are still episodes I have never seen before and I think the one for next week is one of them. I look at The Vicar of Dibley and the apt title Summer especially as that is winding down for us. Also, please check back as I continue to write up my articles on Doctor Who Series Five!